Confessions of a Sugar Addict and mini holiday

Day 11/42. Well, I feel tired. A bit overwhelmed.

The last couple of days I haven't been feeling too flash. Feel a bit better today though.

My in laws had the kids on Friday night and my hubby surprised me by taking me to Paihia for the night.

We stayed in a lovely place, ate at the restaurant and bubba joined us. He was good, despite it being way past his bedtime, and all the other patrons doted on him.

We met four other lots of people who had a direct correlation to very prem babies themselves...

in fact, one, Mr Woods, bought us a bottle of champagne and had it sent to our room! haha. it felt very American.

We were very well accomodated for, I dont think ive ever stayed in such a friendly, hospitable hotel.

I was true to my fast and remained sugar free for our stay. Not always easy!

I stumbled upon these tasty looking treats... discovering that they are actually soaps made by a woman with NINE kids- called the soap patisserie. This is her evening crafty hobby. pics below...

My prayer for today is that God would show Himself strong on my behalf, so I may be strengthened in this time and able to live in victory. And that He would enable me to learn keys so i can release victory to others!

Our mini holiday

Nothing like a family holiday... especially a rushed one. Hehe.

3 days away has its many benefits, and its unpleasant bits too.

We got to Auckland just fine. Found our octopus arms and managed ok without dropping our gear more than twice.

Checked in our bag, our three carseats and our five people. Ate dinner.

Missed the call to board our plane so got our names called over the loud speaker. Hehe.

Got on the plane and flew to new plymouth, no trouble. 'Sure beats driving!' The hubby remarked. Until the plane tried to land... three times.

We flew down on a steep angle, wheels down, next thing about 100m from the ground we were launching up on a steep angle.  This repeated and after the third attempt we turned back to auckland. I was feeling rather ill by this point. I only feel non motion sick today- felt sick in cars or planes the whole trip. We were all tired, hungry and not knowing when we will get to new plymouth or where we would stay for the night... while trying to make it an adventure for miss 3 to avoid concern...

We jammed into Air NZ paid accomodation for the night. A nice hotel, the kind with the silky sheets that crunch when you move. Luxury for us, sheer torture with a super wriggly 1 and 3 year old in the bed next door. Hence, Mr A slept on the carpet. Which was equally luxurious I might add. Mr E slept in the bathtub on his mattress and sometime well after midnight we were settled for the night. 520am up to catch the bus to the airport so we can catch a 650am plane back to New Plymouth... the rest is history. Had a lovely time, cousins played beautifully, adults shared yummy meals, glasses of yummy drinks and chatter about various topics. On our last day we drove up Mt Taranaki- which even had a little snow on the top (hence the inability to land), visited an uber child friendly cafe, ate massive icecreams, flew to Auckland and then took in excess of four hours to drive home with grumpy and hungry boys... Still, as we lay in our bed we both acknowledged that we survived and that it was worth it :-) a

Recipe for adventure...

Todays recipe....
3 small children
4 bags of gear, clothes, blankeys, special toys, nappies and bottles
1 long car ride
1 short (if you call any flying with three small children 'short') plane ride
Arrival post bedtime

Directions: load the three small children in the car. Find space for the four bags of gear. Pick up coffee to retain some form of adult sanity. Put the dummy in the babies mouth. Drive around for a while and hope like anything that the two smallest ones fall asleep.
Discover you have arms like an octopus as you juggle 3 kids, 3 carseats and 4 bags at the airport (thankfully 3 bags are childrens backpack sized). Eat dinner at the airport. Get on the plane at almost bedtime. Hope you are seated away from people staring (hehe). Blend all of this together in a confined space with capacity for 40 adults and quite a few thousand feet in the air.
Get out, get car, drive to destination, settle children to bed then relax and enjoy....

One 3 day holiday to Taranaki to visit my brother, sister-in-law and my beautiful niece and nephew.

Wish me luck!! Hehe.

Things I'm Loving

Making these from scratch - several batches - some for us, a whole lot to give away



The best part, of course, was smothering them in butter and sharing them with two special friends as our Good Friday tradition....



