ba hum bug

• So finally after a couple of years of this blogging thing...I have finally have to write the words I hate reading on other peoples blogs..."hello poor neglected blog"

• I'm not going to say I told you so...but I will... instagram has killed the blog mojo. I knew it would happen...I saw other bloggers fall into  instagrams miry dark underworld. A place where friendships soar over a picture of a cup of coffee and followers are gained from a hipstamatic picture of pink neon nails. Curse you instagram and your ease of use. Your ability to fill my time in line at the coffee shop as I scroll through endless pictures and comments and short descriptions, simultaneously placing me and other strangers connected by the same hash tag in real time some where, some place. Interconnected and scrolling. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Curse you little heart that quickly informs the instagramer that I have indeed seen their picture and have decided to 'like it". And curse you little heart that make me want my pictures to have many hearts also. *waves fist*

• If only blogger could figure out a way to be easier to use on the iPhone...or at least figure out a way to leave comments on other peoples blogs from the iPhone/Android. Unless you have already figured it out...please share with it with me! Until then reading blogs and commenting while on the go will remain a mystery to me. 

• On a lighter note. I watched Pitch Perfect again recently, and I cannot get the songs out of my head! I think I might get the DVD version. I think it is going to have to be a "I'm having a bad day" movie pick me up. SO far my current bad day pick me up movie is "50 first dates". Oh I love that movie. 

• So we are back into some semblance of a school routine. Except for today. I'm bunking Mainly Music. Been working the last 4 days with this afternoon to come, and I'm kinda tired. Clapping and pretending to enjoy myself so that Mr Zak zak will finally show some enthusiasm for it was not on my agenda today. Honestly why I force it, I don't know. Maybe its the coffee and the cake for the grown ups and a natter with a friend that keeps me going. We are  having a quiet morning  instead.  

• On the first day of school Joe had his bags packed, lunch made and was ready to go to school at 7am...only a cool hour and half before necessary. I'm glad he loves school so much. Miss Joy couldn't wait to see her friends again too. It seemed like a really long summer holiday...7 weeks! 

• Although I must say we did squeeze in a few adventures....
• These two gorgeous monkeys entered into their first real sporting event. Both were rather apprehensive but gave all their athletic events a good go. Over 1000 young children aged 7-14 descended on Whangarei early in January for the North Island champs. What dedication these parents and children have! And I was so proud of Miss Joy who managed to get a gold medal with her mixed medley relay team. Initially she didn't even want to compete in this event! SO pleased we encouraged her to fulfill her potential! Well done my girl! Joe won himself a few ribbons for his troubles. 

• Exploring:  So there's this one museum we walk past on a weekly basis in our city..The Claphams Clock Museum but we had never been to it. One day on a rare occasion when we were all together we rather spontaneously decided to do it. And we really enjoyed it! The cuckcoo clocks were our favorite. I highly recommend going when the tour is on. The lady was quite knowledgeable and gets to touch the clocks and set them off together.  Zak Zak was a good boy for the most part and kept his hands in his pockets under my instruction. He did try sneaking through the barriers a few times though!

• Off the beaten track:  SO we have been to Auckland so many times and done all the usual kiddie things.  I thought this time we would try some different activities. I saw the ad for the Maize Maze. I googled and decided we would try it. We were staying in the area for it so it worked out well. It was super creepy driving in to the place. It is situated where the "Spookers" attraction is at an old mental health hospital. Its all abandoned, derelict and creepy as!!

{creepy place}

• The three year old was pretty over it quite quickly stating every few minutes "I want to get out of here". Dadda found another family who were losing their way a bit...and suddenly it was on! Us against them....who could get out alive first! They beat us by a narrow margin...only because we got stuck behind their push chair...Ha! Ice blocks all around afterwards. It was super hot and only 10am. Great fun for the family. 

• The Next day we thought we would join half of Auckland at the Pukekohe race track to watch the Colour Race. Major traffic jam getting there...but I managed to direct us through a few back roads. A friend was doing it...but do you think I could find her any where!? Needle in a haystack. We all decided we would be back next year to compete in it our selves. It looked like so much fun. 

• And on the way home we decided to take the scenic route home through Mangawhai...a bit of detour...but the coastal route home. We stopped off at the Bennetts Chocolate Factory for some goodies! And found a couple of fun play grounds for the kids to explore too. 

{The glee of an inward facing swing set}

{mmm Chocolate...}

{ Mangawhai }

Mandatory Selfie...otherwise who would even know I was on this trip!

I've decided...its fun exploring with this lot...and may there be many more adventures to come. 

ponderings

• I wonder if all the pumpkin flesh that America wastes from carving out Jack o lanterns during Halloween season could cure world hunger? 

• On a side note...Pumpkin curry is one of my favs. Chopped Pumpkin, onion, garlic, dash of tomatoes (fresh or canned), curry spices: Mustard seeds, cumin, curry powder, and turmeric, chilli. Goes well with  freshly made roti or naan bread. 

• This week I saw how fat my arms were getting and decided I better do something about it. When it comes to being healthy, I'm an all or nothing kind of person. Been more of the nothing lately. So this time I'm trying to be sensible and try a regime that eases me in slowly instead of scaring me off after the first day. I'm working towards an achievable 9km Fun run in March. I need to be realistic and balance shift work and children. I forgot how addictive the endorphins are, and how nice it is just to spend 45 minutes to your self and just think and pray and listen. 

