Finally...

After 6 weeks of nothing, and most of New Zealand declaring 'drought' status we have

RAIN

and I don't think there is anyone in New Zealand who is currently complaining or getting annoyed at this change in weather!
We have been very lucky to have had some gorgeous days these last 6 weeks and some lovely temperatures, we have just sadly been missing some wet stuff to help everything stay green and well supplied.
We may not get much, and we definitely do not want it too quickly but the little that we are getting is having a small effect and filling water tanks a little and giving some of the ground a welcoming splash.

Now where did I put that umbrella??

Did I Tell You.....

About the wee little bit of rain we have had during the summer holiday so far?

Sure I did, but just in case you forgot......here are some pictures to show you just what it was like.
All I can say is just keep watching the water on the driveway...!

I was sat in the gazebo at the caravan at the time of this downpour and it lasted for all of about 5 minutes.
It then took about another 30 mins before all the water had drained away from the driveway!

Finally Beaten!

By the rain that is not my favourite sports team.

Here in New Zealand it is the start of summer.
The schools have broken up for their summer break of 6-7 weeks.
The weather is finally turning nice.
Everyone has gone camping.

We too went camping over Christmas, we left on Christmas Eve and we have had an awesome time.
The first 5-6 days were beautiful, just how you hope to spend a summer Christmas if you are by the beach. The sun was out, the boys loved playing with friends and everyone had a relaxing time.
New Year was slightly different in that it rained and rained and oh yea just for good measure it rained some more! The poor people in tents, got flooded and a lot went home many days earlier than they had planned too.
Then the sun came out again and it has been nice, the odd day of rain but nothing you can't survive.
That is until yesterday when it rained a lot more, continuously all day.

The forcast for today is for much of the same and I finally made the decision that I did not want to spend another day couped in the caravan. So we came home.
We were not wet, we were not flooded, we had plenty of food, plenty of things to do but we had had enough of spending quality family time in an 8x4m space in the rain.
We had washing to do and so I decided we needed a change of scenery.

So here we are at home, sleeping in our own bed, even though the caravan is comfortable to sleep in, with more space to wander around in, the ability to use the toilet without getting wet feet on the way.
We have got a few things to get done.
The courgettes have managed to go wild and we have 2 that are like baseball bats, I think we have marrows! Will get pictures and show you later. (left the camera at the caravan, so the boys will collect it when they go back next week)
The sunflowers are reaching the roof and need tying so they don't fall over, again will show you later in a picture.
The roses need trimming, the tomatoes need tying, the garlic needs pulling.
So just a few jobs that need to be looked at so we don't loose the whole garden in the weather.

We will go back, just going to let the worst of the rain pass before we do!

Movie Premier

At the end of last week I was lucky enough to secure 4 tickets to a premier of the up coming movie "Tin Tin's Adventures".

The boys heard me win them on the radio, so there was no deciding to take anyone else instead of them!

Now I remember Tin Tin from when I was a little girl and I can honestly say that it was not something I was into. My brother on the other hand had one or two of the comic books.
So having an understanding of the concept of the story I was a little worried about how the boys would take it, Ben I thought would do fine, but Alex I thought might get a little bored or scared. Me, well I really wasn't that interested in seeing the movie anyway, but was prepared to sit through it like any good mother does, because it was something for my children, but I would have snuck into any number of other movies if I could have!
Yes Alex did get a little bored, Ben did enjoy it and as for me, well I watched the whole damn thing from start to finish and would even go and see the 2nd one when it is made. It was actually good, I actually enjoyed it.

The movie is made in animation but not cartoon animation, the animation that they made "Polar Express" (Tom Hanks Movie) with, where they got the actors to do the actions and captured them in animation.

It was effective and very well done.
Would I recommend it as a movie to get to this Christmas time, yes.
Take your sons, your nephews and your grandsons, even your husbands and while your at it, take all you female relatives too.
It was just your good old young boy adventure story with goodies and badies, adventure and fun.

When the movie finished, we decided that seeing as we were already out, then we would go along to the Mormon Temple to view the thousands of Christmas Lights they put up each year around the temple grounds.
Check out this post for pictures of the glorious event.
Unfortunately what we didn't count on was the weather, that turned to custard on the way to the temple, however as we were already on our way then I decided that we were going to continue as a little rain never harmed anyone. It also meant that we could cross it off the list of things to get done before Christmas. Now gives me an evening at home tonight to get the presents wrapped!
So we stood with the few others, under the umbrella, in the pouring rain and watched the lights get turned on. Then we walked the steps up to the temple door and walked back down again, now with very wet feet, and then decided that we had achieved that one and went home to bed.

