So I've decided to resurrect this blog.. but I'm going to do it privately. If you would like the password send me (or A) an email and ask for it.
I'll introduce it at the beginning of October... maybe a little time is needed since most people have probably given up hope that there would ever be another post :)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Vacations
We are off today to visit our new niece. SO excited! It's been a long time since either of us have been around a newborn so I'm hoping that Claire will be super excited to see two new sets of arms that are willing to give lots and lots of cuddles :)
I've got a new project too on the go. I've started knitting again!
It seems like there is lots of babies around us at the moment... I hope that there is a few months before someone else tells us because this project is going to take the next few months! Maybe I will have to set my sights on something a little less time consuming to make.
Here's a pic of my progress so far. And for the person whom this is going to, I do hope that it arrives in time!
I've got a new project too on the go. I've started knitting again!
It seems like there is lots of babies around us at the moment... I hope that there is a few months before someone else tells us because this project is going to take the next few months! Maybe I will have to set my sights on something a little less time consuming to make.
Here's a pic of my progress so far. And for the person whom this is going to, I do hope that it arrives in time!
Friday, February 12, 2010
A day to love
Happy Valentine's Day to all!
I've been thinking a wee bit about happiness lately. There are many things in life that can make one happy, and on the flip side there are many things that can make one sad. Our perspective on these determines if we are happy or not, as truly happiness is determined by our inner heart.
Sometimes I think that we feel happy when things go how we would like them to without realising that others may not share our same outlook, or just simply, things can't happen how we would like them to. Something that I've come to realise recently, through situations that would seem insignificant if others looked on but unfortunately mean so much to me.
But I have so much to be thankful for.
- a dear husband
- health
- family
- lovely friends
- an apartment to keep us warm and store all our treasured belongings
- a job that keeps me interested and challenged
- a telephone
- a computer + internet!!
- a passing smile
The list can and does go on. Isn't it so silly that we sometimes focus on such minute factors in life that aren't worth changing, even if we could, that cause us to lose sight of all the good aspects?
I've been thinking a wee bit about happiness lately. There are many things in life that can make one happy, and on the flip side there are many things that can make one sad. Our perspective on these determines if we are happy or not, as truly happiness is determined by our inner heart.
Sometimes I think that we feel happy when things go how we would like them to without realising that others may not share our same outlook, or just simply, things can't happen how we would like them to. Something that I've come to realise recently, through situations that would seem insignificant if others looked on but unfortunately mean so much to me.
But I have so much to be thankful for.
- a dear husband
- health
- family
- lovely friends
- an apartment to keep us warm and store all our treasured belongings
- a job that keeps me interested and challenged
- a telephone
- a computer + internet!!
- a passing smile
The list can and does go on. Isn't it so silly that we sometimes focus on such minute factors in life that aren't worth changing, even if we could, that cause us to lose sight of all the good aspects?
Monday, January 18, 2010
A New Baby
Makes me an Aunty!!!
We welcome Claire Louisa to our family. She arrived early on Sunday morning after waiting patiently for the perfect time to make her grand entrance. :)
I think the new Mommy and Daddy are doing well. Glad to have their little girl safely in their arms. Can't wait to meet her guys. She is lucky to have such a great Mum and Dad.
xxx
We welcome Claire Louisa to our family. She arrived early on Sunday morning after waiting patiently for the perfect time to make her grand entrance. :)
I think the new Mommy and Daddy are doing well. Glad to have their little girl safely in their arms. Can't wait to meet her guys. She is lucky to have such a great Mum and Dad.
xxx
Sunday, January 10, 2010
2010
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
A and I went to visit family in Tokyo for the holidays... what a wonderful trip :) The day after we arrived we caught the train to Nosawa Onsen for three days of fabulous skiing. The new ski boots were a little interesting, but held up to expectation. I was glad of a little one so I could have an excuse to take it easy :) She did so well, we were so proud! She is learning how to do some "big turns" so she can go down the steep trails with Poppy next year :)
The little village that we stayed in was quite the Japanese experience. There aren't too many people that speak English there so we were glad of J&R who are speaking a little Japanese now. They impressed us anyhow with how well they are getting by after 9 months. :)
The village at Nosawa Onsen also has about 15 Onsens, which are public bath houses, for those who are like me and don't have a clue what they are! The water comes from one source and is transported to the 15 bath houses. The Japanese are very conservative people so the houses are separated into *mans* and *lady's*... I was glad to hear this after learning that it is a Japanese tradition to bathe *nacked* (naked - you have to love the English over there!). The water was sooo hot though I only managed to get in once, and even then it was only for a minute or so. Great after a day of skiing!
