Kirsty's Wedding

We had an extended Easter weekend by cruising to Waiheke Island on Tuesday to attend my cousin Kirsty's wedding. The day was a bit overcast but was still lovely down on the beach. It as a beautiful wedding and the reception at Mudbrick Vineyard was great. Dean's mum came over to watch the kids which was awesome, then she and Nathan had to catch the early ferry home to work and preschool. We stayed a bit longer and caught up with the family before heading home.

My Cousin Cameron and his two kiddies, Jake and Zoe. Waiting for their Aunty to arrive.

The Ceremony at Onetangi Beach

Mum and Dad

Reid and Sasha
Dean and I

Kirsty and Andy with Aunty Wendy and Uncle Kerry (Aunty Wendy is Dad's sister)

This little dude had the cutest suit on, and to see him charge into this big puddle for a swim in it was hilarious.

At Mudbrick Vineyard

Zoe making Maia laugh

Maia takes after my Dads side in lots of ways, I think she and Zoe have similar eyes.

Easter

GOOD FRIDAY

Dean had the work boat booked so took a few of the boys fishing. We went round to his mums where all the kids had a good time playing under the sprinkler. Well Nathan wasn't too sure about it and would only go through with someone else. Kael the waterbaby didn't mind it at all.

SATURDAY

I had a day to myself while the kids stayed with Dean. I went into the city for a look around and to buy my cousin's wedding present. It was great to just take my time looking around. I went for a look through Borders, bought a CD and grabbed a coffee and chilled. Then it was off to the Mall which was pretty packed. With all the shopping getting to me I stopped and got a mean neck and shoulder massage in the mall which gave me the strength to carry on as there was still a dress to buy for the wedding and a few accessories also. Then it was home to my babies who also had a great day. Man I'm going to be doing that more often!! It was great.

EASTER SUNDAY

Nathan and I went to church and left Maia at home with dad to have a sleep. We got home to them chillin outside, so Nathan joined them for an apple and an Easter egg. Later in the afternoon Nanny and Poppa arrived and took over with the kids so we could cruise off to watch the Warriors kick some Eel butt! It was a choice game. Afterwards Fat Freddys Drop played in the supertop, thanks to Vodafone, although they can't have been paid much coz it was pretty short. We bumped into the Tok Crew there too which was awesome to catch up with them out of the blue.

EASTER MONDAY

Went to the Zoo for Cadence's 4th birthday, had a mean feed and a little look around. Dean went fishing again caught the limit again! Got snapper coming out of our ears, can't complain though it's great!!

Forgetting the camera

Last week I forgot to take our camera out and about with us. Luckily Dean's phone camera is pretty good. Thursday the kids and I went to Western Springs with Nathan's trike. He is getting good at biking, but not up the hills just yet so I had to push the pram and the trike, not an easy thing on my own!! We then went to pick up Dean and had some lunch at the park near his office.


Sunday afternoon we went to Henderson Park for the Bfm Summer Sounds concert. The weather was awesome so we found some shade under some big trees and chilled to the cool sounds. There was heaps of space for Dean and Nathan to kick the ball around. We hadn't been to that park before and I spied that it had a good path with no hills for Nathan to ride his trike on some other time.

Nathan Turns 3 Today

Even though we had Nathans little birthday party on Sunday we couldn't ignore his actual birthday. He went to Pre-School for the morning where they sang happy birthday to him and ate his Lightning McQueen cake. I zipped home and packed a lunch to take to the zoo and then picked Nathan up at lunchtime.

We met Lisa and Troy and the kids at the zoo where we had our picnic and then a walk around. Maia was still asleep in her pram when we were done at the zoo so I took Nathan to the playground next to the zoo at Western Springs which is a cool little park aside from all the duck, goose and general bird poo around. We spent quite a while there as he was having a great time. It was nearly 4pm when he was ready to go so I took him straight over to his Nana and Poppy's where he usually stays on Tuesday nights. His cousin Logan who is over from the Gold Coast was there and Nathan had fun chasing his big cuzzy around. We ended up staying for dinner which was nice, and Nathan stayed there so his Nana can get him to Pre School on time in the morning :)

I had a lovely day seeing my boy have fun on his 3rd birthday.

(see the vid below for some Pre School happy birthday action)

Kumeu Show

On Saturday we went to the Kumeu Show. I gave up on Pasifika this year as it was sooo packed last year and although good for a feed, is not that exciting for kids. The attraction of the Kumeu show was my memories of the good ol A & P Show I used to go to growing up in Tokoroa. It was really cool, lots of interesting things for little eyes to see and cool things for the little man to do. Nanny came with us as Dean and my Dad were out fishing - they got heapsa fish too!

Nathan was not as interested in the giant pumpkin as he was in his new hot wheels car. They had a whole tent/stall with hot wheels which I paid about 60c more that what I could have got one for at the Warehouse :) They did have lots of old school collector looking ones too though.

That was one overpriced balloon that Nathan's Nanny got sucked into buying (by her mokopuna) that got donated to the sky a day later

The system for these rides is silly, you have to buy coupons and each ride is worth a different amount of coupons. So I bought some so Nathan could go on the Merry go round and so we could go on the Ferris Wheel, as he has not been too adventurous lately, but once he saw all the little kiddie rides, that was that, he wanted them all. So there went my coupons for the Ferris Wheel, which I actually was kinda keen on. But not $10.50 for the two of us keen. Tight ay :)

He had lots of fun and didn't want to go, but he zonked out in the car straight away.

Maia's Dedication

On Sunday morning we had Maia's Dedication at my church. Her two sets of grandparents, Aunty Lisa, Ayla, Uncle Reid and Sasha all came which was lovely. She was very well behaved and so was Nathan. She looked so pretty in her little outfit which Sasha had bought for her when she was born, especially for this day.

Check out her grip on the microphone while she was being prayed for, she must have wanted to say a few words to God herself :)

Nathan's Early Birthday Party

Nathan is turning 3 on Tuesday but we had a little party with all his family on Sunday afternoon as his Nanny and Poppa were up from Mt Maunganui for the weekend. It was a lovely afternoon and he had heaps of fun having all his favourite people with him, and getting some cool pressies.

I was pretty proud of my effort with the cakes, It's not usually my thing but I got right into it. He is so into Lightning McQueen and anything cars. I baked two so he could take one to preschool on his birthday. I wanted to keep them a surprise but it's not possible with him hanging around sniffing out all the sugar going on!

BBQ duty - snapper fritters amongst other yummy food

Pressie time with Ayla helping out

Cake time

Kael - Yay!

Taking his sister for a spin in his Lightning McQueen car that Uncle Reid got him, he looooves it!