OK latest news...new house at "The Swamp"

We are all celebrating the "at last" move out of George Street. There are only so many years you can say "this is the last winter I am having in this place." So last winter was the last time. Dec 22 we shifted into the place Valley Road, Waimauku. This was no easy move, oh no. A year of looking with the parameters changing every few weeks. The only parameter that held tight was "it must be sunny". After 10 years in a cold dark villa that was the only feature we were sure of...then we had to juggle - room for the office, the two kids, the nanny, the stock, a dog, a garden, friends to stay. We had a few near misses for example the ex P-house. Our offer was in and the agent rang to say that she had looked at the fine print on the PIM and it said that "products for making P had been found on the property"...oh great, where there is smoke there is fire. Note to self lets make sure we get the LIM and PIMS especially on older houses in the Waitakere's. The funny part was the agents response. "Oh I'm afraid that is quite common."

But all of that aside, we moved over the ranges down the hill and into the sun. We discovered sunny Muriwai/Waimauku (or should we say it discovered us) and after a long drawn out buying process, here we are. A three year old house on 5 acres.

We inherited 2 kune kune pigs, wild turkey, wild rabbits, wild peacocks, wild ducks, more birds than you can shake a stick at, more insects that I ever imagined and more sun than I could ever think was possible!! Not to mention heaps of space for the boys to run around.




Project 1: The kids tree house..."Uncle Ed's house for a few weeks" - Solid!!

Our cute kids January 2009

OK here are some pics of the kids that Malika took recently. Quite the budding photographer.

Olis new found skills

And so it begins...Go Diago Go...

August 2008 USA trip...Burning Man!!

Well after a long long winter it was decided that I needed a US trip to do store visits, visit Ed and why not go to Burning Man seeing the time is right!!!

Started in the US visiting Ed...here he is in his lab...need to check out the cells and make sure they had not divided too much and consumed all the food!




Little Italy...goodness me this area was straight out of the Sopranos.


Mary, Ed and I out for dinner


The legendary Toms diner from the Suzanne Vega song and from Seinfeld.


Here we are (Claudia and Gendie) getting ready for Burning Man...traveling down the west coast to get the RV...then north into Nevada, Reno and the Black Rock Desert.

Drove down and stayed the night in Monterey lovely little coastal town south of Santa Cruz.



Went to Walmart (of course) to stock up for Burning Man...bikes and all...


Here is the 25 foot of love that was our home for 6 nights.


This is the drive through the valley into Black Rock Desert


Check out this link for a wicked Video of burning Man
http://www.vimeo.com/1713091

Dean, Steph and Kenji at the "Home Brewers Association" camp. With there 42 below party.





White Party...this was the night with Carl Cox...banging down his house..hard house of course!!


Me, Steph and Kenji (I wasn't going far pulling that load through the desert)


Night time on the Playa


Night time at the Deep End


Kenji and Steph at the Deep End - check out the smoke ring


Claudia having a boogie with our art car "Bacon without Borders"


Claudia at the sake bar...this was a clever gadget with cold sake from the tap at the top.


Dust storm..luckily we were inside for most of this...

Reagans 40th!!!!

Well life begins at 40. Or so we have to keep telling our friends as more and more of us turn the big four ohhhh.

We went down to stay at Collingwood to celebrate Reagan turning 40. The chilly south called and we answered. We traveled down with Kirst and Patrick, met up with Simon. Then Sparkie and Woody stayed joined us over the hill.

Great weekend of catching up, great food, clay shooting, checking out the Takaka property...etc etc Thanks guys

Celcius Cafe - Sparkies cafe in Motueka


Sparkie dishing up the goodies


The view from Reagan and Marys front lawn in Collingwood!!


Lady Luck - Mary and Reagans new purchase



Simon, Patrick and Kirst on the front lawn in Collingwood


Me and Birthday Boy


Couch time - Tim and Patrick


The great cooks!! Divine Mary.


We spent the afternoon clay pigeon shooting up on Takaka Hill. Using shot guns, and an Arnie gun!

Gendie taking her shot. Miss "Oh no I don't like guns" actually had a lot of fun.


Kirst and I strike a pose.


Tim taking his shot

Holiday at Roto Vegas

30 May 2008

Good weekend in Vegas (RotoVegas), good to get out into some fresh air (well not so fresh really). Car drive was hell. Sam teething and tired and not wanting to sleep...and Oli wanting to hassle him. Man should have put in some kids cd's not quite sure what I was thinking there.

Went to Wai-tapu which was great, gorgeous area to walk around,lots of staeming pools and bubbling mud. Oli kept saying "oh you cant swim in there....too hot"





Here is a vid of us at the hotpools and Springs at Wai-tapu


Went up the gondola and down the luge which Oli and Sam (actually all of us) couldn't get enough of which was hilarious. The faster we went the more Sam laughed. He is getting more daring the older he gets.



You will all be embarrassed to know that we went to the Agrodome with the idea of seeing a Sheep Show. Thank god it was a few hours until the next one started. I was dreading have to mention it had we gone!! They had some other fun events there though but just ended up walking around the farm a bit and looking at the animals. I had voices in the back of my head saying "why didnt you go up to the back of Lindons, or the Burnetts." God how did we become so cosmopolitan.



We had some nice hot pools at our hotel. Good place central city walking distance to cafes and restaurants. The pools were outdoor on three levels so we could keep the kids away from adults trying to relax.

Korfball NPC - Auckland A champs

OK for starters what is Korfball...look here

http://www.korfball.org.nz/findoutmore/

Here is our Auckland website - http://www.ak.org.nz/

Auckland sent 2 teams down to CHCH for the Korfball NPC. Both teams playing in the round robin tournament. Auckland B gained alot of experience and Auckland A gained the cup!!! (Well they will once Canterbury find it!!)


Here are some pics and vid of the games

Auckland B - Ronald, Julie and Hazel getting a pep talk from Cam



Auckland A - Matt putting up a shot!



Auckland A - Rush putting up a shot!



Injury Shot



Vid of the B team (on the bench)



In action plus the awards ceremony!