Waterfall Bay preparations

 
Things were well underway when I arrived at Waterfall Bay.

Sunni pondering the table settings.

Brooke making the punch.

A busy kitchen under the supervision of Phillipa & Amanda.

The girl team – happy at work opening mussels.

Phillipa & Brooke making desserts.

Pat dealing to the pumpkins.

And in amongst it all the children were buzzing about.
Happy to find their friends.
Azzan and Jacob found this wee corner to read away from all the big folk.

Azzan loved decorating the tables with the glass pebbles.
His art work was a lot more free and random with a wonderful free spirited style.

The table settings and the decorations are starting to make the place look great.

Sunni & Ryan got personalised M&M’s done while they were in the USA last year.
Only to find when they opened them yesterday that the wrong month had been printed on them – duh!

Jesika has the cake underway.
I had a wee sneaky preview in the fridge…

Can’t wait to see what happens to these

and these.
Whatever she does – it will be grand

The guys put up a large tarpaulin between the house, shop and Lodge to give us some cover in case of rain tomorrow.

Laz on the roof

And David up the tree.
It is all going well and looking great guys.

Birds eye view of the proceedings.

At 6pm we discovered that the hire company hadn’t sent down the coffee mugs.
Man was I ropeable.
It has been one muck up after another with them.
So I got on the phone and strongly discussed things with the head guy and got it all sorted and a promise of a major discount for so many inconveniences.

A guest also missed his plane so I managed to organise him to travel to Rai Valley with the coffee mugs and hitch a lift in with my sister tomorrow.
The flowers also arrived – they are lovely but not what Sunni envisaged.
So Cat is going to fix them in the morning.
They will be gorgeous.

All things work if you don’t stress
I am trying not too!!

I finally rounded up the children and got back home around 7:30pm.
We had Ryan’s family all coming for dinner.
Brooke got the children showered, fed and into bed for me.
Dinner finally was served an hour later and we had a very pleasant evening getting to know the future in laws.

Sunni & Ryan presented the wedding party with special underwear which we have all been told we must wear tomorrow to identify our positions for the day.
Could be some very interesting photo shoots

Jesika – Bridsmaid

Cath – Mother of the Groom.

 
Chelsea – Bridesmaid and Claire – Best Woman

Tim – Father of the Bride

Laz – Best Man

and Doug – Father of the Groom.

I didn’t get a photo of mine but they match Cath’s

On that note I am now off to bed.
It is after midnight and so therefore today is the BIG day.

 

Final preparations

Today was the last day before the wedding.
It was a busy day but it all went pretty well.
There were hiccups, but none that were insurmountable.

The day began with the most glorious sky

Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning.
I think maybe the weather forecasters are going to be right about the rain tomorrow

Tim took some of the crew out fishing.
As Anson said – best they were all out there – less stress all round 

Alex & Claire were thrilled to go fishing as they had never been before.

Bri got stuck into the aviary, Shanni was delighted.

It was really great to see that she was adhering to all she learned at the chainsaw safety course I sent her to!
No safety gear or helmet, reaching above her head with the chainsaw and standing precariously on a ladder.
But as Tim said – at least she was wearing ear muffs!!

Brooke diligently sewed all the table runners for me.
She did so well.
She hadn’t sewn since primary school so I was called upon a few times to sort out empty bobbins and tangled thread.
She also made Anson’s curtains which was great.
He was thrilled.
So was I – one more thing crossed off my list

Azzan & Mahalia wanted to make polluted water.
So they had lots of fun trying to find pollutants.
They gathered all sorts of things and polluted it wonderfully.
Then when they had finished they were going to tip it down the drain

Some silly sisters

Another silly sister

I spent all morning making Tiramisu for the wedding dessert.
I also was delegating folk to gather things we needed to take over to Waterfall Bay and getting things done towards dinner etc.
 
Brooke and I did get a few moments to sit and discuss what we needed to do in amongst all the busyness.

Anson & Nick zipped over to Waterfall Bay to get the meat cut up and ready for the roaster.
Brooke also got the children’s rooms all sorted and moved around to make room for some guests.
And she got The Croft done too.

