Paihia - Bay of Islands Cruise

We took the Tans to the resort town of Paihia (Bay of Islands), about 4 hours drive, north of Auckland. On the way there, we stopped at Whangarei for a picnic lunch we had packed that morning. This three hour cruise, for both the Tans and us as well, was one of the best cruises we had ever been on. Not only was it very scenic as you can see in the photos, the highlight of the cruise was spotting the wild dolphins, who swam with and around us for a good ten minutes. Some of the dolphins were even having a race with the cataraman we were on. It was absolutely awesome! The kids were so thrilled! The catamaran also had to manuovre its way through the Hole in the Rock, a 15m wide hole. Pretty spectacular too.
Take note of Mary's very affectionate cuddle for Justin in one of the photos - don't they look lovely there? That didn't come without a price. Justin had to agree to bringing the whole family back to Auckland in 2009.

Tim's First Holy Communion

Tim celebrated his First Holy Communion on 25 November 2007 at St Mark's Parish in Pakuranga, Auckland. We were honoured to have Tim's godparents, Mary and Justin and their 2 1/2 year old son, Ren (Julian) come from Melbourne to join us for the ceremony and to spend a week with us. The ceremony started at noon, celebrated by Parish priest Fr Barry Scannell. It was a beautiful mass - most parts of the mass involved the children - sorry prayers, readings, intentions, offertory and a liturgical dance. Every single child had something special to do. After mass, everyone was invited to the Holy Communion breakfast (actually lunch). The room was beautifully set up - with colour-coordinated balloons, plates, sprinkles, table cloth and individual seatings and name cards for each child. Very impressive! The children had also made posters about their themselves and these were placed on the walls for everyone's viewing pleasure. Very speical and very meaningful as each child wrote or drew about his interests and his family.
I could tell Tim relished all the attention. Asked how it felt, he said "Good but the wine was bitter." My boy is growing up so quickly.

Launch of Blessings

Blessings NZ Ltd was officially launched on 6 October 2007. From the moment the seed of interest was sowed to the picking of the name of our company and the inception of the company, Adelyn and I have seen and felt the Lord's hands guiding us through this partnership. Blessings operates out of St Mark's Parish in Pakuranga, Auckland, New Zealand. We sell Catholic and Christian religious items and gifts - rosaries, bibles, books, holy pictures, medals, statues and other such items. It has been an extremely rewarding experience running this business and we are thoroughly enjoying it. Just as the Lord has blessed us, we pray that each and every one who purchases something from our store will also be blessed! Thank you everyone for your love and support - especially our husbands, Mervin and Vincent and our children, Tim, Erica, Jonathan, Kevin, Nicholas and Alex.

Erica's 5th Birthday

Pauanui Part 2

Read Pauanui Part 1 for the details.... this was a wonderful weekend getaway and a nice close for this cold and rainy July school holidays.

Pauanui - Part 1

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting We were invited to join Robert, Priscilla and Catherine at their family bach (Kiwi term for holiday home) in Pauanui, east of Coromandel. Upon arrival, Robert wasted no time in telling us we would go for a "short walk". The walk turned out to be a 3 hour trek up a 700m mountain. Of course, we had done two other walks with them but this was something else. OK, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining but it certainly was the most challenging "walk" we (alright, I mean me) had ever done. As we got higher, the spectacular views made the panting& puffing and wombly knees all worth it. From up there, we could see all of Pauanui, Tairua and some of the other offshore islands. Just as we reached the peak, a family of fantails appeared from nowhere and hovered around us the whole time we were there - a lovely welcome we all enjoyed. So, now you know what Erica's going on about in the video. More pictures of what we saw in the next blog.......

Off to School in 20 days

She's the happiest soon-to-be five year old at the moment! Its been an hour since we put the uniform on, and after these pictures were taken but she refuses to take them off. Our little cookie baby is off to "big" school on 13 August, 3 days after she turns 5. She's as excited as can be 'cos now she gets to go to school with Tim! Just in case you think I made her pose, I did not - these were totally candid! I shiver to think what she'll be like in 10 years time.

Tim's Confirmation

Tim received the sacrament of Confirmation on 20 June 2007 together with 63 other candidates. Bishop Robin Leamy was the celebrant. Tim's sponsors were Vincent and Adelyn.

Waiuku Forest

A month after the first orienteering event at Woodhill Forest, we spent another Sunday morning walking through the Waiuku Forest with Robert, Priscilla & Catherine, and Vicki. Weather wasn't good again, so we prayed, and again, we got good weather. Thank you Lord. The walk lasted about an hour and a half, and was a little more challenging than the last one. A few more tight corners and slippery slopes. The most memorable part of the walk was probably the strong perfume of the dung.....oooooo! I felt almost pukish at some points. We ploughed on because we knew there was a sumptuous reward coming up. With Vicki's house just round the corner, it was a convenient detour for much needed nourishment.

Day at Coromandel

Two weeks Easter break for schools. Mervin took a day off. Headed to the Coromandel Coast for the day to visit Waiau Water Works and Driving Creek Railway. No one warned us that the 2 1/2 hour drive was going to be as harrowing as it was. Extremely windy coastal roads - many stretches had 35 km/h speed limit ( in other words - really dangerous). A few crazy hell-bound drivers whizzed past us, much to our annoyance. Waiau Water Works was great fun. Chris the owner had created all kinds of neat stuff from recycled materials. Also had lots of play activities which both adults and kids could enjoy. Brilliant guy. These photos don't do justice to his works, more was captured on the video which I'll put up sometime soon. Train ride was so-so but views from the top was nice. Maybe we were rather tired by then.

