Your turn!

Well, I'm doing all the blogging at the moment..but here's your turn!
I would love to know who all my readers are, so, would you please comment with ...

1. Your name,


2. Where you are in the world,


3. Your age catagory - 12 or under, 13 - 19, 20 - 30, 40 - 50, 50 + (optional!)


4. Your hobbies!


5. Something/s you would like me to post about?

Thanks!
Bee

Kai Iwi Lakes and Shiraz - Wednesday 20th April

Written 27 & 28/4/11

After another late morning, we went to the Dargaville info centre, collected some brochures, then drove out to the Kai Iwi Lakes.
Mum and Dad looked around the campground, while the others got soaked in the lake, and me? Well, I sat in the car txting, playing games........and finishing the packet of roasted salted peanuts!(yum!)

After going back to the unit to finish cleaning sand off children, etc., we drove back into Dargaville to look for a nice restaurant, eventually deciding on the Shiraz and Indian restaurant.

Aren't the lights so cool?

The dinner was nice, despite not being as hot as I like (everything was mild) and the desert...well I had chocolate cake, with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Now, I tell you, it is the weirdest sensation eating chocolate cake and having your mouth burn! Seriously, my entire mouth felt like it was on fire!

Later on we did some washing at $4 per load in the machine and driers - Wow the owners of the camp must be rich!
and I did a bit on my cross stitch before having a[nother] late night.

Dargaville Holiday Post #1 - Going on Holiday

(written 27/4/11)

On the freezing cold day of Monday, April 18th, we packed bags and suitcases of clothing, food, toys, games...and so on; Dad swapped our 8-seater for the Aikens' 10-seater (Thanks for loaning it to us!); and, yes, I spent a bit (well, maybe a BIG bit I suppose!) of time on the computer, emailing/chatting to my friends letting them know we were going away. Finally (at about 5:30!) we left for Dargaville, Northland.

We soon discovered that with and above-average sized family and a large van, we drew quite a bit of attention! (The van we borrowed at Christmas time had tinted windows, but because this one doesn't, everyone could see us). So anyway, we had fun laughing at, and waving to all the people who looked at us!! *grin* Not quite enough fun, though, it would seem, because near the beginning of the drive we had a few "Are we nearly there yet?"'s!

Because we arrived in Dargaville fairly late, and it is a very small town, no takeaway shops were open, so, after finding our Holiday Park we went to Woolworths (thankfully that was still open!) and bought bread rolls and cooked chicken for dinner, and a chocolate cake for supper, which we ate on returning to the Holiday Park. Side note - The GPS wasn't very happy that we were driving away from our programmed destination - it kept re-mapping to get us back to the Holiday Park; if you ever hear my siblings say "Turn right, after 100 metres, turn right" that's what they're referring to!

We had tried to get into a cabin, but our family is now too large to fit(!), so we were put in a backpacker unit which consists of

lounge and



dining

three bedrooms;

one with a double bed - Mum and Dad's room,

another had a single and bunk set - Jarrod, Danielle and Bryce

and last but not least - a bunk set comprised of double on bottom, single on top - Monique, Diana and me

Yes Uncle Pete, now I know what it's like sleeping, or ah, not sleeping, with Diana...!

Well, onto the next post...
Cya =)

Dargaville - Tuesday 19th April

Written 27/4/11

I didn't sleep very well Monday night - for various reasons, one of which was that Diana was just about lying on top of me... So after getting up late we headed down to the main street in Dargaville, and went for a walk, and through some of the shops. Despite Danielle's new umbrella being clear plastic with purple spots, she was still nicknamed "Mary Poppins." I picked up a USB Socket charger (so I can charge my Mp3 player in the car), Mum got teaspoons because they don't have any here at the camp. And Mum went to the Hospice and looked at cheap clothing - $1 items, then Dad came in and looked at two fax machines because we'd been having trouble with the one at work, tried one of them (which turned out to be missing an ink cartridge), and bought the other one - a few days later he went back to buy the first one!

We walked down to Westpac Dargaville, as Mum had some banking to do. Because it was a new store - it had opened the day before - they had a REALLY nice chocolate cake that we all had a piece of, and they were giving out easter eggs and small bags of Maltesers.
While we were walking back to the van, Dad decided he should past the fax machine down to Uncle Pete who was running the business while we were away. As a side note, Dad posted it around 5pm - possibly after - and it arrived at work before lunch the next day!

After another trip to Woolworths we went back to our accommodation where Mum made rice, mixed veggies and bacon for dinner.
We then finished the day with a few games of "Uno," fudge and marshmallow eggs.

Bianca

7 & Counting!!

My Mum is expecting again..due 12th March.
This means various things for my siblings, eg. Jarrod (12) says we need a new van (we currently have an 8-seater), for Diana, "Yay, that means we can go to the Aikens' again! (the day Mum had Maria my siblings went to the Aikens' - a homeschool family we know - so Mum could sleep)...and for me, more screaming when I want to sleep...more baby puke..ok I suppose its not all bad but hey..oh and it means I'm expected to make way more meals, look after children..etc..which is ok except I have to fit school work in sometime! =)

Au revoir,
Bee

oops...

oops sorry everyone! I just realised I havn't told you I passed my learners' (drivers license) on the 4th of July.. anyway I'm having fun driving, I currently have about 14 hours logged on practice. =D

Inspire 2011 - Part 2

Don't ask me why, but someone decided to wake up early on Saturday... =(
Nevertheless, after everyone had done each others hair, we still managed to go down to breakfast a little too late, resulting in being split up at the tables. The pancakes were good though =D

Then were chores (who on earth came up with that idea??? I mean, we do chores at home all the time, and then when we have a weekend away, we have to do more?!?) before the first speaker at 9:30.

10:30 was morning tea, then at 11 were the mini-topics - Purity (Kelly Abernethy), a Personal testimony (Kadesh [sorry I don't know her last name!]), and Missions (???).

Lunch - filled rolls - at 12:30, and 1:30 was craft (which we all opted out of) and free time. Everyone else wanted to go swimming, so I went along as photographer:

They wanted a photo with all of them jumping in together, my camera didn't seem to like that idea, here's one just after they've jumped in (obviously..)

This one's a little better though..

They also decided to have a go on the pedal boats:

Well until the next group came along wearing life jackets anyway...!

Here are a couple more pics of the lake, isn't it beautiful?

The rest of our free time was spent talking, looking at the books, jewellery/buttons for purchase, choosing bracelets and viewing the table set up by a volunteer from 'Voice for Life' (if I remember correctly anyway!).

4 o'clock was the next speaker - Lois Jordan on Actively pursuing Godly growth in your relationship with God, your family and others.

5 o'clock - Dinner time! We had butter chicken and heaps of other stuff yum!! And dessert.

At 7pm the evening session started with a Q & A Panel;

Then a talent show. I would love to show some pics of this, but my uncle has put them all on an external hardrive, and I don't know how to access them yet, so you'll just have to wait patiently for them! =)

After supper we had free time again as the evening session had finished early, so we just sat and talked until my dad came to pick up Anne Roos and I. Then, with a slight deviation to McDonald's, we dropped Anne Roos off, and came home. Exuasted. And that was the end of Inspire 2011 for me! Can't wait till next year...! =D