Sunshine adventures

Q left for Europe this week so Kahu & I headed up to QLD to see the Whanau and to hang out in the sun.

Aunty Tintin decided the monkey should start toilet training

It's not going as well as we would like!

Kahu is LOVING hanging with his cuzzies - no matter how old they get they still make time for the little guy

Uncle Jay is the man of the moment for Kahu 

Gorgeous weather has meant plenty of fun in the sun. We headed off to moloolaba beach today with the Dixons. 

Loving the sun kissed holiday so far !!?

October already!

Last weekend I made a quick trip to Sydney for one of my bestie's hen's celebration. I love hanging with these ladies and it was a gorgeous afternoon in the sun drinking wayyyyyy too much champers! Lovely.

Spent the evening with some of my fave rellies at Casa Talman, where I feasted on slow cooked lamb & a dangerous choc-peanut butter dessert. Lots of vino (yes more please!) and long conversations with the gorgeous Megan (I needed a heart-to-heart for sure), and another delicious brekky on Sunday by 'Australia's Best Home Chef' (it's true & were related!) before hitting the road home to my lil family. Pretty perfect weekend in Sydney actually!

The monkey was pretty happy to see me -must get away more often on solo jaunts! Play dates later in the week with the little people while the mamas gossed (unusual I know!)

Big first this weekend with the Kahu's first cinema experience - off to see Disney's Planes. Big hit all round!

Queanbeyan turned 175 years old so we headed to the festivities - best part was hanging with the firemen - of course none compare to Uncle Tom!

Long weekend in Canberra so we checked out Floriade after brekky at the painfully trendy Me & Mrs Jones - great industrial fit out, so so food. The flowers rocked tho!

Big weekend almost over. Q heads to Europe this week while the monkey & I will fly up to QLD to see the family. 

We. Can't. Wait.

Updates

The little guy's friend Archer turned 2 and had an awesome party. A chance for mama to dress the monkey in his party finest & rock a fedora.  There was an ambulance there for the little ones to hang out in - best day ever!!!

Play dates with all my mates - rock on!

EPIC market on a frosty morning. Love a BIG pastry, a bratwurst & a long coffee line!

Kahu has discovered the joy of a well placed foot stool on the kitchen - and has been helping out at the stove. Still not prepared to actually try anything he's helped cooked but I remain hopeful!

We had a toy clear out & rediscovered the farm animals. Thx nanny! And we took Dad to the park. 

A special early xmas present for mama - a lovely new mint green bike just made for cruising slowly.  Just have to get a recent sunny day to actually take it out for a spin!  

Coffee & banana moo shake date followed by pirate dress ups and nudie runs (by the little guys) just about completes the week.

Peace.

Parks, new babies, dinosaurs & trains

Big week in our little world this week. A new baby boy was born to the lovely Luana, a little brother for one of our BFF little people Lola. Baby George is our new godson & were thrilled to meet him!

Kahu loves babies but really he loves parks more. We discovered a new park in Queanbeyan this week. This little gem is tucked away in amongst houses and is now know as 'awesome park' (thx Gracie!)

With all the busy-ness in our lives we decided a family day was in order. We headed out to the National Dinosaur Museum at Gold Creek. It was pretty cool & Kahu loved it! 

We followed up the dinosaurs with a visit to Cockington Green - odd name but it has trains, and little houses and people. 

Big day out & about and we all needed nana naps in the arvo. The Morgans came for dinner so Kahu had Miss Gracie to keep him company while the adults hung out...

Oh and the country changed leader ...  Election results unsurprisingly ushered in a conservative government. I'm still reserving judgement about that.

Last swim lesson of the year today - Kahu really doesn't like it & it's pretty much a struggle every week. Loves the water, hates following direction (definitely my son right!!!)

Loving all this spring sunshine & blue skies. No heating needed & short sleeves aplenty.

Roll on Summer!

Spring has sprung...

1st September and its blossom time!  Weather is getting warmer (yay!) and there's blue sky all day!

Here's a run down of life lately 

The monkey caught up with his mate Jake for some boy time, we hung out at McDs (something whenever do but the little guy loves the nuggets so he wore me down! At least you can get a half decent coffee at McCafe), oh and general spiky cuteness.

My lovely mama GF is due to have twin girls in a few weeks. We threw her a high tea baby shower at Benedict House. Great afternoon with some pretty awesome chicks (check #showertwopeas on Instagram for other shower goodness)

That night we had some good friends over for dinner - I managed to take a couple of pics of some of the Moroccan feast - namely pearl couscous and roasted pumpkin & broccoli salad, there was chicken, chick pea & olive tagine as well - delish!  The next morning we had a family lie in for Fathers Day - lovely!

Fathers Day began with presents, a special cup from Kahu decorated at Preschool, French toast for brekky and plenty of cuddles for papa.

We headed off to lunch at Poachers Pantry and then off to check out the paragliders.

