Long time no blog

Yes, we've been slack at posting things recently.  If you've been following us on flickr or facebook, you might have caught some of what we've been doing.  A summary:

1. We went tramping to Waitawheta Hut just before Christmas.  We had a lovely walk and a refreshing swim in the river near the hut.
2. We went tramping to Mangetepopo Hut just after Christmas.  It rained quite a lot overnight and our tents leaked.  So we didn't stay for the second night as planned (we had planned to try and get up to Red Crater - that got cut back to just a walk up past Soda Springs).
3. We had just over a week camping at Waikawau Bay in the northern Coromandel Peninsula.  It's a beautiful beach with a lovely campground.  (even if it is really really large - it's the biggest DOC campground in the country... apparently 1400 people were in there sometime between Christmas and New Year).

That's a very quick summary of some of the things we've been up to - those are the ones we have photos posted for anyway!

Latest culinary discovery

For a little over 2 years now we've been making most of our own daily bread in a breadmaker.  But I was still buying what Peter calls 'fancy bread' from the markets (sourdough loaves) to go with our soups and other situations where a nice crusty loaf would be best.  A bit over a month ago I saw a book on the shelves at the library called 'Artisan bread in five minutes a day', so I decided to borrow it and see what it was like.  And since then I've been baking this bread reasonably frequently, making bread rolls, small loaves, brioche and foccacia style breads.

It works on the principle of having a bulk batch of dough that you mix up and then store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks in which time you can pull out a lump of any size to bake, and leave the remainder in the fridge.  This means making last minute loaves and being able to bake a batch of rolls when I have time is easier than the breadmaker which takes over 2.5hrs as you have to start the whole process from the beginning.  With this 'fridge dough' method there is only a 40min prove and then bake!  You do need to have the space in the fridge for a 5L container to live (which we do, just), so it might not suit you if you have a small fridge and don't already have spare space.

(here's their website if you want to have a look)

Tent Number X-1

We have also managed to finally get rid of one of our older tents!  The Invert 6 mentioned just before was intended to replace our old Coleman tent that we'd bought in Australia about 5 years ago (for $99) and only ended up using a handful of times.  We sold it on TradeMe over the weekend for.... NZ$242!  Prices for tents appear to have gone up a bit, but still, that's a LOT more than we thought it would go for.
Now, where's that other tent that we need to sell...

Tent Number X+1

We have yet another tent... well, not quite.  On our South Island trip earlier this year, our tent had leaked a couple of times when the rain had been really heavy - through the floor.  We'd been meaning to get around to doing something about it, but hadn't.  Until last week.  I checked with the store what we should do, and they said to just bring it in and they'd have a look and work out whether to repair it or replace the floor or whatever needed doing.  When Mel went and dropped it off, they couldn't find a record of when we'd bought it (which was supposed to be on their computer system), and for some reason that we can't quite understand (but don't mind), gave us a brand new tent instead.  Same make and model, just the slightly newer version.  Here it is:

There are slight differences from the previous model (pictured here)... the ones we've noticed:

1. Biggest difference is the extra pole at the back (left-hand side of the picture above).  Previously the back room was quite slopey (imagine the roof going from the edge of the blue part straight towards the ground), which was fine for us - that was where the kids slept and it was perfectly big enough.  The extra pole makes that room substantially roomier.
2. Because of the extra pole, the windows on that room are a lot bigger - square rather than triangular.  Good thing for ventilation.
3. The poles are different - they're now slightly skinnier in the middle apparently, which makes the walls slightly steeper.
4. The main room is slightly taller.  We think.
5. Two poles for propping up the front door are now included.

None of the changes are a bad thing, none are really big changes.  We liked the original design (hence why we bought it!), and the new one still looks like it's good!

Angry Fruit!

For our advent calendar, the kids are getting bits and pieces from the Angry Birds game over the month... and so far, all they've got is blocks.  So, in the absence of birds and pigs, we decided to try out a game of Angry Fruit instead - with a piglet instead of pigs.

The setup:

Shot #1: Angry apple

Shot #2: Angry pear

Shot #3: Angry strawberry

Christmas advent is just around the corner

I got the calendar prepared and hung for another year. A couple of changes this year...
- for the Bible readings we are using the 'Christmas unpacked' issue of Table talk/XTB
- for the gift/treat they r getting a combined gift consisting of individual parts of the Angry Birds boardgame so they have to wait the whole 25 days to have all the pieces to be able to play. (along with the usual days of special activities eg. Ice creams, movie afternoons)

Roast toast

Occasionally when I go to the Asian supermarket I indulge in buying some of the Asian bakery items (we developed a taste for them during our time in China and Singapore). Today I tried a new one 'roast toast' it's basically a slice of Chinese style bread that has been buttered and sugared and then baked until totally dry (like a rusk).

