Catch Up

Hi to you both,

Finally got around to blogging. Settled back home and back on the treadmill! Had an absolutely fabulous trip as you heard from regular updates. Photos need sorting but look pretty good from 1st impressions. The weather at home is absolute cr....... compared to what we had become used to in our 7 weeks of travel, very cold week for cup week and show day. Having said that we have the pool on and have managed to sneak in a few swims. We saw that you had a 30 degree day the other day, must be good.

It is show day (holiday) here today. We have been out to Rangiora helping stock shelves for the new Mega, Opening Tuesday and behind schedule. Closed Sunday afternoon and all day Monday to pull it all together before opening on Tuesday. It is looking good.

I have included a couple of new photo's of Sophia. We had her for her first sleep over last weekend, she was fine, I didn't sleep much worrying that she was okay. She is very placid and always smiling so was no trouble at all. Gramps very proud.

Will be good to catch up with you both at Xmas, have a good weekend

Love from Marion and Andrew

Just a few photos for you

the top ones are of our holiday down on the mornington peninsula. note hayden with his male model pose with the penguin. next two are down at the weribee open range zoo. and the last ones are at the shrine of rememberance.

This is gemma!

add

Check out this carlton draught add i saw it on tv for the first time today its great.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv5U0W8FDDk

WELL DONE

Good stuff Gail and Ernie, i just hope it didn't take the week to type it out :P
Yep parents are here been to see a few places so far, their doing more of the touristy things than what everyone else has done.
Is it gems birthday tomorrow? i thought it was the 13th october?

Not a case of the guilts

Hi Hayden and Gemma - don't think you have shamed me into writing Hayden - I am writing to wish Gems a HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Thursday
Your Mum and Dad will be there now Hayden so you won't feel so hard done by ??????
You maybe right about old people not wanting to see that movie - after all we just went ot see "Who wants to live to be a 100 (one who is 99) at the Court Theatre - was very funny - about 4 old men in a Rest Home - we must be sick to laugh about our not too distant future.
Our house is still progressing in fits and starts - the painter is due to start tomorrow - and that should then seem as if we are on the final countdown - although there is still the man to do the schist fireplace (and that won't be until the week after next) - the plumbing to finish - the drains to be dug - the power to be connected - and the phone - and the tiles and showers - and the carpets and blinds - and it seems as if there is always a day or 2 delay between each sub-contractor - I keep saying 2 mths to be on the safe side -
Gemma we took Nana to see Doug last week - and went shopping with her first and had lunch - it was the first time I had seen him since the stroke - and it seems as if he has a long way to go - but then I don't know how quickly he could improve - you would know better than me. She seemed to enjoy her day out and I called her again on Sunday just to see how the rest of the week had been - and he hadn't been too well on Sunday and they had done tests just to see exactly what was happening - I think they may have just wanted to keep on top of his health - what with the winter flus around etc.
Becks seems to be looking after herself on her own - a big change from a couple of years ago - and that is so good.
We had Brianna to visit today, for the afternoon while Melissa did some shopping - certainly keeps me on my feet - never sits still - what happened to the kids who sat quietly and played with toys - I ask!!!!! Did your Mum tell you that Melissa is pregnant again - due 12th March - so that will keeep her busy!!!!
wemrntoasfjewdr0one wotnsther - Hayden this is Ernie typing you a note on that thing that sits in front of him that you call a keyboard - and he doesn't have athritis :)
Anyway - have a great day tomorrow Gems - hope you like the BIG PRESENTS that Hayden has brought for you?????? and enjoy the visit from his parents (the in-laws) - hope to catch you when you are home at the end of the month
Lovexxxxx Mummy G and Ernie

kia ora

hello is there anyone out there? this is a blog, a blog is something that you write messages on so people can look and see what you have been doing, now i know it's all very new to a lot of you but the computer has been around for a while now and its not hard to punch in a few letters on the keyboard so lets get writing.

Not much new news. Rosie and paul and marion and andrew have gone wherever they're going and i hope they have fun and bring me back something good :)

We went to a Festival of NZ at fed square last saturday. Havn't seen so many maori and polys in one place since the tuahiwi fair. Was pretty good actually and i had a drink of L&P which was good goooood. Also had a hot dog which seemed to be a highlight of gems day for some reason.

Think gems works going alright although the asian invasion has been hard to get used to. My works been alright, a lot of negative comments and emails from the mangment/higher people about my shop. I've pretty much told them that my role isn't manager although they seem to expect me to do everything. I really don't think they have any idea of the work i've put into the shop. Although i did get a pay rise which is good and makes me feel a bit more appreciated. New manager starts on monday can't wait to offload all the negativeness onto him. Going away in a couple of weeks after mum and dad come over. We're going for a romantical weekend for 2 at rosebud/mornington peninsula to hopefully relax if gem lets me. Also taking ma and pa to soccer game between oz and argentina, who have named all of their top players, and for those of you that arn't into soccer argentina are about the 3rd best team in the world. Will be a huge event.

Oh well hope someone out there reads this or else i spent all this effort on nothing. And come on i know some of you are suffering from oldness and arthritis and oldness but the thing with the letters on it in front of you is a keyboard that if you put it to it's proper use will write stuff on the screen.

Catchya

Hayden & Gems(although she didnt have any input into this)

Hello my peeps

Hi everyone, gems been very lazy and hasn't been bothered blogging, i would have but have been really really busy doing stuff. We also didn't have the net for a week cause i broke the modem, the on/off swith stuffed up not long after we got it and finally gave up so i wiggled it about a bit too much and managed to wriggle it right off the switch board thing. anyway enough of the excuses. We not been doing much just working and sleeping, went to the melbourne museum on saturday, its huge and we were there for about 4.5-5 hours and didn't see it all. Then we went out for tea in camberwell, just a few mins walk from my work. I had been there once with work mates and it was amazing. Its called sophia's and its italian and a small pasta is $9-$10 and weighs a tonne. We got a pasta meal for 2 that was 3 pastas of our choice and cost $28 but we had to take well over half home with us cause it was too big. they have gelati ice cream for $5 thats about 1.5L of ice cream and would feed 4 people. Definately a place to see, was also packed, it has three levels the bottom one and the middle one were full prob bout 150-200 people in each and then the top one is a function room.
Went to the movies yesterday saw a funny movie called i now pronounce you chuck and larry definately worth a look(maybe not for the older readers though as its a new age type movie that only people under 30 will understand.
weathers sposed to be nice for the next week up towards 20 each day! hope the trip plans out well oh and i found a watch that i liked at melbourne museum. Its called a halo watch and is a circle with no screen but when you press 2 buttons on the side 2 leds light up to show the time, its awesome but i'd say its expensive as its part of an inventors type thing at the museum.
anyway i'm sick of rambling on
Gemma now new ward going well same kind of surgerys but not as major which means a faster pace as bigger through put of patients. This ward has a very differnent routine to the last as well - it is a bit more old fashioned in the way they do some things and the way the hierachy operates..
Whats happening soon- going to the exihibition centre sale that dad brought so much stuff at when we were on holiday here last year on saturday and maybe going to the sweet treats expo after that... it sounds decedent. sunday i am going out with the nursing girls for one of there birthdays. jan and gary will be here on the 11 of september and for my birthday. The week starting the 17th of sept i have a week of annual leave so spend the beginning of the week with jan and gary. The end of the week hayden and i plan to go on a road trip down to morington penisulia and phillp island for 3-4 days. Ok thats all for now we will try to update this blog more often sorry we have got so slack.
love from Gemma and Hayden xxxx

