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

Eltham - Day 1 - Friday 23rd December

Written 23rd December

On Friday, 23rd December I attempted to get an early start to the day, but apparently I was too tired from previous days of preparation! Anyway the rest of my family did get up early (for them lol! =)), and organised the rest of our belongings that we hadn’t been able to pack the day before. We managed to leave home about 9:15am, after a slight delay as Dad didn’t like the fact that the back window was entirely blocked!

I passed the time by reading Courageous, a very interesting book! Can't wait for the movie to come out.... Hmm I was wishing I understood Spanish though! =)

Not too far into the trip Diana (6) asked: “Are we nearly there yet?” Wow was I glad it was only a six-hour trip to Eltham, not far from New Plymouth, rather than the the nine-hour trip to Wellington which we have done nearly ever year for as long as I can remember!

Around 1pm we had a 1-hour lunch stop in Mokau. Then back on the road, and I let Diana have my camera to take photos and videos. Need I say that the batteries were dead when she’d finished? Lol!

Here are a couple of pics from the drive:



A tunnel we drove through...

Mount Taranaki (aka. Mount Egmont)

 

Uncle Mike's number plate!

We took a slightly round-about trip, through New Plymouth, to pick up some boxes of Favourites my uncle needed for his shop (Eltham Four Square). About 4pm we delivered the Favourites, and followed my uncle, with his awesome number plate, to the campground we and our extended family were staying at – Eltham Presbyterian Campground. After inspecting much of the complex, we finally chose a cabin, brought our many bags and suitcases in, and readied our beds for when we would come in late and tired.

Soon Nana and Aunty Sonia arrived, and we just sat and talked for a while, apart from an all-out search for Maria (21-months) when no one new where she was; and Dad was worried because there is a stream not far away. We continued talking until Uncle Mike had not only come back(he’d gone home for a little while), but also barbequed the sausages and prepared the rest of dinner. All of us then went down to the hall, complete with kitchen, tables and chairs.

After dinner Uncle Mike brought out all the Christmas decorations which we helped put up, then readied tressle tables and chairs for the expected 35 people.

When it got a bit later Uncle Mike, Aunty Sonia, Nana, and Lucus (my 3-year-old cousin) left for Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia’s house, and we began our long routine in preparation for bed! It is now 11:19 and, obviously I guess (seeing as I’m writing this!), we havn’t finished the routine yet!

So I’m typing this on my new laptop (picked it up on Wednesday lol!), listening to the Manna Worship Album #3(?) I think. Jarrod has just climbed into his top-bunk bed (he was sitting next to me watching me type), Mum is trying to put Maria to sleep, and everyone else is in bed. I’m also about to head there, as yes I’m VERY tired!

Tomorrow we’re expecting Uncle Bill, Aunty Melissa, Olivia (12) and Harrison (8) to arrive sometime in the afternoon, and Uncle Marty, Aunty Denise, Mitch (18) and Kurt (16) around 9pm. Uncle Mike, Aunty Sonia, Lucus, Nana, and some of Aunty Sonia’s family are also coming to stay at this campground.

Well I’m going to bed now (11:29) so,

G’night everyone!

Love Bee =)

Preparation for Holiday in Eltham - Thursday 22 December

Written 24th December


On Thursday, 22nd December, we were supposed to pack our bags and suitcases for going away the following day. As it happened, I was still sewing the clothes that I wanted to pack! Talk about cutting it close….man! Jarrod (12) had actually packed the previous day, so I got him to make Diana (6) a new skirt (Yes she needed new clothes badly!). I attempted to get Monique to finish a skirt she had started for Diana, but it would appear that she needs some more lessons before I tell her to just make a tiered skirt with limited help!

So I alternated between sewing and transferring some files to my new laptop. Actually I was sure there were more things I was doing, but I can’t think what!

Around 3pm we left to do some last-minute shopping (actually I only went because I needed a haircut, I had heaps of split ends and I just needed to get my hair tidied up). We didn’t make it to the hairdressers, but arrived home at 4pm, and no I actually hadn’t accomplished anything so would have been far better to stay home and continue my packing!

