Thursday, December 18, 2008

Merry Christmas from the Macca's





Well we did some christmas photos the other day. Jack wasn't particularly impressed by the reindeer ears or the hat.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Singing in the rain.....




well I don't know that he was singing - but he was certainly enjoying himself. We had a downpour here today - and before I knew it Jack was out the door and jumping in the puddles. Seeing as I was going to have to change his clothes anyway I decided to let him enjoy himself.

Christmas Craftiness





Well I have been busy at the sewing machine since I managed to get it all unpacked and set up. I finished 5 peasant tops for a friend on TNN and a wee outfit for her niece for christmas. The shirred top can also be a dress to start with and then a top.
Before I left Tekapo I also whipped up some beanbags for the playgroup there which I had been meaning to do for ages. I only took a pic of a few of them. I had also finished my Wool swap and sent that off early October as i knew we were shifting and didn't want to get caught up in the craziness, but no thanks to NZ post as they managed to loose it in the post, so I am busy trying to dye some more wool etc before Christmas. I took a pic of the wool I dyed last time and I am going to try to recreate the same look and colours - wish me luck.

TNN Secret Santa






Well i finally sent my presents for The Nappy Network secret santa which were only a couple of weeks late. Ooops Sorry to my secret santa person. Anyway I made a pair of shorts and a singlet set stencilled with a little helicopter (or chopper, chopper as Jack calls them) for a little boy who is a couple of months older than Jack. I made his mother a necklace in a little calico bag and bought some yummy Lindt chocolate. Mmmmmm.
And a few weeks ago we arrived home from Steve's work do to our secret Santa parcels on our doorstep, maybe someone local. Anyway I put them inside and went and unloaded the car and came back inside and a certain 2 year old had already ripped into mine. We got some lovely gifts - I got a knitted bag which has become my knitting bag, some yummy chocolate ( Lindt - my fav), a mag, some cool christmas soaps and a treasures the first years book. Jack got a pair of Joel eze training pants - which will be perfect for our upcoming toilet training adventures.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Big Update






WOW it has been ages since I have updated this - You would think that I am getting really slack - but we basically haven't stopped since the last post. We had Jack's 2nd birthday party and all our friends and family converged on Tekapo for the day. It was an Awesome day - about 30 degrees and not a breath of wind. There were about 15 - 20 kids in total, with 2 of them being girls (poor things).
Then we went into moving mode. Jack had his last day at Preschool in Timaru and I had a couple of weeks work teaching an hour a day at Tekapo school and finished the last day the day we shifted. We shifted last weekend. Although at the moment Steve is still working in Tekapo and travelling home at weekends. Jack and I miss him lots. He will be home for good at Christmas.
We had an exciting 18 months in Tekapo and we met some great people. We were sad to leave as it's such a lovely place to live. But on the other hand glad to get home to our house and friends and family. And we have 18 months of babysitting owing. ;-)

This weekend we went to Steve's work Christmas do. It was great - we had lunch at Orana Park where we were based. Jack spent most of the time chasing around the ducks and another wee girl about the same age as him. We then headed to Tanks for everything and had a ride in some Tanks. Jack loved the Haaglund ride. He almost fell asleep when we were riding in the back of an armoured personnel carrier, so wasn't overly impressed when we stopped for a look and had to get back in it. It was a great day although we had a very tired little boy at the end of it.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

My big 2 Year old






Wow 2 already. Where did 2 years go? Yesterday was Jack's 2nd birthday. We all had a fantastic time. Steve and I had spent Tuesday evening setting up his Train table and train set. Which I think Steve quite enjoyed - as he changed the track set up about 3 times. Jack got up about 7:20am and we took him out to the lounge - he opened one pressie and played with that. We had put a sheet over his train table. So he poked the head under and came out exclaiming "Toot, Toot" with great excitement. So we pulled the sheet off and that's pretty much where he spent most of the morning while I baked a cake to take to Playgroup. At 10am we headed out to Playgroup. and he had a cake there. He didn't seem to overly impressed that he was the centre of attention.
We were planning on going out to the community bonfire and fireworks but decided it was too windy for fireworks so settled in for a early night. At 1:30am the Fire siren went off. Luckily Steve isn't a volunteer fireman (was thinking about it) so didn't have to get up.
Anyway here are some pics of my big boy.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Well it's been a while ...