We managed to get everything done and all loaded into the vehicles by 3pm.
As we headed up the hill though we met Anson coming back down.
His radiator had blown a hole again.
He and Seb went back home to deal with it and Hali & Shanni squeezed in with us and helped to juggle the Tiramisu over the bumps and around the corners!!
We got it there safely.

 

It’s all beginning to happen……

Wednesday was the day of the marquees.
The truck was due in mid morning.
I went like the clappers and got dinner ready.
Tim took off up the bay in the dinghy with all the lads.
I drove over with the girls.

The truck took a bit of a detour down to Bulwer but eventually arrived safely.
While we waited for him Tim and Nick got rid of the clothesline.
It was in the way so Tim cut it off at ground level!

Alex & Claire got stuck in and gave the washhouse and backdoor area a really good clean.

I really love their enthusiasm.
They do a brilliant job at whatever they are asked to do.

Jesika and Sunni had spent most of the morning cleaning the kitchen while Ryan was vacuuming, cleaning off cobwebs and just generally getting the house into tip-top shape.

Jesika was right into making the cake.
The cake is actually a series of cakes of varying sizes that when put together with her delectable fillings will make
THE CAKE!

Once the truck arrived the guys were in there helping to unload everything.

This pile of canvas

and this jigsaw of poles

under Paul’s guidance

soon became several marquees.

The big one took a bit more effort to erect.

Paul had all the toys to make the job easier

Looking good!

End of a successful day.
It is getting closer to completion.

We were all really tired by the time the afternoon passed and the truck left.
I brought the wee ones back home and get them fed and into bed relatively early.
Shanni was beside herself with pain from all the coughing.

After dinner Alex & Claire and I made soy wax candles to put on the tables.

Today I have been baking most of the day for the afternoon tea.
Alex helped me and we also got dinner done and some prep towards tomorrow’s too.

Claire went up to help Graham finish off the tables.
They had a very busy and productive day.
All the tables are now together and in place.
They got back for dinner about 9pm!

Bri drove up from Christchurch with Brooke and picked up Cat in Picton.
They got in at 1am.
Cat and Anson were up real early getting jobs done.
Brooke spent all day sewing for me.
She finished making Anson’s curtains so he is pretty rapt.
She also has made nearly all the table runners.

Tim has been busy running around gathering up stuff and getting things over to the bay etc.
Matt put a hole in his fuel tank as he was leaving yesterday so Tim spent quite a while helping fix it.
He left today after lunch.

David & Sasha arrived in today as did Laz.
Phillipa & Pat and family arrived in late tonight.
They will be busy tomorrow etting the food prepared.
So the numbers are beginning to build.
Only tomorrow left to get things done.
And guess what…

Tim is taking the crew out fishing early in the morning!
I guess when there is lots to do the best de-stresser is to go fishing

Farm stuff on Tuesday

Tuesday was a beautiful day.
Seb came in on ‘Pacifica’ to get ropes to finish seeding lines.

His blonde moment from the previous day was forgiven as I had talked to a pharmacy in Blenheim and they were happy for me to fax the scripts to them and Jesika & Sunni collected them on their way through town.

Anson and the guys were busy doing sheep work all morning.
Anson was crutching and shearing.
Also killed a mutton.
Must be a bit disconcerting for the other sheep to have their dead mate swinging away above them

Then they loaded a few onto the trailer to take them to town.

Skye is Tim’s wee bitch – Anson gets frustrated with her cuz she won’t work for him.
But Tim is quite partial to her

And this is Anson’s new dog – Bear.
He is so comical.
I love this photo Shanni took of him.

Graham has been working real hard these past couple of weeks to get the banquewting tables made for the wedding.

He put the bases together in the old blast freezer as it made a good dry dust free atmosphere to let the glue set.

We went to see the table tops he has been working on up in the supabin.

They are huge – around 3-4metres long and 1metre wide.
He is doing a brilliant job of them.

The cracks are filled with resin and in this one he has put several different nuts.
Looks so good.

Life before telephones must have been so grand!

Monday should be forever annihilated from the annals of my history!
It was a day I don’t really care to repeat again.

It felt like I was forever answering one of my phones – constantly.