The Beach People

Surprise - Surprise, we have finally gotten around to blogging. Trip preparation has take precidence. Not long now until we take off, bags out and lots out on the bed ready for packing. Can't wait to get on the plane. Lots to do at work before we go so will be a busy 3 weeks.

Good to catch up with Hayden when in NZ. Hope all is well with you both and no winter ailments. We have had great weather for the last 3 days up to 17 degrees, so hopefully you got it as well.

McAlpines news - Alison is leaving Manufacturing, they are going to live in Tauranga near her grand-daughter. The Mega store is progressing well, hopefully opening on the 19th November. Lots of planning still to be done with stocking and staffing.

I will attach a couple of pictures of Sophia, not really recent, she is now smiling heaps and making lots of baby noises. Grandad smitten.

Just been talking to R&P, Bec had a good win today.

Take care

Love M&A

Your new bedroom

Have attached photos of the house on the bedroom side- one of which you can use when you are home - the "lovely" bricks will be covered with plaster - the colour of "double double thorndon cream"!!!

The fireplace and batte are in next week - and the gib the week after.

I hope you got hold of Aunty Chris - we have had an email to say they are back in Darwin and the cell ph reception has clicked back in.

Aunty Chris's phone number

Hi Gemma and hayden - good to see/hear from you both this weekend
As promised here is Aunty Chris's cell ph number in Oz - she got a new sim card there i think - it is 0061 447 027 837 - I think they are back in Perth later this week - if you don't have any luck there or finding Ryan's ph number - I could get that off Melissa.
I will send you some house photos this week - have to resize them first - the windows and doors are in - inside and out - and the blocklayer s finished today - we also had the electrician and plumber in today - the fireplace in next Monday - and next Tuesday the batts are in - followed fairly closely by the gib men - when I send the photo I will mark your bedroom!!!!
Your Mum and Dad made a good decision not to go ballooning today - it poured all night and was cold this am but did clear this arvo.
Talk to you later Mummy G and EJ

I know my hair grows fast...

But this is just ridiculous! Second pic was taken last Sunday, three days after the surgery. First was taken tonight, nine days post-surgery. No wonder I need my hair cut every time I blink! (order of pics got a bit muddled around in the upload)

Dall

Hi Hayden and Gemma!

Sorry I haven't posted here for a while, I guess everyone's been a bit slack lately eh.

Wow, this thing goes slower than I type, much slower! Just as well I'm a touch typist so I rarely make many mistakes haha. Takes ages to come up. That's probably cos of my dial-up.

Anyway, as you probably already know, my surgery on 28/6 went well. I did have a bit of trouble in Recovery though. Had low oxygen and blood pressure levels so was in there for a bit longer than intended. It was quite weird actually... I was taken to theatre at 8am, went into this little room next to the actual theatre, all wrapped up in warm blankets, got the heart monitors slapped on and the I.V luer put into my right hand. The anesthetist was nice, he also gave me a sedative and then they took me into the theatre, lined my bed up next to the operating table and then... that was it. I woke up in Recovery with a huge bandage wrapped around my head and hooked up to monitors. It's weird how I don't remember anything and I'm still trying to get my head around it. But all in all, it went without any complications and I think I've recovered really well from it. My surgeon, Mr Daran Murray (who looks awfully young to be a Mr!), did a great job. I don't think I'll even have much of a scar from it.

The only problems I've had is my hand/wrist, which eight days later, is still sore from the I.V. The vein's all swollen and feels bruised, which does worry me a bit cos I still can't bend it too well. I've put Arnica, Anti-Flamme and Voltaren Emugel on it, to no avail. Oh well. The skin feels tight and stingy around the implant but I think that's good, probably means it's healing well. My hair's still greasy from the antibiotics ointment that mum's been putting on twice a day for me, but it's almost finished so yay, I can wash my hair properly soon.

Liam and Kady are good, school holidays at the moment and I've had increased hours with work so we've had extra company this week. All good. Weather's been terrible so we've had DVDs to watch and that's kept the kids occupied most of the time. The kids had an awesome time in Aussie I'd say, the kids still talk about it so it's neat.

Will take another photo this weekend once I've washed my hair properly, so you can see how my scar's healing. You can have another look when you're here eh Hayden haha. Switch-on is on 30th July so I'll let you know how it goes.

Hayden - I couldn't get that haka video clip to load probably cos of my dial-up so will have a look at it next time I'm at mum and dad's, cos they have broadband, a bit faster!

Take care everybody, especially in this cold weather!

Dall & kids

P.S - Becky, I hope you enjoyed your trip to Melbourne. Bit scary with that shooting though!

Haka

just trialling something

News Flash

I've just booked my tickets, i'll be coming home from the 20th July till the 29th July. Will be good to see everyone i havn't seen since last time.

100th blog

hi guys this is the 100th entry on our blog. must say though that some of the bloggers are getting a bit slack at writting on here again though.
i had my first night shifts last week only 3 in a row though as i had an accured day off. 4 night shifts constiute a week as the shifts are 10 hours. i handled them well stayed awake all night and slept well during the day. The nights were busy so it made the time go fast. i am now awake at normal times of the day until i go back to night duty on wednesday for 4 night shifts. then bex will be here and the shopping begins!
the sword family will be in australia by now; have an awesome time exploring the warm gold coast and catching up with claire and phil. hope liam and kady were able to sit still for 3 hours on the plane! you have will to wirte on here and tell us about your adventures and put some photos on of you guys at the theme parks
its queens birthday here today but hayden still had to work he has just got home. i have made lasange for tea yum ok going to go and eat it now.
looking forward to hearing what you guys have been up to.
love from gemma and hayden
p.s the victoria ski fields have opened

