Pics Of New Zealand

On the east coast (Pacific Ocean) - seashells everywhere!

This is leaving the beach, looking up the hillside.


The windy, cold, west coast (Tasman Sea)

View of Downtown from the Harbour Bridge

A jumper ready to jump from the observation deck of the SkyTower, a 192m leap, fall for approx. 14 seconds at around 85kph!

Matt & I standing on glass floor 192m above the ground.


With a Maori warrior at a cultural performance we went to see at the museum.

The ferry we went on that crosses the Auckland Harbour (from the pacific Ocean) to Devonport (another peninsula)

A cool tree in Devonport.

Hobbiton


One Tree Hill - One of many extinct volcanoes, this one rising 183 metres above sea level.


One Tree Hill - sheep on hillside

Sheep crossing the road

Me atop One Tree Hill with downtown in the distance.


The orange trees in front of my Uncle and Aunt's house where we are staying.


My Aunt and Uncle's house and their gardens still flowering in the winter!


My cousins, Craig and Paul, sons of Uncle Gary and Aunt Betty. We are the only four cousins on this side of the family....finally got to meet each other.


Left to right- Me, Aunt Betty, Uncle Gary, Mom, Matt

Uncle Brian & I

Me with my half-sister, Vicky, who is two years older.











A palm tree, this is a common site in front yards and alond the road side.

Update on New Zealand Trip!

The above date is in Winnipeg, Canada - here in New Zealand it is Thursday, June 26, 2008!! Wow where do I start?! We arrived on Tuesday at 6:00am and it was raining. After a 13 hour direct flight in the air. OWWWW, my derriere, I'm sure I developed some bedsores! My uncle Gary picked us up at the airport and took us to his house in Papakura (about 30 km from downtown Auckland). After taking our suitcases to his house, some visitiing , Matt & I decided to go for a walk around town (in the rain - that's about normal around here in the "winter"). After lunch, my uncle was our tour guide and took us all around in his car. First we drove to the East coast of the North Island (Pacific ocean). the shoreline was a line of seashells. on the way back we stopped at a oyster farm and had some fresh, raw oysters, later stopped to watch the beginning of a rugby game. At the beginning of the game each team does a "Maori Haka" aka war cry/chant. On to the west coast (Tasman Sea). Wow it was so cold, and windy and wild waves slapping the shore. It was so windy we almost couldn't stand on our own two feet. The country side is so beautiful, hills and windy roads everywhere. Sheep grazing on the green pastures everwhere. All of Newe Zealand is made up of extinct volcanoes so there are huge "hills" everywhere (ie 285 ft above sea level). Makes for lots of awesome picture opportunities.
Today we are off to explore the downtown...and yay! the pouring rain and thunder that I woke up to has stopped and the sky has cleared. There is so much I could write about but I need to go as I'm holding things up and I will post some pics when I get home. Now I know what they REALLY mean when they say, "A picture speaks a thousand words"!!
Another cousin, his wife and 2 kids and my other uncle are arriving today. I'm having so much fun meeting my family and seeing where I was born. I'll leave another update soon. Gotta run.

I'm Still Here...

Wow, it's Friday again and I didn't post all week. This week has just been so busy. In addition to getting things packed for my trip (that I still can't entirely believe is really happening in just TWO MORE SLEEPS... I have been busy cleaning the house, organizing the kids clothing drawers so hubby can find things when I'm not here to rummage through the mess, mowing the lawn and weeding the gardens.... Stuff that needs to be done as I won't be here for 2 weeks and hubby will be out in the country with the kids for 1 week, and kids stuff as everything is winding up now. My youngest had his play group wind-up party on Tuesday, Autumn had her preschool graduation on Thursday and her first Literacy Links meeting (1 of 8 meetings to prepare for kindergarten). I went grocery shopping with the kids on Wednesday. Today was the last day I will be taking Wynn to school this year and picking him up. Tomorrow Wynn has his Soccer Jamboree where do their wind-up and he gets his pictures and trophee.

Everything is really starting to bloom now and it is so hot these days. I even noticed they were filling the public pools today. My lilies and poppies both look like they are ready to pop anytime now. Hopefully if they do, somebody can take some pictures for me as I'm not cancelling my trip for that.

The internet is an awesome thing, so even when I'm half-way around the world I will still be able to read other blogs and keep in touch as well as post to this blog. At least that is my hope, to post pics and notes here DURING my trip so you don't have to wait until AFTER I get back to see how we are doing.

Friday Fill-In #77

(To see more great blogs and read more Friday Fill-In answers click on the picture above.)

1. A smile is the equivalent of a thousand words.
2. Pictionary is my favorite board or card game.
3. I would love to have more money to pay bills in my life and less debts.
4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think of air-conditioning.
5. I just remembered I need to go pee....brb.
6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this: "...Just remember that in the winter far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the rose." "One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer!"(as per my hubby :)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to spending time with my kids and hubby, tomorrow my plans include finish packing my suitcases and Sunday, I AM going to New Zealand!

