A day out on the river

When you have a beautiful sunny Sunday, a houseful of 'bored' kids, parents about to return to work, and a few floating devices, what do you do??

You get a group of friends and go floating down the Waikato River!!

 

Last summer a group of our friends did this and we were keen to have a go ourselves so finally got around to arranging it. Airbeds, lilos, inner tubes and ski biscuits were all employed to get us from the control gates in the Taupo township to the campgrounds just above the Huka Falls.

 

We set off just before 12 noon and floated serenely ...yeah right...there were grown men and kids involved (oops, one and the same, aren't they??!!) so it was with a lot of NOISE we set off! The water was crystal clear and just cold enough. It was probably the hottest day to date with temperatures up to 28-29oC so the river was the perfect place to be.

We floated past houses built with magnificent views of, and access to, the river. We saw wildlife (ducks and ducklings, trout and swans) and other river users too-some in kayaks and some like us, using whatever they had to float!

 

We stopped below the place where they do the Taupo Bungy and watched about 6 people jump! NO-I am NOT keen to do that!!! Otherwise, it was just us and the river-beautiful.
 

Finally we arrived at a picnic spot where we had a late lunch with huge appetites fuelled by all our activity and fresh air! What a great way to spend a few hours and something we will definitely be doing again.

My husband-a JP!

This has been a long process. In fact, I can't remember when exactly Jeff was approached to say someone wanted to put his name forward as a potential Justice of the Peace (JP) but it was about 2 years ago!

After going through all the processes and form-filling and background checks (and a little speed-bump) he finally got notification that he had been accepted! Woohoo-a JP in the family-very proud of him.

His appointment was signed on the 12 November 2014, exactly 200 years to the day after the first JP was appointed in NZ. That is pretty cool!!

A few days later we got notification of his swearing in ceremony to be held in the District Court rooms in Tokoroa. We invited his parents and asked the girls if they would like to attend. Unfortunately as it was nearing the end of the school year both Caity and Briar had prior commitments but Olivia represented her sisters beautifully. I got a couple of hours of work and we all traipsed into the courtroom to see Jeff sworn in.

There were declarations to be made...

 

...and papers to sign.

 

The judge was from Rotorua and gave a speech about the history of JPs in NZ and the responsibility that goes with the position.

 

The family photo...

 

...we are so proud of you, Jeff!

A new look

Years ago I had short hair but had let it grow these past few years till it was past shoulder length. A couple of months ago I took the plunge and decided to get it cut short again. However, being the cautious person I am, I left it a little longer than I was really going for as I thought it would be 'softer' or something like that! Anyway, after a few weeks I realised it was just annoying me and looking scruffy so I took the plunge and got it cut as short as I was really wanting. Here are the before and afters!

 

Oh, and I also got a red colour put through it-I have a wonderful hairdresser whom I trust with my hair so left it to her to choose the colour. Not as bright as I was expecting but probably a good place to start!

End of an era

Well, we are finished with Primary School! After ten years association with Tokoroa North School, we have no children attending in 2015. We started in 2004 with Caitlin the first to step into the classroom, followed by Olivia two years later and finally Briar in 2008. The school has provided a wonderful start to the girls' education and we have always been impressed by how well run everything is within the school.

So it was with mixed emotions we attended Briar's final assembly in December. The middle and senior school always put on a great assembly and this was no different. We sat outdoors (yay!) and were treated to singing, dancing and speeches. Briar had auditioned and was chosen to be one of two students to give speeches so we were very proud to see her deliver her lovely speech reminiscing about her time at North School.

They give out 'Graduation Certificates' to all Year 6 students and then recognise the top dozen or so students who have done well across all areas of school life-sporting, social, environmental and academic. Wow, were we proud to hear Briar's name called out to receive one of these certificates!

A few minutes later  the Deputy Principal announced the names of the top boy and girl student for 2015. Jeff & I were absolutely speechless to hear Briar being called up to receive the award!! Wow, what an extremely proud moment as a parent...I was in tears and couldn't stop grinning. It was a total surprise and although we had been asked to make sure we were at assembly we certainly weren't expecting this!! I thought being top 12 of the school was surprise enough. This was just the icing on the cake.

What a way to finish at Tokoroa North School! Talk about going out on a high note!

Here is our gorgeous girl with her well-earned certificates. We are SO proud of your efforts, darling!

Stump removal

How hard could it be?? It's just a stump...get a digger in, couple of hours...stump removed...yeah, right!!!

 

So we started off with a couple of SMALL piles of dirt...

 

 

but found it was a little more difficult than first thought to get this stump out. So we will just dig a bit more...

 

 

Nugget was most confused..."if I dug a hole this big I'd be in HEAPS of trouble!!"

 

 

Digging wasn't working...let's try burning the stump out!

 

 

Result? A hell of a mess and one stump still in the ground (I can just bet it is smirking!!) And an off-road, 4-wheel drive experience for all visitors...sorry, people!

Any bets on how long it will take to clear this mess up??

Another holiday activity

What to do in the school holidays?? How about...ice skating!! :)
Over at Rotorua (40 mins drive from Tokoroa) there was a temporary ice rink erected for a couple of months. So on a lovely Saturday afternoon we drove over for a bit of a laugh!

 

The rink was partly under a marque and partly exposed to the elements. Lucky we had a reasonably nice winter's day. There were a few families but mostly teenage girls having loads of fun.

 

 

Here is Briar doing her best zombie impersonation! My girls have only ever ice skated once before (about 4 yrs ago) so it took a few minutes to get the hang of it again. But it didn't take long till they were whizzing around the ice like naturals!

 

 

The rink wasn't too crowded so they were able to skate reasonably uninterrupted. At one stage they cleared the ice and put on an ice hockey demonstration. Wow, those people could skate!! Apparently there is going to be a rink constructed in Hamilton next year-I told Olivia she should sign up for the ice hockey team while she is at school up there next year.

 

 

The rink was situated on the Village Green down by the lakefront in Rotorua and was a great location to spend the afternoon. There were a few other 'fairground' type things set up-a merry-go-round, moving clowns heads game, and ...

 

 

 

 

...a giant inflatable slide! The girls each had a go and squealed the whole way down! It was a lot of fun, apparently. Then it was time for a short play on the playground nearby and a couple of pizzas to refuel after a busy afternoon., before heading back home. A great end to the school holidays.

Holiday activities

Term two ended at the beginning of July and the girls got two weeks holiday. Lucky things...I have not earned holidays yet as I have only been at my job 5 months so we didn't get up to much this time round. However, my boss was wonderful enough to let me finish at lunchtime for a couple of days in the last week of the holidays so we planned a couple of holiday activities.

 

First up was ten pin bowling. Caitlin, Olivia and I had an intense session at SkyCity Bowlevard where I ALMOST won but Caitlin pipped me by 2 points to win in the end!

 

 

Olivia did well and wasn't far behind us on points.

 

 

 

We had a lovely afternoon out and finished off by going to see a movie at The Base. We watched "The Fault In Our Stars" and yep...Caity and I bawled our way through it! Hard-hearted Olivia sat dry-eyed throughout, laughing at us!! It was a great movie-very moving.

 

For those of you wondering about Briar...fear not! She wasn't missing out-she was spending the week at Nana's, getting VERY spoiled!!! Thanks, Mum :)  xx