Back from the Sunny and Warm Europe

Hi Gemma and Hayden - have just caught up on the lastest news - had coffee with Paul and Rosie this morning and now read the blog since we had been gone. Sorry i didn't have your email address for when we were away, else I would have included you in the emails. It seems like you have been having lots of visitors and trips home - when do you ever get time to miss NZ.
Our trip was awesome - will have to send Ernie over and he can fill you in - would take 3weeks of full-time talking on his part. We had very warm weather - no rain until the day we were leaving for the airport home. We liked Spain the most - slightly less people I think and we spent more time out of the cities there than in Italy. The driving went well - especially when we let Dave drive in the cities and the rest of us took the straight roads in the country. We probably did more cities than when we needed in the short time as it only left us with 3 nights in Tuscany - but still in such a short time it is hard to get everything in. We also went to Gibralter while in Spain - which was really interesting as I had learnt all about it when at school (ALL those years ago) and was a bit disappointed in that it is now losing some of it's uniqueness, as being on the coast it popular for tourists ans as there is only a limited amount of space - they are just reclaiming heaps of land and building tall appt blocks. Also I think I shall write to Queenie - it is a British country and yet they drive on the RHS of the road and use Euros as currency not Pounds - the Queen I feel has let things slide somewwhat:)
Our new packs/suitcase were fantastic and apart from Ernie being "touched" in Heathrow airport - no problems with pickpockets at all. We did see the gypsies in Spain who approach with sprigs of "Rosemary" and try to engage you in conversation - We knew better than to trust anything associated with "ROSEMARY"
In Venice we briught a very expensive glass sculpture for the new house - so I hope you and Hayden like it as you will need to look after it when you come home to house-sit - mind you there will be enough room in the house for you to live while we are there!!!!! - it is being shipped home and should be here this week coming.
The Cartwrights are in Greece now - and it was fun travelling with them - a bit like PRAM we get on so well.
Apart from Ernie getting some Spanish bug and giving it to me - and we are still coughing and spluttering - it is in a way good to be home and now focus on the house. The roof is not on yet - but should be ready by the end of this week - although I think the odd day of rain is forecast so could slow it down a bit.
Brianna and Melissa came to the airport to meet us with Uncle Dave - and she is walking now - can you believe - it is also only 2 weeks until her first birthday - will send you pics from the birthday party.
Off to bed now with my coughy husband - Take care\\xxx Mummy G and Ernie

oh and it was skippy the bush kangaroo not skippy cornflakes. And he did taste pretty good.

Willamstown Pics

This photo was from somewhere near where i was working at vic gardens. I took it when i was training this morning pretty good view.


This is from Gems pier at williamstown looking at city.



Also from gems pier at williamstown.




And here's gems pier at williamstown.

Hey all

Hey Gem - I don't think it's just you, re Melb Airport. It's not a very organised airport, from what I saw when I landed and left! It's complete chaos I reckon.

Hayden - Yeah I bet those cornflakes tasted good.. do you not get cornflakes over there, or is it just the Skippy brand?

We're all good here... Liam had his cross country on Wednesday and came fifth, he did brilliant! I think he was quite proud of that cos he practiced hard for it. Kady's good.. just Kady, talking lots and she's starting to say a few harder words now. She recited the ABC after me a couple weeks ago and that was cool. Still a little ratbag but!

As most of you know, I have my cochlear implant surgery on the 28th June (Ashley's birthday).. which isn't too far away. I've signed the consent form and now it's onto choosing which model is better for me - have two to choose from, plus colours. I'm vain though.. one's weird looking (has cool colours like red though!) but the other looks more like my usual hearing aid but not so great colour choices. I can say this though, I am definitely not choosing beige or ANY brown colour like my old aids. Boring! Might go for the second choice (that looks like my hearing aid) and just choose black - goes with anything eh? The first choice is a Med-El (looks weird and big) and the other is Nucleus Freedom, if you want to Google them to have a nosey. I have my pre-op appointment on the Wednesday, surgery on the Thursday and hopefully home Friday. Have to go back like the next week for a check-up, then back at 3-4 weeks to have it 'switched on' and yeah back and forth for the next few months really. Hopefully it won't hurt too much! Nah, I can handle that.. it's the surgery that's making me nervous. Got to get it over done with anyway so it'll be ok. It'll be at St Georges and I've heard it's nice there so at least that's good haha.

I'm cooking a roast chook for mum and dad here tonight, gonna make a walnut tart to have for pudding too.. yum! Still got a few of those walnuts Rosie gave us so I may as well use them up somehow. Should be nice, hopefully. Kids are off to Pioneer Stadium with Granny today for a swim.

Catch up sometime... Hayden - you don't need to come back when I have my surgery... I think mum was (or has?) gonna tell you, Claire and Ash to all come back here for Kady's birthday, which would be really cool.

Take care!

Dall & kids

QUICK UPDATE

Skippy tasted pretty good.

Back to warm Melbourne

i have returned back after a very uneventful flight that took a very long time. i think i am bad luck to melbourne airport though every time i land something goes wrong this time the airbridge would go propley again. the last time the was no traffic directer man to met and plane and the time before the airbrigde also wont fit! tims dad picked us up and droped me home. hayden and i went to southbank for tea. on thursday hayd starts late so meant we could have a sleep in and go out to chadstone together. i took my boots back to the shop and they have just rung me back and said quote 'it is wear and tear' after one month though i dont think they shoud do that so hayden is going in on sunday to get MAD. today we had a sleep in until 11am hehe but sooo good. then went out to victoria gardens to kmart i-kea and the supermarket. taped some curtain backing to the back of our transperent bedroom door and now the bedroom is darker when the lights in the lounge/kitchen are on. at i-kea got the bedside table that mum brought for us and hayden has just finishing puting it together. also got a ligh bulb for marion and andews lamp so the bedroom will be looking good tonight. at the supermarket hayden got adventurous and got some kangaroo steak for tea so tonight we are eating skippy:( after tea we might go out to port melbourne to watch haydens friend ben play soccer. tomorrow wre plan on going out to williamstown to have a look around. and then sunday i am going to the nursing expo with my work. before staring back on monday.
mum and dad have a good time in akaroa it sure will be relaxing since you cant take nana and grandpop on big tramps/adventures. i will ask carolyn for the addresses when i talk to her tomorrow.
hi to everyone else from gemma and hayden xxx

Cold in Tuahiwi This morning

Hi to you both,
Just a short note to check on you two. Weather still nice here but and little cooler this morning. We are getting ready to take Ev and Doug to Akaroa this afternoon for the weekend. Should be very restful. We will hear lots of stories from them both about their day on the Peninsula.
Gemma how did you go with your boots, are they going to fix them. Hope you both enjoying your days off together and off out somewhere. Gemma I have post cards that Carolyn left with no address on. If she would like me to post them get her to send me the rest of the address.
Have a nice weekend

Love R P & B oxox

howdy

Hi everyone, i've been ok by myself bit lonely but have been trying to keep myself busy. we have a new manager at work now started thursday and the old manager wont be back at all even though he wasn't spose to finish till thursday. New manager has been told to clean up the store and sort some of the people in it out which is good but means its gonna be busy and tiring for a couple of weeks while we shift stuff around. Not been doing anything exciting since gems been gone been quite bored actually and its been raining every day to which is a pain, could barely see across the river yesterday it was so hard. Hope things are well with everyone and i'm gonna talk to work to try and get time off to come home for Dall's cochlea. I hope they understand how bigger deal it is. Oh well better get back to the playstation.

