Roses

At the beginning of the year, Alex decided that we needed roses in the garden.
At some stage we brought 3 rose bushes and planted them in the front garden.
As mentioned here they took a little time but then suddenly bloomed to all their goodness. He was well chuffed to have pretty things out the front.
Well of course here in New Zealand, November is the month when most roses are in full bloom and looking beautiful. Towns have their local parks rose displays at this time.

Hamilton is no exception, with the Gardens right on our door step, then we couldn't not go to the weekend special for the rose gardens.
The boys loved it, the weather was gorgeous and the roses shone like no other.
We all had our favorite ones, ones that had glorious colour or even weird colour. Ben loved the fact there was one that was close in name to him, well it had the same first name!

So the pictures that follow are the glorious shots we got viewing the beatiful roses at the Hamilton Gardens Roses Day a couple of weekends ago

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Hamilton Bloggers

Are there any Kiwi Mummy Bloggers out there in the Hamilton area.
If so leave me a comment, would love to come and visit you.

Up, Up and Away

It is that time of year again for the wonderful festival of 'Balloons over Waikato'
For 4 full days there are hot air balloon activities.
The boys love watching the balloons and seeing the different novelty ones that come here each year.
We managed to attend some of the displays and as usual it consists of balloons and more balloons.
So here is my picture story of what we have seen......

Take one balloon, lots of people and some hot air

A Shroom with a view

Hello, is there anyone out there??

Boo, it's me Jack

Jack N D Box

Ben even got to have a little lift off in a balloon. The balloon stayed tethered the whole time, just lifted off the ground 10 metres.

Today we didn't manage to get to the common where it is all held, but we did get to stand at the top of our stairs at home and watch 15 balloons sail over Hamilton at 8am in the sunny blue sky with the mist and fog just lifting, it loked beautiful.

Is It a......?

Is it a bird? No

Is it a plane? No

It is a turtle.....

Yep that is right a turtle, and it is a hot air balloon, which is part of the Balloons Over Waikato.

An annual ballooning event held here in Hamilton. This is the 10th year they have held it and it is such fun seeing the balloons floating past every morning on the way to work.

However yesterday moring they were right outside the front door. I almost felt like if I was taller I would have been able to reach up and touch them!

This shot is very deceiving, this was taken from accross the street and they definitely were not that close to the houses! Just looks that way!

In the background you can just make out a birthday cake balloon trying to get over the trees. This was in honour of the 10th birthday of the Balloons Over Waikato.


Here you can just see the Ladybug balloon creeping out from the trees.

Bridges

For those that don't know Hamilton, It is a wonderful town situated around the Waikato River.

The river actually runs up the centre of Hamilton. Which means that Hamilton is divided into 2 parts, either side of the river.

There are several bridges to use at certain points that enable you to cross over the river, and these are limited, only 5 that I can think of!

Now it is just under a year since the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota where the bridge collapsed in the middle into the Mississippi River, sadly killing 7 people.

Unfortunately, evertime I go over a bridge in Hamilton I always think about what could happen. I am not morbid or neurotic, it is just always there.

There is nothing I can do about this, it is like thinking about all the plane crashes around the world. You hear about them, but it doesn't stop you getting on the plane, because the chance of it ever happening to you is such a slim chance that it is part of life that you are prepared to deal with.

It is the same with the bridges with me. I know it will never happen. I also know life would cease to function if I suddenly had an over whelming morbid fear of going on the bridges, because we live on the other side of the river to work, school, daycare, downtown, all the supermarkets that are worth shopping at and the hospital. Generally to live in Hamilton you must be prepared to travel across a bridge!

But that won't stop me thinking about the safety of the bridges everytime I have to travel across one.

Hamilton V8 400

So the day has arrived for the whole of New Zealand to decend upon Hamilton for 3 days of fast, furious boys adrenaline rush racing.
The V8 Supercars and many other fast cars are here for the street racing.
Many city's within NZ thought about putting forward a bid to host this phenonemen (?) but Hamilton came out on top and have secured the privilige for the next 7 years!

