Work,Boxing Day Sale,Picnic at the beach,Surf and a BBQ

Started work this morning at 0430 did the one job and then pulled the pin to make it home by 0730......quiet breakfast by myself watching abit of TV until my little ray of sunshine came into the lounge.......Ohayooooo Daddy"

Keiko wanted to go and do the "Boxing Day Sale" thing and to tell you the truth I was dreading the whole idea of trying to find a car park and then packing a scrum down thru the crowds just for the sake of saving a few dollars......... to my surprise it wasn't too bad.....in fact quite good (althought Ill never admit it......)

Turnned up at 0850 found a park right outside where we wanted to go in the shopping centre most shops still had there doors closed and thru the windows I could see the floor staff receiving there "FINAL" instructions (almost like the CO giving his troops the "I know its hopeless but we have to take that hill" speech)

By 0859 we strolled into "The Pumpkin Patch" ....and get this we were out of there by 0930!!!!
I know "STOKED " or what.

"OK so now what?" I asked and K suggested that we go to the beach for a picnic.....once again I wasn't too keen as Boxing day is "Famous" for its packed beachs (I know I know I sound like an old grump)

Muriwai was...was empty and we had the WHOLE picnic area to ourselves so we sat under a Pohutukawa tree on a blanket aand had a yummy picnic.

The tide was coming in and there was a 2ft swell (bit messy but HEY any surf is a good surf) and I had a great time with a real good vibe out there.

Mana and K played on the beach and of course Mana ran and ran and ran up and down the beach from her sand castle to the waters edge and back again.....pausing every now and then to look out to the sea and wave to me and then it was back to running.

Keiko took heaps of photo's of me.......always good to see photo's of yourself

......well cause you never see yourself really,althought one of the pic's has got me doing a absolutely hiddious full on "Pooh Stance"

Packed up and left the crowds behind us and stopped off on the way home at a park in Kumeu for a play on the swings and a snack.

By the time we it just seemed like a good idea to fire up the BBQ..... can never go wrong with a BBQ dinner.
Gave Mana a shower and put her to bed and as soon as the light went out she did too.
K and I settled down to watch one of my favorite movies "The Shawshank Redemption" a beer in one hand,a chocolate in the other......Blissssssss.

Mere Kirihimete

OK Christmas morning started off like this.
0630 we get this "Merry Christmas" as Mana climbs out of her bed,down the hall and into the lounge..........immediately followed by a "SANTA........SANTA........LOOK,LOOK SANTA........

So it was every Man,Woman and Child for themselves as the paper started to fly.......

After a good part of the morning gone and still in our PJ's we thought it appropriate to change.
Amongst the general "Bomb Site" of paper and boxes there was a Hello Kitty clock a Princess carriage,books,some noisy thing more books a very very pretty dress and biscuits and chocolate ...........amazingly those few treats fuelled a 2 hour marathon of play.

Mana LOVES her new dress and how her it flows when she spins around...........which she did many,many times.

AWESOME morning with loads of smiles and laughter.

Makes me reflect on Christmas days gone with the family the sights,smells and sounds.

The tears as someone who doesn't want to share with another and as soon as someone starts crying we all take off.

The food....oh my goodness the food cakes,jellies,trifle fresh fruit.....watermelon....

The gifts I can remember one year I got a "Walkie Talkie" and it was basically 2 plastic boxes joined by a soft plastic tube and my sister and I would talk to each other from about 12 feet from each other (Hi Tech stuff)

Seeing my Nan sitting under the fruit trees down home watching all her mokopuna play.

The adults saying "Yeah.yeah you guys go off and play well clean up" so they can get abit of quiet time and have a drink.

Wow so long ago but such fond memories.

Meri Kirihemete everyone.

I wish I could use this........

Like a good "Kiwi Husband" I give my family money and Ive gotten into the practice of coming back from Rotorua and giving the whanau some money.
Well no sooner had I dumped my overnight bag Mana asked if I had 50 cents for her.......
"Yeah sure sweetie here you go"
"Arigatoo Daddy............Mummy wa?"
Not having anything in my wallet apart from the two moths (which escaped while opening it)
I told her Ill dont have any and Ill give it to Mummy later.......
"Oh thats OK" as she ran off to put her money away........or so I thought only to return 2 minutes later with this......
"Here you go Daddy,this is for Mummy............"

Instant $20NZD

Mana's Christmas do at MOTAT

Off we went to MOTAT all set up with a Chilly bin full of goodies (thanks to Keiko)
MOTAT (Museum of Transport & Technology) is quite a cool place with lots of exciting things to see and discover.

Snapped a shot of Mana and Jake holding hands and I thought "ohhh how cute" and I got the "Are you OK with that" from one of the Mums and I thought "What?...OK with what....what does she mean?"