It probably didn’t help that Azzan was choking in his sleep at 1am.
Then I woke at 3am.
Tim left for town at 4am.
Anson came in at 4:45 to see where Tim was cuz he was leaving for town too.
6am the boys were up and ready to head out on the farm to do some grubbing and mustering.
So by that stage I had figured out that sleep was an impossibility and I got up too.

There was mountains of washing to do and food to prepare and children to care for and just life that never stops these days.
So no good excuse to stay in bed really!

The ladies cleaned The Cottage in the morning.






I spent all day juggling my hats.
I had so many things going on in my brain to deal with.
It went from one phone call to another – I no sooner put the phone down and it would ring again……..
insurance agent, engineer, real estate agent, wedding planning calls, texts and emails to many people, police and bank stuff to sort out after Seb’s attack, supermarkets,  sons, daughters, doctor, nurse, organising food from here and there to be collected by him or her from there and wherever else to brought in here on various days according to the fragility of it,
…..and they were not just one call each – each issue demanded several calls interspersed with the others and doing things in between – it was absolutely never ending……plus sick, grotty children who are getting very grumpy with life…..
I do not think I have had such a day in a very long long time.


I managed to make a large batch of mint sauce, pesto, and dinner in amongst it all.
Then Nathan mentioned that he had a good crop of rhubarb in the garden so he went up to get some and came back with armloads of the stuff. It filled 3 huge pots!

After lunch Alex wrote all the place cards for the wedding for me.

One more job I can tick off my list

Then mid afternoon the engineer arrived in the float plane to check out the two wharves.
Thankfully Graham popped his head in the door just as it arrived here so he was able to come down and help me talk with the engineer about what needs to be done.






Claire and Matt when swimming.
I am having a hard job stopping my little ones from going in – they are so wanting to swim.
So as soon as the others came back up they hopped into the spa with them.


I spent time on the phone with the Drs nurse convincing them that Shanni & Azzan really needed some antibiotics and that I was not taking them out to town just to get them! After talking with our district nurse who has only just returned from a long leave, I have realised that Mahalia’s nasal swab was taken after she had been on antibiotics for two days and it probably masked the pertussis and that could be why the tests came back negative.

So then I had to get Tim & Anson to go pick up the perscription.
They were already out of town so they sent Seb back to get it.

When Tim & Anson got home I was told the medicine was in a paper bag.
All I found was an inhaler refill and two prescriptions.
My darling blonde 18year old had gone to the Dr’s office and collected the stuff alright.
BUT he hadn’t thought to take the paperwork to the pharmacy and get the prescriptions filled.

It was the end of a very long and tiring and stressful day.
I had been promising Shanni that Daddy was bringing in some medicine to help make her feel better.
I totally lost it.
I had a major meltdown
Thankfully everyone else had already gone to bed!

Anyway, after a spa I simmered down and managed to get a few more hours sleep than the previous night.

Tim had brought in a load of tomatoes, beans, peaches, capsicum and corn from our friends market garden.
So straight after breakfast my helpers began processing them all.





I sorted things to go over to Waterfall Bay.
Seems to be my life’s work these days – making lists and sorting where things are to go.

The first thing on my list was to call a pharmacist in Blenheim and see if they would be happy for me to fax the prescriptions to them.
When I explained what had happened they laughed!
And were only too happy to help me out.
So Nick zipped up to Waterfall Bay in the dinghy to fax them through only to return saying the fax was playing up.
I had used it myself on Sunday so I knew it should be okay.
So Alex went up with him and had a go and got them through.
Then Jesika & Sunni picked them up on their way through town.
We finally got the medicine 24 hours late.
Why is nothing ever simple

I stuffed a chicken and put it in my new slow cooker – my other ones bowl got cracked when it was used for the catered party a few weeks ago, so I was thrilled to find an even bigger one on an excellent special last week.

Tim and I got all the things from the freezer we need for catering on Saturday.
I finally found my stash of chick peas so made several batches of humus.
It was good

I also made tomato relish, and hung out many more loads of washing.
Then it began spitting so I put a lot of it through the clothes dryer.

