WOW!!! cross that off the to do list!!!

Lemon and poppy seed muffins

Raisin and coconut biscuits 

and more

Banana Raspberry and cream cheese muffins

Looking down to where it all began today with a Maori welcome and blessing

My Dad giving a welcome talk to all

A little slice of paradise in many peoples eyes!

More food......

Some members of our family are lucky enough to be directly involved with the opening of a beautiful piece of land which has been purchased by a trust for the purpose of conservation and recreation...Today was the open day,the day started off a bit cloudy but we all had our fingers crossed that the weather would hold as lunch for 100 was to be out doors! Lucky for us it did hold off long enough for all to have a pleasant day I will leave you with a few shots of the food and all the fantastic people who came to see and support this fantastic conservation project which is here for all to enjoy now and in the future.My Mum and I did all the food for 100 people so a rough list would look like this...

10 dozen muffins of different flavours
3 roasting tray Bacon and egg pies
3 roasting tray vegetarian pies
120 BBQ sausages
6 loaves of buttered bread
4 loaves of asparagus rolls
3 batches of 3 types of biscuits
20 litre container of fresh lemon and elderflower drink
Tea and Coffee

It was a busy few days before getting organised and a major mission getting all the tables,cups,food,and everything else you think we would need to feed and serve 100 people up one of the steepest shingle roads in NZ!!! And then up a steep rugged farm track to the hut where we had to serve it...
It was all worth it with heaps of positive comments on the delicious food we made!!! So well done to us and all our helpers....

My Partner has been working on the hut over the last month getting it up to scratch for this day and for the future users of it...His list would look like this
Paint the very steep roof
Paint all the windows and doors
Replace the Rotten back door and part of the flooring
Replace the broken glass in the french doors
Stain the whole exterior
Install all new gutttering and flashings
Paint the out building
Keep the grass down around the hut and surrounds
And his list goes on into the future so he will well and truly keep out of mischief and can never say he has nothing to do!!!

2nd Hand Shop Finds.... while away in the weekend

Check out the collapsible tray just what every camper needs

An old baby formula tin

good condition honey tin

and 3 funky bottomed glasses

There is a quite a cool 2nd hand junk shop on the main highway of Waikari...we stopped to visit some good friends on the way through and after we left their house we stumbled upon a few bargains...heres what I got

What A Relaxing Weekend!!

Johns Artistic Photo

Me and my lovely were lucky enough to get the use of my parents camper van this weekend so all we had to do was pack some clothes and food and the rest was all there!!! Joy for campers they make going away rather simple....We took off on Friday afternoon feeling rather like  tourists  in our big white camper but soon relaxed into the lifestyle of having your home right with you...We cruised up to Gore bay on the coast but unfortunately the camp there was full so we drove on to the Hurunui river mouth what a beautiful senic spot...the small camp there was also full but lucky for us we could park high above the sea and enjoy a lovely view and listen to the waves crashing in...Next day we  drove to a small picnic spot further south down the coast called Nape Nape where we spent the day relaxing,walking on the beach,surf casting(with no luck),reading,sleeping,getting rather sunburnt,and people and bird watching...rather a nice way to spend a day....we then drove onto Motunau beach through the shingle back roads,  then out onto the highway and through to the Hurunui River(balmoral Park) camping ground where we spent our second night....it was nice to spend the weekend at a slow pace but it does always feel funny going camping without the kids as really camping is all about kids having fun too....They were rather jealous of us having gone away and we are having to do some major planning for the next trip!!! WITH THE KIDS...don't think we will get away with that again for a while

Hurunui Inlet

John found a boat on the beach and took it for a spin!!!

Nape Nape

My arty Shot

A Day at the show...

Well the funniest thing(well not that funny for those it affected)was that yesterday I was to help my sister show 3 of her young ponies at the chch show. I arrived at her place on Tuesday night to find out that her children had the vomiting bug...well the littlest miss one did in the afternoon followed soon after by little Mr 3...(I was also rung by my man who said my little chappie had the bug too!!!) We were altogether as a large family to celebrate a special girls 3 year old b/day on Sunday and they had had the bug over the week...so thats where it came from.... so new plans were  to be made as we thought it not so fair to get someone else to look after the kids the following day while we were at the show( we were also panicking that the 2 girls i had with me and Mr 5 might also get it...let alone me or my sister)...So I went off to bed at about 11pm,and got up at 4:45am feeling like I hadn't had any sleep and took the ponies to the show without my sister!!! Poor Moosie I really did feel for her such a build up and then such a let down...but mummies have to do what Mummies have to do and that is take care of the little ones first and foremost.
I felt a little bit freaked at the prospect but got over it and really once I got the ponies finished off in the morning could hand them over to my sisters good friend to do the showing bit...cause I love my sister but its not really my thing taking them in hand into the ring...But all in all it went well and there were no dramas..I will post some pics of the cute little boys we took to the show..

El Devo ( behind) and Koromako

Tired boys after they were all done

Kowhai

Bit of an update...my sisters partner is now sick and little mr 5 has a touch of something too.also another one of the cousins has had it...so it can go away now thank you very much!!!

Finally time to blog...

Well its been a while and just looking back at what we have been up to I can see why I haven't had any time for this...don't get me wrong I check out your blogs regularly but just haven't had the time for mine...so just a bit of a recap with whats been happening around here
Pet Day at Le Bons Bay School ............
* Zoe is now fit and well after her stint in hospital and proof of how good she was feeling  today she competed in her school fun races after pet day, sack races, skipping, egg and spoon etc, so all is good there
*Zac read out his first public speech aged 6 years and did a job that made his Mum real proud( considering I had to dose him up on Rescue remedy before hand cause he really thought he couldn't do it)He wrote his speech for pet day about his family pet Mittens(Cute as)
*They both made such a lovely job of all there entries for pet day from their sand saucers through to there canvas art and little felt softies.....
*I love it that my kids just get on with the work that is required of them and don't feel the need to brag, gloat or get upset about what or how well anyone else did or didn't do, they were just happy with what they achieved on the day....GOOD ON YOU MY LITTLE BUDDIESXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Zacs fruit creation

Zacs felties..chihuahua and Lion

Zacs canvas and cartoon sketch

Mister 6 giving his speech

Miss 9 giving hers

Zoes canvas

Zoes friut creation

Zoes flower display

What I have just written is not what I had intended to write and has taken oven from my original thoughts of letting you know whats been happening in the last few weeks...anyway thats another whole post maybe tomorrow night,just to give you a taster of whats to come think food, think gardening.......................