Working Bee out West

This weekend the hilliards set about doing a big spring clean around the house. There were windows to be washed, concrete to clean, gardens to weed and plant. Troy helped out, bringing his work truck with the hardcore waterblaster so we could blast all the mould off the concrete. Nathan went to his nana Miriam's on Saturday so we could get stuff done, and on Sunday he hung around to oversee the proceedings. After all the hard work he got to help out by being dad's beer holder.

Nathan's BLOG

Hey everybody...
Welcome to Nathan's Blog. We are going to post weekly updates on how he is going and what we've been up to. Feel free to visit us here as often as you want. It's a pretty cool way of documenting things. If you want to create one of your own it's real easy, just go to the top right side of this page and click 'Get Your Own Blog'. Let us know if you do!! I've Started this one from scratch so some of the pics you would have seen on our old msn groups site, which we've run out of room on which is why we've swapped. Also check out our video links section. You can also make comments or say hello on the site by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of each post.
If you want to see the pics in their right order start at the bottom of the page and work your way up...
Luv the Hilliards

Friday a Big Day

Today we went to Dean's Uncle Baker's Funeral. Nathan got to meet some of the family he hasn't met before.

Then we went to the Parent and Child expo and scored lots of freebies and got lots of information. Here's Ayla and Lisa at the mini farm.

Labour Weekend

Our mission this long weekend was to head to Te Kaha, East Coast, NZ to where my family has some land and where we camped every year as I was growing up. On Saturday we went to check out how it was looking as it's been a long time since we've stayed there. It was looking a bit worse for wear, but we were all very excited about what we're going to do to get it up to scratch and we're looking forward to spending many a summer day there fishing, diving, swimming and relaxing. Sunday was spent at Uncle John's house in Opotiki sitting around with the whanau relaxing in the sun watching the boys play soccer. Then Dean and I headed to the Mount with a mandatory stop at the Ohiwa fish n chip shop to pick up some oysters and kina, yum yum! On Monday Dean and Dad went out fishing and got a good catch of snapper. So it was a great weekend all up, roll on summer holidays!!

Sun's Out

Yay we are enjoying another lovely day. Nathan and I went for a walk to the Library to return some magazines and Dean's golf book, and to get out more magazines and another golf book. It's a half hour walk with a big hill involved so it's a good way of realising how unfit i am... (will be joining the gym this week!!) Nathan enjoyed the kiddies corner and even made two friends, two sisters who bought him toys to play with but were't too impressed that he was 'dribbling over the library's toys'. We txt dean to meet us at the park for lunch and we scored a ride home with him too.. Too full to walk the rest of the way :-) or maybe more like couldn't be bothered.

Monday Outing

A trip to visit Lisa Morris at her lovely house surrounded by Native bush. Nathan and Ayla enjoying the sun.

Trip to the park

We enjoyed some better weather on the weekend and took advantage by going out Sunday afternoon to scout a spot for mine and Dean's 30th birthday bbq. We checked out Coyle Park in Pt Chev and it looks pretty cool. Nice view, interesting wildlife, plenty of space to kick the footy around and a park for the kiddie winkles that come. Just praying for a nice day now. We're also having a night thingo too, somewhere in Aucks, yet to be confirmed, you're all welcome by the way. If a paper invite doesn't make it your way, just come along :-) The look on Nathan's face is his pram face. He seems to really chill out in his pram and just cruises.

7 Months Old

Well Nathan is seven months old today. He seems like a little boy now, not so much of a baby. I guess he's still our baby, but it's cool to see him growing and doing new things like... He feeds himself his avocado sandwiches for lunch and he is rolling over and getting his early stage crawling styles sussed out. Check out the video's of him in action.

The Winner Is...

Hey Everyone,
Thanks for checking out our Blog and for your comments and emails. We have a winner for Dean's 'Where in the World' competition. My cousin Ben in Sydney is the clever cookie who guessed Mt Rangitoto. Way to go benny, you're in the running mate. Feel free people to just have a guess, my first guess was some volcano in Hawaii, so I was way off. We'll let you know when the next one is up.
Here's our winner for this week...
Ben Erickson and his lovely girlfriend Shae

Where in the World?

Hello kiddies, welcome to Dean's weekly geography lesson. Try to guess where in the world this Google Earth picture is taken from. First person with the correct answer will be awarded "student of the week" bragging rights. The best student at the end of the year will win NZ$50 to be donated to a charity of their choice. How about that? Answers must be specific, and Dean's decision is final. Leave your answers in the comments section.

Where in the world is this???

Nathan the Jolly Jumper

The Jolly Jumper is a great way to keep him occupied somtimes when he's getting a little grizzly, it always puts a smile on his face. Notice the two new top teeth that have added to that smile, and to the grizzlyness :-) 6th October 2005.

Bath Time

Nathan loves his baths!! 2nd October 05

Nathan's Trip to the Mount

Our latest trip to the Mount was in early September for 10 days. It was a lovely break for me with mum taking Nathan off my hands any opportunity she had, which meant a few sleep ins, which was nice. Poppa took on evening bottle duty and walks in the garden discovering Nathans facination with trees, leaves and flowers. We went to the beach, walked around the Mount and visited Uncle Reid and Luke in Ohope.

Nathan's Friends

Here are some of Nathan's little buddies and cuzzies...

1. Nathan and Moses and their favourite bedtime book


2. Nathan giving his cousin Ayla a big hug


3. Cousin Zoe who was born 2 weeks before Nathan


4. Nathan and Cousin Ruka having a bath, Nathan is 1 month older


5. Nate's little mate Ryda 8 days difference, Ryda lives in Brisbane. Check out his website.


6. Nate's other little mate Max

Starting Solids

Well our first attempt at solids was at four and a half months as Plunket suggested because he is such a big boy he might need to start early. So we gave it a go but he wasn't into it, as you can see from the photos! We tried at it for about a week but he just didn't want to, he seemed happy enough with mummy's good stuff and it wasn't as if he was undernourished... Look at those cheeks :-)

Second time around a month later, on our return from Brisbane, he was right into it and hasn't looked back. His favourite is mummy made lamb mince and veges, better than those shop ones, which he does have when mums feeling lazy.

Nathan's Third Trip to Brisbane

Okay okay, I know it's kinda ridiculous but yes we were off to Brisbane again, this time with Daddy Dean in tow for Adam and Katie's Wedding. Dean and Troy were in the bridal party as good friend and brother (Troy) to the Groom. We stayed at Peter's mostly (thanks Pete) and were back and forth between there and Adam's house where a lot of the pre wedding action was. We arrived on Wednesday and the boys were off for the Bucks night. Thursday we went to the Gold Coast so Nathan and Ayla could meet their cousin Logan. Friday Nathan visited his good mate Ryda again. Saturday we had the wedding which was lovely. Sunday it was back to BICC to visit again. Monday we had lunch with some of Dean's friends, we had afternoon tea with Bronwyn and Daniel, and then around for dinner at Bianca and Calebs... Whew, busy busy busy!!! Tuesday was a cruise to the city on the City Cat to Dean's old workplace to see more work friends. Also that night we had Riki around for tea. Wednesday was hometime, it was a great time there but we were kinda glad to be heading back to our normal routine.

Along Came Ayla

Back in May, on the 29th to be exact Nathan's cousin Ayla Hayley Brown was born to his Aunty Lisa (Dean's sister) and Uncle Troy. What a gorgeous little girl, tiny compared to Mr Nathan. They are going to grow up good mates being only two and a half months apart.