We made it back to Tokyo after that, only to come down with the 'flu on Christmas day... which put a damper on activities for a wee while. There were some nasty bugs floating round Tokyo so I guess it's not surprising that we came down with something.
We also went on a Shinkansen tour (bullet train) down to Kyoto and Hiroshima. Totally the way to travel. The Shinkansens stop at a station for approximately one minute (the conductors come out onto the platform with their stop watches!) and you are expected to disembark the train and then the new passengers are to board during this stop. No sooner are the doors closed, the train speeds off to the next destination, getting up to speeds of 250km/hr! There is soo much room on the train, the chairs fully recline and there are carts that come round selling all sorts of nibbles at the normal retail price!
Kyoto is the old capital of Japan. So much history there. We visited a lot of shrines and temples. A lot. It's so hard to imagine that NZ was not even sighted when half of these buildings were first constructed. I say first constructed because a lot of them have burnt down 4 or 5 times! The Emperor had his first residence here (they are now located in Tokyo) which dates back to 870 sometime. I don't think I can comprehend that.
Hiroshima, by most standards, is a very modern city. We just made it to the Peace Museum before it closed for the new year (our train arrived at 4pm and they closed at 4:30!) so we spent half an hour looking round. Absolutely fascinating. The A-bomb was detonated 600m in the air and about 200m off target (due to winds). There are two buildings which did not collapse due to the fact that the would have been almost directly underneath the explosion, and hence the pressure of impact for them would have been vertical rather than horizontal. Everything else was pretty much flattened, which gave city planners the chance to rebuild the city basically from scratch. It was truly amazing to be in a city where history is still so fresh in everyone's mind and most people know someone who has either died as a result of the bomb or associated health conditions. I wont bore you with all the details... lets just say it was definitely a major highlight.
The next day we took a trip to a neighbouring island. We were greeted as we got off the ferry by wild deer, who were on the lookout for food and knew exactly where to get it. :) We bought some puffed rice and fed them half a packet in exchange for a pat and a few photos!! We did a gondola ride across the mountain and got some excellent views of the bay surrounding Hiroshima. There was a nature trail on the other side which was pretty spectacular. I think the highlight of that was when we spied a wild monkey! A remembered the rest of the puffed rice I had in my bag so suggested feeding some of it to the monkey so we could get some decent shots of it sitting still. Well, this monkey obviously told all his mates and the WHOLE colony decided to come along. By this time I was getting a little scared being surrounded by monkeys throwing out puffed rice to try and get them to go away, only to have them come closer. I was rescued (thankfully?) by some cheeky monkey creeping up behind me and snatching the rest of the packet out of my hands!! he promptly took off up into the trees so he could eat in peace, that lasted all of 10 seconds before getting chased by those who could be bothered! It was clear who the alpha male of the colony was, the big old guy that let out grunts and groans, attacked all the younger males and was staring at me and A intently. I tell you I didn't find this guy all too pleasing and I certainly wasn't hanging around for photos to prove it!!
We caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo that night. We went down the the ocean one day (about 1.5 hrs and three trains) for lunch at an Australian cafe... hmmm good food!!! Saw wonderful views of Mt Fuji from the beach. Another day we went down to the fish market... got there about 3 hrs after closing and there was probably close on 1 million people there. Thankfully the average height is about 2 inches shorter than me so I could see over heads! The only other time I have been in such crowds was leaving New Year celebrations in Sydney and Times Square... just to give you an idea of how many people were there - on a typical day!!!