Seb came in on Pacifica so we went down to see him.
Anson was crutching and shearing sheep with Matt’s help.
He killed a sheep and a pig for the wedding feast.

He took all the stuff I had ready over to Waterfall this arvo and met up with Sunni, Ryan & Jesika who had just arrived in.
Unfortunately the radiator in his ute has blown out so he is not a happy chappy as the ute was only serviced a couple of weeks ago!

I let Azzan & Mahalia go kayaking with Claire and Alex today.
Alex ended up in the tide trying to catch a floating away paddle!!
Shanni is not wanting to do much, her tummy is too sore and she is vomiting when she coughs so food is not staying down long. Poor wee thing is just so peaky and miserable.
She did go with Anson today for a change of scenery and was thrilled to get her bird encyclopedia back – she had left it at Aunty Ruth’s several weeks ago.

While they were gone I watched a dvd I had hired for them to watch as it is a modern day take off of
‘The Taming of The Shrew’.
I am so glad I watched it first.
It was totally unsuitable for the children to see.
So that one will go back unwatched by little eyes!

Claire and Alex cleaned the bathrooms before dinner and I made Rhubarb & Coconut cake for desert.
It was good

I still have a few things to do before the wedding so will have to get on to them tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be busy though as there are two large trucks coming in from the hire centre.
We are praying for a fine day tomorrow to get the marquee’s erected.

Sunday

I was presented with this beautiful flower yesterday morning

I do have to take a BIG breath when this happens.
My initial reaction is to gasp and say please do not pick the flowers.
But I was good and admired it and told Azzan how wonderful it was and how much I love the perfume.
The ginger fragrance really is one of my favourites.
Of course he then spent the rest of the day pestering me to make it into perfume with him.

Anyone out there know how to make perfume from a flower???

Alex, Claire & Matt packed a picnic lunch and went for a l-o-n-g walk around the farm and up to the highest point.
They didn’t get home until dinner time.
They LOVED it.
They spent a lot of time just sitting and talking to the llamas.

Shanni’s turkeys are becoming rather frequent visitors.

They caused much amusement to her when she found them sitting on the ledge of the deck.
The black one is tucked down in the foliage to the left.
They always travel together.
Anson is not so impressed and keeps shooing them away.

After fellowship Anson & Nick loaded up wool to take to town and then went over to Waterfall with Tim to do more wharf repairs.
They had to replace a lot of bolts that had been eaten away with rust.
They also had to do it at low tide.

Anson & Nicky had stayed up to see the sunrise at 5am.
So Nick spent most of the day sleeping in Anson’s hut.
I dragged him down to babysit at 4pm so I could head over to Waterfall to finish making beds etc.

Anson & Tim were still swinging precariously around under the wharf

They were soon finished.
Tim was quite relieved to have Anson’s help as it was quite a mission to get them all done.
Anson took off home and Tim & I went over to Homestead Bay to meet the folk there and to see how the place runs as some of our guests will be staying there.
We had a great chat with them as we discovered that Alan & I are very distant cousins though the Haycock family.
His great great grandfather was the eldest of the family and my great great grandmother was the youngest.

We arrived home soon after 7pm.
The family had fed so Tim and I had our dinner.
Then Tim & Anson went off to finish sorting vehicles for town today.
Tim is taking his Safari out to see what the garage guys can do to get it functioning properly.
Then he and Anson will join forces and wade their way through their lists and my long list before coming home tonight.

Azzan was cough/choking at 1am.
Tim was up and gone at 4am.
Anson left at 5am.
Nick, Nathan & Matt were up at 6am.
Consequently I was up and/or awake at each time too.
I am beginning to wonder what sleep is

Anyway, it is now morning.
I am awake so I had better go get through get on with my list while I still have some energy.
Only 6 days till THE wedding.

I had a call from Seb last night to say he had been attacked and robbed on Saturday night.
He had been taking money out of the ATM machine and obviously some guys had been watching him.
They waited until he and his 2 friends were walking away and then one guy hit him in the right side of his face with a left hook and another guy grabbed the money out of his hand.
Thankfully Seb is not a violent person and hates to fight so he just walked away rather than chasing them to get it back.
I couldn’t understand them hitting on him though – at 6’8″ he is quite a formidable young man.
I guess a bit of little man syndrome!!
He went to the police and they were glad to help him – especially as he had found out the names of the guys from some girls up the street.
He had to go to the Dr and then to the hosp for facial xrays as they were suspecting a fracture.
Haven’t heard results yet.

