Other Cute Pictures

There were a lot of pictures taken during our recent weekend away to Nelson.
The boys wanted to take pictures and Steve also learnt some new tricks with the camera.
So here is a collection of very cute pictures taken by all....

 You are my new big friend, will you stay with me forever?

And finally, when going to a wedding with kids, it is always sensible to take activity books with you for them to have something to do at the reception.
I scored huge mummy brownie points with this. They were so very well behaved it was easy to forget there were there most of the time. So proud of them and their behaviour, everyone commented on how good they were all weekend.

Fun in Nelson

Our weekend in Nelson was a lot of fun.
The boys were very well behaved and made the whole weekend such a breeze.
We saw some wonderful sights and acted like tourists just a little bit whenever we could.

As mentioned before Nelson is situated at the top of the South Island and has lovely large bays. There is a huge mountain range in Nelson so there are many wonderful places to go and look out at the bays and the surrounding gorgeous areas.

Here a some views looking out towards the bays.........

Just an amazing place and some breath taking views and sights to be seen

Nelson Wedding

Of course the main reason we went to Nelson last weekend was to attend the marriage of our Niece Sarah to her partner Joni.

Joni and Sarah

It turned into a wonderful family event that was short and sweet but perfect for what they wanted.

They held the wedding service at a local garden within Nelson that had a wonderful lawn and lots of plants. The gardens apparentlly belonged to the local Council but there was a house in the grounds that was part of a trust. It looked very pretty but we didn't venture in, as you needed money to visit with and also we didn't have time, maybe another visit to Nelson is needed!

The service was very short and sweet and to the point, although the celebrant could have done with a ray of sunshine pierced through her body! Just a little lacking in joy and happiness for the joyous occassion.

We had prepared the boys the week before for the fact that this wedding was not like all the others they had attended, that there was not going to be a groom and more likely 2 brides in pretty dresses. This never fazed them at all and no odd comments were ever made. Amazing what kids accept nowadays, but then guess we never made a deal out of it so it wasn't a deal to them either!

It was a very joyous occassion celebrated by all who attended.

I have lots more fun and cute pictures of Nelson so will organise another post of them later on

Nelson Family

Steve comes from a reasonable size family, he is the youngest of 4.
His sister who is 5 years older than him lives in Wellington, about 6 hours drive away. His next brother, 6 years older, lives up north about 4 hours drive away and then he has his big brother, who is 7 years older!

His big brother lives in Nelson with his wife and they have 3 children. They have lived there for the past 20 odd years, so Nelson is their home.


Steve's brother Ken with granddaughter Kayla and boys

Their 3 children are not little anymore, Sarah the youngest is 28 (one getting married) and she has 2 brothers  Craig 30 and Gareth 31.

Craig and the boys

Craig, Gareth and boys

 These are of course the boy's cousins, the boys love the fact that they have cousins so much older. It was never planned for there to be so much difference between ages but Steve's brother had his kids when he was in his 20's and then Steve finally had his kids when he was in his early 40's so turned into quite an age gap.
Gareth, the oldest, is actually a father himself and has a 3yr old daughter and a 6week old son, so the boys had fun playing with Kayla for the weekend and looking out for her at the wedding.

Me, well that now means I am an Aunty, a young Aunty I may add, seeing as Gareth is only 10 years younger than me!

But with him now having children it also makes me a Great Aunty and oh how I played on this big time at the weekend, it got me lots of hugs and snuggles with Dylan (6wks old).

Kayla (3yrs old)

Kayla and Alex, her new big friend

Dylan (6 weeks)

It was such fun to laugh along with Sarah, Craig and Gareth and then remind them that I was their Aunty and that they had to behave, we all got on really well and it was a lovely way to develope a relationship with people you are just getting to know. Feel like I have cemented my status with them nicely now, which also cements their relationship with Steve (their Uncle) a little better.

Nelson

Last weekend we went to a family wedding in Nelson.
Nelson is situated on the top of the South Island in NZ and manages to catch quite a few rays of sunlight during the day.
It is a popular tourist destination and is gorgeous with views over the bays like none I have ever seen before.
It has a huge arts culture and has a lot to showcase.

I have been there a few times in my time in New Zealand, but did just realise that the last time was 7 years ago, so do not remember too much.

The boys were well excited about going on a plane or 2 or 4, seeing as we had to fly from Hamilton to Wellington (1 hour) and then change to take the next little hop skip and a jump to Nelson (30 mins).
It had been 4 years since they last went on a plane, so very intrigued.

Mt Taranaki so clearly seen, which is very unusual, so such a lucky sight

The West coast of New Zealand

The visit for the weekend was for the wedding but also an oppotunity to catch up with Steve's brother and family. Lots of pictures to show so will post more on that side of things in another post.