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Dear Blog...

Sorry but Christmas followed by good weather, summer fun, beach, garden, boys in holiday mode and some house redecorating means time has flown by without a single update for 2009 yet...*gasp!! Even the Bulls crew have updated their blog before me heh, heh!! Go Looby!

So this is us catching up...firstly...

Christmas at Mum and Dads in Cambridge...yay Jim is on holiday at last!...

Ok people so after going through the many, many shots i clicked off of 'the cuzzies' group shot this was the 'best' one....mwah ha ha ha!! They are so going to hate us when we pull this out at their 21st's!!Carol and Al coping admirably with a house 'full' of kids and grandkids!!

Now Santa...about that Pony you promised last year......Samuel found flaked on the couch Christmas day, cuddled up next to his new fire engine from Santa...

and hanging out with his main man Connor...thanks Connor for playing endlessly and so patiently with all your little hanger on'ers!
Nice to have some gorgeous girls around the place! Jessica and Shea get into the spirit of the day with some grape juice bubbles....

...the lovely Nyah....

and even little Daisy la-la was dolled up in her best christmas gears! Poor Bert and Harry didn't know what they were missing!

Jim has the cream whipping all under control with the egg beater which made the move from the farm...it must be an ancient artifact by now that thing...was around when I was a kid...no smart comments please!

Awww look its number 11...playing peek a boo's with Aunty Meek...so nice to meet you at last Ben!

Another ancient family artifact still going strong, the Sorry boardgame...

And cricket also proved popular with one and all...the boys are still into it since getting home and we have had to upgrade Grandad's home made bat to a bigger kids version of the real thing.
and then after a lovely few days catching up with the family..especially the memorable game of pictionary we had, that was really lovely...ha ha ha!! Well it just wouldn't have been right if we had played it nicely... It was home again for New years eve...Jim lit the bonfire in the back paddock and we roasted marshmallows....eventually...once the raging inferno had died down a tad and we could get close enough iwthout singeing our eyebrows...ha!


The boys were given the opportunity to stay up til midnight to see in the new year if they wanted...so we turned the video channel on tv and had a good laugh at some of the old songs on the countdown, the boys busted out some pretty good moves to MC Hammers 'You can't touch this' when they wern't cracking themselves up over his funny pants!....Samuel was snoring by 10, Patrick valiantly lasted until 10.30 and of course Joseph was determined to last the distance and triumphantly counted down the last seconds of 2008 with Mum and Dad and has the champagne cork tucked away on his treasure shelf as a reminder of his first ever New Year that he stayed up!...and so here we are in 2009!!

Oh look it is the resident nudist colony having a picnic in our garden... they are in an out of the pool so much they soon grow tired of getting in and out of clothes and so on very warm days they give up on the idea all together!

Our new past time.....Kayaking...the best fun!!

....Jim (all on his own...and no pressure from the missus whatsoever!its true!)decided as much as he loves him that it was time for little red car to move on...so he is off to live with a gentleman in Christchurch, where he will be very well looked after with lots of other classic cars to keep him company...yes its sad...an end of another little chapter....

...but on a happier note it has enabled us to get set up with our first kayak, aptly nicknamed the 'Big Banana'! Getting the whole family out together and enjoying something together was the aim and its been a great success. After the first try the boys have proved their worth with a paddle and get stuck right in each time...Jim already has his sights on a second kayak so we can all go exploring together, apparently you can even fish off a kayak...who knew?!...so there are great plans for fishing and camping trips...here's to many adventures to come on the HMS Big Banana!!

and when he is gliding through the waters of the BOI he can usually be found in the garden or mowing the grounds lol! The vege patch is coming on great this year...courgettes and green and butter beans coming out our ears, love the red onions...will definately seed a bigger onion patch next time, the iceburg lettuce were a success..but should have staggered the planting...small lesson learned...the runner beans are going nuts, hairy but strangely fresh and tasty lol...the corn and tomato's and watermelons are coming on well, the spuds are growing like weeds and taste good too, threw in some radish, rocket and carrot seed the other day and they popped up in record time...planting conditions are GO!!

Oh look the nudist colony's Dad has joined in the action..heh, heh...if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

Today we headed over to Paihia for the annual sandcastle competition ...such a fun day, absolutely knackered when we got home...some mad closet sand sculpting talent around! Unfortunately our camera was out of action so we couldn't record the day but we managed to score a prize with Jim's creation...so hopefully there might be a pic in the local paper next week to share then...

Well thats it for my mammoth first post of the year...

hey! wake up.

lol.