WHANAU WORKING BEE

Today we went to help chop down some trees and do a general garden clean up for some friends of ours.  The husband has been very sick and Keith has been wanting to do this for them for months amongst all his other jobs.

Terina and Niwa came too and they never moaned the whole 3 hours we were there and 

they got stuck in and helped gather garden waste and put it into bags etc.

Niwa was so fascinated by one of the trees Keith cut down.  (The Wattle tree)

He loved the little black seeds he found inside their little pods.  Funny I remember

many moons ago when I was at primary school and I loved them too.

A cute photo of Niwa and his daddy ready to use the chainsaw.

Keith just before one of the trees fell down.  

AVERY STRONG MAN BELOW  (LOL)

It's funny when you do a bit of service for someone as a family.  

It tends to unite you and it always feels good to help those in need.

After this little activity we went to the Gelato ice cream shop and had sushi 

for lunch.  Niwa said about 3 times when we got home, "that was fun today

aye mum, helping aunty cut her trees".  Because Terina and Niwa raved on so 

much about it,  Arama said he wished he was there too.  I hope that wasn't 

because of the ice cream shop we visited but  because of the spirit of service he felt

as we all talked about it!

AUCKLAND SEAFOOD FESTIVAL

On Saturday 28th of Jan,  Keith and I went to the

 'AUCKLAND SEAFOOD FESTIVAL'

I bought Keith tickets for both of us to attend for his Christmas present.

Mum was working so brave dad offered to have the kids. 

Since mum and dad live a few houses up from the Birkenhead Ferry Building, 

we parked at their house and walked and caught the ferry into the city.  

The kids came for a walk too and waited to wave goodbye to us on the ferry. 

 See Niwa below racing around the ferry buildings on his bike.   

Watch out any public who might have been in his way!

 Here are the kids with Dad at the Birkenhead ferry Building waving goodbye.

Me waving a secret "YIPEE no kids, we are free" wave.

Keith digging into his oysters.  We got so many vouchers for different tastings and seafood dishes,  It was real good value!  Below are just a few of the dishes but not even half of all that we had!

 

Me eating Movenpick ice cream, only because I was forced to (it was free with our tickets)!

OUR FRIEND RAYMOND BELOW. (HE WAS HAVING A HARD DAY)!

TREVOR AND KEVIN.

 WE FINISHED OUR DAY WITH A CRUISE ON THE 'LOVE BOAT' OR (SEA PRINCESS)

NOT!

OUR NEW CAR

We decided with all the running around that is going to happen this year that it would be crazy to do it in our V6 3000 car.  So we purchased this little car.  It is called a 'Fun Cargo',  it is a little Toyota 1.3 .  It looks a bit like a 'Postman Pat' car  LOL,  but I don't care what it looks like as it is very practical. We have had it for 3 days now and the petrol gage has still not moved,  I can't believe it as our other vehicle costs us so much to run.  I am very excited that we will be saving.  The number plate is FLA53 so I think the name FLAVEL or FLA for short might be a good  one LOL.  

SWIMMING AT NANNY AND POPPA'S POOL

During the summer we spend heaps of time at Mum and Dads swimming in their pool.  Here are some shots of the kids yesterday swimming there.  We don't really know how lucky we are having a little bit of paradise to ourselves whenever we feel like it!

Poppas feet!  He was relaxing at his pool side resort until we arrived LOL!

Poppa made the silly move of hopping in too.

Now he is stuck towing all the kids around the pool,

Hardly relaxing!

NINTENDO TONGUE

Niwa is being trained up by his brother on how to play many Nintento 3DS games.  I hate the thing to be honest but the other morning I couldn't help taking these pics of Niwa concentrating as he played the DS. He was playing a cooking game that required him to mix ingredients together.  Every time he mixed the ingredients in the bowl his tongue rotated just like the spoon, it was so funny to watch and so I tried to capture some shots of his concentration tongue movements as best as I could.

"Oh I just realised you were taking photos of me!"

WAFFLES FOR BREAKFAST

The other day we went Strawberry picking and we have an excess amount of Strawberries in our house.  Some have been frozen, the best big juicy ones are in the fridge waiting for us to eat them and some little ones are sitting in the fridge too.  I have been thinking about how nice Strawberries would be on waffles for about a week now.  So this morning I got to it and my family reaped the rewards.  I made Strawberry sauce and we also had fresh Strawberries on top of our waffles too.  YUM!
See photos below.

Each week at family night someone gets this red plate that Terina is holding.  This week she got it because she had been helping a lot around the home and especially caring for her younger brother.  She gets to eat off this plate all week until Monday night (family night), when someone else will get it!

 

Keith always makes his food look so yum!  See his plate below. 

I don't do gluten but I really wanted some waffles so I made these with

Gluten Free Bakers mix.  See recipe below.

BEX WAFFLES

2 Eggs

2 Cups of Flour (I used Healtheries Simple Wheat and Gluten free Baking Mix)

1 3/4 Cups of Milk

1/2 Cup oil

1 Tablespoon of White Sugar

4 Teaspoons of Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoons salt.

Heat waffle Iron

Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy, then add the rest of the ingredients 

until it is at a good consistency. 

Pour 2/3 cup of waffle mix into the centre of the waffle iron and cook 

until nice and golden.

Top with Maple syrup, cream, bananas, sauce, strawberries or any fruit your desire!

DELICIOUS!

If you can polish off more than 2 then you are doing well!  (or a Kunekune more like it!)

FAMILY BIKE RIDING FUN DAY

Yesterday we decided to go on a Family Bike ride around Mission Bay.  We packed all the bikes into dads work van.  This is a photo of dad pumping up tires at the beginning of our journey

We rode from Okahu Bay to Misson Bay.  

Niwa Zooming along.  He pushed his legs all the way on his Balance bike!

We then Stopped at Burger King in Mission Bay for Lunch!  

We Stacked all our Bikes up against the Fence at Burger King.

 

Our two foodies enjoying their kai!

Yum Frozen Coke,  Just what he ordered!

Niwa  actually sat at the Table for once without running away.

Niwa off and ready to go!

                  

Then it was time to head off back to Okahu bay.  We only had one adults bike so 

Keith rode the big bike there and I rode  the big scooter then we swapped on the way back.  

Here is me trying to adjust the seat back down while the kids take off. 

                 

Niwa was pretty fast,  he zoomed around the bays no problem. 

Here are some shots Keith took on the way Back.  As most of you know Keith is an 'Art Lover' so he took lots of creative shots on our budget camera on our way home.  We all lost him cause he took so long coming back on his scooter taking photos.  He had all the time in the world  LOL!

When we got back to Okahu Bay the kids played on the park. Here are a few shots.

Look at my Handsome boy!  He is so yummy in little shots like this,  

Oh and also when he is sleeping,  any time really that you can't hear his loud voice  LOL!

This shot above is Arama waiting for the Flying Fox.  Cool Fun!

Niwa saved his tired tantrum right for the very end,  

thank goodness!

It was a long way for a little boy to ride!

All Bikes back in the van!

We then headed off to Nanny and Poppa's house for a long swim,  Followed by dinner there,  

It was the coolest day we had had as  family for ages!