Friday Fill-In #76

1. World travelling to each of the continents (esp. Europe, Africa & Asia) is high up on my bucket list (Now that I know what a bucket list is. We just watched the movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman - Awesome movie).
2. My favorite quote is "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"; it's from the Bible. (there are so many, where do I start?!)
3. A friend inspired me to start blogging.
4. Strawberries are best in a milkshake.
5. I dreamt I was at work...how pathetic is that! in the last dream I remember having.
6. The most enjoyable time to go for a walk is in the evening when it isn't too hot and you hear the birds chirping in the trees.
7. And as for the weekend, (Friday) I’m looking forward to getting my ears pierced with my daughter, tomorrow my plans include going to my in'laws and having a family reunion bbq as we meet a cousin of my FIL from England and Sunday, I want to start packing after we have our bbq with my parents and celebrate Father's Day!

We Did It

I put this pic cause I like the one of us together..and it is a better picture of me. However you can't see our earrings very well. So here are a couple more of us seperate.


The princess. She is so happy to get her ears pierced. For the last five days she's been counting down the sleeps until today.


Moi. I really like my ears pierced and am hoping that I can keep them that way this time.

Circus Pics

Finally, now I can post the pics from the circus....

mmm cotton candy!


riding the elephant




















facepainting -the spider! not on my face, thank you very much!



he had his face painted at the picnic so wanted a balloon instead this time.


the masked princess



It was hard to get a pic of this act as it was moving but I think you can see the motorbike on one end and on the other end is a woman doing flying stunts. Right at the end the ladder & winch or whatever it is moved everything up so even the bike was in the air (not on the track) and it to was spinnig and doing stunts.


KIDS LOVED IT! That made everything worthwhile!

Circus.....and Rain

I was hoping to post some pics from the circus last night but my computer doesn't seem to want to download pics right now. Too early in the morning I guess :). I'll try again later. The kids had a lot of fun despite the weather.

On another note however, it rained and rained all day yesterday and didn't stop until we went to bed last night. The gardens liked it but if you saw the pic of the kid's rocks that they painted, they were so proud of their job. Well, the rain yesterday apparently washed away all their hard work and they were crushed. Guess I'll have to get some different paints and MAKE SURE they are permanent this time . Then we can do it all over again.

Friday Fill-In #75

This weeks questions are courtesy of One Knutty Knitter.

1. Idle hands are obviously not those of a blogger... or a gardener ...or a mother (of which I like to think I'm all of the above).
2. I love the water hot and steamy in the shower.
3. My favorite time of the day is when I can relax and enjoy whatever I'm doing without thinking two steps ahead.
4. The last tea I drank was yesterday at the soccer game - cold green tea.
5. I like to play in the dirt and admire everyone's flower gardens in the Summer.
6. My mother always said I could do anything I wanted if I just put my mind to it (I'm trying:) ).
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to taking the kids to the circus and seeing them ride the elephant , tomorrow my plans include work in the afternoon (nurse) and Sunday, I want to be rested up from a good sleep Sat night as I have to go back to work in the morning(a short 8 hours after I finished the last shift)!

102 Posts!!

Wow, I was just editing some previous posts when I noticed the number of saved posts to be "102"!!! Who would have ever thought that I'd have so much to write about. I know I made an earlier attempt at this blogging thing but it never got past the first post. Then a friend had faith in me and suggested I try again.....and that brings us to now! :) I don't really have anything to say or any big speech, just wanted to acknowledge the fact that I did it and didn't even notice that it happened until now. So here's to 100 more and lots of happy blogging along the way.

ArtWork

Like many of you with kids can attest to I'm sure, I'm not always great at getting things done when I want to. I have great intentions but often put more on my plate than can handle. Well, I finally got around to doing somestuff with the kids that I keep TALKING about.


We finally got around to making more stepping stones with the kids' names and handprints. I made one with Wynn when he was 3 years old (now 7)which you can see at the top. It is a different color as it is dry and the others are still wet. Liam made one (2 years old) and Autumn made one also (4 years old). There was just a little mixed concrete left so mom made one too.

And we also painted some rocks I've had sitting in a pile under the tree since I can't remember when. This area at the end of the deck, where nothing really grew is where I was going to/hoping to make a waterfall pond but after about 5 years of nothing happening I finally made a bed where I transplanted some of my perrenials that were getting overgrown. Unfortunately they don't seem to be making it very well or just off to a slow start...whatever the case it seems like a good place for the kids rock garden until we figure out what to do here and just what will grow here.

Some Progress (see May 19, 2008)

My house from the street. Now the apple tree is in full bloom. The edging still isn't up around the tree yet....THe flowers are starting to grow more now.







Now it (the edging) is! :)
















Another shot of the house from the side as I was walking around the block.

This is the bed at the corner of the driveway (Wynn's garden). In the center the lilies are starting to grow...finally.


This is the bed at the opposite side of the front lawn (Autumn's garden). The big bushy plants on either side are delphiniums. They are beautiful. When they are in bloom, the big purple flowers are the first thing you see as you round the corner onto our street.


My tulip bed (Liam's garden) in full bloom. This was taken a couple days ago so now the tulip petals are starting to fall off and the lilies in the center are getting taller. I'll have to get some colorful bedding plants to put in here once the colorful show from the tulips is gone.

My garden after I finally got it cultivated and the beds raked and raised. I bet those of you who saw the before pic don't even recognize it as the same place.


My lilies are really starting to sprout up everywhere (:D) here in my perennial bed in the backyard and it is really starting to fill in.


Finally, my shade garden in the back, it to is starting to come alive finally as my hostas and ferns are sprouting out of the ground.