So we are back home now. Over jet lag. We left on the afternoon of New Years day... and arrived back New Years morning! A got about 30 hrs of birthday! Happy Birthday to the best guy in the world :)
A and I went to visit family in Tokyo for the holidays... what a wonderful trip :) The day after we arrived we caught the train to Nosawa Onsen for three days of fabulous skiing. The new ski boots were a little interesting, but held up to expectation. I was glad of a little one so I could have an excuse to take it easy :) She did so well, we were so proud! She is learning how to do some "big turns" so she can go down the steep trails with Poppy next year :)
The little village that we stayed in was quite the Japanese experience. There aren't too many people that speak English there so we were glad of J&R who are speaking a little Japanese now. They impressed us anyhow with how well they are getting by after 9 months. :)
The village at Nosawa Onsen also has about 15 Onsens, which are public bath houses, for those who are like me and don't have a clue what they are! The water comes from one source and is transported to the 15 bath houses. The Japanese are very conservative people so the houses are separated into *mans* and *lady's*... I was glad to hear this after learning that it is a Japanese tradition to bathe *nacked* (naked - you have to love the English over there!). The water was sooo hot though I only managed to get in once, and even then it was only for a minute or so. Great after a day of skiing!
We made it back to Tokyo after that, only to come down with the 'flu on Christmas day... which put a damper on activities for a wee while. There were some nasty bugs floating round Tokyo so I guess it's not surprising that we came down with something.
We also went on a Shinkansen tour (bullet train) down to Kyoto and Hiroshima. Totally the way to travel. The Shinkansens stop at a station for approximately one minute (the conductors come out onto the platform with their stop watches!) and you are expected to disembark the train and then the new passengers are to board during this stop. No sooner are the doors closed, the train speeds off to the next destination, getting up to speeds of 250km/hr! There is soo much room on the train, the chairs fully recline and there are carts that come round selling all sorts of nibbles at the normal retail price!
Kyoto is the old capital of Japan. So much history there. We visited a lot of shrines and temples. A lot. It's so hard to imagine that NZ was not even sighted when half of these buildings were first constructed. I say first constructed because a lot of them have burnt down 4 or 5 times! The Emperor had his first residence here (they are now located in Tokyo) which dates back to 870 sometime. I don't think I can comprehend that.
Hiroshima, by most standards, is a very modern city. We just made it to the Peace Museum before it closed for the new year (our train arrived at 4pm and they closed at 4:30!) so we spent half an hour looking round. Absolutely fascinating. The A-bomb was detonated 600m in the air and about 200m off target (due to winds). There are two buildings which did not collapse due to the fact that the would have been almost directly underneath the explosion, and hence the pressure of impact for them would have been vertical rather than horizontal. Everything else was pretty much flattened, which gave city planners the chance to rebuild the city basically from scratch. It was truly amazing to be in a city where history is still so fresh in everyone's mind and most people know someone who has either died as a result of the bomb or associated health conditions. I wont bore you with all the details... lets just say it was definitely a major highlight.
The next day we took a trip to a neighbouring island. We were greeted as we got off the ferry by wild deer, who were on the lookout for food and knew exactly where to get it. :) We bought some puffed rice and fed them half a packet in exchange for a pat and a few photos!! We did a gondola ride across the mountain and got some excellent views of the bay surrounding Hiroshima. There was a nature trail on the other side which was pretty spectacular. I think the highlight of that was when we spied a wild monkey! A remembered the rest of the puffed rice I had in my bag so suggested feeding some of it to the monkey so we could get some decent shots of it sitting still. Well, this monkey obviously told all his mates and the WHOLE colony decided to come along. By this time I was getting a little scared being surrounded by monkeys throwing out puffed rice to try and get them to go away, only to have them come closer. I was rescued (thankfully?) by some cheeky monkey creeping up behind me and snatching the rest of the packet out of my hands!! he promptly took off up into the trees so he could eat in peace, that lasted all of 10 seconds before getting chased by those who could be bothered! It was clear who the alpha male of the colony was, the big old guy that let out grunts and groans, attacked all the younger males and was staring at me and A intently. I tell you I didn't find this guy all too pleasing and I certainly wasn't hanging around for photos to prove it!!
We caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo that night. We went down the the ocean one day (about 1.5 hrs and three trains) for lunch at an Australian cafe... hmmm good food!!! Saw wonderful views of Mt Fuji from the beach. Another day we went down to the fish market... got there about 3 hrs after closing and there was probably close on 1 million people there. Thankfully the average height is about 2 inches shorter than me so I could see over heads! The only other time I have been in such crowds was leaving New Year celebrations in Sydney and Times Square... just to give you an idea of how many people were there - on a typical day!!!
