December 25 --Christmas Day!--

We got up and organised, then left for my uncle's shop - Eltham 4 Square. He has a massive room, with ajoining kitchen, etc above the shop's storeroom.



The side of another building out the back of Uncle Mike's shop.



A view of the front of the shop

Mum got the vegies cooking, and the rest of us talked a little bit, and waited for the food to be ready =).

Eventually(!) the food was ready and we all sat down to a late lunch of roast pork and chicken, bread rolls, carrots, peas & corn, broccoli, various salads and roast potatoes. Unfortunately some of the little ones' appetites had been kinda ruined from all the snacks they had eaten before lunch!
During lunch wasn't exactly quiet with lots of talking, party poppers and christmas crackers.

A while after lunch we did pressents - the giver wore a pair of 'Santa' pants and hat - this wasn't exactly quiet either, with shouts of delight, etc....!
I recieved

• A necklace with a heart pendant - Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia
• Gold bracelet with ruby and hankies - Nana
• Cool Charm body spray, handbag and hand cream & mini emery board travel pack - Uncle Marty and Aunty Denise
• Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa did one pressent for our whole family - a family pass to Wellington Zoo.

And I have a funny feeling I might have missed one or two..so if I remember I'll edit this.



In this photo, Nana is giving out pressents.
Recieving the pressent is Maria, held by Jarrod.
 Behind them is Aunty Sonia with Lucus - her son-  (just turned 2).
Continuing from left to right, Danielle, Dad, Diana, Mitch
 (17), Kurt (15), and at the front - Uncle Mike.



Lucus' new car, Harry (7) with his new boxing gloves



Diana's new stroller



Okay, I'm pretty sure dessert was next, and I got roped into helping prepare it (no, Aunty Melissa, I didn't mind =)).

Pavlova, trifle, chocolate brownies, christmas pudding, custard....dessert was a hit same as usual! 

We sat around talking for a while longer, then most of us went for a walk... Uncle Bill started randomly waving at all the cars that went past! We got lots of weird looks! At one point there was guy sitting in the drivers seat of a car on the opposite side of the road, facing us. Well, we waved at him, but he continued to stare straight ahead with a straight face, like "I  am NOT going to look!" Uncle Bill yelled "Oy!" Still nothing. Unfortunately it is no where near as funny here as it was at the time, we all started laughing!

After the walk we started to clean up, and Uncle Mike gave Christmas stockings to everyone 12 or younger (well, 11 I guess).
After we left there, we drove around Eltham a bit, and as they had filmed a movie or something there, heaps of shops were done up to look really old, etc... here's a photo of one, although I think this one was more for the name:

So then we went back to the backpacker hostel, and everyone played with their new toys, had supper and went to bed.


Bee

Quiz

Ok, one of my friend's has been doing quizzes about herself on her blog, and it looks like fun, so I'm going to try it:

1. When do you feel your best?


(a) In the morning

(b) During the afternoon and early evening

(c) Late at night



2. You usually walk

(a) fairly fast, with long steps

(b) fairly fast, but with short, quick steps

(c) less fast, head up, looking the world in the face

(d) less fast, head down

(e) very slowly



3. When talking to people, you

(a) stand with your arms folded


(b) have one or both your hands on your hips


(c) touch or push the person to whom you are talking


(d) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair



4. When relaxing, you sit with

(a) your knees bent and your legs neatly side by side

(b) your legs crossed

(c) your legs stretched out or straight

(d) with one leg curled under you



5. When something really amuses you, you react with

(a) a big, appreciative laugh

(b) a laugh, but not a loud one

(c) a quiet chuckle

(d) a sheepish smile



6. When you go to a party or social gathering, you

(a) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you

(b) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know

(c) make quietest possible entrance and try to stay unnoticed



7. You are working hard, concentrating hard. You are interrupted. You:

(a) welcome the break

(b) feel extremely irritated

(c) vary between these two extremes



8. Which of the following colors do you like most?

(a) red or orange

(b) black

(c) yellow or light blue

(d) green

(e) dark blue or purple

(f) white

(g) brown or gray



9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep, you lie:

(a) stretched out on your back

(b) stretched out face down on your stomach

(c) on your side, slightly curled

(d) with your head on one arm

(e) with your head under the covers



10. You often dream that you are

(a) falling

(b) fighting or struggling

(c) searching for something or somebody

(d) flying or floating

(e) You usually have a dreamless sleep

(f) You're dreams are always pleasant


hope thats not too boring to read =)

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! =)).

December 23

Hi Again everyone,

Well, I'm going to start posting about our trip to Wellington with the day before we left.

Mum got the packing for most of the other children done before I got up, then some of us (Danielle and Diana went to our cousins house)  went shopping for the last few gifts, and anything else we needed to get before going away.
When we got home, I wrapped my pressents, and Mum and Dad packed their clothing and picked up to Burtons' 12 seater Nissan Caravan which they had offered to loan us for our trip since we no longer fit in our 8-seater!
Eventually, (and with a lot of help =) ) Mum and Dad decided to get Fish and Chips for dinner (well actually I had 2 Big Ben pies..).
After dinner it was already quite late, so Mum put the children to bed, and I started my packing.
Once we had all the bags packed, Mum put them all in the van, and I directed Monique on how to make lunch for the next day (so we can don't have to stop for lunch, and just eat it in the van), and helped get all the extra bits and pieces and put them in the van. Oh, and I 'helped' Mum decide where everyone should sit.
Monique and Jarrod were sent to bed not long after that (although they weren't very impressed about it!) and Mum went to put Maria to bed while I finished getting all the food, cutlery, etc....that we would need both for the trip down, and for staying in a backpacker hostel.
I got to bed quite late in the end, and probably only had about 4 hours sleep.

Bee

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Wishes for 2011 =)

Luv Bee

Season's Greetings

Hey Everyone,

Season's Greetings! =)

Well we are leaving for New Plymouth anytime now! Hopefully  I can post heaps about it when we get back.

Cya,
Bee
PS: Uncle Pete wanted me to say how long it took me to get out of bed this morning and what a grumpy grumpy horrible young lady I will be later in the day. 

PPS  Uncle Pete was right!

Life

Hey Everyone,

A few of my friends keep asking me not to try and post about all the things we've been doing in the last few months, but instead to post about what we're doing now. Although I won't make any promises about not still trying to post about the rest of this year, I will tell you what we're doing now.

Uncle Pete arrived home from his World Trip on the Thursday the 9th of December, and started working with Dad the next Monday.

It is 7:23pm right now, and Mum, Dad and I  will be going shopping in a few minutes for Xmas pressents for Dad's side of the family who live in Wellington.

On Friday we are intending to go to New Plymouth to spend Christmas with Dad's family, and on Monday continue down to Wellington. We are scheduled to arrive home on New Year's Eve.
One of Dad's brothers bought a 4 Square in Eltham which is just out of New Plymouth (sorry I wasn't able to make sense of Mum and Dad's description of how far); and the rest of the family will come up from Wellington so we will all be together in New Plymouth.

Anyway I think Mum and Dad are ready to go, hopefully I can post again soon =)
Cya
<3 Bee