Anyway Mum left for her midwife appointment with Monique, and Dad took the rest of us to the mall so I could get my hair cut, while he took everyone else to McDonald’s. Yes , I needed my hair tidied up, but it kind of annoys me that I can’t seem to get my hair to grow longer and still look nice! Seriously, that was only the second time this year that I’ve actually had my hair cut, and it is definitely WAY shorter now than it was at the beginning of the year! On the way out I met a friend I haven’t seen in ages, Sara, with her Mum and Dad. =)

At home, Mum made dinner, while I replied to a couple of emails, watched part of the Little House on the Prairie DVD that my siblings were watching, and did some more sewing. After a TV dinner, I continued sewing, et cetera, and later on I played on my laptop at the same time…=) lol Dad also picked up the Burtons’ 12-seater.

Well, I finally finished packing my suitcase, and Mum packed everything into the Burtons’ van. Believe it or not, I eventually I made it to bed!

Bryce's Birthday

My brother Bryce actually turned 4 on December 24th, but because we were going away that day, we celebrated it on the 21st. I'm not going to do a big write-up, but here are a few photos:



Yummy present!



Cake...

Birthday Boy

Hip-hip-hooray!

Bible Study Breakup

Written 24th and 26th December

Monday, December 22nd saw me baking banana cakes, writing a shopping list, and rushing around the supermarket when Mum finally took me! When she dropped me home, I made a pasta salad, and iced one of the cakes almost as fast as I could. Then I got myself ready, and was picked up by the Sonnevelds at about 3:15, and went to their house.

My friends and I cut and prepared a LOT of food(!), and had a go at making punch…although no one seemed to have much of an idea of how to make it! We survived the ordeal with only one bottle of soft drink spilt (don’t worry Joanna! (4years)), and a few blood splotches on the floor because Joanna had cut her foot (I think without realising?)

Once we had all the food ready, we took it down to the flat, er, garage (it doesn’t look like a garage though…!).

We turned on the plate thingie (what’s it called?) for the gourmet dinner, and were slightly surprised at how fast it heated up! So we quickly lit the candles, and put some food into the trays to cook. For those of us who like to do things as fast as possible, the food cooked a little too slowly, but we did really enjoy it!

Middy has an ipod, so we played music for a while, and someone also came up with the idea of us singing! As tradition has it, I had a mind blank and couldn’t think of any songs I knew and could sing (although, in fact, I love music and singing along to it, so there probably is at least a few songs that I know well enough to have been able to sing them!), but it was fun watching, photographing, and videoing the others! I took all the photos on my camera, and all the videos on a friend’s camera, but unfortunately they deleted all the videos. =(

Middy, Ruth, Essie

Amid the singing (and laughing!) we did find time to eat! A lot too...haha We ate TONS of dinner, then decided to go for a bit of a walk before dessert. We walked through a paddock (inhabited by sheep...why on earth didn’t I put something on my feet???!) to a rope swing, that swung over a decent sized drop! We soon walked back for dessert.

We lit the candle and poured the chocolate into the bowl for the fondue, and while we waited for it to melt, we roasted, and completely burned, some marshmellows (yum!) . Anyway, it did melt, and we dug in..it was delicious! My friends then went a little crazy (I think they{er, we!} may have had too much sugar?!?!):

Middy, Ruth, Essie

Essie



Middy



Burning marshmellows....*grin*



And a group pic just before we left...



Mrs Sonneveld did eventually manage to get us all into the car to drop us home! (Thank you!)
And thus ended our awesome night! =D

Bee

Umm..

Ok so November/December I was doing heaps heaps of shopping, right?
Well, this is one particular day I'm blogging about.

First, I went to Manna Christian bookshop - and one of the shop assistants recognised me and said 'hi.'

Later on, I went to eQUIP, and the shop assistant there was like 'Hey, your mum's pregnant, aye? When is she due?' And, ' You haven't got all your sisters with you today!'
I went to a few other places, and then went back when I realised I hadn't used my 50% off voucher (for signing up to their club thingie), to see if she'd honour it (she did! =D). When I got out to the van I looked through my bag from eQUIP, and something was missing, oops! So, for the THIRD time that day I went to eQUIP. When I got there and asked about it, she gave it to me in a bag with a note on it saying something like this: (I was just going to scan the note in but Mum says she chucked it out) :'(

"I have already been paid for,
but my owner left me behind.
(Her name is Bianca) =)"

How's that for being well known?!? lol!

