South Island Memories

8 going on 18

She's just turned 8 in August. A Leo in every way - stubborn, head strong, but a heart of gold. In addition to her closest girl friends, we were glad to have Mark & Chris with us for the celebration. Mark & Chris are our friends from church and they have a really special bond with Erica and Tim. We praise and thank God for our two beautiful miracles.

This year's cake's was lovingly decorated by Dad ... who did an excellent job!

Gym Girl

Erica represented her school at the Eastern Zone Gym competition, came in 3rd in the Individual competition and went on to represent them in the Auckland School Champion of Champions competition.

We were really happy for her when she was selected to represent her school but because she had never done gym prior to her selection, we really weren't sure how she was going to do. So, the results were very pleasing. As for mum, watching her do that beam routine was a bit of a heart stopper for me.

Mt Maunganui - April 2010

Mum's here with us in Auckland for about 10 weeks. A few days after she arrived, we took her to Mt Maunganui which is Auckland's answer to the Gold Coast. It is surfer's paradise in summer. But we were there mid Autumn and there wasn't much activity. The beach was lovely all the same and I quite liked the fact that we had most of the beach to ourselves.

On the tram ride at Kiwi 360- the only kiwifruit orchard which is open to the public. If mum had a choice, she would have filled her bags with these luscious kiwi fruits but she was under strict instructions - NO picking. Lovely shot though!

You wouldn't normally find mum at the beach but the kids wanted a dip and she agreed to come with us. We set up the umbrella for her to shield her from the glorious sun (what a waste) since that's what she preferred... The umbrella threatened to blow away because we had south westerly winds that day so that's why she was holding on to the umbrella for dear life!

Back at the bach, mum put up a good fight against the kids at Foosball! She wasn't going to lose!

Notice her sequinned evening jacket with PJs?? What a lovely combination! I've had to ban her from using that jacket to the supermarket too!

Baseball season 2010

Yes, this is John Key, NZ Prime Minister. His son plays baseball too and we occasionally spot him at Lloyd Elsmore with security guards in tow coming to support his son. Today he apparently just came from a radio interview so was a tad over-dressed on a Saturday morning but just as well 'cos Mervin the papparazzi was ready with his Blackberry for this shot! He was really friendly and had more than a few nice encouraging words for Erica. Go National Party!

It's not often that both Tim & Erica get "Player of the Day" on the same week but this week, they did!

Some generous parent from the team donated these shirts so all the Blue Jays got personalised jerseys.

Joy of parenthood

This is a page from the scrapbook Erica did for us last year (October 2009) for our Anniversary. Was packing my desk and found it. Children are such a blessing!

New Year's Day - Sports Day and back to Maitai Bay

Never a dull moment at the campsite. Today, some regular campers got together to organise a family sports day. Everyone was encouraged to participate - from 3 year olds to 83 year olds. There were running races, potato races, wheel barrow races, tug of war and lolly scramble.
After lunch, we returned to the magical Maitai Bay, which for me, is the most beautiful beach I've ever visited. I couldn't stop photographing it but I don't think the photos could quite capture the magic of the place.

Mr Minstrel gets the kids ready for the Sports Day

Some wheel barrows buckled in the heat

Pull, pull, pull

Contemplating the world at Maitai Bay

A game of baseball at Maitai Bay

Cape Reinga trip

Day 4 of our trip, we took a tour to Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of New Zealand as well as where the TasmanSea meets the Pacific Ocean. The views were absolutely breathtaking. Our singing bus driver Sunny explained that Cape Reinga has a lot of spiritual significance for the Maoris as it is where the spirits take leave of New Zealand to return to their homeland in Hawaiki. On the home stretch, we stopped at the Sand Dunes where we all had a turn at tobaganning down the 50 / 60 degrees steep sand dunes. The climb up the steep dunes completely sapped every ounce of energy from me yet Erica managed to bounce up and down the dunes 4 times. Back on the coach, we drove along very scenic Ninety Mile beach, before heading back to Kaitaia.