Hi Hayden
Hope all is going well for you with Gemma over here in NZ. Thanks to you and Gemma for your hospitality while we were over there and all the organising, great to catch up and see you two well settled. Very impressed with the apartment and how you have furnished it. Enjoyed all the new restaurant's especially Port Melbourne and Lygon Street (very entertaining). Andrew did a bit more shopping, jeans from Hugo Boss! We wish we had spent a bit more time at your mall. Good trip home. Budget day to day, they have added Employer contributions to KiwiSaver (going along Aussie lines) plus a sweetner of $20 per week from the govt for those who go with KiwiSaver (not sure if there are any conditions to this).
Cheers
Andrew and Marion

Hey!

Hey everyone.
Hope everyone is good, and that Hayden and Gemma are enjoying their time with Rosie and Paul and the others. Melbourne is a cool place, we had heaps of fun and didn't want to come home - to work! Although, Phil got to work on Tuesday morning at 6.30am only to be sent home at 7am as the building he works on was flooded. Lucky him! I only had a half day Tues..so we went to the movies to see "Because I said so" that afternoon, as weather was crap here. No where near as cool as Melbourne though, when we say crap - we still mean low to mid 20's! Haha.
Dallas: Phil went to the doctors with a rash on his tummy and back about a month ago, and he was the 27th person that day to see the doctor with the same symptoms and he also had that foot and mouth, he was put on steroids, and it cleared within 2 days.
Today is my day off, and i've been so lazy. I did 3 loads of washing (as we hadn't done any since back from seeing you guys) and what happens when my line is full - it bludy rains for the first time during the day in god knows how long. Grr. Thank god for the drier. Poor power bill!
I'm going to email you those photos you wanted Gem..only just got them onto the comp as i've been busy and havn't been on here. By the way, our calimari worked out well last night, yum!
Anyway..i'd better go. I havn't even had a shower yet!
Have a good time in New Zealand Gemma. Will give you a ring sometime when she is over there Hayden to see how you are, keep yourself busy and you won't feel so lonley.
Love ya's. Claire. xx

Hey all!

Hi Gem, Hayden, and everyone else

I had an awesome time in Melbourne, thank you! My feet have like, only just recovered from all the walking around to see everything in just five days! My flight back to NZ was quite turbulent, had to wear our belts on the whole way back and the emergency Exit signs kept coming on haha. It was rather bumpy and the whole plane was vibrating from being battered by the nor'wester wind. It was ok at first, just read my book etc, but after a while I started feeling a bit queasy from all the rolling and bumping around. I can now see why people get airsick! I was actually excited to see the lights of CHCH when we came down and it was really cool seeing the kids on Saturday. Didn't have a good start back though as Kady had foot and mouth disease (yuck) and then I came down with the kids' tummy bug on Tuesday night. All ok now, just a bit headachey and sore but not so bad. Kady's still a bit grumpy but the sores are healing up already so that's good.

I took loads of photos from when in Melbourne and they're on mum and dad's computer at the moment, will burn them to CD and e-mail you guys a few, like the ones of you both outside Luna Park.

Four and a half more weeks til we're in Brisbane and I'm already panicking a bit about saving up $$ for there, as I've only been able to work hour and a half on Tuesday and then all day tomorrow.. so that's not much pay for this fortnight. Only one more pay between now and Brissy! I'd better have a garage sale and get rid of all the junk in the garage or something haha. At least I still have almost $100 AUD here that I can take over, so that takes a bit of the pressure off. Hayden - I'll get Liam to fire you an e-mail back this weekend or before then, I need to get the password off mum or dad cos Liam can't remember it!!! But Mum printed it out for us to read... you the man? Yeah right! :P

Take care everybody and PRAM (did Gem tell you I finally figured out what that means?!) - you guys have a great time over there! Mum said you're all leaving this afternoon, hope the flight is good.

Dall

Visitors

hello everyone how are you? happy birthday to aunty chris today and uncle ewan for last friday. dallas has now been to visit and gone home again i was sick the time that dallas was here had to take time off work and stayed in bed most of the day so couldnt really do tht much with dallas but she still got to see most the melboune sights.- dall hope you had a good flight back and that the kids were excited to see you and liked there presents. we currently have clarie and phil staying with us - they have gone out to st kilda beach this morning and we will all go out to chadstone this afternoon to see haydens work and to go shopping. our house wasnt to cramped on thursday with 5 of us here it was cool all of us together just like the times we had spent at the sword house. last night we caught up with richard and robyn for a couple of drinks as they are over here for a long weekend very exciting to see them too we will catch up again on monday before they leave. clarie and phil are also going home on monday not sure what we have planned for tomorrow morning.tomorrow is my first day of my 3 weeks of annual leave. in total though i will have had 4 weeks off though because i have had to take sick leave for my last week of work.. i am feeling better everyday now though and have managed to stay out of bed all bed yesterday.
my friends carolyn and tim are getting very excited about coming over to nz with me. we plan to go to to queenstown and stay with pip then be in chch on the weekend and head north to hanmer on sunday. i also hear that PRAM are getting very excited about coming to see us? ...we will see you on thursday. hi to jan and gary love from gemmaxx

Sophia Pictures

Some pictures of Sophia and the Marion adn Andrew's handmade cushion. Had a quite weekend really. Yesterday since netball was cancelled I sat infron of the fire and work on my assignment. Mum and Dad went to town. The Bog was really good. Just had drinks and nibbles. Went to Joe's 21st. Was at this shed that had been converted to a bar in the middle of nowhere. Awsome place! Lots of Gooners there like your mates and then also the scummy Gooners. So a interesting mix of people. Coached some ladies who are playing social netball at the gym dis morning. Was quite funny. Mum and Dad mucked round in the garden. We then went to town to the fairydown outlet shop just off manchester st and got trent a pack/travel bag he wanted for his 21st. Went to dressmart and that has been about the day. I have tomorrow off as it is field trip day. Only 4 weeks to go of lectures and 5 weeks until exams. A little scary.

Well have a good night. I'm moving back to the warmth of the fire!!! Enjoy your time off and having everyone to stay.

