Looking after Monty

Today we went to chipmunks for Ayla's birthday. Nathan took Monty as well (see Rat that features in the pictures). He was given the responsibility of looking after Monty for a few days by his Pre-School. The first night he took Monty to his Nana's house. They watched a DVD while Nana cooked Nathans dinner. Nana wanted to put Monty in the bath as he looked like he could do with a bit of a wash after going home to the different kids houses :) but Nathan said he would get too cold. The next day while Nathan went to Pre-School he gave Monty to Ayla to look after. She took Monty to Gymnastics with her. Man Monty gets around alright. So yep he got to go to Chipmunks and we took a few pics of him to put in the book that chronicles his adventures at the kids houses.

I guess giving him to the kids to take home is suppose to nuture responsibility and empathy etc etc. Don't tell his Pre-School but truth be told, I don't think Nathan was too overly fussed about ol Monty, he left him in some random places at Chipmunks and when I told him maybe he should let Monty sit on the couch instead of the floor he said 'nah'. When we got home he said Monty could just stay in his bag instead of coming out to watch a bit of T.V. I'm not sure if I need to be worried that he wasn't too fussed about taking special care of Monty, I wonder if he thought he is just a stuffed animal and why should he get any special treatment over all the other ones we have in the house???? I guess I could have made a bit more of a lesson out of the exercise about taking extra care of certain things.

Anyway here are some pics from Ayla's birthday at Chipmunks

Ayla opening her presents, Monty looking on
Lucas, Nathan, Ayla and Monty

I raced Monty over to the Merry go Round to get a photo with Nathan to put into the 'What did Monty get up to?' book

Ayla's birthday cake

Look out Robbers!

Maia had fun too :)

Chipmunks trip 1

Yesterday we met up with Talei, Cadence and Rico at Chipmunks. The boys had a great time racing around the place and the the little girls hung out together while we big girls had a good catch up. Keep an eye out for more Chipmunk fun, we're going again on Thursday for Ayla's birthday, Yay :)

Maia and Rico, they'll be racing round like the boys soon enough

Nathan and Cadence having fun

What to do with ourselves??

We had arranged for the kids to stay at their Nana and Poppy's house for the weekend as we thought we were going back to Taupo to do some work around my Nana's house. But as we are going down there next weekend also my Nana cancelled the trip as petrol had hit $2 a litre and she didn't want all the cousins to have to travel two weekends in a row.
Miriam offered to have the kids anyway so Dean and I thought we better make the most of it. So Friday night we went and had dinner with Carsten and Michelle before they headed back to Brisbane. We chatted till late and got home around 1.30am which is very late for me :)
Saturday I slept in until 10.30am which is an absolute record for me, well it hasn't been done in a looong time! Later that afternoon Dean and I went into the city and did some shopping, some looking around and then we went to the IMAX theatre to watch U2 in 3D. Neither of us are major U2 fans, we do like most of their music I guess, but it was just cool seeing the whole thing in 3D - pretty amazing. We were pretty full on popcorn, Ice Cream and Coke but went and got some dinner anyway.
Sunday morning we had another little sleep in before zooming over to see the kids that we had actually really missed.

Scott Dickson look out
The best thing about 3D is the groovy glasses you get to wear!

Seeing the City Lights

Sunny Saturday

Saturday was a lovely day with lots of things going on. It was my day to sleep in, YAY! I slept till 9am, wow! The boys (Moses included) started their day with a bit of Rugby action over in the reserve. This was my chance to whip round and tidy the house. While Maia was having her morning nap I got together a bit of lunch to take out with us and see where the road would take us while we were on our nursery hopping adventure (we really only ended up going to one). Even though I had a sleep in I was kinda pooped when we got home!

Saturday morning hairdo, Maia's wild mane before it gets tied up.

