Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Kids in the Kitchen

BigMiss has been doing a lot of baking and cooking for me lately.  So much so that I can't remember the last time it was actually me doing the baking! 

She has a really good kid's recipe book that has clear step by step illustrated instructions and just does it all herself.  (The other day she told me she was going to do some baking and I wasn't allowed to know what she was making or come in the kitchen - and I totally trusted her!)


So when I heard about a school holiday cooking program where the kids have to make dinner each night for a week I thought it would be just the thing for her.  It's an online program that runs nationally and includes daily challenges with chances to win prizes.

The first day was yesterday and one challenge was to do a Random Act of Kindness involving food.  BigMiss decided to make a batch of brownies for our neighbor (a nice single lady that works long hours).  She took it over in the evening when we saw she'd come home from work.


And for dinner she made Chicken Couscous Pile Up which tasted absolutely delicious!  It was couscous (we dressed it up with apricots, pumpkin seeds and red onion as the recipe just had it plain) with fancy lettuce on top, a crumbed chicken schnitzel on that and topped with chopped tomatoes and plum sauce.


Tonight it's going to be Beef (actually venison as that's all we have in the freezer) Fried Rice and the daily challenge is to do a themed over-the-top table setting.  It will be interesting to see what BigMiss comes up with as she's spending the day at a friend's house today and will need to plan it all there!
Read More

You May Have Noticed...

...that I've been a little absent from here.

It started out with a little bit of visiting places like this:


And this:


We did lots of this:


Plenty of this:


And don't forget this:


Then we came home again.  School started again.  And summer thought it was time to disappear.




I did think that once school started I'd be back on here regular again, but I came home to some exciting news that has kept me rather occupied.  Keep tuned for more details!
Read More

Let It Snow!

New Zealand in winter is not a very 'white' place, especially in the lower North Island where we live.  But today we woke up to a light dusting of the white stuff and the girls thought it was great!


They managed to get very wet making a little snow pile (not a man, just a pile).  Fortunately, I made them hang up their jackets and gear in front of the fire to dry as soon as they came in, because the lots-more-adventurous-than-me Aunty T phoned at mid-morning wanting to go to the snow and take the girls for company!

(If you want to get to decent, make-a-snowman snow around here, you just drive to the foot of the Tararua Ranges at Holdsworth which is only about 15-20mins from our house.)


Being school holidays and all, everyone seemed to be out there, including Aunty N and the cousins, so the girls had a great time.


I quite enjoyed staying dry and warm at home (and it was nice and quiet too).   
Read More

Camping Kiwi Style!

So what does camping look like for our family?

We had directions from J's sister (she knew the farmer and organised the campsite/paddock use) and ended up about 10 minutes drive along an almost dry riverbed into the hills off the road between Cape Palliser and Ngawi.  All of J's family were there - a total of 14 adults and 11 kids, plus some dutch tourists and their 6mth daughter that were staying for the week with J's parents!

Here's our tent with the smaller tent the big girls used just in front to the left.

There were nine tents arranged around the edge of the paddock and J's two brothers (being more adventurous, or maybe they just wanted to be further away from the night-waking babies) were over the fence in the bush.

We took the girls' bikes with them which got a LOT of use being shared amongst the cousins also.

We ate in style, even though most things were cooked on the BBQ!  Here's MiddleMiss 'whipping' the cream for our pancakes.

There was an array of quad bikes and the 4WD landcruiser to provide transport around the farm tracks and along the riverbed.
 The landcruiser all loaded up to go to the beach!

 Swimming at the beach.

Thursday afternoon was very windy.  A good test of who has the best quality tent!  The girls got a little scared at night worrying about their tent blowing down, but the next day (the wind had died down some) was great for kite flying.
No kites with us, but a plastic bag and fishing line works just as good!

Friday (our last day to do stuff) we went to the Crystal Pools, a secluded, natural swimming hole further round the coast past Ngawi towards Ngapotiki.

 You can climb up (with the help of a rope) above the waterfall where there is a great swimming hole, about 7m deep.

 The more adventurous climbed even further up above the next waterfall.

 The view out towards the ocean.

On the last night we raced out to try and watch the sunset, but were a little bit late.
That's the top of the South Island you can see through the haze.
Read More

Happy New Year!

Yeah, so I know I'm a little bit late, but better late than never, right?

We had a great time seeing the new year in with family.  It was the first year the girls have stayed up for it too and they had a great time with all their little cousins.

I intended on doing a '2011 goals' post on Monday but our plans for this week changed and I never got the chance.  All of J's family were going camping/tenting, leaving on Monday, for the week and we were going to join them on Wednesday.  Our builder was planning to put up the gib ('dry wall' to those in the USA/Canada I've been told) in the old part/new bedrooms area on Monday/Tuesday with J helping, but he couldn't make it those days anymore.  So the decision was made on New Year's Eve that we would be leaving on Monday for camping too.

