A weekend for Us.

Something Mike and I value just as much as family time is 'couple time'.

And after a busy, tiring and long calving season on the farm we like to take a 3 day weekend to recoup, relax and reconnect.

For the past two years we have headed to Taupo to stay in an amazing apartment on the lake front.  We take yummy food to snack on and eat out or order in, so we don't need to do ANY work.  I take a book and magazines and spend the time either on the deck chair or lounging inside, or in the hot tub on the deck. Bliss.....

However this year was a little different, because calving was alot easier this year, due to great weather and great staff on farm.  So we didn't feel the need to go and just blob.

We wanted something more.

So my husband, who hates Auckland, suggested we go to Auckland!!

So we made the booking, right in the city by the viaduct.  We'd never been to the viaduct so that was on our 'to do' list.  So was visiting a little cafe in Ponsonby Little Bird Unbakery.

I fell totally in love with Ponsonby and all the little old villas. Streets and streets of them.

I couldn't help thinking of the history of all these houses.  I was imagining what life would have been like on the street.  Would there be children running around or would they be working couples. I'm sure with the close proximity of each house they would have all chatted while collecting the mail.  There were no garages (unless it had been modernized and added on) and one side of the street never had front fences so we were 3 steps from their front door.  I truly felt like we were in a different country!

We had lunch at Little Bird Bakery, which is another experience all in itself.  The food is all raw, including cheesecakes, bagels, biscuits and yummy salads.  Not to mention, to die for smoothies!

Both Mike and I are making a big effort to exercise and eat healthy so this place was just the right thing for added inspiration.  Who knew a raw salad and big smoothie at lunch would fill us up until Dinner.  And not be heavy and stodgy,

We had a nice walk around the viaduct in the sun.  It's obviously a real culture thing to go to the viaduct for Friday after work drinks because there was ALOT of business suits around.  Kinda felt under dressed.

Dinner at Soul.  Would have to be THE nicest meal and best service we have ever had.  The waitress even lay the napkin on our laps. :-0

A nice cold cider before dinner.

The yummiest dessert ever! Mostly fruit you will see. Tamarillos!

Then came bed time... Ahhhh 

 

And to wake up to this was a treat!

We watched as the thousands walked to Shed10 to watch the Americas Cup on the big screen and then watched as they evacuated very fast and very disappointed both days.

I would have to say one thing about staying in the middle of the City is one doesn't get much sleep!!

Even 22 floors high, we heard all the street noise until early hours of the morning.  People yahooing, tooting cars, fire engines. police sirens, not to mention the massive thunder storm.  I guess coming from a nice quiet farm in the country we are rather blessed.

This was our friend in the mornings.......

And this was our friend in the afternoon....

Breakfast!!!!

I did try and get Mike to do some second hand treasure finding but he is not a thrifter at all!!! I will have to save that for my girl friends.

Oh and I found a Tea shop!!!! Yes all about Tea!!! I don't like coffee at all so am a bit excited about this one, because I've been drinking alot of herbal teas over the winter and I love iced tea in the summer.  Click here to see the website.  It's first NZ store is Queen St, Auckland but will hopefully be opening more.

They had tasters..... Chai Tea, Strawberries and cream tea, Lemon and Ginger iced tea and more!!! And gorgeous tea pots and tea cups.

I did make a little purchase.

The jug is an Iced Tea Maker. It's VERY cool! And I have already made fruitalicious iced tea which is yummo! The little sachets are samples which gives two cups of tea. Licorice tea...... Yum can't wait to try that. And I bought a mesh ball and little tea pot to brew my home made chai tea (which I have been boiling in a pot on the stove).

We had such a lovely time!! We always do alot of talking, un-interrupted talking.  We discuss the immediate future, the distant future, children, parenting, hobbies and interests.  We just 'connect'.  And I love it!! There is no one in the world I would like more to do life with than my husband.  He is loving, kind, fun, gentle, genuine and very much himself!!  And I love him to pieces.

A Name Change

I felt it was appropriate a couple of months ago to change the name of my blog. Here is the reason why............