This family were nice enough to share their bread with Nathan so he could feed the ducks with them

A spot near the water in Greenhithe, somewhere to sit in the sun for a while and have some lunch


At a local nursery checking out what plants and trees we want around the house. A mission we've been meaning to do for ages. We are definately not greenthumbs but do want to get more plants around preferably ones that don't need much looking after.

Next mission was operation haircut. I've been letting Nathans hair grow back hoping the curls would kick back in, but they haven't, so off it goes again.

The reward for enduring having his haircut, his favourite, gingerbread man.

Meeting up with the Klint-Pedersons

On Sunday we met up with Carsten and Michelle and their beautiful girls Emma and Annabelle. They are over from Brisbane with Carsten working here in Auckland for the week and Michelle and the girls driving down to New Plymouth to visit her family. We had lunch at the house they're staying at before venturing out to show them some sights later in the afternoon.

Nathan and Emma becoming good buddies straight away

Lunching out in the Sun, better than braving a cafe with two toddlers and two bubbas

Bastion Point

Nathan and Emma scrapping over the rugby ball

Down at Mission Bay, the sun was still shining but man it was getting cold! Us locals only had our T.Shirts on and should have known better!

Maia and Annabelle all rugged up, they've got it sussed!!

Back on Track

Well on our return home we had a bad week with the kids taking turns with high temperatures. Nathan had one night of it, then came right, and then a day later was back. With Maia it was nights, arrgh a temp of 39 and crying all night Wednesday night and then sweet as Thursday, then Friday night again!!! So I have only started to catch up on sleep and feel normal this week. Needless to say I didn't want any presents for Mothers Day on Sunday, just a nice sleep in, which I managed to sleep till 8.30am woo hoo!! I did get to go out for lunch too, with Miriam and Lisa.

Monday rolled around and with high temps behind us and the sun shining we headed out to Western Springs park to feed the birds and have a play. We bumped into Jamie, Semu and little Tipene who is only a few weeks younger than Maia but well ahead in the teeth growing and crawling departments.

Goodbye Pa

Two weeks ago we got the call that my Grandfather was not doing so good and maybe we should head down. We went to see him in Rotorua hospital that evening. Most of the family were there as we were not certain how much time he had left. The next morning (Friday) we took him home to Taupo to be with him and care for him the remainder of his days. We had lots of good moments with him for the first few days he was home and he was in good spirits. He spoke to us, his grandchildren about different things. We had lots of family staying in the house and lots of visitors coming through the house. We drank lots of cuppa teas, we sang his favourite songs, we laughed, we cried, we got in each others spaces and faces, we fought we made up. It was good to be together through it. From about Tuesday onwards, Pa mostly slept as his body slowly lost the ability to communicate, although we knew his mind was still sharp and that he could understand us. Each night we would have Karakia (prayer time) and he would mouth Amen when he could.

Pa passed peacefully early hours of Saturday morning, we had him at home one night, and took him to the Marae for one night.

We don't often get the chance to say goodbye to loved ones, I'm glad I got spend some time with my Pa and say goodbye.

Pa pretending to eat Maia's foot

Pa and his youngest Great Grandchild Ngahaka Anetta-Maui Rolleston (My cousin Jamie's daughter)

Maia 9 months and Ngahaka 5 months old

Jalyn putting gel in Nathan's hair

Jalyn proud of her hairdressing skills, Nathan and Ruka not so sure!

One of the Sunny days we had

Dani mowing lawns in her bare feet

Getting the kids outside to play while the sun shines

After going stir crazy inside with some bad weather, we took the kids out to the park for the afternoon! Was good to get out!

Maia and Jamie

The Cuzzies and the Kiddies

Fish and Chips at the Lake

A bit of Texas Holdem between a couple of the Uncles and Cousins

Some of the Cousins at the Marae after saying goodby to our Pa

Maia and Nan having cuddles before we pack up and head home to Auckland, we were in Taupo for 11 days, it was a long time to be away from home but I'm glad we were there