Toilet training...full of suprises!

When packing for our weekend away I took 12 pairs of undies and 10 pairs of shorts for Ben. I was accounting for him having a fair few accidents from being distracted by the sight-seeing or not being close enough to a toilet at the right moment. Well we came back with 10 pairs of clean undies and 8 pairs of clean shorts, as he had no accidents all weekend! I'm sure that if I hadn't taken so many that we would have had the total opposite happen - isn't that the way life works?

Auckland weekend...

This past weekend was Auckland Anniversary weekend - which is a public holiday observed by a large part of the North Island. Being a long weekend, we decided to get away again, while the weather's good. This is just a brief post - check out the links for the photos!

On Saturday morning we met up with the Hulls again and had a morning at Mission Bay with them. After checking in to our accommodation, we walked around the city and then had dinner up in the Sky Tower. Sunday was spent catching the ferry across the harbour to Devonport, where we had an enjoyable morning wandering around. On Sunday evening we headed to Viaduct Harbour. Monday morning we went back there, and then to the Museum to wander around.
Anyway, our impression of Auckland was that it was very much a mini-Sydney. Ponder these similarities:

• The CBD is on the southern shore of a harbour, with a large bridge across being the only practical way to get across for most things (except Sydney now has tunnels underneath, something which Auckland is considering doing)
• The airport is on a second, southern harbour (Botany Bay in Sydney, Manukau Harbour in Auckland)
• The North shore is nice, but expensive
• Traffic is horrible
  
• They both have large towers (Sky Tower and Centrepoint)
• They're both by far the most expensive cities in their respective countries

Anyway, it just felt a bit like Sydney to us. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing... we wouldn't really want to live there though.

Cooking with the kids...

On Friday afternoon Ben asked "Can we make something yummy for afternoon tea?" This is because we have been baking together semi-regularly since moving here. There are a number of factors which have motivated this:
- the age of the kids (Joanna is old enough to entertain herself and be left to do her own thing for long enough)
- the oven here works properly (as opposed to Lowanna St which burnt the bottom of everything before there was any hint of colour on top)
- the current season means there is lots of fresh berries about which are nice to put in baking
- not being as busy and therefore having some time free to bake

Anyway the kids really enjoy it - I think mainly because they get to lick the spoons and bowls and eat the end product of course.

In loving memory of...

Edith May Smith

21/2/1916 - 16/1/2009

Much loved Grandma of Mel and Great-Grandma of Ben and Joanna.

'Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority,
before all time and now and for ever. Amen.'
Jude 24-25

Toilet Training - take 2 (caution: parenting content)

I decided to attempt toilet training with Ben again this week (you would remember from previous posts that attempt 1 was aborted after 5 days of frustration). With it still being school holidays most of our usual activities aren't on at the moment, so we are less busy/more relaxed and are at home a lot more (ie. in close range to toilet). I am happy to say that it is going fairly well with most wee ending up in the toilet and not in his pants, although we still need to work on the poos (I know this isn't uncommon). Ben is very proud to be wearing undies like Daddy and has fun choosing which ones to wear (he has a selection of car and machine designs on most of them).

Summer cold...

We all dislike them, and I've currently got one. As usual I think it was passed onto me from Joanna, but I also think the change from holiday mode to normal life mode might also have something to do with it. At least I can take cold and flu tablets now, although that is an expensive proposition - $25NZD for a pack of 24 tablets - so I try to avoid it (I have to survive without when I'm pregnant or breast feeding so I should be able to survive without at other times). I also felt like I was doing a drug deal the only time I've bought them here (as opposed to being made to feel like you are being charged with a drug offence, like in Australia)...
Crouched down in front of the shelves containing the selection of cold and flu tablets (they are just on a regular shelf in the Pharmacy - not behind the counter), I ask the sales assistant if they have Neurofen cold and flu tablets (my cold and flu tablet of choice, which I couldn't see anywhere on the shelf). She then proceeds to ask me if they are for myself; if I've taken them before; checked that I wasn't pregnant or breast feeding and after I have answered all these questions satifactorily she states - "I think we can sell you some" and turns and goes out the back of the prescription drug section and returns with a box for me.