I have just spoken with the police and they are on the case.

The past few days.

Thursday sorta went past in a cot case sorta daze of recovery from 3 days in town and broken nights either side with Azzan coughing/choking throughout the nights.

Anson arrived back in the evening with Alex from the UK.
He brought in my ‘new’ Chesterfield sofa.
Craig from Nyberg & Nelson Upholstery had transformed it from a springless, tattered heap.
I LOVE it.
Tim is not so sure.
He was making more comments and references to his hippy wife – again!

Trouble is, it makes the rest of the living room look so dowdy so I am going to have to spruce up the curtains and paintwork now
Anson took another two chairs out for Craig to do.

I found a roll of upholstery fabric at Waterfall to cover Tim’s armchair – he likes it and it tones in with the sofa so that’s all good.
I am going to get them all done, one at a time to spread out the cost.
After all it is around 22 years of hard wear and tear and many jumping kids since they were last covered and resprung.

Alex got stuck in Fri morning and cleaned and sorted out my pantry.
She had helpers and they all did a brilliant job.

Azzan made a swamp.
I took this photo before it was disposed of.
I thought it was really cool – esp as it was totally self instigated.

Alex’s friend, Claire arrived on the mailboat.
It was a wet grotty day.
In fact we had over 100mm.
Brilliant for the farm.

Claire got straight into it and cleaned Azzan’s room.
Why is it I wonder that cleaning his room is always so high on the priority list?

A busy boy wit a busy artistic brain!!

When it was all clean and tidy Claire read stories.She was introduced to some Kiwi books which she really enjoyed – but had a hard time getting her tongue around the Maori words.

Saturday was fine and sunny and breezy.
I was sorting out bedding for wedding guests and spare mattresses to take over to Waterfall Bay.
The kids found it all and created a hut before breakfast.

Azzan & Shanni have really been hit hard with this cough.
It is totally wiping them out.
They are coughing themselves sick.
I am trying to tempt their taste buds with different foods which they are really enjoying.
There are refusing to get dressed during the day and just mooch about in their pj’s.
Azzan is getting restless and bored with life and very negative.
Shanni’s eyes have regressed and becoem very sore again.
I am filling them both up with all the herbs etc I have so somethings gotta start helping soon.
Mahalia is heaps better already, but she had a few weeks head start on them plus she had antibiotics.

Alex & Claire went round to The Croft to get it all ready for next weekend.
Then just after they had gone to make beds I got a booking for the 2 days prior.
The folk coming in just wanted bare back hire so Anson had to zip around and get the girls to unmake the beds – sigh!

The children made a wee party for Alex & Claire.

Poppi loves malt biscuits – he eats crumbs from Shanni’s mouth!

He is a wee rascal and loves to get into all the goings on around here.

Tim spent ALL day fixing the trailer.
I had a sleep after lunch while waiting for him to be ready to go over to Waterfall to finish the wharf job.
But he was having major problems so canned going.
Alex & Claire walked over and I drove with the children.
The track was very slippery because of the rain so it took them quite a while to get around.
The children and I started sorting things out and cleaning up,  then when the girls arrived they helped me to make beds.

Claire, Hali & Azzan had fun doing handstands on the lawn.

On the way home the girls had to do a pose by the sign.

I had a mutton stew cooking in the slow cooker & the rice cooker on.
Shanni had made buns.
So tea was ready when we arrived and very delicious.

The guys went round to Waterfall to watch the Super 14’s rugby.
We lost at the final moment.
Sad boys

I blobbed out and watched a movie.

Bloke stuff

While I was away in town Tim had to fix the wharf at Waterfall Bay.
The engineer is coming in to do an assessment before the new Coastal Permit can be issued.

Of course Shanni was on hand and took a heap of photos.
 

How many blokes does it take to load a beam on a ute?
One to hold.
One to tie it on.
One to give advice as to how to do it all.
And two to watch and make sure it is all done properly!

