Maria + Laura's Birthday || Presents

: : Laura loves her dolls :) : :

: : Using her new hairbrush! : :

: : Sister smiles : :

: : Maria and all her gifts : :

: : Laura's gifts (minus a ride-on) : :

Wellington || Other Things We Got Up To || Final Post

One day Nana spent a few hours with us at the lodge while Aunty Melissa took Monique, Danielle, and Diana out shopping. Maria and Laura weren't sure about Nana at first but here Laura requests Nana's help to puther sandals on.

After the girls' shopping trip, we all went down to Uncle Bill and Aunty Melissa's for a birthday afternoon tea. Maria ended up getting all the attention though, since Laura slept through the whole thing!

Birthday girl! (Well, one of them.)

Maria isn't so fond of the camera so it took a few attempts to get a decent photo of her with Aunty Melissa. Photo bomb from Diana!

Don't you just love Henry? I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone so excited about vaccuming!

On Wednesday we travelled over the Rimutaka Hills and visited Dad's cousin and her husband at their Salvation Army shop. Then she took us to see dad's uncle Tom (her father), who loves gardening and gave us piles of grapes. (As in we each got a bunch like this one!) After that we dropped in to see a family from church and stayed for dinner. Sadly we didn't take any photos but Auke and Ally's two-week-old little girl, Lana Katy, was very cute. :)

Relaxing one night after we had some of the rallies over for supper.

We have piles of photos {somewhere} of our little people with chippy bags!

Wellington Trip || Camping Fun!

As I mentioned previously, cyclone Lusi was forecast for the lower North Island during the time we were camping down there in March. Saturday night after the wedding was quite blustery but the tent held up all right.

On Sunday, the weather seemed normal and we went to church and continued life as usual. Dad went to the office to see what the options were if the weather got bad during the night and we couldn't stay in the tent. We were given the key for a lodge. 

 In the evening while Jarrod was cooking dinner (butter chicken!), the rain got heavier and the wind got stronger; the ends of the tent were blowing in with the wind gusts. We all went to the kitchen for dinner, planning to start the bedtime routine once we were done. At one point Jarrod went back to the tent to get something, and when he came back he told me there were about 10-12 leaks, maybe more. She thought, "Yeah, right. He's exaggerating." 

When she went back a bit later there were leaks nearly EVERYWHERE and all the bedding was starting to get wet. Then started the made scramble to pack everything up as fast as possible! A few of us older ones helped while Dad stayed with the little ones to keep them settled. (A French tourist couple made them popcorn, so they were happy!) Dad ended up loading most of the others in the van and taking them up to the lodge, then transporting everything out of the tent and taking it up as well. We were still disassembling the camping bunks and stretcher beds (while holding the torches . . . ) after we heard a pole snap and one end of the tent completely caved in. Finally though, only the fridge (borrowed from Nana) was still in the tent. It's amazing how light it (apparently) seemed that night when Mum and Dad carried it through pouring rain across a couple or so tent sites and into the kitchen. We all headed up to the lodge then to get beds made up and little people into bed. Dad and Jarrod went back to pull the tent down a bit later since we didn't want it completely destroyed during the night! 

Initially we were given one night free in the lodge, but our hosts were amazing and ended up allowing us to stay in it until the Thursday -- the full duration of our planned stay. 

The two windows on the lift look into the kitchen; the doors to their right and the large windows facing the dining room lead to the large dining/lounge type room. And on the other side of the block wall? A pretty fancy barbecue! ;)

Windows on the right are the kitchen, then the main entranceway is to the left. The three sets of windows all lead to bedrooms (there are seven bedrooms in total, three shown, three opposite, and one down the far end on the left.

Kitchen! Now that is more my size! haha :)
The stack of muesli boxes? Apparently the price was a deal you'd never see in Auckland so we stocked up. ;) And I guess someone was bored, hence the pyramid. lol

Okay, so I don't normally post photos of bathrooms! We had two like this though, three loos and two showers in each. And lovely BIG mirrors that the bathrooms we used while camping didn't have! 

Big hallway! Kitchen on the left, entranceway farther down on the left, bathroom on the right, and bedrooms through the doorway in the centre.

Lots of tables and seating!

Entranceway and coat hooks. (When we got back from the tent on Sunday night there were bags all over the floor here -- but all the children's jackets were hanging up! {smile}

Hallway and bedrooms

Not very many good photos of the rooms I'm afraid. This is (obviously) the boys one. Four rooms had two sets of bunks each, two had one bunk set and a single bed, and the end room was much larger and had four sets of bunks.

10 on 10

Those of you who stop by regularly will have noticed that this post is late. Sorry about that. And yes, I have back-dated this post so it will be easy to find in my archives. Admittedly these shots aren't all from the same day; I started snapping on Saturday but never got finished. {Yes, I may have fallen asleep on the couch before getting through my to-do list and then woken up at 1am.}

: : Some cards I made on Friday {partly why I wasn't shooting for this post. Oops} : :

: : And this one gives a better view of the matching envelopes : :

: : Someone talks on a puzzle piece : :
Did you know they make good phones?!

: : My flute : :

: : Sewing time! : :

: : The healthiest cookie recipe ever. Not. :P : :

: : Snow White, anyone? : :
In case you're wondering, my sisters wear this when they swim.

: : Music theory exam booked. Study, here I come! : :

: : My all-time fav cookies ;) : :

: : Abstract or not-so cookies : :
{Are you salivating yet?} haha

Jarrod

Happy 15th Birthday Jarrod!

Over the last year Jarrod has been doing: 

• {more} school work [smile]
• violin lessons
• working a few hours a week at a friend's Orchid nursery 
• tramps and overnight tramp/camps - one on Motutapu Island
• building a set of triple bunks!

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!

To Wellington || The Drive

In March of this year my uncle got married in Wellington, so we made the trip down for the first time in a few years! We were a little unsure about how the drive down would go, since we hadn't done it for some time and we had several children for whom this would be the first time. It went surprisingly well though, with only four or so stops(?) and fairly content children. 

Over the years we've often stopped for lunch in Taupo, but this time we opted to continue travelling while I made lunch and handed it around to everyone. Too bad we didn't get any photos; they would have come out interesting! The day before I had made rolls in the breadmaker and (organised the others to) put all the fillings - cut, washed, etc. - into ziplock bags, so I just had to assemble everything.

: : Coffee stop! : :

: : Laura needed to get out of her carseat for a bit, and when she got out she was really excited. : :
She sat here for ages laughing, clapping, playing with Dad and then jumping.

: : Scenery out my window : :

: : Mangaweka : :
Anyone remember this off eDrive? lol 

: : Love this signpost in Bulls!! : :

So glad to arrive at Paekakariki Holiday Park fairly early so we didn't have to set the tent up in the dark! And hooray for pre-made bacon and egg pies that just have to be heated. ;)