First taste of Orienteering

Weather forecast was rain but with great faith and a decade of rosary, we had one of the loveliest mornings. Robert and Priscilla took us out west to Woodhill, through Kumeu for an orienteering event, organised by the Auckland Orienteering Club. We did the 1.8km route, took it nice and slow, with many stops for Robert to give Mervin and I interesting information about the flora and fauna. Priscilla took Catherine, Tim and Erica and zoomed off so the kids could clock in their times at the check points. The e-card was good for the kids as it kept them motivated to move along. 'tis our first time, 'twas great fun and we're hoping to do it at least once a month. After all that "hard work", we pigged out on Lamb Briyani at Westgate!

Happy Easter

There was no rain on Good Friday(felt a bit odd)... and we've had a lovely sunny Easter Weekend. It won't be sunny and warm much longer so we took the opportunity to have another BBQ. Adelyn, Vincent & Alex, Lucy, James, Sheldon & Raewyn and Aunty (Lucy's mum who's visiting from Sarawak), Nancy and Gladys, and Kate (Adelyn's friend) , and Mary came along. There was lots to eat - I prepared Chicken wings, lamb and satay sauce for Lucy's yummy satays. Mary did a prawn salad for appetizer. Adelyn brought prawns and fish, Lucy also made potato salad and brownies for dessert. Kids were in a corner playing Eye Toy - got them really tired. It was a wonderful evening with lots of fun and laughter. It was Nancy, Gladys. Aunty and Kate's first time at our place. Comments - like Damai beach resort (Aunty), very English country (Kate), Like a kiwi home (Gladys). The kids are off school for the next two weeks..... and tomorrow, the painters are back to finish off re-staining the outside of our house.

Top Pix: Sheldon, Vincent & Alex (like father like son), Raewyn (in the back) and chief cook, Mervin of course!

Bottom Pix: James (in the far back), Mary, Kate, Adelyn & Alex, Lucy & Raewyn, and Erica.

Grow your own veges

Erica and the rest of the four year olds have been working on their garden project for many months now They sowed the seeds, ploughed the land, watered the gardens and have been watching them grow. On Holy Thursday, parents were invited to watch what they had done. It was a lovely experience.

It was also the last day of school for 3 of the boys who had turned 5. They'll be off to school after the Easter holls. It'll be Erica's turn to leave this wonderful place too in when she turns 5 on August 10. She'll be taking with her some wonderful memories of this place.

A Boy's Affair

Today was Mervin's 43rd Birthday. We had an early start to the day with mass at 8.30am and then off to Waiuku for the Country Boys Toys Fair held at the Aka Aka School Grounds. The stopover at Vicki and Arthur's place took longer than expected as we got sidetracked by the juicy peaches, grapes and nashi pears.

After we'd had our fill, it was off to the fair. The kids headed straight for the massive playground, which was extremely lavish for a small country school. Mervin and Arthur headed off to the Vintage Tools hall whilst Vicki and I went round looking at antique cars. I'm not much of a car fan but this fair was something else, the Bentleys (my favourite), Mustangs, Cheveys etc were in such excellent condition. It was very interesting seing so many vintage cars all at one place. To have a taste of what country life is like, Tim had a go at sawing a log. Not bad, with a lot of help, a piece came off. Back at Vicki's place, Vicki had a surprise birthday cake for Mervin. Thanks Vicki!

Lilly's Locker Beach Trip

About 8 of us mums and dads had to chaperone the 30 littlies to the private beach across the school. The water level was only ankle deep for about 30 metres out in the sea. It was perfect for the outing. The kids had races, swam, built castles, created sand art, picked up little beach treasures and some pirates even left some lollies buried in the sand for them.

Tim and his mates

We brought the boys to Treasure Island Mini Golf. It was a surprise for Tim till we arrived. He was expecting a party at home. Weather was great but very hot. Lovely place for a family outing.

Tim is 8

Tim turned 8 on 15 Feb. The school had a Welcome Picnic so we brought a cake there together with dinner rolls and chicken nibbles. Kids played on the giant water slide put up by the PTA. More people than expected turned up in our corner - we had Justin Croudace and his family, Mei and her kids, Alicia and her kids and Priscilla and her family. Mrs Lindstrom, the VP spotted us with a birthday cake and came by to wish Tim. The candle was no match for the wind so we gave up! Tim made his wish and we dug into the home made Pokemon cake.

Chinese New Year 2007

We had a Chinese New Year celebration at church this year, so we had to dress up for the occasion. It was nice for the Kiwis to suggest having a do. Of course, we had a Kiwi sausage sizzle out in the back yard but we Asians brought our Asian fare. For entertainment, there were Korean drummers, a Taiwanese dance and a tae-kwon-do demo. We couldn't get a Lion dance troupe unfortunately.

Had Robert, Priscilla and Catherine, and next-door-neighbour, Jason over for Steamboat "Reunion Dinner". Priscilla made the best satay I've had in NZ so far. Missed mum's Buah Keluak though! May the year of the Pig bring us much wealth and prosperity!!!! Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

Christmas Day 2006

We had just moved into Gosford for about a month, so we had lots of visitors in the two weeks leading up to Christmas and after.

Lots of cooking for me but well worth it because everyone had fun!

The View

This view we get from our deck and kitchen is quite hard to beat. It's equally gorgeous day and night.

The House

This lovely bougainvilla spirals up to the wrap- around deck.

Lots of other plants and native trees in the back - also means lots of weekend work for Mervin.

New Home

After looking for just over 2 years, we finally found our dream home in New Zealand. Its a Lockwood style home, perfect for the country style decor we love. There are 3 bedrooms, open plan living / dining and an internal access garage. Our master bedroom opens out onto a big deck - where we have our BBQs. Its a cosy place, with a wonderful outlook and lovely neighbours.