Holiday vacancy...

We finally finished unpacking all the boxes from the move, so we now have a useable guest room! So any family or friends who want some food and accomodation in Hamilton, NZ are quite welcome to come and occupy our vacant room.

Cool Coromandel Camping...

I got back from Australia the weekend after Christmas - I had to get back to work for the few days before New Year's. On New Year's Eve I packed up and headed off to the Coromandel Peninsula to set up our tent for a camping trip.  I stayed there for the night and picked up Mel and the kids the next day (New Year's Day) from Auckland airport.

The place we stayed at was nice enough, although very new - so it was still a little rough around the edges (sites weren't very well grassed, no big trees etc).  We had a few days there and had a good time exploring various beaches (Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach, Lonely Bay) and just chilling out.  You'll have to explore the rest of the photos to see what else we got up to :)

Some statistics...

I got a bike computer for Christmas... and got the time to fit it over the weekend.  So, my bike ride this morning (as I remember the numbers from when I parked my bike):

- Total distance: 5.8 km

- Ave speed: 25 km/hr

- Top speed: 43.1 km/hr (gotta love that downhill to the Claudelands bridge!)

- Total time: 14min 10sec

Now, the reason why I say that that's the numbers I remember rather than that's what it now says, is that something on the way up to the office (something in the lifts or the security scanner thingos maybe?) has given my little bike computer something to chew on: it now claims my top speed was 92km/hr.  I wish.

Christmas Holiday - week 4 - Brisbane

Peter came back to NZ on the 28th and I stayed until the 1st. We fitted in a trip to the Railway museum at Ipswich to see Thomas the Tank Engine with all the cousins (and get in one last visit before my year pass expired - went 6 times in the 12 months). Did some shoe shopping for the kids, got my mobile unlocked and spent the rest of the time hanging out with relatives and trying to stay cool. The plane back was delayed 1hr, but that was ok as we found out at check-in so just hung out with my parents in the lounges a bit longer before going through security etc.

Cheap Airfares!

If anybody out there is thinking of making a trip to NZ this year I thought I'd let you know that Emirates currently has a sale (well most of the airlines do at the moment on their trans-tasman routes, but this is the best deal we have seen). Brisbane - Auckland return for $330.50 including taxes for travel between the 1st Feb and 31st October (max. stay of 30 days). Catch is that you have to book tickets before the 12th January - that's in 2 days time!

Christmas Holiday - week 3 - Brisbane

Well the 3rd week of our holiday was the week of Christmas. We were now staying in Brisbane with my parents. We visited Unichurch on the Sunday morning, to catch up with friends from church. We then spent the rest of the day with Glen and Kathryn. Ben and Rohan talk about each other most days since we moved, so we thought it was important that they get a good chunk of time to spend together - plus we wanted to spend time with Glen and Kathryn. Joanna and Xavier are also just getting to the ages where they aren't too far apart from each othere developmentally, so they have started playing together a bit (well as much as 16/19 month olds do).
We also spent a morning with our old neighbours from Kenmore - Phil, Dania and Sophia. Just before we left for NZ Ben and Sophia had started playing together fairly often in the afternoons (Sophia is 17 months younger). Again it was great for the kids to be able to play together and for us to be able to chat. And to be able to see Dania's growing belly (we found out she was pregnant again not long before we left for NZ). We also spent a morning with Di and family at New Farm park and the afternoon/evening at Bill and Linda's. So it was a busy few days!
We celebrated Christmas with my Mum and Dad on Christmas Eve - we spent the morning at Rocks Riverside Park down by the river cooling ourselves down with water transported in the kid's beach toys - the kids thought this was great fun! The kids really enjoyed all the presents they received and Joanna started getting the whole concept of present giving/opening.
Christmas Day itself was spent with Peter's family at Peter's parent's place. It was a bit squishy with everyone in the living room at once! It was a good day - just a little tiring with so many kids around... it felt like at least one of them was whinging throughout the day!
We also enjoyed some kid-free 'Boxing day sale' shopping (my parents kindly looked after the kids).