This next scenario is of a slightly different nature =)

We decided to get pizza for dinner, so went to Domino's. I placed the order, and was asked what name it was for, "Bianca," I replied. Then on the screen with order statuses my name came up as "PRIYANKA." Mum didn't even realise it was our order ;-) haha

When I told Dad about the first two scenario's he said I did too much shopping...seriously, though, a teenage girl can NEVER do too much shopping!!!! *grin*

Rainbow's End

Written 29/11/11 to 5/12/11

Ok so I've lived about 5 or 10 minutes drive from Rainbow's End, New Zealand's largest theme park, for my entire life, but I'd never actually been there, until a couple of weeks ago...

The day of Friday ?? November began like any other day - searching for clothes to wear, deciding what to eat for breakfast...lol Finally my uncle managed to drag all four of us out the door, and into his car, with Mum giving last-minute instructions all the while. =)

When we arrived, we lined up to be ticked off the list of homeschool attenders, and recieve our wristband-our pass to get on the rides for the day. Homeschoolers had come from all over Auckland, and even a large group from Hamilton! 5 or so school buses also came with eager students. 

This is just a portion of the crowds; to the left were the school groups.

While waiting in line (the first of the waiting we would do that day), I was pleased to meet some friends I hadn't seen in a loooong time! Jarrod also met up with the Campbells', who he was to spend the day with.

Eventually we were allowed inside the park, and wondered what ride we should do first? Uncle Pete decided the Motion Master would be the one, so we proceeded to line up, and finally, enter it. The current video was Journey to the Center of the Earth, and I think Uncle Pete enjoyed it, but Monique, Danielle, and I weren't so enthusiastic. lol The three of us spent a minimal amount of time looking at the screen...

  

Uncle Pete thought it would be good to do a more Danielle-suited ride next, so we proceeded to Cadbury Castle. She and Monique enjoyed the carousel, and I did the Dragon's Flight with Monique, but Danielle deemed it 'too scary.'

After a bit of a walk, Monique decided she would like to do the Invader, so Uncle Pete took her on that. Apparently she did ok until the first rise, then, well, let's just say Uncle Pete was a bit worried about her..

Next up was..um... the Bumper Boats, I think? The waiting in line actually took longer than the ride... Anyway I kinda enjoyed crashing into people...lol

Oh great, my brain's fuzzing out a bit here, but I think we did the Dodgems, had lunch,  then did the Log Flume, before riding the Pirate Ship.

ok random but anyway...lol

Then Monique and Danielle rode the Jumpin' Star (mini fearfall).

Uncle Pete and I did the Gold Rush, while Monique and Danielle waited at the entrance/exit.
We then proceeded to ride the aforementioned Pirate Ship three times in a row, on which I met some friends, so yeah we had fun raising our arms (you are instructed to raise your arms if you feel sick so they can stop the ride, but I seriously wonder how they know if someone's actually sick!), and screaming on the count of three....lol

Uncle Pete (half jokingly) asked if we wanted to ride the Roller Coaster. He looked slightly shocked when I said yes...I'm not really THAT much of a scaredy-cat am I?!? or maybe I am... *grin* I replied that I seriously couldn't go to Rainbow's End and NOT ride it..lol thats one ride I've read about/seen in books since I was little! So yeah I did that a couple of times, managing to sit next to Bernie the second time =)

I then decided I wanted to ride the Invader (I hadn't had the guts earlier in the day when Uncle Pete and Monique did it!). Lol I think it may have been something like what Uncle Pete said - it was getting late in the day and I was freaking out 'cause I hadn't done much!  So yeah I did that with Uncle Pete. and yes it was AWESOME!!!! lol!

Uncle Pete and I did the Gold Rush again, this time with Monique:

Then the Dodgems again for Danielle, and (you're not gonna believe this one!) as I had decided I wanted to ride the Fear Fall, we ran to it, but unfortunately it had closed for the day. Finally, as it was kinda late, I rushed to ride the Invader again, this time sitting next to one of the Holmes girls. =)
Last of all, I raced over to see if the Roller Coaster was still open, but unfortunately the 'closed' sign was out...

And that was the end of our (first ever) trip to Rainbow's End! Tired and sunburnt, we headed home, where we watched Mr Bean's Holiday and Soul Surfer, two cool movies! =)

Until next time,
Bianca =)