Tea Time in June

Oh my my, I totally forgot you were going to stop by, how lovely to see you again.
Please do come in, let me just put the kettle on or would you prefer a cold drink?

Winter has definitely settled in here, I do hope you had no trouble finding me here in the fog. Unfortunately it takes until nearly lunchtime some days for the sun to get warm enough to vanish the fog.
Due to the weather then I have been trying to get little projects sorted inside the house, much warmer in here. One thing I finally sorted was the green unit where the boys have been putting their completed Lego pieces.

It use to house all my family figurines but I finally moved them over by the window so the boys can have more space. Seeing as they are playing with the Lego lots at present then I don't want to keep standing on it...it hurts the feet!

I'm sorry we don't have any cake or biscuits in at present, I will be visiting the supermarket later today and seeing as I maintained goal weight at Weight Watchers and achieved Life Time Membership this last week then maybe I might just treat us to something really sticky and nice, to celebrate you understand. We did have some birthday cake for Alex when he turned 8 a few weeks back but it didn't last.

I am busy at present trying to find pictures for Rinda's Scavenger Hunt and the whole family is enjoying looking for items. I even managed to keep the boys occupied the other day by letting them take the pictures, definitely stopped them whinging because I took the long way home.
Although it is a pity that Rinda didn't ask for us to find a picture of a baby as my cousin who I mentioned last month had her daughter at the beginning of June so we have been getting so cute little cuddles, all of us.

Alex snuggling his new cousin

Life is going to slow down a little now for the next few weeks now as I am having my surgery on Tuesday and so we are all preparing for mummy to be out of action for a few days and then resting lots after that. I am hoping to get my blogging all sorted and tidied whilst out of action from work, hopefully when we meet next month I will be all organised and have more time.

So I look forward to catching up with you next month, I may even have done some baking as I will have plenty of time on my hands.

Take care and thanks for stopping by from Abi's place

Hunt Catch Up

1 month down and already the pictures are coming in thick and fast over at Rinda's place for this years Summer Scavenger Hunt

I have started off really well, I have 6 out of 21 with another 2 to post about.

#2 Peforming Arts Theatre

#15 A Fire truck

#11 Animal in a Zoo

Further animal in the zoo

 

#4 Airplane

#17 Candles

My favorite picture so far has to be the Tower as I went to so much trouble to capture it.

#8 A Tower

I have pictures for #10 - outside bench and also #14 - Stained glass object, hopefully they will get posted sometime this week.
Like many others the weather is not playing nice to obtain #12 - cloud shape, but I know we have several more months to go so no worries there yet!
Luckily winter is not getting in the way of any of the pictures this year, last year I do remember having no chance of finding a bride as people just don't have outside weddings in winter here! Although I must say I can't remember seeing too many windmills here but I think a trip to the wind farm on the far away hills may be called for.

I am not on instagram or flicker, so all my pictures can only be found here on my blog, but I have given them all the same label 'treasure hunt 2013' so you should be able to find all the related posts to catch up on all my finds.

Hope the hunt is going well for you, thanks for stopping by.

Friend Makin Monday

Over at All The Weigh, questions get asked each week to help others get to know you.
Anyone can play along. You just pop on over and visit Kenlie, post the questions on your own blog with your answers and then leave a link at Kenlie's for others to come by and find out more about you.

These are actually last weeks questions but I liked them.

Just Wondering

1.  Do you wear glasses and/or contacts?  No

2.  Do you have summer vacation plans?  If so, where are you going?  I wish I had summer plans but sadly we are slap bang in the middle of winter here and summer is too far away to even consider at present.

3.  What is your favorite food to eat for breakfast? I don't do breakfast until I have been up for at least and hour or 2. When I do though I like greek yoghurt with banana and some muesli oats.

4. Do you enjoy window shopping?  It is all I can really afford at present but no I won't go out to just peruse the windows when I have nothing else to do as sadly I find looking usually leads to buying.