Christmas Holidays - week 2 - Kings Beach

Peter arrived in Australia at the beginning of our second week there, which was spent in apartments at Kings Beach for the Waldeck Family Christmas holiday. This included Peter's parents; the Colyers (Bill, Linda, Steven and Matthew); the Sutherlands (Di, Gerald, Amy, Tim and Jonathon); and us.
Each family had their own unit, but it was organized that each family was responsible for cooking for everybody for one night during the week. These family dinners worked really well, although seven kids and 8 adults squeezed into a little unit isn't a recipe for a quiet dinner!
Granny and Grandpa also offered to have each set of grandkids for a sleep-over for 1 night each, so that us parents could each have a 'date night'. So, most days passed something like the following: going to the beach in the morning, kids playing together back at the units, lunch, rest time, all meet-up at the pool (at the unit complex) for an afternoon swim, dinner, bath/put kids to bed, adults get together to chat/play boardgames.
On the Wednesday we all went to Australia Zoo for the day, which was really hot, but enjoyable. Ben and Matthew were a little disappointed that the tiger didn't roar - he wanted a different tiger that would roar for him.
It was really good being able to spend a week together without the distractions/responsibilities of everyday life (for those who live in Brisbane) - the cousins got along well, all playing together and the adults got to talk lots. After doing it twice now (last year when my sister and husband were out from Denmark and now this year with Peter's family), Peter and I think that a family holiday where you all stay at the one place is the best way to actually spend a decent amount of relaxing time with family who are visiting from overseas (which now includes ourselves). If we'd stayed in Brisbane, we certainly wouldn't have had dinner together with all of us there four times for example. So, a good week. :)

Christmas Holidays - Week 1 - Dicky Beach

I headed back to Australia with the kids at the start of December. (As usual the flight went well, but I did get my first experience of baggage being left behind. After me taking the stroller all the way to the gate, it somehow missed being put on the plane - luckily they gave me a loan one and mine got delivered to my parents house 2 days later.)
The first week we stayed with my parents in their caravan at Dicky Beach caravan park (on the Sunshine Coast). Most days passed with a visit to the beach in the morning, lunch, rest time, play at park/walk, dinner, bath, bed. Getting through the everyday chores was made a little harder as Joanna insisted on crying if anybody else held her/just went near her, when I was in sight. Luckily she was fine if I was totally out of the picture, so I was able to get a couple of chunks of 'me time' while my parents looked after the kids. I think it was really good that we had this first week together because although we were staying at my parents house for the Christmas/New Year week, we didn't really get to spend much time with them then (it was Waldeck family for Christmas this year - including Di and family being out from South Africa).

Our garden...

Seen as we were going away for a couple of weeks, we tried to make sure that someone was going to give our vegies some water at least every couple of days so that they didn't die too badly. Well, Glen and Julie obviously did a really good job, because when we got back, it looked like the garden had exploded! There's green stuff everywhere! So for the past week we've had plenty of salads (rocket, lettuce, spinach, basil and coriander), some zucchini (yellow ones) and some sugar snap-peas. We had to throw out the pak-choy because the snails took a liking to it during our weekend camping trip. And sometime soon we'll be enjoying a very big healthy bunch of spring onions! Compare this to what it looked like just five weeks ago...

We're back....

After a rather busy holiday period (getting to Australia, then getting back and immediately going for a camping trip), we're back in Hamilton, ready to go for the year. Our sadly neglected blog will be getting some attention soon, as will our flickr page - there's plenty to write about and plenty of photos to post!
But that will have to wait until we have some time...