Not much has really happened lately. We went to Mt Hutt in August for Nathans 30th and Flynn loved the snow - very cold as you can imagine and we didn't want to go skiing but was cool just to check it out!

Its now November and I am 26 weeks pregnant - we are having another boy and are very happy! I finish work on the 17th of December and can't wait. Apart from that nothing much to report.

Hopefully will have more time when I finish work to do a better blog! Thats all for now folks!

Auckland trip 2010

It was time to go home to Auckland to catch up with friends and family. I wanted to show Nathan the places I grew up and give us all some time together before calving season which means we usually miss each other during the week and can go for days without seeing each other at all!

We stayed with Uncle Clive and Aunty Judy who are awesome and to me feels like home. We arrive on Wednesday 30th of June and went home to chill out. I knew the holiday would be a good one, but go like the wind and be over in no time so wanted to make the most of it.

Thursday we went to the Zoo and met up with Ang who brought Giselle. It was an awesome day but unfortunately not many animals were out as the zoo seemed to be doing a lot of renovations!

Flynn and Giselle at the Zoo

Friday Clive and Judy took the three of us up to Judy's Aunty's farm in Waipu. It was a lovely drive and we had an awesome day venturing about and looking at old place's I used to go when I was little. Mum and Dad used to take me and my bro camping to Mangawai Heads so we went there to have a look and it hasnt changed from what I remembered it. We used to swim accross to the sand dune and run all the place like idiots and and then would swim back to camp etc..

Maungawai Heads camp with sand dune...

On the Saturday we had friends over to catch up as I knew we would run out of time to be able to go and catch up with everyone individually. So nice day at home with mates and family.

Sunday we went to the shops and had a look around Auckland, just an easy day.... Nathan was infactuated with the Sky Tower.... Being the biggest building in the Southern Hemisphere and all.

Sunday night we picked up Blair from the airport. Blair is Nathans friend who has been teaching English in Kuwait for the last year or so. We had an Awesome roast pork and some red wine. These things are not allowed in Kuwait so hopefully it was a nice treat for Blair.

The next day Nathan, Flynn, Blair and me ventured for 5 or so hours down to Taranaki where Blairs dad lives and so we dropped him off there and also where my dad lives. Nathan, Flynn and I stayed at my dads for 3 nights. The weather wasn't great but it was good to catch up.

Dad pushing Flynn on the swing at the Hawera Park.

We then ventured onto Whitianga where my Uncle Derek, Aunty Dot and Cousin Lesley live. Whitianga is a beautiful place and a place I went a lot during my childhood. I always feel like I have been to another part of the world when I have been here. There is no hustle and bustle of the city - it is all beach's, cafes and relaxation. The boat in the next photo is my Uncles. This is the view from their lounge window.

Boats name: Ahurangi.

(I have no idea what this means in English)

Cooks Beach

(Just over the water from Whitianga) You would never have known it was winter this day, it wasn't as hot as Summer gets but a cracker day to go to the beach.

We got back to Auckland on the Saturday and with me feeling a bit sick decided to go back to Clive and Judys and just relax for the rest of the day.

Over the next few days we made it to Kelly Tarltons and Ang came along this time with Michael. It was a great day and well worth it. Kelly Tarltons is a place where they have fish and sea life in tanks and a massive tunnel you can go through to view the fish, stingray, sharks etc swimming all around you. The boys loved it. It was great to spend some time with a great mate again too!

Flynn and Michael at Kelly Tarltons

Stingray and fish in the tankBack at Clive and Judys house - Aunty Judy had gone and brought some toys for Flynn to play with, lucky all of the boys were interested in them and had a ball trying them out together!

Now we are home again and back into life as normal... back to reality.

The lights and lanterns night in Dunedin was a great sucess, the temprature stayed at a steady 9 degrees and wasn't too cold. The theme of the night was Creatures of the sea and flynn loved it. I got him some of those glow sticks and he was all disco looking and ready to go! The parade was great and Flynn danced to the drums when they came past. Here are some pics of the night, pretty amazing but photos never really show the true scene that you see with your own eyes.

Marian and Lloyd came along.

Flynn and I before the big show (Flynn with sauce all over his face).

Flynns cheesy grin (what a poser!).

Nathan chillin out (Literally)

People go to classes to make the lanterns and then go into the parade, its great, the kids love it.. and by kids I mean (adults and kids!).

The seahorses were my favourite.

A great night all around but happy to be home in the warmth... it is now 9pm and 2degrees outside!

Went for our annual poker run yesterday, cracker day for it - not a cloud in the sky! Here are some pictures to show the day.