5. What is your favorite candle scent?  I have no idea

6.  If you had to choose between going to a zoo or an aquarium, which one would you pick?  I love the zoo but if it is a wet day I like being inside at an aquarium.

7.  How many times do you plan to exercise this week? Sadly none

8.  Do you speak another language fluently?  No

9.  What are you currently reading?  I am reading the Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wiggs. They are 9 single books that are all connected by the location and people in them. They are all single stories on their own but fit together nicely. I have all 9 books and have read 8 of them before. I have started at the start again and am hoping to read book 9 whilst at home next month. Book 10 comes out in Oct.

10.  What are you looking forward to most in the coming week? Just getting through the week and preparing for the huge week next week. So actually nothing exciting at all.

Have a great week

Life Changing

When I was little I loved children. I always wanted to work with them.
Ok as I got older I realised the power of them and decided that in fact I didn't want to work with them quite as much as I thought, although I would still like to be a school teacher rather than a nanny.

I always knew I would one day have children.
In my very early 20's, I was living in a community where everyone I knew was getting married and having children. I loved hugging all the little babies and helping to look after the young ones but my choice of life at the time, I was training to be a nurse, didn't fit in with marriage or kids, ok I was also lacking that other half of the equation!!
I did wonder at one stage during my 20's if it was ever going to happen but I think that had more to do with the amount of weddings I attended in a 5 year period more than whether I was actually at a stage to deal with it.

In my 30's my life took that turn. I was in that stable relationship and life was in tune and mid way through I had our 2 sons. Life was right and children were the perfect part of it.
Do I wish I had had them earlier? Sometimes.
I watch some of my friends who have kids older, much older than mine and wonder what life would be like if my boys were older whilst I was younger than I will be when they get to being teenagers? However the pay off of the experiences I have had prior to having the boys is the ying and yang of the story. I have had experiences that some of my friends are only just starting to consider now their children are older. Each to their own I guess.

Now in my 40's life is changing.
My days of having children are over, as much as I would have loved to have had more children, it wasn't a happening thing and I will always be grateful to the 2 beautiful boys I have the privilege of growing.
And next week life will change further as I under go a hysterectomy.
That finally chapter in the birth of children is leaving me. At present if I wanted more children, I don't by the way, actually got passed that feeling a few years ago, I could have them, well I need a complying partner but you know what I mean.
Anyway I am actually at peace with the change about to happen. Luckily Steve and I are both in the know and had discussed things prior to the first appointment so it didn't take us very long at all in the appointment to agree to the plan and set the ball rolling.
I am not looking forward to the first 2 weeks post, the discomfort and tiredness, but I know the full 6 weeks will do me good.
I am however looking forward to the lack of pain that comes from this decision and living a freer life.

Scavenger Hunt # 17 - Candles

This month our youngest turned 8.
Yep we no longer have little people, they are growing up. Ok not big boys yet but definitely getting there.

So I was very lucky that he had a birthday cake last weekend at his little gathering of friends to celebrate his birthday.

Worked in well with this years scavenger hunt.
Happy scavenger hunting to you all.

Scavenger Hunt # 15 - A Fire Truck or Police Car

I honestly thought that the picture I would show you here would be of a Police car!
They are everywhere and unless I wanted to hang around the local supermarket at lunchtime when the local fire truck rocked on up so the firemen could buy their lunch, then I was convinced it would be a Police car.

So imagine my surprise when we stopped at the motorway rest area to pee on our way home from Auckland, to have Ben run up to me to tell me they had spotted a fire truck in the petrol station across the car park!
(Just to clarify something here....we were driving in 2 cars, thus why they had seen something that I hadn't!)

I raced to my car, grabbed the camera and ran across the parking lot to snap a quick picture before they disappeared. The family stood back by our cars (100m away) trying to act like they didn't know this mad woman running around taking a quick picture of a fire truck in a petrol station!
I mean why miss an opportunity when it is right there in front of you.

However as I walked into the study tonight to write some blog posts, I passed the unit where the boys leave all their built Lego and low and behold there was a fire truck....