Kiwi kids

Here is Ben and Joanna walking home without shoes...a common scene with kiwi kids.
(it its not unusual for kids to go to school with no shoes at all - and it's nothing to do with economics)

Big girl Naomi

It was Naomi's 3rd birthday today... and just so happens to be Labour Day here in NZ as well, so she got a public holiday for her birthday!

After breakfast we opened her presents and then started cooking up a feast - she wanted curry, so I cooked an Indian lunch (curry, naan and onion bhajis).  And that was followed by a very large frozen cheesecake (seen as Naomi loves cheese and chocolate!).

Brisbane festival laser light show

This is the 2nd year we've gone. I thought they'd improved on last year as far as quality, but Ben thought it was too short. There was also lots more people this year which made it harder for the kids to see, but that might have been because we didn't go during school holidays last year.

Biltong!!!

We bought a food dehydrator a couple of months ago... and we hadn't managed to do much with it yet other than some dried bananas. I was keen to try some biltong... And this is the result.
A 458g pack of casserole meat has been turned into about 200g of decidedly tasty biltong! (The scales are showing after I'd had a couple of taste tests!)


(Recipe here)

Magnificent Mt Ruapehu (again!)

It's that time of year again - time for Mel and the kids to go to Brisbane, and me to go up a mountain!  Last year I had a fantastic trip up Mt Ruapehu, camping up near the top.  I enjoyed it so much that I went and did it again... so here's the report.

We left Hamilton nice and early, intending to get to the chairlifts shortly after they opened.  Once up at Knoll Ridge (~2000m asl), we headed up towards the Pinnacle Ridge for a slightly more technical and hopefully more spectacular route up to the Plateau.  On the way up, I thought it would be good to cut up on top of the ridge early... which wasn't a good idea.  I ended up slipping and sliding down the ice for about 30m before my ice axe finally gripped and stopped me.  I did manage to lose a bit of skin on my elbows and left hand though.

Once we got higher up, the clouds started rolling in and swallowed us up before we'd managed to find the Tukino-Te Heu Heu saddle that we were aiming for.  We kept on going up and managed to find it without falling off the cliffs on the other side. We popped up on to Tukino Peak, seeing absolutely nothing in the clouds, and then descended down the ridge towards the plateau.  There were a couple of other groups there - one in a tent, the other attempted (rather unsuccessfully) to dig a snow cave.  We set our tents up and got some hot food going, before going to bed with the plateau still enveloped in cloud.  It was certainly cold, but probably not quite as cold as last year (so maybe only -10C or something!).  There was a bit of a breeze blowing during the night, but when I poked my head out before dawn, it was perfectly clear, so I hopped out and went for a walk around, taking photos.
After breakfast and packing up, I pulled out the cricket set, just for a bit of craziness!  One of the snow-cavers couldn't believe his eyes but absolutely loved the idea.  After that, Sebastian and I popped back up to Tukino Peak to see the views that we'd missed out on the day before in the cloud (wow!), before we headed back down to Knoll Ridge via the relatively easy Restful Ridge.
Another fantastic weekend - the perfect morning made up for the cloudy afternoon/evening.
(Some more photos are here, not all of them are uploaded yet!)

Travelling pharmacy

Went to the Dr this morning.  Now the female side of the family all have a round of antibotics and prednisone to take on holidays with us!  As the Dr said, hopefully we won't have to use it, but it brings some peace of mind and reduces the logistical nightmare (and expense) if we do need to use it.

Tasty cabbage

My memories of cooked cabbage growing up aren't too favourable.  I remember much preferring to eat it raw than cooked and I most disliked cooked shredded cabbage as a side dish/vegetable.  As an adult, I have come to appreciated cabbage cooked into dishes such as pork dumplings or other asian meat dishes, but have still avoided cooking/serving cooked cabbage by itself.  But after my adventure last night I think I might be cooking cabbage as a side vegetable more often!

I'd been given a cabbage at bible study and while cooking dinner last night, realised we needed some vegetable to go with it.  So I went in search of a recipe for braised cabbage with flavour (I'd seen braised cabbage done on MasterChef a couple of time and was willing to give it a try).  The recipe I decided on was Cabbage with sesame, cumin and fennel seeds (looked quick, easy and I had all the ingredients in the cupboard).  It was really, really good - lots of yummy flavour.  The kids even both commented that it was favourite part of dinner!  I think I will be taking more advantage of the cabbages that are currently in season (and hence at the farmer's markets) around here at the moment (and I might try growing some of my own next autumn/winter).