You see back in April last year I was a bit lost.
It was nearly two years since my Mum passed away.
She played a huge part in my life, and the Autumn season was when she became unwell and a big part of my time was spent visiting her at home or the hospital from January to July.
So every year around April I feel that 'season' again.
When April of last year came I started thinking of what I can do to keep my mind busy.
My sister-in-law writes an amazing, encouraging blog and I love reading it, but most of all I love the archiving of memories and photos.
I used to enjoy scrapbooking but have felt rather uninspired and unenthusiastic about it over the passed few years and realise that the photos and memories we were making were being left in our own minds.
I saw blogging as a new way of preserving photos and memories.

And when it came to 'naming' my blog I was totally blank...........
I thought I would randomly choose a 3 word name by opening my bible on a random page and choosing the first word I read.
I did that 3 times and came up with Awake.....The...... Desert.

I was astounded at how meaningful that name was at that time in my life.  I truly was Awakening The Desert in me!!


Now however, my Desert is awake! and I have filled my life with different interests and a part time job!


So I feel it is appropriate to change the name as it is a reminder of a difficult time in my life that I have worked through and ready to move on.

I have decided to call it 'What memories are made of........'

Because that is what it's all about!!!




Ps. The domain is still 'awakethedesert' because it's not easy nabbing a different one :)

Another VERY special birthday!

We have a 16 year old in the house!!! Eeek!


I know it's not much different to a 15 year old (in fact only one day difference) but still it makes me feel 'old'.

Straight away I got the 'can I dye my hair now? Can I get my tummy button pierced now?' questions. All the things I apparently said a few years ago 'When you're 16'
16 COMES AROUND REEEAALLY FAST!!!  I am quickly backtracking.

Unfortunately for Kaysha she was born right in the middle of calving time, and there has only ever been one year when we left farming that she got to celebrate properly on her birthday.  She has always been very accepting of 'rainchecks'.

We feel as parents of three beautiful girls it is of utmost importance that our girls are treated fine and know the qualities they want to look for in a future husband.  So for Mike it is a BIG job that he has to be purposeful about.

So a few days before Kayshas birthday he txt her to ask her out on a dinner date. (so cute!)

 Because Mike wouldn't see Kaysha until he 'picked her up' for the date at night

we decided to do a birthday eve present opening

.

And of course we couldn't break the tradition of the window stickers!! When the girls were smaller we always decorated the house the night before when they went to bed and we have had these stickers since Kaysha was about 3.  Now we have to get creative because they go to bed after us most nights. Fortunately Kaysha was out babysitting so we snuck them onto her bedroom window.

Another tradition is sneaking into their room singing happy birthday before they wake up.  I'm very pleased they sleep in these days.

Tahlia home made Kayshas favourite apricot fudge slice.

  

DATE NIGHT!!

He even rang the doorbell! I was bit cagey about letting bearded man  take my daughter out.

I love this photo!

They headed to a nice fancy restaurant (which our girls have only been once before to a restaurant to order an entree, main AND dessert)

And that was how we celebrated! For now anyway, a 'friends' birthday to come after calving.........

Kaysha.....

You light up my world,

with your kind heart,

your gentle spirit,

your beautiful smile,

and for you being YOU!

I love you more than you know and pray that you will continue to grow to be an amazing woman of God and trust in His ways and follow the path He has laid for you,  only you!

A Mother/Daughter weekend to be treasured.

In our family we have a wee tradition of when the girls turn 11 years old they get a weekend away with Mum!!
This is the weekend to hang out together, do girlie stuff, eat yummy food and have Mum all to themselves (oh and a good chance to talk about how they are 'changing')

When I planned the first weekend when Kaysha was 11, it didn't have the excitement and anticipation I had intended.  She was not keen at all. (Kaysha is not usually excited about trying new things)
So I persevered with the plans and continued to try and get Kaysha on board, as well as Mike having a wee chat to Kaysha about the effort that was going in to it.
Needless to say we had a GREAT weekend at Whangamata,and  by the time Ambers turn came it wasn't hard at all to convince her to come along, to a new secret location, and by the time Tahlia turned 11 she kept asking "when are we going away for my birthday weekend?"

So I booked the accommodation, (which remained a secret until the night before) bought canvases to paint, Blank cards for cardmaking and scrapbooking supplies.


Now all that was needed to was to pack the clothes and buy the yummy food! (mmmm peanut butter chocolate!!)