Love us xoxoxoxox

hi team

hi guys how are you all? sorry it has been a while since we last wrote. this week we have both been working alot hayden is up to day 7 in a row tomorrow and me day 5 but had a few mornings and not spent enough hours in bed with hayden woking late so feeling a little worse for where. at the moment we are watching our first crusaders game live since we have been living in melbourne - awesome to see them - foxtel is great. just went to tea at a a place on elizabeth st i had very yummy seafood risotto and hayden pizza; good, quick and cheap just what was required.
we are now very excited to be seeing dallas the day after tomorrow. we have alot of things planned as we both have some days off while dall here. we had to go and buy some extra culterly and things for when we will have a the 5 of us staying here. clarie i will be working while you here apart from monday but mornings so we will be able to spend the afernoons and nights with you two.
gail and ernine looks like there has been alot of progress with the new house will be in time for us to house sit when we come back to nz, when are are on your next big adventure. have a wonderful time on your lastest travels. aunty chris and dave where have you gone havent been many contributions from you on here but hello hope you are well. gary and jan sounds like you did pretty well on the coast in the bike race and that you had fun at the same time. jan hope you have kady proofed the house and are feeling fit to chase the troublesome bunny around all day hehe. dall her hair cut dosent look bad hayden said it doesnt even look different but is does just shorter.
alright better actually watch the rugga now instead of writting.
love you all and see dallas and claire and phil soon. from gemma and hayden xox

Five more days! Yahoo!

Then I'm kid-free AND in another country haha. I'll miss the kids though of course. Went to Little River yesterday for the pumpkin festival, was lots of fun. Couple pics up there of that... Kady was yelling in the car and Liam just wanted a photo taken with his lucky-dip prize of marbles.

Kady had her fringe cut today, it looks good but weird at the same time. Guess I just have to get used to it! Last photo is of her new fringe. I forgot to save a lock of hair though, for her First Five Years book, so I'm a bit annoyed about that! But hey at least she's not running into things anymore!

See ya on Monday Hayden and Gem. Hope I don't get lost haha.

Dall & kids

Hi Gemma and Hayden - This is my second attempt tonight - I had the note written and was uploading images and lost the lot, so here goes again

Have been busy - finishing boundary fences and getting this place up to scratch so when we are ready to sell there is not too much to do.

The house has finally started to move this week - with the boxing in for the foundqaions and floor - the outside foundations are to be poured on Friday and the floor the next Friday - 2 days before we go away - so we should see some changes when we get back!!!

Also I have been doing bookings for Italy - not as organised as some people are!!! Joanie had wanted to take Ernie to a convent in Rome - but unfortunately Sister Gertrude wrote to say there was no room in the inn - you can imagine how upset EJ is??? - I shall look for another convent however. - no double beds and curfews!!!!

This blog does keep me up to date with other goings on - had not caught up with the Davidson grandchild - congrats Granpa Andrew - looks as if she has you around her finger already!!!!

Now I will try to load the images of the house so far!!!

Update on my grandchild - Melissa says she walked up to 5 steps between her and Graham during the week - although it worked better from Melissa to Graham - "cos the other way she was so excited to see Mum that she lost her balance!!! I was the courtside baby minder yesterday - Melissa playing again for Fernside - unfortunately against Clarkeville first up!!! There were lots of other nanas there too - we could have coffee mornings there

Take Care and enjoy all your visitors that are about to visit.

Mummy G and EJ

Hi
Update on Sophia Davidson - 1st photo attached. She visited on Saturday. Granddad very smitten. Lovey little girl, very long, dark hair. Seems quite placid at this stage although too soon to say. Melissa and Jonathan coping well so far. Hope this finds you both fit and well and enjoying some good weather. Quite cold here this weekend. Had a good night at the rugby with a win to the Crusaders. Good news Gemma about your apraisal, not that we expected anything less! Not long until we are over, you will hav e non-stop visitors, hope the cake tins are full!!!!! By now you will have heard about the netball win, great result. Take care
Love from Marion and Andrew

Hey guys.
We havn't been up to much, trying to save to come to you guys. We get in at 8.35pm on the 3rd and leave at 5.05pm on the 7th. Can't wait! Will be good to catch up with you guys and also Dall, and we will also see my friend Mel who was in the Gold Coast but went to Melbourne the same day as you guys came back from New Zealand. I have just finished work today, only worked 7-10am as the family are going to dreamworld cos their family is over from NZ, but I still get paid my normal hours.
We went and watched the Gold Coast Titans play Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Staduim on Friday night. What an experience! I'd never seen leauge before..but it was a lot of fun - especially since we had $40 on Titans to win by 12 or less points. They were up by 16 with 4 minutes to go, then the Bronco's scored bringing it down to Titans winning by exactly 12..woohoo, $210 for us, as they were paying $5.25. That staduim is huge! It's in the middle of Brisbane, and seats 70,000! We were walking up to our seats thinking we'd have shit ones..but we had really good seats! We were second row from the back right up the top infront of the coaches box. So we saw everything!
We have a busy weekend this week, Phil's friend is having an engagement party on Saturday night that we will only be able to make for an hour or so, and then we will have to go to Phil's brothers 30th birthday party. He's having a pig on the spit, and supplying LOTS of alcohol, so should be fun. Then on Sunday we have our friend (who lives in the complex with us) their daughter Courtney is 4 and we are invited to her pool party..we will prob be hung over but oh well! Haha!
We have been car shopping lately, our's has almost done it's dash. I'm wanting to get some cheapish (well, as cheap as you can get a car in Aussie!) but Phil has his eyes set on his friends car which is a Holden SS Commodore 2002 I think..it's a nice car, but I just think $18,000 is a lot to pay for it. But like Phil says - he'll be the one paying for it! Haha. We've also been looking for a little car for me..just one to get me to and from work etc.
I'm glad you went and brought that doona inner like I said too! Haha! I brought fleece blankets for our bed the other night so when we come to you guys we will just bring our blow up mattress and those blankets to sleep on the night that Dall is still there. I'm really looking foward to it!
Anyway..i'd better go. I'm going to get a haircut :D
See you in a little over 2 weeks!
Love Claire and Phil.
Ps. Dallas - give my poor neice a haircut!

hi guys how are you all not long until we will be seeing alot of the contributors to the blog site. wohoo we cant wait we are getting the house all prepared on saturday we went to fantastic furniture and brought a sofa bed couch.. it is not real leather- black, that turns into a bed by the back folding down. comfy to sit on and hopefully good to sleep on as well. we also went to i-kea again and got some cushions duvet inner etc. so we have had to rearrange the lounge a bit we both wanted it a different way... at the mo it is the way i like it.. dont know how long for though. we also both got a brand new jacket each on saturday mine a white blazer that can be worn alot of different ways and haydens is a black heavy woolen with lining hoodie. on saturday night i went to an act at the melbourne comedy festival with some of the nurses on my ward. very funny auzzie lady that just told stories about her family (reminded me of sarah noads story time at my house) sunday waited for the couch to be delivered and hayden worked... boring day. Today (in case you didnt know i had a 3 day weekend) i went out to chadstone with hayden when he went to work. i went shopping at the myer out there as they have a 25% off everything sale i wanted a pair of boots there but they didnt have my size luckily another store in chandstone had them so i have a beautiful pair off new black flat boots, new jeans and a couple of tops. this afternoon got foxtel installed into the apartment so now we have a lot of channels and will be able to see a few of the crusaders games.. shoud be good.
thats all for now so now everyone else now has to tell me what they have been up to in the weekend. love gemma and hayden xxx

Hey everyone!