So I was safe all along, just didn't look under my nose!!

The Clock

Many years ago I discovered that I didn't need to wear a wrist watch when the one I had broke, you see everywhere you turn there is a clock.
At work due to the nature of my work there is a clock in every room and usually one on a colleagues chest. We are nurses after all.

When out and about there are clocks everywhere, or at least there use to be, until some bright spark at the mall decided that if they took the clocks away then people would forget what time it was and get carried away with spending lots of money! Seems they forgot that everyone has a phone on the nowadays so time is something we can still attempt to control.

Have you ever tried to go the day without looking at your phone to see what the time is?
It is actually quite easy to do, it is amazing where you can find out the time without trying too hard.

However we still have clocks at home. There are 2 in the kitchen (on the wall and the microwave), 1 in the family room, 2 in the lounge (stereo and cable box). 1 in each bedroom and at least 2 in the study (computer and wall).
I seem to like to be able to turn and see the clock! Not sure why? Maybe it has to do with seeing how much time I have left to relax in, how much time until I can send the boys to their room for the evening!

We had a nice clock on the wall in the family room, we had had it for several years until I dropped it!
I replaced it with this one

One that use to be in the boys bedroom, but it kept stopping on me. We changed the battery but alas it would still stop or loose time! It was only an interim clock anyway but better than nothing until we remembered to buy a new one!

So we replaced it with this one

This picture is deceptive as this clock is actually the size of your average car tyre in diameter! Yes it is large but it is gorgeous and I so love the new clock my husband chose.

Only thing is.......the one from the boys bedroom is sitting in the study, battery is still in the thing and would you believe it hasn't stopped since coming down off the wall, still ticking away and doing fine!!

Sure it is doing it to make me feel guilty everytime I walk past it!

Scavenger Hunt # 4 - An Airplane

1 of our most favouritist places in Auckland is the airport.
When we lived there we regularly visited the place to just watch the planes take off and land.
They have 2 awesome viewing areas just pass the airport and if the planes are landing the correct end it feels like they are coming in right in front of you, they are low and slow as they make the final 400m to the runway.

sadly these were taking off this end this day!

With 2 little boys it was so easy to while away 2 hours of easy cheap entertainment sitting and watching alsorts of planes arriving. (Actually I loved it as much as they did!)

So when I saw # 4 on the list I knew we had to make a quick, ok hour long, stop off at the airport on our way out of town heading home. Good job the airport is south and that was the way we were heading!
Only down side was that the planes were taking off over the viewing area this particular day and that can make for challenging pictures as they are going so fast and so high so quickly!

So even though I achieved the picture I required for the hunt, we had some fun shots too.....

 The perfect shot, although this was about picture number 12 and after countless planes taking off!

 Just to be on the safe side an extra shot

 As we were so far away and they were flying really really fast having just taken off, sometimes you missed!

 Totally missed!!

Or just not quick enough!

We all had super fun at the airport and it brought back some fun memories.
Really glad we got to stop and have some family fun.

Scavenger Hunt # 8 - A Tower

When in Auckland there is only 1 tower....The Sky Tower.
It is the tallest building in downtown Auckland, well all of Auckland for that matter and I knew we just had to go downtown to get this shot.

The shot was finally gotten with me parking the car on the side of the road and inbetween traffic flows from the lights in front of me, I more or less stood in the middle of the road to get the perfect shot!

The Sky Tower at 328m is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand and offers breathtaking 360-degree views for up to 80k in every direct (on a clear day)
Travel up in the glass fronted lifts to one of 3 viewing platforms or for more thrills and excitement Skywalk around the 1.2m pergola edge 192m up!
Or Skyjump off the tower by wire and fall straight down for 11 secs at 85k/hr.
If this doesn't take your fancy then dine at one of the 20 or so restaurants, 2 of which are up high and give you amazing views while you dine.
Or you could try your hand at a touch of gambling in the casino.
If nothing else takes your fancy then you can just sit back and relax in one of the 2 hotels surrounding the base of the Sky Tower.

