pete on the sea biscuit

pete on the sea biscuit
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

getting ready for adrenalin trip!

fi getting ready for knee boarding

fi getting ready for knee boarding
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

both steve and fi becomes pro's at knee boarding by the end of the evening. we kept going til the sun went down and even had a few moonlight trips!! but it was pretty chilly!

chloe holding on tight on the sea biscuit

chloe holding on tight on the sea biscuit
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

one afternoon/evening, our friends, scott and miriam took us out water skiing, knee boarding and sea biscuiting! all great fun and the kids loved it.

always at the park!

always at the park!
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

monkeying around

monkeying around
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

i never realised how much kids love a park! every day the kids wanted to go to the local park which happens to be around the corner on the edge of lovely Hamilton lake.

breakfast gang

breakfast gang
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

The arrival of the Brind's for a two week visit to N.Z.

Great to have some more visitors and some great weather to show off the country.

Nice to be back amongst family

pete

pete
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

Pete told me that he's started a new band. They're called "Black Day".

We spent some time creating a melody to his first song "Bullets in your Brain" - at seven he shows the onset of early teen angst.

chloe

chloe
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

the curry queen

pete & his pancakes

pete & his pancakes
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

eyes bigger than his stomach.

beaching

beaching
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

Last long weekend break, so time to hit the beach again. Chloe started with sandcastles but then things moved on to hiding the frisbee. Sadly never to be found again.

kayaks

kayaks
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

Charis guiding us back to the beach.

not one birthday....

not one birthday....
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

Auntie Sarah - cake maker queen.

but two.

but two.
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

garden

garden
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

You may remember that there was a 24/7 prayer week at the end of last year.

Well the church organised another one which was a great success. Lots of new ideas and an even bigger number of people coming along.

hope

hope
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

this was a space to write the names of people who you were praying for.

scrabble

scrabble
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

an idea that kept sarah very busy during 24/7. She kept muttering
"take two".

fireworks.

fireworks.
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

At the end of the balloon week, they float them up in the air and explode them. Very exciting.

fireworks

fireworks
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

more of the balloon festival excitement

balloons over hamilton lake

balloons over hamilton lake
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

the balloon festival runs from 5th-9th april over hamilton. it was so cool to see + hear all these balloons taking off.

rising early!

rising early!
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

this morning - 5th april, i got up early and sat on my boss' deck at 6am. every year he invites colleagues/friends over for early morning breakfast to watch the start of the hamilton balloon festival as they have a house in prime position for a view of the lake. i did try and push rob out of bed but it wasnt happening! at least he gets to see the pics.

wedding anniversary on yacht in Bay of Islands

wedding anniversary on yacht in Bay of Islands
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

magic cottage - our love nest!

magic cottage - our love nest!
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

just north of the bay of islands was where we stayed for our anniversary - magic cottage!
it was a pretty self-contained cottage with a BBq, and even a bath on the verandah!!

a beach to ourselves!

a beach to ourselves!
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

we spent a lovely evening for our anniversary just north of Kerikeri at this place called the magic cottage. it was set right on the riverfront - an estuary. the next morning we got up and kayaked 30mins from our cottage out to the beach - completely deserted and beautiful!!

beautiful bays with beautiful people!

beautiful bays with beautiful people!
Originally uploaded by douglasnz.

some of you may remember that we got married around this time 2 yrs ago.
we were in bay of islands for our anniversary - couldnt have picked a nicer place! here's a pic of us on anniversary morning which we spent on the boat with scott and miriam before heading back on to the mainland in the afternoon.