 

Azzan helped Daddy drill the holes.

This is my favourite photo.
Shanni’s absolute best.
She is catching some very good candid shots these days.

‘Pacifica’ has been in a few times to see up mussel lines for us.
Anson and Seb catching up on their life happenings.

Nathan doing what Nathan does best.
Reading.
Where ever.
When ever.

The 3 farm utes – or trucks as they are called outside of Kiwiland.

Bloke talk.
Gotta dissect the day – as to what has been done and what is to be done and what may be done if what’s been done and what is to be done happens according to the previous plan..

Mo is a very naughty cat.
He sneaks in and finds a corner inside when I am not looking.
This was a good hidden corner as he was hiding behind the big bag of ‘going out to the recycling centre’ clothes.
He gets the order of the boot when I do find him!

And then of course there is Jynx!
And Tim having a nana nap.

Those jolly cats are not allowed inside when I am home but they sure push the boundaries when I am away

Back home again.

I see I last blogged back on Saturday and now it is Thursday already.
Where did that time go?

Life seems to be whizzing by in a series of wedding planning, coughing kids and daily stuff.

Matt from Switzerland arrived on Saturday.
Sunday morning Azzan didn’t want an ordinary breakfast.
So Daddy obliged and the children enjoyed hashbrowns, fish cakes and eggs on toast.
They were happy

I know there were beans processed on Sunday – cuz here is the photo

Sunday we also had fellowship and pottered around.
I had to get ready for town.
It was my last trip in for supplies before the wedding so I had to be relatively organised.

I had my alarm set for 5am.
Azzan had a coughing fit from 3:30am onwards.
Short night
But Mahalia and I left at 5:58am so had a good start on the day.

We got to Blenheim in time to go to the library to pick up a mountain of pre-ordered books for our next unit study before meeting my niece Sam.
She cut and coloured my hair in a friends salon.
We had lots of fun and I love what she did to my hair.
She had left over colour so I left her having fun with Mahalia.

I went off to an appointment with one of my accountants to have a brush up on my accountancy programme.
When I met up with them later they were sushied out and Hali had red streaks in her straightened hair.
Then Sam took me make-up shopping.
That was funny.
I haven’t worn make up in so many years!
So Hali ended up with red streaked, straightened hair AND wearing make-up as we trialed various skin colours etc.
Being the little princess that she is she loved it

After that we flew by Granny’s place – with Hali keeping her distance and visiting with Gran from afar as we didn’t want to pass on her cough.

Mum had a mobility scooter on trial.
So she gave us a demo – pretty nifty!
Trouble is – it is red.
And red goes faster – so watch out for Galloping Granny!!
She’ll be back to galavanting again before we know it!!

We stopped off at Slip Inn for a quick dinner and then over the hills to Nelson.
Met up with Alex – my next wwoofer who is coming tonight to help me this week with wedding preparations.
Then to John & Sally’s to crash out.
It was a long day.

Tues and Wed were filled with running all over town searching for the right ribbons, wedding accessories,  consulting the florist, picking up catering supplies, etc, etc, etc.
I was thrilled to be referred to Willow Floral Design – Katrin was so helpful and obliging.
There were many texts and phone calls throughout the day between Sunni and me but I think we have most things sussed now.

Mahalia had an appointment with the orthodontist on Tues and now has the braces off her teeth.
We see him again in 3 months. That should give her teeth long enough to settle and see what the next game plan will be.
I was happy she go them off now – before the wedding photos!!

She spent a couple of hours Tues arvo and all day Wed with Sophie, her wee friend.
So she was very happy not to be dragged about with me for the day.
I was too as it gave me freedom to zip around town and do all I needed to.

I had an apointment with caci on Wed to have some moles removed from my face.
One had been bleeding when I knocked it and was becoming a nuisance so my doctor recommended I go here.
Turns out they are not really moles but they have some other name fibro something… and become more common on faces as you get older – the Dr told me he does lots of women of my age.

I had a major load on board to come home with.
The Safari was full to the roof in the back.
Just enough room to load Hali in.
We put some air in the tyres, diesel in the tank, food in our tummies and headed home around 7pm.