Joanna's 5th birthday

Was a few weeks ago now... and since then, we've had at least someone in the house sick.  Ben was first, then Joanna, then Mel, then Naomi, then Joanna again, then... well, today it's Joanna's turn to be home sick.
Anyway, we haven't got around to uploading details of her party and other birthday celebrations (which, thankfully, was before the merry-go-round of sickness).  First up, on the Friday before her birthday, she had her "kindy birthday", where they get to sit up the front and everyone gets to see pictures from their time at kindy and play a game and sing happy birthday.  Looking through the photos, Joanna really has changed in that time!

Then, on Saturday, she had her party.  It was a "chef" party, with all the kids getting to cook their own lunch (pizzas and salad) and decorate cupcakes.  They all had lots of fun and enjoyed wearing their aprons and playing with the play kitchen as well as the real cooking.

Sunday, her actual birthday, was a calmer day, going to church in the morning, then opening presents in the afternoon before special birthday dinner - she chose to have chicken, mashed potato and peas.

Flu

I have the flu,
I'm feeling blue.
All through the night
My body has put up a fight.
Fevers, chills, aches are not a thrill.
Drugs are my friend
I hope it soon ends.

Passing of a season

I've been consciously aware recently that I am out of the baby season of life. Two are now at school and Naomi is gaining independence in leaps and bounds (she will be hopefully starting Kindy soon). We have sold/given away must of our baby clothes/gear. Certain activities are easier- meal times, getting ready in the morning, shopping... I also have no great desire to watch the new show on TV about new mums.

I did enjoy the baby stage. I quite liked being pregnant, holding a small beautiful baby, watching them grow and develop. But I won't deny the hard parts- broken sleep, constant tiredness, juggling multiple children's needs...

I also admit that although I may think the baby stage has ended, God may have other plans (as a couple at church have just discovered) and I'm trusting that God's plans are best.

I am also able to look back and thank God for all the wisdom, strength, energy, protection and support he has provided me with through this season of life. And have faith that he will continue to provide all my needs and continue to teach and rebuke me in this next season I am now in and God willing, the many more seasons to come, so that in all things God may be glorified.

I also will not refuse an opportunity to hold someone elses baby and help them to navigate this season of their life.

Sick, sick, sick...

I have been looking after sick kids all week. Ben has had tonsillitis since Monday and both girls have had a random virus that has kept them home most the week too... AND now I have got it!
Right now I'm really enjoying the peace and quiet (and rest) after a week of being house bound with kids (peter has taken them all to church).

Snow time...

Last weekend (well, the one before, this post has taken a while to get up!) we went on our annual snow holiday - the last two years we've had absolutely perfect sunny weather and plenty of snow.  So we were due to have some bad weather sometime!  We stayed in the same cabin as last year, except we had the van Gemst family accompanying us in the cabin next door.  We drove down on Sunday morning and headed straight up the mountain for some toboggan action - it was cloudy and relatively warm - not ideal conditions for the snow, which was rather soft and slushy.  The toboggan run was slow as a result, so we didn't have all that many runs.  I took the older kids up onto the rocks for a bit of exploring and playing - something I did last year and they really enjoyed.
Monday morning was similar - cloudy, but at least not windy at all.  We had a really good morning tobogganing - the run had been groomed, so it was nice and smooth.  The kids were begging to go back up onto the rocks to play up there, so after lunch we went up again, making a snowman and having a snowball fight!
Tuesday morning was cloudy and rainy, so we had a look at the weather forecast, only to find that Mt Tongariro (about 20km away) had erupted overnight!  Fortunately the wind was blowing in the right direction and it was a small eruption, so it didn't affect us at all.  The weather wasn't particularly good though, so we decided to just pack up and head to the AC Baths in Taupo for a swim.  Being a school day, the hydroslides weren't running, which was sad, but we still had lots of fun in the warm water.

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21b ESV)

Today is touched with sadness.  Our niece, Hannah Ruth Nygaard died this morning, she was 8 weeks and 4 days old.

She was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (for more on the condition and her story, my sister has blogged about it).  And although some may think such a short struggling life is just a burden/pointless/discouraging...there are so many ways which God has used this life to his glory.  For me personally I have been challenged and learnt a great deal about prayer (when I live on the other side of the world to my sister, there wasn't much else I could do) and about dependence on God to supply all my sister's needs as I all I can do is limited skyping (none of the things that I would naturally do like cooking meals, looking after my nephew, hugs...).  Today I'm also challenged to appreciate the 3 children God has entrusted to me and the blessing that they are, as well as to not waste this time he has given me with them to bring them up in the ways of the Lord.