 A gorgeous day in the countryside, and hanging out with Daddy. Pretty fantastic really.

Father's Day is pretty special in our household and we make sure that we celebrate. This year has been a tough one as its the first one where I don't have my Dad here.  

I miss him every day.

Happy Fathers Day Dad xx

Friends, Parties, Snow, Family & Cuteness

Life cruises along pretty quickly sometimes - and gets pretty busy!  Here's a quick recap of our world lately...

Cutie pie James came for a play date. We haven't seen this little monkey in a while so Kahu was very excited to hang out with his little kiwi cuz. James was such a great mate - running around after 'Koko' and sharing all the toys. What a fab lil kid :-)

One of the little people Maddie turned 3 and her party was at Gymboree. Great idea for a kiddies party with plenty of action for the little people - soooo stealing that idea for the next birthday!

Gingerbread man - can there be a more fun sweeter treat? Probably not

L-R clockwise: watching the diggers & trucks, carb loading at a cafe, hanging out on the fort in the backyard, laughing at mama

Playing 'kitchens' with BFF Lola while Mama had a morning of spa treats courtesy of the lovely Lu. Bit special!

Lately we've been busy....

We've been busy peeps lately - back from our NZ holiday, settling back into work & daycare routine, sorting out the newly renovated house, kiddie birthday parties, hosting a baby shower, dates with my boy, fighting off winter bugs, and work functions.

Can't complain - life is pretty good!

Watching planes land

Party time for Gracie's 3rd birthday

Baby shower treats for the lovely Luana

Panel of library types at Digitise or Perish!

Newest art piece and/or family member

Xx

Thankful....

Yes indeed - many reasons to be thankful .....

But this one is topping the list ....

Lord of the keys

Picked up this cutie back home in NZ - love me some Tolkein inspired homewares, and how much the homeland keeps LOR love going.

Living spaces

We've finally unpacked all the boxes, hung the pictures, dusted off the keepsakes, and moved in the new furniture, after moving back in post renovation 4 weeks ago.

The recent trip to NZ resulted in a few art pieces which are now hanging in various parts of the house. Yes there is a lot of photos and perceived clutter, but that's who we are (you should see inside my head!!!).

Study nook & the monkey's play zone

Dining area and new white leather lounge (are we mad?)

Kiwi love

Back home after 2 weeks in Christchurch with family and friends.  We took Mum with us and while it was a bittersweet first trip home without Dad we had a lovely time, eating too much, drinking more, laughing, crying, celebrating whanau and all things kiwi.  The little guy was utterly spoilt by all the rellies and beguiled all who met him (of course).

The boy all ready to take off from Sydney. 

Baby Lena and Uncle Q - My cousin Tissy's gorgeous baby girl who wasn't that keen on cuddles with me but was loving my hubby.

Uncle Toms' 60th party was a chance for the family to get together and have a drink or 3. Lots of excellent food, mums lethal punch, great music, some serious dancing, karaoke & way to many laughs. Much better pics on my canon - so check out Facebook for a NZ album soon.

L-R - cuzzies in the garage, cuzzie selfie, Mel & mum, Tissy & I 

L-R - black coven Mel, Binnie & I, me and one of my bestie's Dottie

Visiting good friend Angela & Simon & hanging out with her little guy Benson

Q & I took advantage of Nanny staying with us and had a little overnighter to Wellngon to stay with friends Tim & Ramon.  I had forgotten how fab the capital city is - awesome coffee, great shopping, awesome cafes, and excellent shopping.  Oh and my gorgeous god-daughter and niecey Courtney lives there. I love that girl!!!

L-R - Wellington airport (Tolkien town), a gigantic Gollum, Flight coffee at Hangar cafe, with Courtney

L-R - Q & Tim looking out to sea, in front of Maranui cafe, Moa sculpture in Greytown

L-R - with my love in Martinborough, a Kiwi dairy, Chocolate Fish cafe (very kid-friendly) and a choc fish drink - yum!

2nd week in CHCH was spent catching up with old friends, wining & dining, chasing good coffee, checking out the rebuild, hanging with the family, eating a few kiwi delicacies, escaping the rain, playing at parks, and shopping. Pretty fab actually

L-R - beautiful GFs Rachael & Sheree, kiwi-fruit cheese cake with pineapple lumps, signage, banana moo-shake at the market

L-R - whitebait fritters delish!!!, park fun with papa

L-R - Bavarian hotdogs, my 2 babies, another bestie Mitch, my boy the b-ball player

Back in our home and not looking forward to work on Monday. I'm hoping holiday memories will carry me through the first week at least.

I love my hometown but had a couple of shaky reminders of what my family and friends deal with constantly. Hubby and I felt 2 earthquakes - one sharp jolt in Wellington, and a longer rolling one in CHCH - have to be honest, I didn't love it. 

The reserved stoicness of the CHCH faithful humbles me. 

Arohanui Otautahi xxxxx