Uncle Michael & Aunty Sonia Tie The Knot

Finally the long awaited day, Saturday, March 15th, arrived. Dad and I took Nana to the hair salon and then went to the reception venue to keep an eye out for anything interesting. {smile} We met the DJ and photographer, and helped decorate the car, but sadly no Duggar-style car trashing took place. {Lolz}

After lunch back at the campground and plenty of changing and hair-styling, we headed down to the church for the ceremony. 

: : Groom and groomsmen (Uncle Bill and Uncle Marty) : :
The timing worked out really well . . .  the bride arrived {late} soon after we got the forgotten and rushed-back-for boutonnières!

: : Ceremony : :

: : Bridesmaids: Katrina and Nichole : :
{Gotta love Pagani dresses!}

The reception was held at the Mana Cruising Club, and we enjoyed refreshments and talk while the bridal party had their photos done. No photos of it here, but for the guest book, Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia had an instant photo booth where you could take all sorts of random photos, then choose a sheet to paste into an album and write a message. Bryce has something of a collection of shots! Such a cool idea for a guest book and too bad there were hardware issues resulting in it shutting down before everyone had a go.

: : Seating plan : :
(Don't you love how we have a table to ourselves? haha)

: :  Family photo : :
(And I was wearing sizeable heels! :P)

: : With cousins: Mitch and Kurt : :

: : Kids' meals : :
A great way to save money and easier for us since we didn't have to take all the little ones up to get food!

: : Their parents' wedding photos : :
His on the left, hers on the right

: : Fondant flowers - amazing! : :

: : Mr & Mrs Jago : :

: : Uncle Bill, Aunty Melissa, Olivia, and Harry : :

This also happened to be the weekend of cyclone Lusi. While I sure wouldn't call the weather cyclonic, we did get rather wet leaving the reception. Glad it held up for the photos earlier in the day!

Wellington Adventure! || Part 2

Click here to read part 1.

On Tuesday, Aunty Melissa had to get someone a birthday present (#scoreforme) so we hit a couple of shops after dropping Nana at her friend's place, then headed to a bowling alley for some fun.

A few more shops and a grocery trip later, we headed home for a few hours. Then out to a barbecue dinner, where I met lots of new people [and didn't take any photos]. 

Aunty Melissa, Olivia, and I made for the mall on Wednesday morning for a few hours shopping. (For some reason Harry didn't think that sounded very exciting, so we left him at home with Nana.) I tried on several things, but ended up settling with just a couple of bracelets (yeah, I can be great at window shopping ;)). Oh yeah, and the coffee was good! :)

Later we picked Uncle Bill up from work and went to the Fisherman's Table for dinner. 

Group photo :)

Cousins: Olivia and Harry

After that it was straight to the airport for my short flight home. *sigh*

To these:

Eltham - Day 2 - Saturday December 24th

Written December 24th

On Saturday, December 24th, I woke up all too early considering my late night. I was awake around 6am I think, then went back to sleep. About 9 I asked someone what the time was, but I had already been awake for a little while before that. Not ready to get up and brave the camp bathrooms, I picked up my book, Courageous, and read until I had finished it, about 11 or so! I’m considering writing a book review about it, seriously, it is SUCH a great book! Can’t wait to see the movie……..! =D

Finally, I got up and organised, had a shower, and...yeah I got back on my laptop... *grin* Late morning, more people started arriving, suddenly we weren’t the only people at the campsite! We had lunch, after which we intended to go out, but it just so happens that it never became more than an intention! After a bit of time doing who-knows-what Uncle Bill, Aunty Melissa, Olivia and Harry arrived, and I (along with some of my siblings and a couple of other people) helped them erect their tent. Unfortunately I didn’t remember sunscreen then either, so part of me looks like a beetroot as I write this...lol! Actually what has me baffled is that my sunburn is slightly splotchy where all the skin is white????!

By dinner time, there was a fairly large group of us here, and a few of the fathers went to pick up fish and chips for us all. I kind of wonder what the takeaway shop thought when they got our order?! Lol Ours was a tired and slightly short-tempered family who gathered around on the grass to devour our meal!

After dinner we pretty much just talked, while some worked in the kitchen, or played with the balls outside. Nine o’clock Aunty Melissa txt Aunty Denise to see how far away they were, about half an hour, so we decided not to wait, and just called everyone inside to sing happy birthday to Bryce, and have his cake (it was delicious!! Thank you Uncle Mike! =))



Bryce's new toy...



When you eat something yummy,
make sure you try wearing it too!