Photo of Miss Mini-Yeti: Reckon I should get her fringe cut or not?

Eeek, been a while since I last looked at this so thought I'd better make a contribution. Hope everyone's well and had a great break over Easter Weekend. We went up to Ashley and Kellie's new place in Motueka Valley.. the turn-off was just past their old place, on a bridge over the Motueka River and a wee bit up into the hills, off the beaten track. I'm sure that at a few points in time, we all thought we were lost hahaha. But Kellie saw us go past and ran out onto the road and luckily, we turned around (end of road, as it goes up to the walking track etc) and came back down and she met us. It was a really good weekend... really neat place. Tis quite a bit of land, farm.. two houses - Ash and Kel live in one and the owners live in the other. Two horses, too many dogs and cats, a few chickens and two sheep (that we saw anyway). The kids LOVED it up there and we slept in Chris and Will's place which used to be a barn. Chris hangs her horsey stuff downstairs so the smell took me back to Napier and Janet and Alan's farm.. kinda like home really. The sandflies were a pain though cos you could actually feel them bite. Quite painful. Had a bonfire going all weekend, the engagement party was awesome, really good turn-out so lots of guests (I was surprised cos they do live quite a way out). Drank a bit too much though! I blame that on Ash and Kel though cos they bought heaps of drinks haha. Was nice to catch up with some of their friends though, Tim Gough stayed all weekend with his dog. Yeah it was awesome to go up there and I actually can't wait til next time, it's really relaxing and very fresh and quiet up there.

Anyway, Liam and Kady are well. Had Liam's parent/teacher interviews last week before school finished for the term. He's doing really well, reading is 11.5yrs, comprehension and maths is at 10.5yrs. So he's doing really well and his teacher is thrilled with his work. He wants to get an educational psychologist in from Teachers College to assess Liam properly again, cos the last time was '05. It should be good to accurately assess where he is at, and I'm really pleased he's enjoying his new class. Much better this year than last year.

I've been really busy with work (had extra kids this week so was full-time work, 8am til 5.30pm) and just generally trying to keep up with things and saving $ for going over to see you two. Two more weeks! Yay! Five whole days with no kids. I can't wait... this waiting sucks haha.

Anyway, hope everyone's well. I'll see you two, Hayden and Gem, when I get there!

Seeya around!

Dall

Happy Easter!!

Hey guys!!
Hope everyone is having a good easter and not stuffing themselves with chocolate. Havn't been on this site in ages..has been a busy couple of weeks.
The reason we still havn't booked the flights is because Reon and Hannah (phils friend and his girlfriend from NZ) have been staying here. God was good to have them leave haha...have found that our friends from New Zealand seem to have different tastes from us these days - like keeping a house tidy!
We are defintly coming to Melbourne on Friday 4th May in the early evening, bout 5pm and leaving Monday 7th about 6pm. Booking tickets this week. I can't wait! I've been saving my penny's.
We havn't done much since Phil's friends left on Friday. We spent the day yesterday cleaning and Phil put new brake pads on the car and then last night we went to Phil's friend from NZ's house for a BBQ as their parents were over from NZ. Spent the night indulging in NZ toffee pops, Griffins choc chippies, jaffa's and jetplanes that they had brought over on the plane. Oh, the NZ luxuries I miss that I can't get here!
Phil and I went for a picnic today, were heading towards Gold Coast's Lamington National Park, took a wrong turn and ended up at Gold Coasts Springwood Rain Forest. It was so beautiful..we did a 10km walk through the trees and waterfalls which was really cool. Got some wicked photos. We got back to the car to grab the esky to eat lunch, and what stupid people we are - cos we left it on the bench at home! So we went for a drive, and actually ended up over the boarder into NSW which was crazy, cos it felt like we were heading North towards Brissy not South! So we stopped at the cutest tea rooms for lunch. Was a good day, exploring our way around. We just got back from Phil's mums for a family easter dinner.
Anyway..i'd better go i'm going to have a bath.
See ya's in May!!
Love Claire xoxo

Hi from Ohoka

Hi Gemma and Hayden - cant believe that you've been back for a week -we are having a quiet Easter - getting the place tidied up before we head away in 4 weeks. The great news is that the house has finally been started - was all go here last Monday - Taggarts moved in to change the entrances in the yards - so this block has an entrance from Baileys Road into their yard and we just have the entrance into our yard - then they moved down to the house paddock to form the drive off the "avenue" towards the house site - and we just had time to get it marked with paint before they were ready to start, and the builder marked out the house site for the top to be scraped off-and the next 2 days was finishing the drive and dif=gging around the perimeter for the boxing for the foundations - and now it is sitting waiting for the builder to come back - hope it is next week!!!! Monday night your Mum and Dad come over briefly and we drove in the new drive and parked Paulie's car in the garage!!!!! Looks quite small to me at the mo' - Ernie says it is not, so can't be!!!! Will send you progress pics when there is somtehing to see.
We have been wquite boring this weekend - cutting off lots of growth in the trees etc and clearing out cupboards - some from when I moved in 3 years ago. Friday was a lovely day and I managed to get EJ out on the bike late in the afternoon - we took easter buns arounds to the Macdonalds - as everyone else in Ohoka is away - I wanted to bike with my rabbit ears on my helmet - but Mr B said I couldn't go back for them - wasn't too much traffic so wouldn't have shocked the natives. Anyway we wore the ears to Casey's last night when we went to watch the rugby and took easter eggs with us. Was an awful day yesterday rain and cold, but beautiful again today and I got another bike ride in around the big block - Ernie didn't come as he was still hacking away at the bushes up the drive. Tomorrow we are going to the Court theatre with Casey, Usshers and Cartwrights - looks as if we will go in the new bus, early in the afternoon (the show is at 6pm) park up and have lunch somewhere and/or an early tea.
Brianna and Melissa came on their weekly visit on Wednesday -(it was their last swimming lesson for this term) -you can quite clearly see her 2 bottom teeth now - and her balance is getting better - spent most of the time here walking around clutching my 2 index fingers - is hard on the old Nana's back I can tell you.
Take care - and enjoy the rest of Easter - Mummy G and Ernie xxxxxx

hope easter bunny came

hi every one happy easter from gemma and hayden. we both have the day off today hada big sleep in then went to the markets and out to port melbourne. it is very nice down there not what we had expected at all. The middle photo is off one of the huge/flash apartments down there. there are some very nice looking restaurants down there to that we will have to try one day... maybe we will take some of our visitors down there. (it reminds us a bit of freemantle in perth where we went for tea one night last trip over here). the other two photos are taken from federation square last night after hayden and i had been out to lygon st for italian for tea ( a different place than last time tho). the international comedy festival is on here at the moment and so that is why the ferris wheel is there. the other eiffel tower looking thing is on top of the national gallery of victoria. p.s all these photos were taken on haydens and mine new phones. it is so easy just hook them up to the computer and we can put them on here for you guys to see.

