Nathan turns -Two - 2 - E Rua -

Sunday 11th March Nathan turned two. We went out to Muriwai beach for a picnic. We thought a swim might be the go until it RAINED, well the boys still got in though!! Oh well it was nice while we ate and the kids got a good play both taking turns at throwing the very fine black sand into each others eyes.

two little monkeys in a tree

It was a lowkey affair so i didn't bake a cake, but did make a chocolate two for the kids

Hmmm Chocolate!

Can't go past the honey ricies for a birthday (mostly coz mum loves them)

West Coast black sand beach

Another busy busy Weekend!!

Saturday was full on. First stop Pasifika Festival at Western Springs. The biggest pacific festival in the pacific. Each Island has it's own 'village' area set up with food stalls, craft and entertainment. All the food looked so yummy we couldn't decide what to eat, so settled on the good ol fashioned Hangi. Dean bought some out of it Tongan desert with Taro leaves and caramel or some weird mixture like that. The winners were the Pineapples hollowed out and chopped up with Ice Cream on the top!! I started getting cranky with the heat and we had to move on. Spent a good few hours though. It was home for a rest then that evening off to the Domain for the pyrotechnic display.

The neighbours are moving

Our lovely neighbours are moving at the end of the month. Who is going to feed our cat when we go away?? Who is Nathan going to yell over the fence to and play with?? Oh well, hopefully the new ones are going to be as nice, although I know they don't have two little boys to play with Nathan.

Yelling out to 'Jacit' (actual name Jacob)

Air Show and Chinese Lanterns

Saturday we went to the Whenuapai Air Show, there were some cool displays but we couldn't stay around for the more exciting stuff like the Aussies F111. Nathan loves seeing the planes land at the airbase from our house, but up close he wasn't so sure.
Nathan and I met up with Sasha at the Chinese Lantern Festival that night which was cool, although it was a bit of a mission trying to get around as it was sooo packed. He loved all the different lanterns on display. Lucky we ate before we went as we just couldn't get near the food stalls with the pram.

Married 6 Years

Last Saturday was our anniversary. We went and stayed the night at the Heritage in the city, it was a lovely sunny day and we spent the whole afternoon by the pool. They also had an indoor pool and spa as well, which was nice at about 11pm after going out for tea and walking around the city. It was a nice mini break away.

Our Weekend

We had a jam packed weekend. Saturday morning was spent at Mitre 10 Mega getting bits and pieces to get our fence started, then Dean made a start by putting some posts in. Go Dean!! Then that evening along with half of Auckland (est 80,000 people attended) we headed to Mission Bay for the Jazz and Blues Festival. Man it was packed!! We parked up in a spot near the water which was nice, but unfortunately in between stages so only got blended sound, There were lots of stages with bands playing and lots of yummy food stalls, most of which I have to steer clear of being pregnant and having to be paranoid of 'Listeria' boo for Listeria, no ham, deli food, stall food, foodcourt food, camembert cheese, oysters, raw seafood blah blah blah the list is sooo long, sorry way off subject but had to have a moan. Anyway it was a good family evening out. I don't have any pics of the crowd but it was huge.

















Sunday
Dean finished putting the fence posts in, then it was a mad rush to attend another packed out event, this time The Black Seeds playing at the zoo. If you remember this time last year we went to see Che Fu at the Zoo and Nathan won an electric guitar with his mad tiger tail dance moves. Anyway no prizes won this year but we went hard on all the freebies around, fee Gin and Tonic samples (Dean) free coffee and brownies, and free bottles of Orange Juice/Spirulina/Berry Smoothie which we scored about 7 bottles of, courtesy of Wild Bean Cafe. The concert was great other than being so packed, tickets said gates open at 6pm, Dean's workmate rang at 5.30 saying he was already in and it was already packed. So our spot wasn't the greatest but we walked around a bit an enjoyed the atmosphere and music. For those Aussies reading, The Black Seeds are yet another choice NZ band, check them out at
http://www.theblackseeds.com/

An apple a day

Nathan and Ryda eating apples

Devonport

A couple of weeks ago Dean took a Monday off and we went on a family adventure to North Head, Devonport. There are some cool underground tunnels and lookout points that the Navy set up. Lots of great views too. Afterwards we went to the waterfront and had a picnic. I also got sucked into getting a sketch done of Nathan, her work looked alright, but I think that's from copying photos, shouldn't have expected too much having it done in 10 minutes. It looks nothing like him, looks like a girl!!