Hamilton

So it is all go for our wild expedition to Hamilton. The house is listed with a Real Estate, link coming soon.
Steve has been fixing the house ready for the photographer to visit next week.
I have been checking out Hamilton and you can too right here

So if you find anything interesting on the site, then let me know so I can check it out when I am there.

Ben's New Friends

Steve's brother, Pete came down today to help Steve change some weather boards on the house.

Of course that meant his 2 little companions came with him.Jamie and Tilly

Alex was none too pleased at this, as when they arrived he wasn't prepared for the 2 little monsters to come running in the door, and I think this spooked him for the rest of the day! He was not a happy chappy when they were around, although by the time bedtime came round, he was a little calmer with them and they didn't seem to bother him so much.

Ben on the other hand thought this was great and kept wanting them to come into his bedroom and play with him, which of course they wouldn't! But that didn't stop him talking to them all day and constantly looking after them. He had a ball with them and thought the dogs were great. Was always asking where Tilly and Jamie were if he couldn't see them.

This is Jamie. She is 10 and a lovely placid dog

This is Tilly, she is 2, Jamie is her mum. She is just like her mother, but very mischievious just like a little child, into everything, wants to see everything and definitely thinks she is missing something the whole time.

Looks like we might have to think about a pet when we get to Hamilton, or at least when we buy our own place down there. We had thought of a new pet, ever since Ferris passed in May 05, but what with Alex arriving 4 weeks after Ferris left us, we decided that 2 small kids under 2 was enough for now, but that we would look at it again perhaps when they were a little older to appreciate a pet.

Looks like that time may have arrived.

Friendship

This came through to me in an email. Have read it before but as I am a firm believer in keeping in touch, and reaching out to people, I felt it was appropriate to post this.

One day, when I was in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school.
His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd."
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about three metres from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes My heart went out to him.

I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Thanks." There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books and asked him where he lived. As it turned out he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to a private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the years Kyle and I became best friends.

Kyle was dux of our school. I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began: "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mum wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mum and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realise it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.

Share this with a friend, pass it on.

I never realised how much a small gesture can change a persons life.
Send that email, birthday card or make that call. It may have been months since you last spoke or got in touch, but you never know how important your reaching out may be to someone.

I have recently got in touch with some people from way back and the feeling of memories that I have been having in the last week or two have been wonderful.
I even made friends with someone I didn't even know, but our connection........we went to the same school for at least 1 year and now we live in the same town.

New Life

Steve has got a new job with Hamilton Hospital. He has known about the job for about 18 months, but it has only just now become available.
So we are on the move, he starts his new job on Monday 1st October.
I will join him there at the end of October as I have a contract for a project until 19th October and can't really skip out on the last 3 weeks of the project.
So we are putting are house on the market and move lock stock and barrel about 120 kms south of Auckland.
Hamilton is a nice town, with a population of about 132,000. So much smaller than Auckland, but then that is what I like about it.
You can keep up to date with our move as it is happening, just click here

Alex Knows His Name

Both the boys have placemats at the table with their name on it.
Yesterday whilst having lunch, we asked Alex if he knew what his name was? He replied "Alex" well it actually sounded like "Alis" but hey he has the gist of it.

Ben on the other hand with tell you his name is Benjamin Twotter, which is pretty good too.

Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons.
He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly.
So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so
beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit,
full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's Life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that can come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

Be sensitive to the feelings of others.

I got sent this at work, don't know where it came from, but I liked it, so wanted to share it around.

The Price of Milk

A current affairs programme here in NZ covered a story last night about the cost of milk.

Seems that in many countries the price of 2 litres of milk has risen more than anyone predicted.

Why is this so controversial, the goverment here have just started a campaign aimed at parents called "Feeding our Future" giving everyday tips on how to build happier healthy children.

One of their campaigns is that you do not need to give children sugary drinks, water and milk is sufficient.

This is great, but as a family of 5 showed, the price of the shopping bill was way beyond their means when mum allowed their kids to drink more than a glass of milk a day including breakfast cereal.

Her arguement was why does 2 litres of Coke cost nearly half as less as 2 litres of milk?

I can see her point, the amount of shopping trolleys I see at the supermarket ladened with Fizzy drinks because it is on 99c special for 1.5lt, compared to nearly $4 for 2lt of milk is huge.

With my two little monsters I have just got into the milk issue, Ben wasn't much of a milk drinker, like me, but Alex thinks milk is great and wants to try and help himself to milk when ever the opportunity arises.

So as you can see, my shopping bill is going to start rising significantly if Alex keeps on the way he is going.

Manners

Tonight after dinner Ben and Alex sat at the table eating mandarins whilst mummy and daddy cleared up the kitchen.
I commented to them that "They were very good for sitting there so quietly eating" to which I got the reply "you're welcome" from Ben.

Don't know where he got that from, but so cute :)

Breakfast on Sunday

What better way to start Sunday morning than with a nice breakfast in bed with daddy. Mummy made eggs for daddy and the boys decided they wanted to sit with him and eat their toast.

Winter Time is Here

If you are lucky enough to live in the southern hemisphere, then you will know that winter has finally got here.

Well at least the rain and wind has got here to the North Island of New Zealand, if you are in the South Island then you have got the rain, the wind and unfortunately the snow as well.

So what do you do with 2 small boys when the weather is so awful outside..........?