As we drive to the destination we listen to a CD produced by Parents Inc, which talks about how they are growing up and things are changing for them, which driving in a car is a great way to have their full attention. We pause for questions and answers, and because I am listening to it too they know the discussions can continue because I heard what they heard.

Once we arrived a Papamoa, Tahlia was super excited! She unpacked all her clothes and shoes into drawers and cupboards.  Made up her bed. And kept running up and down the stairs  (they were a novelty for her).

This is her bed 'upstairs'

We made ourselves at home and spread out all the 'things to do' and made a good old mess of the place.
It seems the canvases they paint (and mine) on these weekends always hold a special place in their hearts and memories.

Here a some photos of all the fun we had:

Tahlia normally has alot to say, but I found this weekend she was not fighting for attention and was quite content just to hang out.  It is not a side of her I see often in the everyday family setting.  Which shows me how important one on one time is with all my children.


This was the last 11 year old weekend away for me and my girls, (which makes me sad) so I need to think upon another special weekend tradition we can all look forward to.
Kaysha suggested a Father/Daughter weekend away!! Which we all know where they will be going for that..... to the bush!!!
I think its awesome that that was even suggested.  It certainly shows the love they have for their Dad and the need to also spend one on one time with him.

I love my girls and I love seeing them grow, and sharing their journey with them!

A great reason to celebrate......

Our beautiful middle girl has just turned 13 and it truly was a great reason to celebrate.

I don't want to start off with a moan, but I did get frustrated when people asked me what I was doing in the second week of the holidays, I said "my middle daughter is turning 13 so we are having a party!!" And the first response was always "Ohhhh 13! Tricky age." or "Poor you" or "Oh wow, your coming in to those awful years"
I really don't want to see it that way!  I am really enjoying the teenage years.  And am certainly making the most of the time I have left with my girls at home when they no longer need me to do everything for them, and we can have good chats, and I too get excited about what they get excited about, they can cook dinner :) and much more.  It should be a fun time, not a dredded time.
Rant over..........

So Amber turned 13, and she requested an amazing race!!
We had done them before, but only around the farm/home etc but this one had to be more spectacular than the last.
I really had no idea where to start to I called a 'planning meeting' with Mike and Kaysha (15yrs)
We did some brain storming and came up with some great ideas.
So then Mike and I spent a day in town checking out the bus stops & timetables, taking photos and just getting the finer details sorted.

Then the day arrived!!! (I was rather nervous and praying we had all the clues in the correct order, all the timing was correct etc etc)

The girls arrived excited as ever, enjoyed afternoon tea, then wanted to get straight into it.

  

Eating hanging donuts.

Even had to finish the donut from the floor.

filling the drum to the top through a small hole  took a while but separated the teams nicely.

  

They then had to catch a 'taxi' to the Westfield Shopping Centre, and buy balloons and make sure they always had 6 blown up balloons with them for the whole race or there was a time penalty.

Once they checked in with their balloons they were given a clue where they had to take a photo of a stranger holding a real pigs eye. (And of course offer them a wet wipe afterwards)  I truly thought this would be difficult but both teams got the second person they asked.

They had to complete a 100 piece puzzle before catching a bus to The Base.  Most of the girls were country girls and hadn't ever caught a bus before.  So we did make sure they got on the right bus before heading to The Base ourselves to meet them with their next clue.

Once at The Base it was hard to get photos while we had to be at the check in points at the same time.

Here is one of the clues.  They had to take a photo of the full shop sign corresponding to each letter.  Then they had to unscramble the word to find the next check in point.

The next pit stop was to fill out a Sudoku in the foodcourt.

The final task was to go around the Warehouse and look for prices on the list of random items.  (Apparently one team just asked at the counter for all the prices) The rules didn't state anything different. And then head to final check in point where "Big is Good"

All up the race took 3 1/2 hours and 20 mins between the winning team and the second team.

It was such a great day! And all went without a hitch.  

They are such a great bunch of girls, and they had a blast.  The first rule of course was 'No running in public places' then 'do not draw attention to yourselves' but how could you not with 6 girls giggling around the place with balloons hanging off them.

The next day was Ambers actual birthday so we headed to Rotorua for the day..........

Ambers special purity ring from her Dad.

Presents!!

Cousins on the Gondola.

I think it will be a birthday she will remember forever!!

And so it should be, its very special becoming a teenager!