Then I went "Woooo hang on" Question Why is Mana holding a boys hand.....AND more importantly why are they running away together???

Went for a wee tram ride MOTAT's Tramway is Auckland's only operating tramway and only one of four in New Zealand.

The Christmas Item 2006 (thats what it was called......even got little programmes) was a "Hoot" and everyone really enjoyed the whole performance.

Started off with "The Pohutukawa song" (The NZ christmas song) a song about "Kaimoana" (Seafood) and to finish off a action song with the poi......

Very cool indeed and everyone really enjoyed it.

Mana's Bday

Well its Mana's 4th Birthday today and of course it was all about her.....it was just a stroke of luck that my best friend from High School Albert and his wife Mary and kids Izaak and Rhiannon were here to spend Christmas with family here and it just happened to tie in quite nicely.

They did the long haul and travelled from the United Kingdom to here (via Dubai.....yes longggg flight)

Dad didn't know Albert was coming and the meeting was really funny as Dad extended his hand,shook it and then went........"Hang on a minute" and you could see the memory banks working over time......and then it clicked......ALBERT?.......wha?.......wha?...."How are you?"

Keiko out did herself in the food department and it went like this Sushi,Lamb cutlets ,Chicken bits,Salad and that was for lunch also
Crackers,Puhoi double cheese,dip,Raisins, Apricot and Strawberries.
To finish off with Chocolate ice cream and BIRTHDAY CAKE with pink icing and a strange fluffy thing ....... Oh yeah and some of NZ's finest ale's,Tui and Export Gold,apple and Orange juice and Schweppes lemon & lime lemonade.
(Sounds good,well it was .....so good in fact that it was all consumed before I thought of taking a photo)

I had a little chat with Mana about her tree and things like that and then Mum had her own special moment with her daughter too.

Food,drink family and a beautiful day............great to have the sound of laughing and happy children in and around the house.









Shot out to Muriwai beach to show Albert's family (and to remind him what he's missing)

Isaac did his very best at being tripped up by a West Coast wave and got soaking wet..... I do believe that his grin grew after that,soaked thru but having a great time......(I dont know if its because of his different sized feet or what..........and that still has to be proven.)

As for poor ole Rhiannon she had had enough of her Dad's driving and was in need of some of those cute little paper bags they hand out for the "Easter Egg hunt" on the aircraft..........still feeling the effects and of the long flight we called it a night.

Hope and know theyll have a great time here,awesome to see them and sad to see them go....

It was my turn to cook so I did what any Kiwi bloke would do........grabbed my daughter and drove up to the local Fish and Chip shop.....

We came back home sat back relaxed with our newly crowned 4 year old,munching out on fish & chips (and fried bread) while watching the DVD of "Shek"

Happy Birthday Mana..........

Mana's kindy Bday

We had a kinda Birthday thing at Kindy today.
This morning and the kitchen was alive with the sights,sounds and smells of freshly baked cup cakes.
Followed by the icing and strawberries which are carefully placed on top of them.
Then looking all pretty we take a photo of Cup Cakes and Birthday girl.


We dropped Mana off for her "Morning session" and then returned home.
Later that afternoon around 1430 we had a VERY nervous drive (5 minutes) to Mana's Kindy while K tried to balance the whole plate of cup cakes on her lap (which she did despite the best efforts of the local "Westies" to upset the "Apple Cart" ....so to speak)

We light the candles and walk into kindy................ then put the candles out and start again........
Mana's class mates normally well behaved and polite children become like something from the movie "Dawn of the Dead" and like moths to the fire they became hypnotized by the bright candles and you could hear an erriee...."Foooooooooood......."

After 2 takes and abit of convincing by Ms Rachel (actually a lot) we got them all to stand nicely (and at a safe distance) to sing happy Birthday to Mana.









But the allure of bright burning candles, pretty glittery things and of course cake was just too much and the sight and smell just got the better of them .

Very,very funny to watch...............reminded me of the movie "Ice Age" when our three unlikely hero's (A Wooly Mammoth,a Sabre Tooth tiger and a Sloth) met up with the Dodo birds and they were fighting over the last melon.

Mana's Hashi and Pohutukawa

Mana is a big girl now..... Obaachan got these really cool "Hello Kitty" hashi.......Pink and with her name on them.



So tonight at dinner she did really well using them....and note there was not a single grain of rice left in her bowl.

Took awhile but all finished up and she was so proud of herself.

ALSO.....Just after Mana was born I planted a Pohutukawa tree (well not a tree it was the size of these Hashi then) My Uncle Bullie took a cutting and brought it back from down home (East Coast) to plant up here.

We had some friends around and had a tree planting ceremony.