You give them a cardboard box to play with.......

Or get daddy to pretend to be a horse!

Dummy Connoisseur

We have in our mids a person with such a fine nose for dummies! He knows the colour, shape and smell of each one and even knows all the pictures on them.

After his bath each night he gets a clean one and he even tells you which one he would like today. Maybe the lion one, the giraffe one or even go all out and have the teddy bear one.

Who knows, but his most wonderful moment is when he manages to get 2 at the same time, then he is in dummy heaven!!

2nd Birthday

Alex has just had his 2nd birthday. What a big boy he is now. We had a lovely day with presents in the morning, a trip to see the butterflies at lunchtime and a small party in the afternoon for cake and drinks.

Alex was lucky enough to have a Barney cake, mummy was very lucky to find a cake that had Alex's favourite character on it.
Alex was very lucky to get a new car for his birthday. Every little boy dreams of a new car.
We had a family outing for Alex's birthday to Butterfly Creek wonderful place full of butterflies and fish, a petting zoo for the children and a small train to ride on. As you can see Ben loved the guinea pigs, but he also liked the little baby rabbits as well.

Ben

Our oldest son is nearly 4 and has come a long way in the last 6 - 8 months. At 3 he wasn't really saying much, but now he has such a huge vocabulary that he can talk to you about anything.

He has also grasped the concept of dressing himself in the last few weeks, and even though it can be a little slow, all items of clothing now get put on with ease.

He is remembering things now as well, understands when we say maybe later, because later he will remind you. Likes us to tell him when things are going to happen because he is slowly grasping the time concept, which is a good thing but can also back fire on us.

The Zoo

Our family still really enjoys a good day out at the zoo.

These birds are so colourful

Ben and Alex just love this place, they know where they want to go and what they want to see.

They both love the giraffes, and have had the pleasure of feeding them.

Mummy, as taken by Ben. (the picture above, not the rhino below!!)

Alex

Our youngest has just started coming out with so much to say. His favorite thing at the moment is to tell us "Me do it" He wants to help with anything and everything, and he wants to do it on his own.

Guess with him turning 2 in a couple of weeks, it is to be expected. Although he is still the baby, although he had a hair cut yesterday and he really looks like a little boy now, no more baby!

Oh and did I mention that he likes chocolate ice cream?

Mother's Day

Today in New Zealand is Mother's Day.

My lovely family gave me lots of hugs and kisses and 2 CD's, and the biggest box of chocolates!

Here are the cool men in my life.

Boys

The boys are continuing to grow right before my eyes!
Ben has just blossomed into a little boy and Alex who is nearly 2 has started coming out with words that even Ben won't say.

They both want to help with things, they want to do things and Ben is always looking after his brother, even if it is a little hug and cuddle after he has hit him.

With the odd moment, they are actually a delight to have a round.
Ben is for ever singing nursery rhymes. Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Row Your Boat and unfortunately all the theme songs to the programmes he watches regularly. Maybe he has been watching them too much if he knows the words to the songs!

Regardless of what is happening out there in the big world, I still appreciate them and count myself very lucky for the 2 wonderous little boys that I have helped create.

So my heart goes out to all those families at Virginia Tech this last week. Especially the family of the young man who caused all this trouble. They may have known that he was in pain and having trouble, but to suddenly see him portrayed over the television in such a dreadful way must have been a terrible shock. They may have been trying hard to help him and know that has all failed.
I just hope they, like all the other families affected can rebuild their lives over the next couple of years to some level that works for them.

They are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Stand Still

How to bring Auckland to a complete stand still for 15 hours!
Bring in the largest cruise ship in the world and you are gaurenteed to succeed, because Auckland did on Saturday.
And yes we were one of the masses who flocked down to the water front at sometime during the day to catch a wee glimpse of the beauty that was holding everyone mesmorized.
The Queen Mary 2, is not a boat, it is a life all unto itself
It was so worth it as well, what a sight. Must admit it definitely started the dreams happening. Like what if....if only...and 1 day!!

Thrill Seeking

Ben has decided that the Luge in Rotorua is a fabulous place to go and have fun.

He loved going up in the gondolas and watching the giant swing and the people going down the luge.

So finally we relented and decided to take them up. We planned the trip up very well. We found out how early in the morning they started running and realised that with our charming early wake up calls we get daily we could beat the crowds! So at 0830 the next day we were up the top getting ready to throw ourselves down the fast moving luge.

With a 5 trip ticket we were able to take the two boys down twice and then Steve took Ben down once on his own.

So definitely the right time of the day to go up there. I think we were the first people down of the day, although by the time we had finished all our rides the coach parties had all arrived.

The boys loved it. So my biggest tip of all is - go early in the morning to have the best fun with limited people about. Means that the kids can enjoy it without being over powered by bigger faster people around, and when you are only 3 you don't like too many crowds.

Horse Racing

We had a day at the races. Rotorua Races that is. What a lovely day we had too. Took a picnic lunch and had a few little flutters, came away even, so no loses! The boys thought this was great. the horses walked right past us to get their saddles etc and then back past us to go onto the track. As we were stood by the winning post we saw them as they all finished, then they walked back past us to do the parade in the winners circle where the jockeys dismounted and the horses were lead away. So the boys got to see so much of what was happening. Ben thought it was all fabulous and had a wonderful day.