Got to Waterfall about 9:30pm and unloaded a vast majority of the gear there to be stashed away for the wedding and then home to find all were in bed.

Tim popped Hali into bed and then helped me to unpack the vehicle.
Then we talked a bit.
I caught up on emails and chilled out and unwound.
Got to bed just before 1am.

Then got woken by Azzan at 3am.
He was having a major coughing spell and was up and down any times to spit up.
Then Tim was up at 5am.
I had to get up to give Anson instructions on where to go in town and what to do for me.
Then Tim and the guys headed off out grubbing weeds for the morning.
I never bothered going back to bed.
Seb’s boat came in so I hurridly dressed and went down to see him.
Then the children and I had breakfast and since then I have been doing loads of washing and encouraging Azzan along with his room tidying.

I’m home again

This weeks happenings

Well after such a long hot dry spell the rains came.

We have had several wet days and the temperatures have dropped considerably.
Yesterday we had both fires going to take the chill off the house.

It has been a busy time and yet a chilling time.

We have had Peter, Levi & Rowan, from way up in the Whangarei regions, here for the week and they have been very busy beavers.

They were on a South Island holiday but got sick of doing nothing so arrived full of zest and vigour and spent all week working hard and helping where ever they could.
Total blessings those boys are.
In fact they were so busy all week that I never got a photo of them so had to grab this shot just as they were leaving.

Brooke, Max & Barry left here on Thursday morning to go explore Nelson and the Nelson Lakes area.
Anna left on Friday’s  mailboat – she didn’t want to endure enjoy the road trip again!
Before they left they gave the children some light sticks which they could put around their bodies.
They had a ball dancing to the music in the dark.
Here’s what we could see without the flash…

and a few with the flash.

The three children are all coughing so bad.
Barking like dogs.
I am giving them all the herbs vitamins I can to try and keep their immune systems functioning.
They have gotten to a point now where they are often coughing themselves sick.
Mahalia’s pertussis test came back negative.
BUT
I have spoken to several other mothers who have had pertussis in the family at various times and they all have said that their tests came back negative too and that it is quite hard to diagnose that way.

Apart from the cough they are all quite well.
No fever etc.
Just getting real tired and gut sore from it all.

So.
We have been just chilling.
We have watched a lot of movies.
Began with Kenneth Branagh’s version of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.
It was GREAT.
We really enjoyed it – in fact Shanni said it was the by far her most favourite Shakespearean play yet.
We have also watched ‘The Journey of Natti Gann’.
That was also really good.
An excellent portrayal of life in the depression as well as being a great story.

I am feeling a bit under the weather too so am upping my vitamins in the hopes I am not coming down with something yucky.
My nose is running, I am sneezing and my eyes are sore and runny.
Tim is also not feeling great.
Oh dear – and it is only 2 weeks till ‘The Wedding’.

I have been going through my lists and trying to itemize everything in preparation for my final shopping trip next week.
We are getting most things under control.
Just praying that the 28th will be a lovely day – please pray for us that it will be as Sunni & Ryan are planning an outside beach ceremony.

Nick and Nathan have been carrying on with some maths.
Nick moreso I think, as he is easier to catch at the table working than Nathan is!!
Nick has a routine.
He spreads all his books out on the kitchen table.
Connects himself to his ipod, has his cell phone open in front of him and then works on his maths.
Reckons he cannot concentrate unless he has music blaring away in his ears

Seb is up in Auckland at the moment getting outfitted at Beggs Big & Tall for the wedding.
At 6’8″ (203cm) he is one of their shorter clients!
Their tallest is 7’4″ (223cm)
Sounds like he is having a great time up there with our friends Tim & Lee.
Nice for him to have a change of scenery.

I had a very brain busy morning on Friday.
Spent the time trying to write a resource consent application for the Council, sorting out wedding guests and accommodation and food, and in amongst it all children who were sick, people leaving and feeding everyone.

Well, today the sun is shining, there is still a southerly blowing so still a cool air temperature.
Cat is climbing in the national bouldering comps in Waitomo today – go Cat!!

I had better go get dressed and see if I can whittle some things off my wedding to-do list today.