Uncle Marty, Aunty Denise, Mitch and Kurt arrived at 9:20, and we all continued to talk for a while longer, while some of the children watched movies on a projector, until some of us decided to hit the sack. I ironed some of our clothes for tomorrow (I miss my ironing board!), and each member of the Auckland Jago Family prepared for bed. It’s now 11:44 and everyone is in bed, and I’m just typng this before join them.

Good night everyone! =)

Bianca

December 24th

Well, the 24th wasn't anything exciting for us, we drove down to Stratford (near New Plymouth).
As we hadn't been that way before, Dad asked Jarrod to print a map from Google...well, thinking the route wasn't very straight, Jarrod changed it...and we ended up on the 'Forgotten World Highway,' driving through ghost towns and the like...one place we stopped in had the public toilets in a water tank...yes I'm serious..actually they were pretty good considering.. oh, and we had to go over a couple of saddles, which, by the way, are VERY windy, it was fine with me except that the van was a little longer than Dad is used to driving, and one of the back wheels hung over the edge of the road, so Mum was seating in the back saying "slow down, slow down."
We wen't around one corner, and two cars were coming towards us quite fast, Mum completely freeked out, but Dad said, "those cars wanted to play bumper cars with us!"
And we went through a fairly long, one way tunnel.
Some of the road was even shingle (or corrugated as they say in Oz).

We arrived in Stratford between 3:30 - 4pm. First we found our campground, and unloaded most of our stuff into our backpacker hostel with 12 beds, got changed, and ate some of the ham rolls left over from lunch.

Then Dad rung Aunty Sonia to get directions to their place, and we headed over for the evening. A bit later, Uncle Mike came home from work, and Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa, Olivia and Harry, came over too, and we all had dinner together before most of the others went down to the park.

By the time we got back to where we were staying it was quite late, so we had something to eat and went to bed (where I read my book! =)).

Xmas day

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted for a while.
And, umm, i tryed to download my camera, and clicked the 'delete pictures off my device after copying' button, but for some reason there are blank thumbnails, NO IMAGES on the computer, and the photo's have been deleted off my camera. So there won't be any images on this post yet.

Anyway,
On Xmas day... I woke up (and got up) early about 8:45am, and had breakfast, finished the cheesecakes,etc. Yes, Uncle Pete, i did spend AGES doing my hair!!! (and i used 2 cans of hairspray - just joking!!)
Mum and Dad and everyone else came to Nana's for showers, etc.

I grabbed my camera, pressents, desserts, etc, etc, and we went to Aunty Melissa's.
We were sitting outside in the sun, and i got sunburnt. - again. Mum had bought my favourite chips - Thin Cut, Sour Cream and Chives (yyuuuuuuuummmmm!!), and corn chips.

Bryce was very worried about Jesse - Uncle Bill & Aunty Melissa's dog. I seem to have a pic of him with his bone:

Then the moment all the children had been waiting for - time to give and recieve pressents. I got some purfume (Revlon Pink Passion - I think) from Uncle Marty & Aunty Denise, $20 from Uncle Bill & Aunty Melissa, and $15 from Nana - oh, and a mini chocolate bar from Diana!! We didn't do the adult pressents, since Uncle Mike & Sonia weren't there.

Then lunch - 3 salads, BBQ'd Pork, Boiled Potato's, etc.

Then talking, playing, and some of the children got in the spa pool. Mum, Aunty Melissa, and I were standing outside it, and yes, we got splashed, or maybe drenched would be a more descriptive word?? :-)

We got the children out of the spa for dessert - Chocolate Mud cake, rasberry(?) cheesecake, pavlova (made by Nana), whipped cream, and ice cream. Which everyone enjoyed.

Then we just talked for most of the night.

Diana watched her new DVD - Little Einsteins- Animal Expidition.

We looked at Aunty Melissa's scrapbooking/cardmaking stuff, ate Chocolate Meatballs (Rum Balls) [When my cousin Harry (now 6) was younger, he called them chocolate meatballs, and the name stuck], Coconut ice, strawberries, potato chips, etc.

Dad's Aunty Cathy popped in with some other people - I can't remember exactly who maybe her daughter and grandchildren??

Mum and Dad went back to the cabin, and Aunty Melissa and Olivia (9/10) took Nana & me back to Nana's.

I think we got ready for bed, then MIGHT have watched a movie - while I was staying with Nana we watched Funny Face, Second-Hand Wedding, and the 1st & 2nd of the Anne of Green Gables DVD's, I'm writing that here since I can't remember what nights we watched them on, so i probably won't put anything on the other posts.

CYA L8R,

Bee