Once again though, I stood looking at the lights and had the same thought that I do every year...."really must get Grandma to come over and see the lights!"
So Grandma, please place this in your diary for 2012, sometime after Dec 12, you have to come and stay the night with us and go out to the Temple and see the pretty lights.

Rain and more Rain

We have been having the most glorious summer so far, but sadly, we have also been in desperate need of some rain.
We gained some last week, it was nice, although it didn't cool things down much.
However, this last day or 2 we have gained more.

Now however nice it is to receive it for the garden etc it has also been a pain to us.
It has caused damage, which I will post about later when I have uploaded pictures.
But it has also allowed me to achieve one of my challenges, #83 actually. To go outside in the rain and get really wet.

Well I didn't just go outside in the rain and stand around and get really wet, oh no too easy, I had actually just started cutting the hedge along the drive way when it decided to rain, so seeing as I was halfway through, then I decided to continue. So I got rather wet doing the gardening and acieving a challenge along the way.

Steve was busy pulling up sunflowers, which have been another pain to us with the rain, unfortunately they didn't like a lot of rain all in one go and sadly all fell over. Again another post on its way about the competition we ran, as with no sunflowers standing, then the competition is now over. I will tell all soon and let you know how we all faired in the competition.

But with the rain comes a day inside and nothing beats a day inside than racing to the DVD store and hiring several movies to snuggle on the couch and watch. And seeing how the temperature has dropped as well, snuggling on the couch under a fluffy blanket is awesome at present.

Going Out

It's dark and very wet outside there.
The rain has been thrashing against the house for several hours now.
Just the thought of having to go out in it is off putting, of having to enter into that wind and rain!
Luckily for me I am not needing to go out there, but sadly the cat sat at the bottom of the stairs is!

It is 3am, I have been awake, sort of, for a little while.
The cat, who was spared some grace by my husband at bedtime, is still in the house, although I guess I did agree to it, knowing it would be me who moved during the night to let her out (she only seems to wake me!)

As I open the door to that monsterous world outside, she jumps forward eager and ready to disappear, that is until she sees and hears the rain!
She flies back up 3 stairs very quickly, but then I don't blame her, who would really want to go out there like that at 3am?

Sadly I grab her and talk soothing words to her as I explain that she has to go out, I need some sleep!
And with that I close the door behind her

I know I will hear about this later, I know she will tell me all about it when I open the door later on this morning to let her back in but all will be forgiven. She will eat breakfast, spend the day sometimes in and sometimes out and then snuggle on our bed in the evening just hoping that on the off chance that when we finally go to bed we will either take pity or even over look the fact she is snuggled all warm and a sleep on our bed and not get thrown out for the night!

Tonight you will be going out, tomorrow is work and school. I need my sleep to be able to face another day.

So goodnight pussy cat, I'm going back to bed now.

Weird Thoughts

It is 9pm and I have been in bed the same amount of time as the boys! We all went up at 7.30pm.

I have a stinking cold and bed was the best place to be, ok so I am sat here with the Laptop, but at least I am comfortable and warm.
I am listening to the rain outside ever thankful that we are in a 2 storey house and the chance of us getting flooded is zero!
Not that it is raining that much, but with the floods in the lower North Island, the earthquake in the South Island and the major floods in Aussie, it is a thought that has crossed my mind!

But then I do not have to fear because there is a 1m difference between the land at the front of the property and the back.
We also have the Waikato river running up the centre of Hamilton, now ok we live, give or take a street about 500m away from the river but it is about 20m below our land level, the street we live in also has a difference of at least 5m between the top end and the bottom.
So when it comes to water levels, then I think we are pretty safe, plenty of areas for the water to run before it gets anywhere near our house.

Although if an earthquake strikes then we are probable screwed as we are in a 2 storey house. The roof could fly, the car could get locked in the garage and knowing our luck things would all fall down, although the middle of the street would be our safest place as we have no tall buildings around us and would not get hit by falling objects just there.

So here I continue to sit and check Facebook, blowing my nose and having weird and wonderful thoughts about what would happen if....?

Oh and I also got the emergency boxes out this evening and gave them a check over. A few things out of date but otherwise not too bad. A little supplying needed but maybe I will discuss that in another post later on one day.

Storms

Last week we had some horrific thunder storms at night.

No obvious sign of them coming over, just 1am and crash, boom and down comes the rain!

The first night it happened it was all anyone could talk about the next day.

We didn't notice any damage anywhere. The trees were all still standing etc although it was not exactly very windy so we weren't expecting too much damage anywhere.

However, several days later Steve happen to notice that one of the ariels was hanging off the roof of the house! We hadn't noticed any change in tv reception, although we haven't been watching much tv now we have the Wii!