So we are back home now. Over jet lag. We left on the afternoon of New Years day... and arrived back New Years morning! A got about 30 hrs of birthday! Happy Birthday to the best guy in the world :)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Angel Island
Saturday was THE big day for us little runners! Despite the weather forecast to be for thunder showers, and despite our drive to the race being in torrential down pour, the weather decided to clear up and we were off!!! They did cancel the 25km run because the weather didn't look like it was going to hold though.
So while on the ferry across to Angel Island we found out that since only the 12km (7.2 miles) run was going on, they were only planning on bringing back one ferry at 12.20pm. The race started at 10:30 - so we all thought we would make it back by then... which was a good thing since I, for one, didn't fancy spending the night on the island in bad weather!
So come 10:30 we were off!!! Up the hill, like little mountain goats :) Round the corner, up a bit more..... then onto Fire Road with an AWESOME view of the city and the golden gate bridge. Made it all worth while!
A made it back in an amazing 1:04 hrs. Didn't I tell you he was FAST :) So proud of him. I think he even gets a *ribbon* since he came 3rd in his age category. Well done you!
My race time was 1:40... but I guess there were no prizes for getting lost and running an extra 2 miles :( In my defense I was running without glasses since they got all fogged up and I couldn't see anything. Anyway, I got lost with three other girls and we had a blast running home, even after being told by an event co-ordinator, who was collecting the course markers that we were on the wrong side of the island and we probably wouldn't make it back for the ferry! Oh dear. It started down pouring in the last 20 mins of our run so that was a bit of a bummer, still the company was good so it was enjoyable! By this time the track was very muddy and gross but we made it back JUST in time!!
Now we are all inspired for March. :)
So while on the ferry across to Angel Island we found out that since only the 12km (7.2 miles) run was going on, they were only planning on bringing back one ferry at 12.20pm. The race started at 10:30 - so we all thought we would make it back by then... which was a good thing since I, for one, didn't fancy spending the night on the island in bad weather!
So come 10:30 we were off!!! Up the hill, like little mountain goats :) Round the corner, up a bit more..... then onto Fire Road with an AWESOME view of the city and the golden gate bridge. Made it all worth while!
A made it back in an amazing 1:04 hrs. Didn't I tell you he was FAST :) So proud of him. I think he even gets a *ribbon* since he came 3rd in his age category. Well done you!
My race time was 1:40... but I guess there were no prizes for getting lost and running an extra 2 miles :( In my defense I was running without glasses since they got all fogged up and I couldn't see anything. Anyway, I got lost with three other girls and we had a blast running home, even after being told by an event co-ordinator, who was collecting the course markers that we were on the wrong side of the island and we probably wouldn't make it back for the ferry! Oh dear. It started down pouring in the last 20 mins of our run so that was a bit of a bummer, still the company was good so it was enjoyable! By this time the track was very muddy and gross but we made it back JUST in time!!
Now we are all inspired for March. :)
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thanksgiving weekend at Big Sur
Thanksgiving weekend we spent at Big Sur, which is SOO beautiful.
Packing up ready to go!
Our campsite, by day and by night!
Adrian taught me how to roast the best marshmallows . I can't believe I have got this far through life and only just learned why people rave about roasting marshmallows.... :)
Went for a walk down at Pfeiffer Beach. This beach had the most amazing rock formations, obviously right on the fault line... who said science isn't fun?! We climbed to the top of these rocks to get some pictures of the beach.
Our lunch spot... hard to beat eh?
Only the organisers could have done with an upgrade! Both of us forgot to pack a pot ... so a tin can did the job instead!
The amazing waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
The drive back up the coast
Beautiful sunset
Packing up ready to go!
Our campsite, by day and by night!
Adrian taught me how to roast the best marshmallows . I can't believe I have got this far through life and only just learned why people rave about roasting marshmallows.... :)
Went for a walk down at Pfeiffer Beach. This beach had the most amazing rock formations, obviously right on the fault line... who said science isn't fun?! We climbed to the top of these rocks to get some pictures of the beach.
Our lunch spot... hard to beat eh?
Only the organisers could have done with an upgrade! Both of us forgot to pack a pot ... so a tin can did the job instead!
The amazing waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
The drive back up the coast
Beautiful sunset
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