I took the "Whenua" (placenta) and buried it under the seedling thus returning it to Papatuanuku (Mother Earth) and to help provide nutrients (and life) for the young tree just like it did for Mana while she was growing inside Keiko...........hopefully Mana will have a bond or link between the land and the life of the tree.

Anyhoo as we were eating our dinner I saw the first signs of a faint red flower.......very excited as this is its first bloom since it was planted...............just in time for Mana's 4th birthday.....

Great surf.....

This was the surf report..... for Piha Wed 06 December 2006

"A drop in swell overnight and a blustery southwest wind has been up all night.
White capping lumpy and a wind affected 3 to 4 ft of broken west / southwest lines.
Not flash but surfable around high tide this AM with winds clocking south/easterly. Fresh south to southeasterly winds this morning and a southwest swell of 3-4 feet at South Piha. It is bigger on the exposed coast with 4-5 feet. Wind Direction/Strength: Kaipara @ 0730 Sw 23Kts Manukau @ 0730 Ssw 19 Kts.
High tide 08:25 Low tide 14:50 ......"

What other choice do we have as the dreaded "South-westerlies" have been blowing for months and we were both in need for a surf....Kosuke and I headed off to the "Wild West Coast"......at least the sun was out .

Our first indication was that the waves didn't look that promising 3-4ft SW and a gusty (and chilly) wind and to tell you the truth it looked pretty "crappy" out there but hey we had driven all the way there and we still had the 15 min walk/trek to go.
It was funny to see the pohutukawa's with splashings of crimson red (all a good indicator of Summer) but here we were,beautiful clear day with a SW chill......more like a Winters day.

Kosuke commented on how he hated the swirls of sand that would dance and play across the beach towards us but before I could answer the said dancing sand had turnned into a thousand neddles stabs blasting into our faces.....pheff,pheff!

As we entered the water I was surprised at how warm and quite pleasant the temp was despite the chilling breeze the sun was out with a clear blue sky.....the waves however were another story........

Out the back it was like trying to ride a bucking horse and there was the typical West Coast "rip" so staying in position was alittle difficult.

Im not that proud not to admit I was alittle "cautious" t first (flash way of saying scared) watching the sets out the back as they were freaking angry mountains of water morphing into these huge slabs of dark brown and white walls of death........but as they pounded over the rocks and broke up.....and still with a lot energy they would re-form,peak and then fatten out (that's surfy talk for it was easy to catch) and for the next hour and a half we surfed our brains out.

Kosuke made the comment "Ive never seen you catch so many waves".......yeah baby I was on everything like a rash.......and it felt so good. Paying for it now cause Im stuffed...............

Operation Mummy's Present

After playing in our new blanket house for a good hour and a half Mum was getting worried and came to see if we were OK........OK we were better than OK,we had Peanuts, Apples, something to drink, some books,blankets (Mana had her pillow and her car) we were set.

But Mana and I had a very important mission to complete.

Using the "excuse " of going to the Mitre 10 hardware store to buy some timber for my next "Bob the builder " project "Operation Mummy's Present" had a green light.

I had already pre-ordered the timber and we just had to pay and pick it up,this gave us a small window of opportunity to "SNEAK" off to the local jeweller's to get something for Keiko's Birthday on Monday.
Mana went from display to display and found a very small and very cute set of "Thread earrings" and told me that "Mummy will like that" I asked her why and she said "Because,because,because Mummy likes this one because its kawaii......" Who can argue with logic like that?
Next came the "Now Mana......DONT TELL MUMMY......Mana look at me,DONT tell mummy........Wakata???" (OK?)
A very positive and cherry "HAIIIIIIIIIII" still alittle unsure I repeated step 1 and 2 again and again I got the "HAIIIIIIII" but as well as that I got the look of "GEES Dad I said yes already ....what more do you want???"

Mana played with the toys there while the staff were wrapping it and when they finished I had asked Mana to bring her purse and her money to pay for it,she had no problem "digging" out all six 50 cent pieces and giving me TWO.........I told her that we needed more and with a look of sadness and disbelief she started handing over some more (1 by 1) each coin that left her little hand was accompanied with a look of "MORE????" so cute (and yes if you could see the look you too would be a little emotionally) but she didn't stop and I think (I hope) her little 4 year old brain clicked onto that valuable lesson.
Anyhoo still unsure that she could keep it a secret we spent a good 15 minutes looking for a Birthday card (my hope is that the whole card thing will distract her enough from the sparkly kawaii thing) as I said this involved a entire 15 minutes of picking up each card and studying the animal,angel,flower,rainbow,car,princess and numbers on them........we finally decided!
On arriving home she "blurted" Mummy we brought you a card.............and that was it!!!

This is where the "Austin Powers","Spy Who Shagged me","Goldmember" Doctor Evil laugh comes in.............Whooaaaaaa,whoaaaaa.....