The meeting of the 2 seas

One for the picture wall - at the lighthouse

Another shot of lighthouse



The sand dunes - pint sized Erica at the top of the dunes making her descent


Ninety mile beach

My birthday

Was s'posed to post these last month but never got to it. Had family dinner at Sura's with the Murphy's & Dominique's children. Birthday cake was home baked by Robert - thanks! The next evening, Mervin and I had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ponsonby, Pregos.

Year 2 Athletics

Many of you may not know this, but Mervin was a top sprinter in his school days (hard to tell now I know). Well at least the genes got passed on to one of the children. We saw it today at Erica's Athletics Day. All the children in the school had to participate in all 4 events - sprints, throws, high jump, long jump. Erica got gold in the sprints, throws and high jump making her the Overall 7 year old girls champion. We knew she had a very good chance at sprints as she won that last year as well but the win for the throws and high jump was a surprise.

The sprints finals was very exciting as you can see in the video. It was a very close fight!

Sprint finals.....

Prize Giving...

Baseball season

Baseball season has begun... which for Mervin and I mean no more sleep ins on Saturday mornings. We have to be at the games by 1/2 past 8! It's fun watching the kids though. Tim is in the Blue Jays (the red shirt is the Diamond Blacks Club shirt) Under 13s team and Erica's in the Blue Jays T-ball team.

The video shows Tim batting. Looks easy? Not quite. In this age group, you have to wait a while before someone hits the ball and there is action to cheer about! Otherwise you pretty much just sit there and encourage them to keep trying. We had to do that all of last year!!!
We were thrilled today when he got it at first strike! Way to go Tim!

Winter 2009

Today the kids finish Term 2 of the school year. Tim is in Year 6 which is his final year at Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School. Next year, he moves on to Sancta Maria College for Intermediate School. Erica is in Year 2.

I think we have been through the worst of winter. We had some really cold spells these past weeks - a few days of a low of 2 degrees, which was even lower than the temperatures that were being reported for the South Island. Sunny winter days however, are really nice and today we had one of those. It was actually warm and after school, the kids and I drove to the beach to soak in the sunshine which we miss so much. I thanked God to see the kids so happy and contented. Erica picked up a branch and was playing with it in the water and jumping over a little stream that had meandered its way in from the sea onto the beach. She was happy, carefree and free as a lark.

Tim had brought along his soccer & rugby balls and was trying out his new soccer boots which we bought him last weekend. It's his first pair of soccer boots and it was "awesome" he said. When he was done kicking the ball around and showing me some of the stunts he had learnt, he came to join us by the water.

I sat on the beach with my newspaper enjoying the peace and quiet of the afternoon. It was so nice not to have some urgent piece of work on my mind for a change. It was even nicer to watch my two children laughing and having a good time together, which is not always the case. PEACE is what I often pray for and today, I felt PEACE.

The Joy of Motherhood

I had my best my Mother's Day this year. It's so nice to have kids who are finally old enough to understand the significance of the day and make it extra special. Erica had planned a secret "to do list" for her father and brother. It was hilarious. She must have said "I love you" about 10 times to me during the day. I was told I must just "do nothing and relax" all day long. She wouldn't even let me carry the shopping bags. At 8.30pm, just about her bedtime, she was a bit upset and when I asked why, she said she still had something else she wanted to do. I was told to lie down and she and Tim gave me a leg and body massage. It was simply wonderful. Thank you God for such wonderful children and a fantastic husband!

Malacca/ KL 2008

As far as I can remember, there's always a wedding to attend in Malacca during the Christmas season. It was no exception this year. We were in Malacca for one night to attend the wedding of Mervin's cousin then proceeded to KL. Alison & Zac generously hosted us for 3 nights at their new home in USJ. Zac was determined to feed us 5 meals a day but we were of course more interested in shopping. On our last night there, Alison arranged for Santa to visit during our dinner at Elena's house. The kids were looking forward to it but were rather suspicious of Santa. Poor Santa was prodded and poked and eventually stripped.... confirming that it was actually Uncle Jonathan under that suit. We had a fabulous time. Wonderful company!

I told you it was Uncle Jonathan!

The next generation - Mitchell, Ariel, Arlene, Raphael, Tim & Erica

Anne, Mitchell & Alison

Erica and Uncle Zac

Apparently that's how you keep your car cool - KL style

We visited Aunty Jeannie in Malacca