Wednesday, February 27, 2008

So, after a busy but relaxing and wonderful 9 days away, we're back! And wow was it great to see Olivia again! I think seeing her leap out of my Dad's arms and into mine was the best part of the holiday! We had an excellent holiday though and got to see some of the most awesome and beautiful scenery on this planet of ours! It was also really special being there with most of the van der Schaaf family to witness Terry and Nynke's wedding. Pity the weather decided to turn sour and we had rain all of Friday and Saturday!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Time Has Come...

Whoo hoo!!! We leave for New Zealand tonight!!! Can't wait! Except for the fact that we'll have to say bye to our dear Olivia for 9 days :-( I'm sure I won't cry b/c I'm not that sort of person, but I will definitely miss my little girl. Just checking out the forecast for while we're there and it looks like we're in for some cold weather...17C for the wedding day! You call that summer?! I've hardly had to think about winter clothes yet. Except for the other day, when out of the blue, we woke up to the sound of rain on our roof! I couldn't believe it! It just rained steadily the whole morning, eased up in the afternoon and then rained again at night! Of course I had to do my shopping that day; so here I go and dash outside in my jeans and thongs - I hate wearing closed shoes - put Olivia in the car quickly and promptly get sopping wet feet! Well, that's another thing I hate when it's cold, so yes, I ended up putting my closed shoes on... Cold, rainy weather is nice once in a while, so I'm sure we'll enjoy the cooler weather while we're in NZ. Especially when they forecast temps in the high 30s here for the rest of the week.
We bought a digital camera the other night so maybe you'll see some photos on here more frequently. I tried last week to put some on, but our computer is sooo slow, so guess what? We've bought a new computer too, a laptop actually, which hopefully goes 100x faster than this one. Hopefully it arrives today, b/c Rod wants to take it to NZ.
Anyway, I should finish packing my suitcase :-)

At the Park...

Here's some photos I took of Olivia playing at the park down the road the other day.







It's Monday
It's raining - YAY!!!
Olivia is sleeping - YAY to that too
I chopped all my hair off on Saturday...eeek!
Daylight saving is finished! It was dark at 7pm last night; weird!
It's wintry...I love it, I might head for my bed too. Olivia was awake at 5 this morning, snoozed for a bit till 6, didn't take her Dad's advice on going back to sleep, so got to go in bed with Mum till it was a sane time to get up (only b/c her Mum was sick of listening to her whinge and whine). So I'm feeling a bit sleepy...
Anyway, here's some pics from Saturday night. The van der Veen tribe had a BBQ at Paul and Heidi's place for Renee's b'day. (They might be put on one per day b/c the connection is soooo slow.)

The boys looking at Dad and Mum's Melbourne photos

the Girly Whirlys -- Heidi, Charlene, me, Annette, Renee and Ingrid

checking out some funny video clips

Akaroa

Akaroa
This is the awesome view you get as you drive down into Akaroa, a little town about 1.5 hous from Christchurch

On the beach at Long Bay, Akaroa

A shop with character

Morning tea in Timaru

Christchurch

Christchurch
Our 'Kozy Kiwi' - accomodation while in Christchurch

Rod, Kathryn and Rose on the cool blow up trampoline thing

Sunday night BBQ at the caravan park where we all stayed: Darryl, Rose, Rod and Glenn

Travelling...

Travelling...
more beautiful scenery

Mt Cook - NZ's highest mountain


river near Lake Wanaka

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory!!!

Aren't I strong!

Christchurch Botanical Gardens

all a bit bleary eyed at 5am @ the airport

sunrise above the clouds - beautiful!

Zachary

mmm, Olivia gets to lick the beater!

Tastes good Mum!


my little gardener

A busy bee