Wearable Arts

As a year 7 I competed in the Waihou Wearable Arts competition. It was loads of work but lots of fun too. I didn't win any prizes but I was very proud of the end result. Next year at college I'm taking textiles technology so I'm sure there'll be some cool creation opportunities.

GG is 94

It's now been a number of years since we've been to Hawaii so we don't have any recent photos of Tian and GG together. The last one was 2008, how time flies.
Earlier in November it was GG's 94th birthday so in honour of that we've hunted out this gorgeous photo of them.

Farewell Jaka - Welcome Oz

Zoo Day.
Weather held :-)
Kids behaved :-)
Adults behaved :-)
Education programme was excellent and we got to be part of the great "Tiger Swap".
Auckland Zoo sent Oz down to become a papa tiger and Jaka moved north in return.

Mum and Dad aka Grandma and Grandad

Two very special people in our lives that we love very much.

Firewise

As part of a fire safety unit at school we had a visit from the fire department - very cool and the kids loved it. Thankfully the spring thunder storm held off until their demo was virtually done.

Pretty in pink

Another treasure from our garden :-)

The Last Bottle

Miss Mischief had her very last bottle yesterday and is now officially a "big girl" who only eats grass. She's enjoying being friends with our other two ewes and has settled into paddock life quickly - not surprising when you look at how much food she's surrounded by.

Ocean - Movie - Ocean

We started the day at Pilot Bay with a make up session for Ocean Swim training, more pristine conditions could not have been wished for. Already the water temperatures are sitting at 20C and above.

We met up with the Leach family and Ella afterwards to view the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy. Great movie, enjoyed by all even though some of us (me) got a bit fidgety as it was 2hr 40 min long. Hope they hurry up and get the last movie under way.

Lastly back to Papamoa beach for an afternoon of board training in big rolling surf. Natalie was kind and let the girls work on catching waves body surfing first. However once Kurt arrived from his meeting the boards came out and skills were challenged.

A huge congratulations to Natalie Peat who won the "People's Choice" award for the Bay of Plenty Sports Awards and just missed out on Junior Sports Person of the year.

Ocean swim training in pristine conditions.

All smiles as confidence grows

Papamoa Beach 

View towards the Mt

Into the surf...

Rainbows End

What an amazing day away with Tian's class and Rm 9 the second Gate class at Rainbows End. Awesome rides, a terrific bunch of kids and gorgeous weather - what a great way to celebrate the end of the year.

Pilot Bay

A perfect calm evening for ocean swim training for Tian and a walk around the Mount for myself. It's true - we live in a little piece of paradise.

Waikato from the Kaimai Summit

Five days a week Tian and commute over the Kaimai ranges to our respective schools. In not much over three weeks that era in our lives will draw to a close.
The Kaimai summit sits at 499m and overlooks almost the entire Waikato basin - some days the view is pure magic and some days it is shrouded in thick marshmallow like fog. Today was a pretty day with a shimmer of heat haze, we'll try for a clearer picture before the end of term.

Chocolate scented flowers

Bubbles

Very busy boy

You can tell that HT is under a great deal of pressure today and is working to the maximum of his abilities - sleeping!

Ready...

My terrible two all set for A/ Board Training and B/ Beach Walk. The beach walker would quite love to hop on in and the the board trainer and all the other board trainers however that would be chaotic.

3 Amigos

Today was the annual shearing of the baa baas.
This year there are three amigo's who get to share in the experience - to celebrate the moment we took before and after shots. I guess it's like "lambie extreme make-overs".

Dawn Training

With summer slowly coming our way the morning light at swimming is beautiful and the pool looks deceptively inviting (pity it's very chilly).

Tian's garden snaps

Tian prowled our garden today and captured some of nature's beauty within it.

On the way to work each day

Every day as we head off to work and school we pass a huge new development called The Lakes. Someone with a bit of a sense of humour has mounted one of the large wrought iron cranes onto the top of a big tank. It always looks amazing against either the dawn or dusk light depending which end of the day we are passing.

Exams

Tomorrow Miss Jamie sits her first exam (English) for level 2 NCEA. We wish her the very best of luck although it is her sheer hard work that will see her achieve great results.
Take a big breath in the morning, relax and believe in yourself, we know you can do it!

A man's best friend

Thank you Tian for taking this beautiful photo of our handsome boy, HT.

HIgh Five for the Fast Ferns

Netball has a new style of game which they are playing for the second year now. It's five players on court and has the option for extra points, shooting from outside the circle etc. They are running a competition for high five photos - here's Tian's own version.

Mum and GG

A month or two ago Mum went back to Hawaii to help Becky with GG for a bit and to try and put things in place for when GG moves into a retirement home. GG will be 94 on Sunday.

Spring Storms

Yesterday was the thundery, heavy rain day in the Waikato and today that charming weather rolled over the Kaimais into the Bay of Plenty today.
Wet and wild changeable Spring days.

The Pier

One of my favourite pictures - a moment of tranquility and reflection captured through the camera lens. For the past few summers we go away to Lake Rotoiti with the Leach family for a few days. Gorgeous location and wonderful company - always a way to remind yourself that you are truly blessed.

Our camping family

With the weather improving thoughts are turning towards our summer time camping adventure.
I wonder where we will journey to this year?

Our "Camping Family" at the northern most point of NZ

Retired large lambie

Miss Mischief has officially retired from competitions however she still has a few big girl pull ups to get through and just a little milk powder.

Surf Coaching

Today I went to a training session where some of the best surf life saving coaches came together and helped train some kids. Here are a few pics of what we were doing.

HT's Dream Day

More than anything in the world HT loves getting to be a part of whatever we re doing.
Today he came with us down to Board training, took a nice long stroll along Papamoa Beach and made some lovely new friends who all snuggled, scratched and loved him.
Definitely HT's idea of a "dream day".

New Beginning for 2014

It's official - I have a new permanent teaching job for next year. It's at Welcome Bay School and the exact role and year level is yet to negotiated (watch this space).

Exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

And so a new adventure begins...