Summer holidays ....
Oh my. Where has the time gone.
Happy New Year All.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a safe new year. I'm really happy to say that my Christmas plans panned out just great. We had a couple of weeks of mad rush leading up to Christmas but both finished the Wednesday before Christmas. Only one christmas present bought and no big grocery shop. I did have a moment when I felt a bit guilty not having bought christmas presents - but it passed.
Christmas Eve day we headed off, boat fully packed with camping gear, to Tapu which is about 20 kms out of Thames. It was great there was hardly any traffic on the road which I thought was surprising. We got to the campground quite early and had plenty of time to set up, cook dinner, relax before it got too late.
Christmas morning we were up quite early, had breakfast, packed the boat up and headed out to sea. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was gorgeous. Beautiful clear blue sky, sea like glass. As soon as put our lines in the water the fish started biting and didn't stop. Christmas lunch was cheese and crackers, orange juice and a glass of wine. We had a few guests circling the boat. We were going to move but as they weren't scaring the fish off we stayed put. One of them decided to grab my hook and do a runner. But I managed to reel him in.
In fact we caught about six of them over the next few days ....
The whole time we were away the weather was quite spot on. Only rained once but the wind did pick up and made it a bit rough to go out so we he headed around the point and got some mussels, pipi's and oysters and had fritters for dinner.
New Years Eve we went across the road to the pub and had dinner and listened to the live band that they had playing. Really good. Then we headed back to our tent and were joined by some other campers and we ended up staying up till about 3.30am. Had a great time.
We packed up and headed home the next day and again the road's were quiet. Then slowly started to tackle the job of unpacking and washing.
So now we're home. Time to think about Christmas. Saturday we shot in to town, bought all the pressies for the kids in about three hours. Hardly any crowds. Saved HEAPS of moolah because we got all the sales. I tell you that's the way to do your christmas shopping. The only downside was I ended up having to wrap all the presents in hurry before Josh came home the next day. So another late night for me and I was so over wrapping. I made Mr T do the last five. I'd well and truly had enough.
Josh came back the next morning and we let him open up ONE present. We weren't expecting everyone until Tuesday so it was a bit mean having all those pressies under the tree and not being able to open them. However as he and Krystal got an XBox 360 it was more than enough to contain for the next two days.
Monday was grocery shopping. We'd already decided to have a barbecue. Lamb on the spit and steak, chops and sausages. Roasted veges, broccoli and cheese sauce, salad, surimi salad, special mashed potatoes, asparagus and savoury eggs. And a few other bits.
Tuesday morning all I had to do was a quick tidy up around the house, peel the veges and put them on, make salads etc. Was quite relaxed and laid back.
Give them presents and food and they will come. And they did. Two by two. Doesn't matter how old they are they're all kids. So Mr T and I played Santa and handed out the pressies. They were all happy. And of course my little man was there.
Here's a few photos ....
Janelle & Lucas
Nick, Janelle & Lucas
Krystal & Lucas
Renelle & Matt
Lucas
Josh, Krystal & Lucas
And of course it was a scorching day so they all headed into the pool before eating ...
Our little man was suppose to have a sleep but he didn't want to miss out on the action so he came and joined us.
He's discovered that hands are good to shove into your mouth, lol. He does this all the time.
I did have more photos but blogger had a fit.
All in all everything worked out well. We took the boat out to the lake and generally had a restful time. Jackie and David came out for dinner on the Saturday night and we had a good catch up. They are such a lovely couple.
Now here I am back at work and wishing I wasn't. Could have done with some more days. Such an effort having to get early in the morning. But the good thing is that the holiday might be over but summer isn't.
That's about it for now. I'll be popping by blogs the next day or so.
Welcome to 2010 everyone.
Happy New Year All.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a safe new year. I'm really happy to say that my Christmas plans panned out just great. We had a couple of weeks of mad rush leading up to Christmas but both finished the Wednesday before Christmas. Only one christmas present bought and no big grocery shop. I did have a moment when I felt a bit guilty not having bought christmas presents - but it passed.
Christmas Eve day we headed off, boat fully packed with camping gear, to Tapu which is about 20 kms out of Thames. It was great there was hardly any traffic on the road which I thought was surprising. We got to the campground quite early and had plenty of time to set up, cook dinner, relax before it got too late.
Christmas morning we were up quite early, had breakfast, packed the boat up and headed out to sea. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The weather was gorgeous. Beautiful clear blue sky, sea like glass. As soon as put our lines in the water the fish started biting and didn't stop. Christmas lunch was cheese and crackers, orange juice and a glass of wine. We had a few guests circling the boat. We were going to move but as they weren't scaring the fish off we stayed put. One of them decided to grab my hook and do a runner. But I managed to reel him in.
In fact we caught about six of them over the next few days ....
The whole time we were away the weather was quite spot on. Only rained once but the wind did pick up and made it a bit rough to go out so we he headed around the point and got some mussels, pipi's and oysters and had fritters for dinner.
New Years Eve we went across the road to the pub and had dinner and listened to the live band that they had playing. Really good. Then we headed back to our tent and were joined by some other campers and we ended up staying up till about 3.30am. Had a great time.
We packed up and headed home the next day and again the road's were quiet. Then slowly started to tackle the job of unpacking and washing.
So now we're home. Time to think about Christmas. Saturday we shot in to town, bought all the pressies for the kids in about three hours. Hardly any crowds. Saved HEAPS of moolah because we got all the sales. I tell you that's the way to do your christmas shopping. The only downside was I ended up having to wrap all the presents in hurry before Josh came home the next day. So another late night for me and I was so over wrapping. I made Mr T do the last five. I'd well and truly had enough.
Josh came back the next morning and we let him open up ONE present. We weren't expecting everyone until Tuesday so it was a bit mean having all those pressies under the tree and not being able to open them. However as he and Krystal got an XBox 360 it was more than enough to contain for the next two days.
Monday was grocery shopping. We'd already decided to have a barbecue. Lamb on the spit and steak, chops and sausages. Roasted veges, broccoli and cheese sauce, salad, surimi salad, special mashed potatoes, asparagus and savoury eggs. And a few other bits.
Tuesday morning all I had to do was a quick tidy up around the house, peel the veges and put them on, make salads etc. Was quite relaxed and laid back.
Give them presents and food and they will come. And they did. Two by two. Doesn't matter how old they are they're all kids. So Mr T and I played Santa and handed out the pressies. They were all happy. And of course my little man was there.
Here's a few photos ....
Janelle & Lucas
Nick, Janelle & Lucas
Krystal & Lucas
Renelle & Matt
Lucas
Josh, Krystal & Lucas
And of course it was a scorching day so they all headed into the pool before eating ...
Our little man was suppose to have a sleep but he didn't want to miss out on the action so he came and joined us.
He's discovered that hands are good to shove into your mouth, lol. He does this all the time.
I did have more photos but blogger had a fit.
All in all everything worked out well. We took the boat out to the lake and generally had a restful time. Jackie and David came out for dinner on the Saturday night and we had a good catch up. They are such a lovely couple.
Now here I am back at work and wishing I wasn't. Could have done with some more days. Such an effort having to get early in the morning. But the good thing is that the holiday might be over but summer isn't.
That's about it for now. I'll be popping by blogs the next day or so.
Welcome to 2010 everyone.
Link to private blog I am sure you still have access to it.... http://hippygal-for-me.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletewowwwwwww your break sounded fantastic !!
ReplyDeleteLoved the pics.
Happy 2010 to you and yours.
Sounds like a perfect way to spend a holiday and belated Christmas. Love the photos of Lucas - he's grown! Very cute wee man:-)
ReplyDelete