So a quick call to our friendly electrician who has an extra long ladder and all has been fixed.

Proud of Him

I have often wondered what Ben would do if I wasn't at school at 2.55pm to meet him?
Now there are days when he has 'after school care' and he knows exactly what to do on those days.
So only twice a week do I actually get to go and collect him when he has finished.

Today was one of those days to collect him.
It has been raining here all day, traffic was horrendous and I got caught up and arrived at school at about 3.02pm. For some strange reason this school empties very quickly and there is hardly anyone around within 5 minutes of the bell going!
As I walked into the school, I was wondering to myself where I might actually find him.....

a) Could he have thought I wasn't there because he had after school care?
b) Had he stayed at his classroom, waiting for me?
c) Was he wandering around in the rain in the playground looking for me?

I decided to go straight to the classroom seeing as this is where I was meant to meet him.

And that is exactly where he was!
I was very proud of him and I sure let him know it.
I gave him a big hug and kiss. Told him exactly how proud I was of him and why.
He was very happy with himself.
I was amazed actually because Friday is usually an 'after school care' day, but he had remembered me saying there was no 'after school care' today because I was going to be finished at work early enough to collect him.

As we came out of his classroom, I explained to him why I was carrying my shoes, I had very wet feet from walking in all the puddles and rain. So he took off his sandels as well and we puddle jumped our way out of the playground, laughing all the way.

Rain Rain Go Away

For some reason, sure I didn't influence it, my boys think that when it rains, if you sing Insy Winsy Spider then it will make the rain go away!

So today driving home after dropping Ben off at his Holiday Programme there was this little voice in the back singing his way through the rhythm as many times as he could to make the rain go away.

Insy Winsy spider climbed up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain

So Insy Winsy spider climbed up the spout again

They also seem to think you can sing

Rain, rain go away

Come again another day

And that this will have the desired effect too.

Oh the pleasure of being an little child

Video on Posts

I have uploaded someone elses video from You-tube before on to my blog but I have never uploaded anything personal.
So this is my first attempt at up loading my own video.

We are house bound today as I am not feeling the greatest and it is pouring with rain, so Steve took the car to work.

A friend came for lunch and after everyone had eaten the kids decided that as it was not raining anymore then they would go outside.
This video clip shows you exactly what they got up too....

And there was me complaining to Steve that the driveway needed to be sorted before it filled with water!

If it will keep them happy for 10 minutes then I am happy to put up with the water.

Dress Update

On Tuesday I drove to Rotorua with the boys so I could go to a wedding dress meeting and then we could go to my cousin Lucy's 21st Birthday.

It rained all the way to Rotorua and the visibility coming over the Mamaku Ranges was really bad, like drop down to 50k, windscreen wipers going full blast and hope you can remember the road type of bad!

Rotorua itself was wet, wet and more wet for the whole day we were there.

The dress meeting went very well. I meet with the lady who is going to make my dress and showed her the patterns I had and also the pictures od dresses I ahd tried on and also liked the shape of. She was great, feels she knows exactly what I want and feels she can make it from the 2 patterns I gave her.

Now I have to find some material I like for her to make it with. Have decided on Satin and will be either cream or ivory, depends on what I find.

On the drive back to my brother's house in the afternoon the rain was still falling really fast and all the roads were flooding. Fairy Springs Road, the main road into Rotorua was so flooded we were driving on the centre median as our lane was a wash with water and mud running off of the banks.

I very quickly made the decision that we were staying the night in Rotorua and driving back to Hamilton the next morning.

Now Hamilton is only an hour away but the Mamaku Ranges road is dark and spooky, add to this the boys would have been asleep and I was driving on my own and with such poor visibility from the continuous rain and threat of mud slides from all the water I made a sensible decision to stay put.

The next day driving home I am glad I did stay the night, the residue of mud on the roads from water and mud running over the road was very clear to see and I am glad I drove it during the day and not in the dark.

Weather

We are finally getting the much needed rain to the Waikato region.

Ok not a lot but some is better than nothing with the dry summer we have just had.

But could it have at least waited until I had the washing dry???

Christmas Parade

A couple of weekends ago Hamilton had their Santa Parade.

Sadly it was raining all weekend but it still went ahead in true Waikato style.

Now this wasn't a parade as big as the Auckland one nor was it anywhere like the Thanksgiving parades from the US, but for a small medium size town it was perfect for the little people.

But for the size of it, it still had Santa, snowmen, Shrek, Clifford, Simpsons, Banana's in Pyjamas and many others.

So our 2 had a lovely time, even if it was a little wet, but then the other 20,000 that turned out obviously didn't think it was too bad either!