Are we going? No
Why not I hear you say?........
Well in fact I would love to go and see the races etc, but unless something is happening constantly then I think the boys will loose interest very quickly, they won't want to sit still waiting for the cars to go past between races and it would bug me the whole time not being able to see what I want to see because they want to go somewhere else or even home for that matter!
If I had no kids and was not at work today then yes, I would wander down, get a ticket for the day and experience it with everyone else, 1) to be able to say I was there at the first Hamilton 400 and 2) because it would be fun.

But seeing as they have secured the right to host this for the next 7 years and seeing as how the boys are only 3 & 5, then give it a year or 2 and I am sure we will be wandering down all too soon.

Tickets are not even as expensive as I imagined. You can get a 3 day pass to certain grandstands for anything from $120 to $165 per person, under 12's or maybe under 15's are free, so father and son could go for 3 days and it is not expensive.
I was expecting the tickets to be $120 per day. I mean to go to the theatre and see a good show costs about $89 - $109 so I was quite shocked to learn how cheap it was. Good on them for keeping it at a price that everyone can enjoy it with.

So if you are into fast cars and motorsport then this is the place to be this weekend or planning to be in the years to come.

I am sure in a year or 2 my dad will come over with my brother and his 2 boys from Rotorua (1 hours drive away) for the weekend and all the boys will be gone for 3 days down town to see the fast cars. I am looking forward to that day.

Balloons

Hamilton is famous for having a wonderful festival each year called "Balloons over Waikato"

For the last half of last week there was stuff going on each day.

On Wednesday morning we woke up to this sight out of our window. There were over 25 balloons flying past.

On Wednesday afternoon I took the boys down to the common to watch some of the balloons inflating and taking off. Ben thought this was fabulous. We actually stood right next to the 3 main feature balloons (Darth Vader, Spooky House or Nightmare as it is really called and the Pirate one) and watched them inflate, man are they large!

The boys just loved the Spooky House and the Pirate one, although the Darth Vader one was very impressive. I love the Pirate one with his little flag and his cat because he didn't have a parrot!

On Thursday morning I was stupid enough to get up at 5.15am and go and watch the Dawn Parade, (I snuck out of the house, leaving the rest of the family sound a sleep in their warm beds!) this involved about 10 balloons taking off just before sunrise. As it was still dark it was like watching chinese lanterns light up the sky as they fired up the gas.

They were able to do this in the dark because not long after, the sun came up and this gave the pilots the ability to see where they could land, so all very safe.

Unfortunately for them, but not for the people of Hamilton, there was no wind on Thursday morning, so as everyone made their way to work they had the pleasure of witnessing 20 odd balloons just hovering over the lake area. The sky was filled and it was a spectactular sight.

The boys daycare is next to Steve's work and looks out over the lake, so you can imagine what all the children were doing in the room, glued to the window watching this amazing sight before them. Again the Spooky House and Darth Vader were floating the skies for them.

On Saturday evening there was a big free party at the University Grounds. It was an amazing turn out from everyone in Hamilton. Just as the sun had gone down they did a Night Glow. The balloons formed a semi circle and staying tethered to the ground (or cars because of the weight) they kept turning on the gas to light the balloon up in the dark. It was well done, but of course the fireworks that followed were even better. The boys just loved all of it.

Me I found the whole 5 days really great and made me love Hamilton even more than I already do.

Roll on next year, we are ready and waiting!

Hamilton Gardens

When we first came to visit Hamilton back in June I took the boys, as recommended by Grandma, to the Hamilton Gardens. Now I was just so taken with this place, it was surreal. I think I floated around the place, there was just something about it that got me.On Sunday we decided to take the boys there for our daily outing, see what the flowers were like in a different time of year.

It was still as beautiful as before and I am still very taken with the place. I haven't been to all the gardens there just one little section of 6. They consist of the following....

1. Japanese Garden
2. English Garden
3. Chinese Garden
4. American Garden
5. Indian Garden
6. Italian Garden

So I am posting a photo post of the place to give you a taster of these gardens. The fact it is now just down the road from us means that during the next year we will get to visit as often as we want and also get to see the gardens in all the 4 seasons throughout the year. I look forward to that part. I am not showing you everything that is available just enough to wet your appertite, so drop on by sometime and we will take you there it is free!

American, Indian and Italian Gardens

This is my most favorite of all the gardens. I think it is because of the symetry, just like quilting.Alex, well he just liked all the water!