Steve and I have stayed here and eaten in the higest restaurant. The food was amazing and you do get 360-degree views whilst you eat as the restaurant revolves throughout the evening, it can be rather entertaining when someone goes to the toilet and then comes back and can't find their table as the dining floor has moved and they have lost their bearings!

Scavenger Hunt #2 - Theatre for Performing Arts

We were very lucky in that the weekend this Scavenger Hunt from Rinda came out we were away in Auckland for a long weekend. Suddenly it was amazing how many items we came across!
In fact so many that on our last day there we changed our plans and spent the day scavenging around Auckland, planning our route so we could cross off all the exciting things we needed to picture before heading home.
It was so nice that the boys and Steve happily played along.

Our first stop of the day was to the Performing Arts Centre of Auckland, otherwise known as TAPAC (The Auckland Performing Arts Centre)
This place opened in July of 2003 and it inclusively serves the creative needs and interests of a diverse performing arts community.

I saw this place whilst we were visiting the zoo the day before and when I got home and saw the new list I just knew we had to go back and get a picture.

Scavenger Hunt # 11 - An animal in a zoo

We spent the last long weekend up in Auckland. The weather was on our side and we planned many activities.
Ok we were in Auckland for a meeting of the husbands side of the family for genealogy but we extended our stay and had to take in the zoo etc.
The list for this years scavenger hunt from Rinda came out on the Saturday and as we are so far ahead in time to most of the world, I didn't get chance to check her blog to see the list until late Saturday afternoon, by which time we had spent the day at the zoo.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I read # 11 on the list.....An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature reserve.
Perfect, only problem was which picture of which animal to show you guys as my final picture?

Only one thing for it, show you a few......

This is Burma, the only elephant at Auckland Zoo after her companion Kashin died in 2009. As you can see Burma loves exploring new enviroments and enjoys her daily walks around the zoo.
Yes folks this is the elephant that walks around the zoo with her keepers and when I took this picture she was all of 2m away from me!

I just had to take a picture of this flamingo, as wouldn't everyone love legs that long, or is that a neck that long, oh I don't know!

And this is the male tiger at the zoo, Boz and he is beautiful. Yes I am standing 2m away from him as well, but no he wasn't on a free walk about in the zoo, there was a rather large 2 inch thick piece of glass between me and him!!

So there you have it, my first submission to the scavenger hunt of 2013

It's Here, it's here

Yes that is right the Summer Scavenger Hunt is here again from Rinda.
Ok so it is not summer here in New Zealand but hey no reason to not spruce up winter and have a little fun.

If you played along last year then you will know what this is all about, but if not, then stick around and check out whether or not you can't join in the fun.
Here are some links to posts from last year just to give you some ideas. The 2012 list, item #11, the mid way catch up.

Rinda puts out a list of 21 items that you need to photograph between June 1 and Sept 21, generally throughout summer if you live in the Northern Hemisphere.
All you have to do is take a picture of these items and place them on your blog. Leave a comment at Rinda's Place every now and then so she knows you are playing along and she will come and visit and check out your pictures.

So without further ado, here is the list for 2013..........

1. Open air market
2. Theatre for performing arts (not a movie theatre)
3. City Hall, Capitol or similar Civic building
4. Airplane
5. A sunset
6. Someone or something taking a nap
7. A sign that is intentionally or unitentionally funny
8. A tower
9. A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10. A bench that is outside
11. An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature reserve etc
12. A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13. A fence
14. A stained glass object or a mosaic
15. A fire truck or police car
16. A windmill
17. Candles
18. Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19. A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21. A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft supply (you can not substitute this item)

Bonus items:
If you are unable to find any of the above items then you are free to substitute either, or both of these items for the ones listed below:

• A person wearing an outfit (or item of clothing) that symbolizes your country
• A sundail

Of course there are a few little rules to help you play along nicely: I haven't listed them here but you can find them over here at Rinda's if you desperately need to read them

I have put the list on my side bar to the left, I will link to each item as I discover them.
Happy scavenging