It has been far too long since I updated our blog. The reasons being - we are expecting our 2nd child on the 9th may 2009, and I have been very tired and not sleeping well - hence very little time and energy to update here. It has been a very busy few months with a new nephew being added to the family. Riley Allan Bridgman was born on the 23rd of September. He is very cute.
Our friends Andrew and Leanne also had their 3rd child - William Andrew - born on 15th September. And last of all, our friends Steve and Mid had their 2nd child - Caleb Samuel -born 12th September. So it has been a busy few months with lots of baby boys. We have done numerous trips to Dunedin, Chch, and Timaru. It will continue to be busy from now until Christmas. We have Jack's 2nd birthday in a week - wow I can't believe he is 2. 2 years have flown by. We also move back to Rangiora on the 28th November. Which is exciting - can't wait to be back in our own house. We spent last Saturday planting the vege garden there. I can't wait to have a vege garden again as it is just about impossible to grow veges here - with a short season and frosts and possibly snow right up to Christmas.
Anyway will try and post some photos next time.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

And just because I can - A beautiful View




These are some photos we took on the way home from Mt Cook - It is Lake Pukaki looking very reflective.

Mueller Glacier Lake Walk






Well we decided a father's day adventure was in order so we hooked up with Team Thompson and walked up to the Mueller Glacier Lake at Mt Cook. The journey started somewhat slowly with Daniel noticing that the Thompson V Wagon had a flat tyre. Apparently Grant had been complaining about the wheel alignment all the way to church. hehehehe.
Anyway we made it to Mt Cook, had some lunch and started our walk. That part of the country is so beautiful. We stopped at the monument with all the plaques of people that had lost their lives in the National Park. A bit sad. Then we continued to the massive swing bridge which is quite high and a bit freaky ah Sarah. Had a great time, wouldn't wanted to have walked to much further as I think the kids (and the adults) were done, It's hard work carrying an extra 15 kgs on your back.

Monday, September 8, 2008

HOME at last....




Well we got home Friday afternoon, and Pete, Lizzie and the kids stayed the night, to break the trip up. We headed to round hill on Saturday to take the kids sledding. They had a great time - Dominic didn't want to leave. The snow was great compared to Concrete Peak, so the boys stayed on for a ski and board and Lizzie and I took the kids home for a sleep.
Oh and the view was beautiful from the top of the hill.

Last of the Arrowtown antics






Well Friday we spent cleaning the house before we left. We headed into Arrowtown to get some Lunch before we left. And of course we couldn't leave without having one of the world famous hot chocolates from the Patagonia chocolate shop. They are the best hot chocolates in the world, made from real belgian chocolate and you can get them with chilli too. Mmmmmmm. We also had to have another Jimmy's pie for lunch before we left Central Otago. Time to go home.........
Oh and i couldn't finish without including the cute pictures of the boys playing with Steve's snowboard. And the excitement was all a bit too much for one little boy.

Arrowtown Antics Part 2











On Wednesday we spent the day in Queenstown doing some shopping. We were planning to go up the gondola and go luging but the Luge was shut. So we just cruised around town and then took the kids home for a sleep.
On Thursday there had been some fresh snow overnight so we thought it was a good day to go skiing. Pete and Steve headed up in the morning and I was planning on going up for the afternoon as Ben had been vomiting all night, and didn't really want to leave poor Lizzie with 3 boys ALL day. Anyway the boys were back by 11 as the snow Or ice as it was, was terrible - They are naming it Concrete peak. Must have been bad for the boys to head back, they had been soooo looking forward to skiing. So we decided to go luging. Pete stayed home with poor Ben and we all headed to the gondola. Jack loved the Gondola - he spent the whole trip up yabbering and pointing at stuff he could see. We had 5 rides on the luge which were awesome. Jack loved it. he has no fear. he also loved the little chairlift that you have to ride to the top of the luge track. I think he's going to be an adrenalin Junkie.

Arrowtown Antics Part 1






Well from Dunedin, we travelled to Arrowtown to meet Pete and Lizzie and their kids. We rented a holiday house for the week. We spent most of the day travelling through Central Otago. Which was great as we hadn't been through there for such a long time and it's an area of NZ that Steve and I both have great memories of and love. We really enjoyed reminiscing and of course we stopped in Alexandra and got a Jimmy's pie for Lunch - Mmmmmmm Jimmy's. We would have stopped at the Jimmy's factory shop in Roxburgh but Jack was asleep. We arrived in Arrowtown and went for a walk down to the shops and discovered the Remarkable sweet shop all over again, and they had Mag fizzy wheels. YUM. so had to stock up on them.
On Tuesday we headed over to Wanaka to go to the Puzzling world. We stopped and had Lunch by the lake and Jack and Ben chased the ducks. Poor Ducks.
At Puzzling world we did everything. The illusion rooms were awesome. The room on a slope messed with our balance and we all wobbled around in there for a while bashing into walls. It was funny watching Jack.
We successfully completed most of the maze challenge by getting all the corners, then Jack had a meltdown and was sick of being carried around in the back pack so we didn't find the exit, instead escaping out an emergency exit.