This was a problem for me as I had planned on having Monday and Tuesday to get ready.  I had no food in the house (end of the grocery week anyway).  My washing needed to be done.  And we hadn't looked at any of our camping gear since the last time we'd used it (four years ago!)

So Monday was spent washing clothes (at least it was a hot sunny day and I got three loads washed and dried in time to take what we needed with us), planning meals, shopping for food, getting gear together and packing it all into the ute.  Needless to say I forgot things, but nothing that important we couldn't go without!

I'm still hoping to get in a '2011 goals' post (maybe this Monday), and I have over 300 photos from the last week to go through so there should be some in there worth sharing so you can see what we get up when camping in a farmer's paddock in the middle of steep hill country near the Cape Palliser/Ngawi coast with 16 adults and 12 kids (all under the age of 7).
Read More

Blogtober - Day 25 - Home again

The last catch-up post, promise!

After a bit of playing in the sandpit (just a sand path, but worked just as good!)

And a bit of turn-taking on the tree swing

We got in the car and headed back homewards again.

It was another beautiful day and we stopped again in Taupo

This time for a bit longer.  We had a brief shop, a quick visit to the Taupo Bungy (just for a look to show the girls - not to do it!), went for a swim in the heated outdoor pools and had a nice sit-down McDondald's lunch (instead of the eat-while-driving we did on the way up).

We decided to take the scenic* route home and took the Napier-Taupo road.  It was a nice change from the usual drive, but looking at the map when we got home, it looks like it would have added and extra 1/2 hour travel at least!

It was such a nice family time and are already planning the Summer holiday back up that way again!




*All of NZ is scenic, though sometimes it can get a bit boring seeing the same thing everytime we travel.  Though there really wasn't that much to see all the way to Napier (over an hour travel!) other than a lot of native bush and plenty of holiday traffic.  But the Hawke's Bay is a nice area to drive through - as much as the Central Plateau and Rangitikei are too.
Read More

Blogtober - Day 23 - Party!

This is another catch-up post...

Saturday was Mum's half-way birthday.  At least she's hoping it is!

The girls had spent several days beforehand crafting all sorts of interesting things and then wrapping them up, so present opening had to happen without waiting for the everyone (well, just the one brother and family as it was just a very small party) to arrive.

And here is my present:

This was the secret knitting I was doing.

Then the big brother arrived and the food was put out and the relaxing began.

As it was my SIL's birthday the next day, I had also (finally!) blocked the shawl I'd made for her at the beginning of the year.
I didn't have any photos of it so had to quickly take this after she'd unwrapped it!

And I got lots more knitting done.
Read More

Blogtober - Day 22 - Travelling

This is a catch-up post...
Lake Taupo looking out to Mt Ruapehu

Friday we drove non-stop (except petrol, toilet and buy-lunch quick stops) for 6 1/2 hours to get to Mum's. 

The kids were great, the traffic boring and the weather not too hot.

And we arrived with plenty enough time to relax before dinner.

(I also got lots of knitting done.)
Read More

Blogtober - Day 5 - Renovations

As of just last Tuesday, we have been subjected to early mornings and days full of banging and sawing.

This was our house before any changes happened:

Photo taken about a month ago, courtesy of one of the girls during a random photo-taking session.  (These sessions seem to be a common occurance - and it's amazing and interesting some of the photos they take.)

Since then, the fence has been taken down, half the concrete path has been taken up, my clothesline has been moved and the lawns are a bit longer!

And...
By Thursday last week

Friday last week.

Monday.

Today.

The builders have been here.

The girls have been loving it.  They've collected piles of sawdust and offcuts and made themselves a 'shop' that sells food of all descriptions.

Yesterday afternoon it was on the builder's work bench so it had to move today.  Here it is nicely set up on top of the dog kennel.

I asked the girls to take these photos themselves.

This is a cake.

These are hot-cross buns, bananas, and jam.

This is butter.

The stones in the corner are chocolate.  The big thing with the grass & sawdust is a cake too.

And they're quite entertained just watching the builders sometimes too.


The mornings are early because the builders turn up before 8am and we have to be dressed, breakfasted, beds made and curtains open before that.  Normally this happens, but it's supposed to be school holidays and I'm usually still in my dressing gown when J leaves for work at that time!

But I'm not really complaining as it's making me so much more productive on my home days.  I feel guilty if I sit down and do 'relaxing' things like knitting or surfing the internet (like I sometimes do) when other people are busy working hard outside.  So my house is spotless - dishes done, washing folded, lounge tidy - every morning (before morning tea time - helped by the fact that the apprentice always comes in to borrow the jug for their coffees and I hate people seeing my house in it's normal state of 'mess') and I'm doing more useful things.  Today it was drawing and cutting, but maybe more on that tomorrow...
Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)