Dunedin Harbour approx 10am.

Getting the boat ready.

At the wharf

On the boat

Flynn with his favourite toys buzz light year and Bumble bee.

Beauty day no complaints and the photos say it all!

This last week has been filled with rain and floods all over the country. Oamaru itself had the roads coming in and out from either side closed due to flooding.

Our section was not as bad as that but still impressively flooded!



This park down the road is obviously not normally full of water and ducks having a good old time swimming!

Apart from the floods we haven't been up to much since Easter to be honest but I did go for a trip down to Riverton where my bro and his family live. Its a 2 hour drive from home so you kinda have to stay for the night if you go there! Here are the kids sitting on the front door step all singing "cheese" to the camera in harmony!

The kids in Jessica's bedroom - playing with the camera more than their toys! (bunch of posers!)

Back home a day helping Grandad build a sandpit!

At home with the new tyre swing we put up in the garden. Great fun!

So all in all - just regular life around here! Apart from winter arriving with a thump not much else to report - I would imagine I will have more to say when we have been to Auckland for our Mid Year get away!

Twizel - Easter 2010

We went inland to Twizel for four days over Easter. Very nice wee town with loads of lakes. We went on the boat a few times. Friday we went to lake Ruataniwha, beautiful weather and the water was so blue and clean. The photo's don't show just how beautiful the lakes were but they give you an idea!

This photo was taken in the morning whilst walking around Twizel township.

Marian, Lloyd and Nathan.

Flynn wanted an ice cream, of course he had to share it with me!

We decided seen as it was such a hot sunny beautiful day we would test our luck with Flynn on the boat!

Nathan coming onto the boat after parking up the truck.

Flynn's first boat ride, it was just such a perfect day for it - just look at the water - so blue!

We went to Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo on Saturday which was really cool. Lake Tekapo has a lovely wee church called 'The church of the good shepherd' and it is just on the edge of the lake. Just awesome scenery.

Lovely being surrounded by the hills and having some water there too! Very nice atmosphere.

View of Lake Tekapo from the summit - down on the right side of the photo is where the photos from above were taken and the church is on the left hand side of the wee river you can see on the right of the photo.

I think this damn is going into Lake Benmore, in which I found fasinating and again the water is just so blue and clear because it comes from the snow that has melted off the hills over the year.

A couple of guys were fishing at the damn while the water was coming out! Crazy I thought!We enjoyed our weekend, of course it went too fast but we would definately go back. Next time we would probably stay at Lake Tekapo because we loved our day there and wanted more but had to go. I would definately recommend going there - Mount cook is not far away and also the ski feilds are right there too - so good for summer or winter!

Without posting about 300 photos that was pretty much what we did! Hope you enjoyed the photos and hope you are all well! Until next time - ciao. xx

Short and sweet today! Couldn't resist these photos I think they are great!

The Otago Museum have a dinosaur exhibition on until May and with Flynn really being into Dinosaurs lately we just had to go!

Flynn now has some dinosaurs at home that he carries around everywhere with him! He loves them nearly as much as loves transformers!

Maybe he will be an archiologist? ....

Or a zoo keeper? ..... who knows, Im sure whatever he is it will be fantastic! We had a great day at the Museum and can't wait to go again! Flynn now has some dinosaur's at home that he keeps next to his bed to keep him company at night. Nathan and I have to kiss them goodnight as well as him now! (interesting kissing a dinosaur goodnight!)

Until next time ....

Ciao!

Well, dad came down for the weekend last weekend as he had work to do on the Monday. So after going to the markets in Dunedin on the Saturday morning Nathan, Flynn and me went and picked him up from the airport (literally a 5min drive from our house) went home for a cuppa tea then took him out to Saint Clair beach. As you can see it was a beautiful day and at least 20 degrees!


We then took him to another beach called Sandfly Bay. You have to walk about 20minutes from the car park down hill to get to the beach, the last part of the walk is down a massive sand dune which you then have to climb back up (obviously) to get back to the car. Definately something you only want to do if you are feeling fit! A big work out on the way up! The beach however is lovely and if you go right to the other end of the beach - sometimes there are seals and yellow eyed penguins, we didn't do that as the tide was coming in and didn't want to get stuck!

(Here we are walking down the sand dune to the beach)

Flynn loves giving rasberries and this is a wonderful show of how wet they are! Grandad obviously loves them! Flynn was really happy to see his grandad Preece and was full of cuddles for him!

It was good to have dad here for the weekend and we hope he comes again soon!

Thats all for now folks! Cheerio.