jan and gary hope you are having a nice relaxing time up and mot and that ash and kellies engagement party went well. PRAM hope punakiki went well and that you managed to get some good weather to get some kayaking in. sorry gail and ernie, autny chris and uncle dave and clarie and phil but i dont no what your plans for easter were. maybe you could all blog and tell us what you have been up to. claire ring us and tell us when you have finally booked your flights here so we know what time you are arriving departing etc.

PRAM hayden had a look and it doesnt look like much is happening when your guys are here. but we may hear about something closer to the time. even if there isnt an event on there is enough shopping and exploring to keep us entertained.

dad have a happy bithday tomorrow and nana the day after.

hope everyone had/has a good easter. love from gemma and hayden.

Hi

Hi everyone, i started at my new store yesterday out at chadstone. It's a hell of a lot smaller than the richmond one with not a huge amount of room for bikes and storage, in fact to store boxes you have to walk up a fairly steep set of stairs which i'm pretty sure osh(or whatever it's called) back home wouldn't be too keen on. everyone there that i've met so far seem pretty good, theres more road riders at this store than richmond although the people at chadstone have heaps more experience as the other newest employees there were employed this time last year. its good cause it means i don't have to tell anyone what to do they all know what needs to be done and do it. it seems like a pretty relaxed place to, if everything gets done the manager doesn't mind them sitting around and talking as long as jobs are done. it was good to get home and see everyone, well as many people as we can in the short time we were there i guess. oh and I also got paid annual leave for some reason which is good so i can pay the bills. Bit weird but i'm not asking questions just in case they buggered it up. oh well better go do something on my day off, its been a bit chilli here the last week.
cya'll

Hi
Just a quick blog to say Happy Easter, hope the Easter Bunny can make it to the 13th floor. Hope you get some time off, or if not, some good overtime for the stat days. PRAM are off this afternoon to the Coast (Punakiki) to do some kayaking and swot the sandflies!. Weather for tommorrow not looking good, so might be a rest day and big OE research. Hopefully we can find somewhere to watch the footy. Have a great weekend
Cheers M&A

Returned to Melbourne

hi everyone we are now re installed in melbourne safe and well. the flight homewas good apart from the lady next to us who used her camera during take off and landing (when your not allowed to because can interfere with the plane) and she was LARGE taking up my room and had the most disgusting cough ewww. i had a wee sleep cause a nice air hostess got me a blanket and pillow. got though the airport quickly and then home. went to bed very early Saturday night about 8.30 our time. work for the both of us yesterday. i wasnt as tired as i thought i was going to be and work steady (not busy, not quite) so good. working an afternoon today then a morning tomorrow. im about to make the neighbours some muffins soon to say thanks for looking after our place.
PRAM- that is so good that you got into the medina that is attached to our building i don't know if i told you but our floor you can walk though so hopeful you can just come up or down in the lift to our place. wohoo. and did you get a 2 bedroom one or two singles?
i got a new phone yesterday but still has the same number it is a beautiful nokia 6088. it slides out has a big screen with a 2mega pixel camera with 8x zoom it comes with a memory card. also has mp3 player and lots of other features it is awesome i love it.
now that i am back i cant wait to see all you guys here its going to be a busy house with dall then claire and phil then PRAM.
love you guys see you soon from gemma xxx

To NZ in 4 sleeps

hi how are you guys ill be home to check up on you all soon so you better be fit and healthy!(claire ill check on you guys when you come here hehe) i have just finished work for the day. since i am coming home i have to work 7 days on either side to make up for the 3 days i will have off in nz. so the news ... we went out to chadstone on the train on monday its good with alot of awesome shops out there but confusing the way it is layed out we both coulda got very lost in there. we didnt really buy anything but window shoped and went to the bike shop that hayden will be working at soon. really cant remember what i did on tuesday but i had the day off. and then wed i went out to a late lunch with some of the other nurses on my ward (another day off). work thus and fri... the ward not qutie this week. got my hair done on friday before work though at toni and guy... it was looking disgusting... dont know what i think of it now but hayden really likes it.. you guys can see it when i get home. it rained proper pouring rain here yesterday afternoon and today on and off the first time i have seen real rain here. yesterday very hot today cool. ok guys any other news i cant remember now i will tell you when i get home.
see you soon... feels good to say that. love from gemma. xx

Hi from Gold Coast

Hey guys!
How are you?? We are good..been busy with shifting but now we are all done and are having a wee housewarming get together tonight with Phil's family. Our new address is 112/2-4 Langport Parade, Mudgeeraba, 4213, Queensland, Australia. Have been over exercising the pool here with our warm weather during the day, and getting good use out of the doona with our cold nights!
Still looking at coming to you guys on May 4th, will look at flights on Thursday night when we get paid and hopefully book them. My friend Mel who shifted to Queensland and has been working up the top of Cairns shifts to Melbourne on April 4th so we can catch up with her too which will be good. Also, Phil's Auntie and cousins live in Melbourne and his cousin Jacinta's 21st is the 4th of May, so she may have a party when we are there. So I gather it to be a busy few days for us.
Anyway...just a short note as got to go and check on my chicken that i'm making for the pot luck dinner tonight. If I don't talk to you before you head to New Zealand I hope you have a good time and don't get to cold..and we will be there to see you in May.
Love ya's. Claire. xoxo