• Speaking of Listening! I had a funny God inspired revelation about "TWINK PEN" ...or "Correction fluid"... of all things on my walk today.  Someone had written on a wooden letter box, "I am cool" in Twink pen. I thought to myself who uses twink anymore? I certainly don't. As a nurse when we write notes at work, we are specifically not allowed to use twink. If you make a mistake you have to make a cross through it and write above it or next to it "Written in error". But everybody can still see your mistake. Sometimes its an embarrassing mistake! It got me thinking about how if my life story was hand written on a piece of paper, and I had made an embarrassing mistake, or a mistake that I was really shameful about and I had to cross it out, people could still quite easily see it even though I had crossed it out. But it is written,  if we come clean about our mistakes to God he blots them out of our story and never thinks of them again or holds it against us. In a word picture it describes our mistakes like they were the color scarlet, and He makes them white as snow...Or...as white as liquid TWINK!! Nobody needs to know or remind us about our past mistakes or transgressions because the God can get out His "Twink" and erase them from our story, bring healing and help us to live better lives with hopefully less mistakes!

          Hehe...all that from a little graffiti on a letter box!

• Sometimes when my 7 year old is reading to me...in his really slow and  boring...still learning to read voice...I get lost in thought about how beautiful his face is...and can't believe I helped make that. He has the most stunning blue eyes and the darkest eye lashes.

• One time when Miss Joy was doing her reading homework  in her still learning to read voice, I fell asleep! It was only 7 pm and a woke up to find she had gone! She quietly tip toed away so I didn't wake up. I felt so bad! 

• Yesterday son number two fell asleep on me while were watching TV. He had missed his afternoon nap while we were out for the afternoon. Snug sleepy naps don't happen very often, so I took time to enjoy it while I could.

• I am going to be attending a  Parenting "TOOLBOX" parenting course! Way back in April when I attended the Christchurch Blogger conference I won something! It was a voucher to attend a TOOL BOX course, but there wasn't  any running in Whangarei. But recently a Facebook friend announced she was running one at her house, So I signed up.  The hubster is going to stay home and babysit while I shyly meet some strangers. Hopefully I wont feel too crappy about my parenting skills and will learn some new things! I'll let you know how I get on. Our church is running a really fun sounding Marriage Course the same month that Id love to go to...but I don't think I can fit in both and work some evenings too! Typical! ...after a pretty quiet year, everything happens at the same time. 

• Don't forget to check out this blog post "When Dreams Become a Reality"  for a beauty therapy voucher giveaway

• And speaking of giveaways...if you are a runner, Rachel from Curious Runner Girl has a giveaway for a race entry on her blog today. 

• The Hubster finished the retaining wall and  painted the hallway. Good Hubster. The poor fella has gone back to work for a break! But on the last weekend of his holiday, we decided we needed to go to the beach. The MIL and FIL had the same thing in mind, so we chucked the BBQ in the boot, and a picnic lunch and headed to Pataua South for lunch and a spot of Pipi picking. Kiwi As! We spit them over night in bucket of sea water and then made Pipi fritters for dinner the next night! So good!

I could do with a pedicure!

A seagull photo bombing my shot of the bridge and blue water

Picked Pipis!

A little game of swing ball. 

Getting a good dose of Vitamin D in my new Sunnies from Pagani 

Hope all is well with you and yours!

xx Jacksta B

Spontaneous trip to Russell

These days being spontaneous and towing along a small brood for the ride is a rarity. An oxymoron even. Usually trips out of town need to be planned...at least a day in advance. And don't even talk to me about holidays with kids...that takes months...or in our case years worth of saving and planning.

So last Saturday I had the day off, and decided to see what my mum and dad were up to for the day. They were going to Russell (Bay of Islands)  for an art and craft show that was a Fundraiser for the old church. It was already 10am, we gave ourselves 15 minutes to get our A into G in the car and on our 1 hour trip out of town. 

I told her we would meet her there. Blow me down we caught them on the car ferry from Opua to Russell  just in time. Lucky...since we were having difficulty with her phone.  

{Car Ferry Opua to Russell}

{Art and Crafts fair}

{A clever man carving.} 

{Russell Waterfront}

{Teaching the kids to Skim stones.} 

{Fish and Chips....
with vinegar for the pommy fella}

{So hard to get a good selfie with the SLR...my arms aren't long enough with the lens.} 

{New Zealands oldest church}

{Flagstaff Hill}

 Ah the kids must be growing up if we can make it out the door with the bare essentials for the day (a nappy bag, wallet and keys, and few snacks)....Roll on future spontaneous trips on rare days off together. 

A pretty Tree

I loved this photo that my hubby took a few years ago of the kids in front of a very cool tree.

 Instantly the greenness of it reminded me of this scripture in the bible.  

This tree is right next to a pretty secluded river...at the bottom of our city mountain.

And the words ring true. 

May you be blessed too. 

Family Fun

{SWAG}

We took the kids to their first time ten pin bowling. 

A great time had by all. 

I got the WORST score, which was a little bit embarrassing. 

Even Zak Zak had a great time 

We rounded off the night with Hot dogs and chips...along with funny faces

And just to prove that I was in fact there

Here's me with my eyes shut again!

Sporting a new cut and colour...and extra chin. Chin up Chin up!