More makings.....





Turning this space



Into this... (which has been almost 2 years in the making)...



We've had the dishwasher sitting boxed in our lounge since August 09.  Finished the main renovations in the kitchen, so now, it's installed!  Perfect timing if you ask me.

Also loving....

• plenty of chocolate!!


• sleep in's with hubby till 9.30 (because miss 'almost 2' was at Nana & Poppa's for the night)


• late night drive thru mc'ds


• Long weekends which feel like a very much needed mini holiday

 

Don't forget to think about the real reason for Easter.  Jesus gave everything for us.  It is well worth celebrating!

x

Festival of Lights

So, if you want a holiday in an amazing city - where over summer they run a 6 week long festival - with family friendly entertainment EVERY NIGHT, activities for kids, an amazing park, friendly people and nearly everything is FREE - FREE - I kid not.... I do recommend New Plymouth. 

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="the girls danced to the excellent singers...."][/caption]

My brother and his family relocated there a year ago - and to sum it up - apart from being away from their family (her's are in Ireland, his are north NZ), they LOVE it!  I was told of free sausage sizzles, free entertainment, free parties for kids with face painting, the free zoo...... lots to do!

[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="the beautiful changing colours waterfall - amazing"][/caption]

Each summer from mid December to end of Jan, they host a 'Festival of Lights' - where the features of their main Pukekura park are lit up. 

[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="dragonflies on the bridge..."][/caption]

It means a late night, because it's only dark enough around 9.20pm, but it's definitely worth it.  Even miss 1 and miss 2 got a good time out of it.

[caption id="attachment_234" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="punga tree..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_235" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="this had these pirate birds, making a heck of a noise, good times..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="wow"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="this is the reflection in the lake of the actual feature - hanging above"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_238" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="palms and ferns..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="and my favourite - the 3D balls and ultra violet lights"][/caption]

Holiday adventures....

We went away for a week recently, for a wedding and to catch up with family who live far away. 

[caption id="attachment_220" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="practising for her big day ;-)"][/caption]

Here are some highlights (haha) for all you mums out there......

It was a typical family holiday.... it rained with the remnants of cyclone Wilma the first weekend.  The wedding day it just poured, so it was quickly changed from a beach wedding to indoors.  There was flooding and slips and major roadworks along the road on our way to Hamilton then New Plmouth.  Lily vomited all over herself, her blankey and her carseat.  It was a beautiful day the next day, and she was sick... ALL DAY.  She was better the following day - it RAINED all day.  We left for home on Friday, got stuck in rush hour traffic which took 2 hours to get from South Auckland to Albany.  We left for Whangarei, another cyclone was making its presence well known, so we turned back.  We turned back again on Saturday morning, when thousands of others were trying to make the same trip north and the main part of State Highway 1 north was closed.  We finally got home at 9pm that night after a long detoured drive north.

Thankfully, our animals were all alive and well fed.   Our house was intact and tidy (thanks to my epic cleaning spree the day before we left) and our car made the trip!

We really did have a good time.  A sense of humour on holiday meant that we found most of the above chaotic things funny.  Here are some real highlights....

I got to play/dance/read-to and hang out with this princess....

[caption id="attachment_221" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="my beautiful niece"][/caption]

 

I met for the first time, and got cuddles and loads of grins from this handsome little man...

[caption id="attachment_223" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="gorgeous nephew!"][/caption]

watching cousins play...

[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="People actually thought they were both mine.... and that I was crazy! (they're 8 months apart)"][/caption]

we killed some time on Saturday at Auckland Zoo...

[caption id="attachment_224" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="the zoo! oh, the Harris' - at the zoo"][/caption]

 

We got a visual treat at New Plymouth's festival of lights...

[caption id="attachment_225" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="waterfall - it changed colours...."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="ultra-violet lights and 3D balls!"][/caption]

 

That's all for now... stay tuned for highlights of the zoo and the lights over the next couple of days - got some awesome pics!

Hope you're all good out there!