Hello from kaiapoi. well we are back from the windy, wet and hailing deep south after a very wet week at the new velodrome. twice we had the temperature gauges reading 0 deg as we left the track sessions. It was so hot driving down, as we got within cooey of Invercargill the rain spots started to hit the windscreen and they really didnt leave (just got heavier and harder) until we were almost at Lumsden coming back. The Nats were fantastic and relatively stress free for us as we were not staying at either of the Canty teams accomodations. Good to catch up with people we only see at these events. John Morell came down for fri & sat, but I really feel he is far from well, poor guy.Came home to stack a huge load of firewood that had arrived half an hour before we left and a letter wanting our input into a meeting with CYF for Levi and Armstrong as things have turned to custard for them with Jed. They are currently staying with Aunty Skinny until we can get Jed sorted out.Ashley and Kellie are doing well and settled into their new home. Ash is training 2X a week for the Mot soccer team. Engagement party planned for Easter up there.Called in to see Jo in Ashburton but she wasnt home. Seems to be adjusting to the big changes in her life. Aaron and Anna left last Tues to go back to London.While they were here they had a baby scan and now know they are having a boy. They really want Jo to go over to be with them when she has the baby. They are shifting back here to live in Oct this year, prob in West Melton. Dall, Liam and Kady came for dinner tonight: both kids were buzzing-liam was full of school stories and kady her usual busy self. I did miss them after a week away. Garys off back to work tomorrow- might need to get a map out so he can find the way- its been a while since they saw his cheery face there. We are doing the city to surf this sunday and Gary is doing Le Race the following weekend. We do need some riding time to for our big ride, altho we rode the Canterbury Charity hospital 75km race the weekend before last. It was quite eventful ( for me anyway) as we had a spoke pop in the front wheel, then a puncture which had to be fixed on the side of the road as we were using racing wheels and the spare tube on the bike was for a mountainbike wheel. That happened just GlenTui side of the Gary River bridge so it was a great opportunity for me to take my numb buttocks off the bike seat for a few minutes( almost like I planned it ,cos I was getting very sore). we were on our way up and down the hilly bits when a huge sheep truck and trailer flew past us very closely, giving me especially a fright. We got up to 68km speeding down hill ( you know how Gary loves that bit) but the rides up hill were decidingly slower- about 12-15km. Finally we reached the top of German Rd and I thought we would be zooming home with a big down hill ride to Cust. Easy as! No such luck! as we turned left into the corner the bike shot across the road, through the shingle on the far side of the road, bounced straight over the short grass verge and raced out of control down hill, fast as through the thick long grass and bush, under a wee plantation of pine trees with us hanging on for grim death, to emerge out of the other end with pine needles all over us and gary with scratched arms to continue riding on down German rd. Whew! How your father managed to hold the 2 of us upright I dont know- we had a semi hard or should it be soft tyre and a buckled wheel. I know understand why Gary has a reputation around the country as being a fantastic handler of a bike in any situation.He was desparate to remain upright he reckons cos if we had fallen he would never have got me back on again. True! Any ways, we finished in the middle of the field apparently and other than having stiff sore legs for a few hours we survived our first big ride together. Now, some goss for you-Ashley Cook is going to be a dad in September.I have also heard that theres lots of friction within the soccer teamthis year within the powers that want to be in control.Dan and Michelle are getting married in Nov this year( not sure if I told you that or not), and brother Peter has been dragged out of retirement or what ever he was calling it to fill in as the reporter with the Northern Outlook. Other brother Lyndsay (sword) turns 50 this weekend and uncle John is involved in some trial diet using legumes and grains through the hospital research teams. Megan has left NZ again via India and is currently in Italy I think. Well thats it folks. gary thinks I'm writting a novel so I will give up now. Daylight savings finishing is already having an effect on me so I need to get some beauty sleep. After tonite its only 7 more sleeps till we see you both. Love ya's, swordies

Hello

Hi guys how are you? Melbourne is very busy at the moment with the grand prix and the world swimming champs on in the next week. Havn't seen or heard from anyone we know yet though. Been hot here the last 2 days. I don't get anything for being top salesman, it's just a way of evaluating each staff member and setting goals for the next week. Gemmas work going well, quiet this week on the ward. I'm starting at the chadstone store on the 8th of april which is easter sunday so i won't actually start til the next day as the store is shut. We never made it there on monday, went to moomba festival instead. Big celebration about water, who woulda thunk. They had a parade, carny rides sports going on like beach volleyball with the girls in their skimpy bikinis, water skiing on the yarra river and more. Planning to go to chady for a look this monday as we both have the day off. havn't been to middle brighton yet, havn't really been anywhere outta the city yet to be honest, except gemma to geelong. 13 sleeps till we're home for 3 sleeps. That's about all for now folks, does anyone else have any goss?

Hi from the Beach People

Hi Gemma and Hayden
Great to read all is going well with you both. Gemma you would have needed your bedsocks on over here last night, right down to 10 degrees. A winter blast after a very hot 30. Snow on the tops. Melbourne will be a buzz this weekend with the car racing, you will probably see a few kiwi's in the city. Grant and Sandy are coming over tomorrow with a crowd. Its a sports feast on at the telly at the moment with Super 14, World cup cricket and football, Andrew is not far away from the remote. Rosie had me out bike riding on Saturday!! Did the Tuahiwi loop. Busy at work with Hanmer going onto computerised point of sale and end of financial year looming. Went to Auckland with Neroli last week for a Mitre 10 meeting, unfortunately no time to do the shops. Trip planning now well underway and major decisions and payments all made. Faye is off the Hong Kong/China/France for about 5 weeks at the end of April. She said she would come and visit later in year. What did they give the top salesperson as a reward! Interested to know what Chatswood is like. Have you been to middle Brighton yet? Andrew says hi
Love M&A

Heroooo friend

Hey Gem and Hayd,

Been a very quite weekend for me. Lisa stayed Friday and Saturday night. We did absoulty nothing. Sleeping was very good. I stayed out at Lincoln last night. Was up talking with Lisa and Ezra (one of her mates from blenhim) --Marion-- A mighty fine dress. gorgeous!!!--- Anyway today has been a nice warm day. Everything was fine and dandy till me and Lisa decided to go to the bakery to get lunch and what did we happen to find on my car.... a bloody parking ticket!!! A total sum of $25.88. Checky people. All cause I'd parked in the halls carpark. So going to go and debate it with them later in the week. Have spent the evening lying on my bed doing some study. Strugling to keep my eyes open and its only Monday. I ahve a short week as no classes
Wednesday as it's field trip day and head up to Wellington early Friday. Can't wait. Although, I have quite a bit of work to do with an assignment due next Tuesday.

Well I better get back to it. Can't wait to see the hair!!!
Nun nite
Bex xoxoxoxoxox

Hey guys!

Hey Gemma and Hayden.

Hope things are good. Havn't heard from you guys in a week or so.
We found a place to move into!! It's in Mudgeeraba, about 10 mins south up the highway from where we are now. We sign the papers Thursday night and get the keys Friday. I will shift all the small things then Phil's family are helping shift big things on Saturday. It's a nice wee town house in a complex..it's not locked up so more or less it's similar to a subdivision in NZ. It's got a pool and tennis court and gym that we get keys to and can use whenever we like. I also think it has a spa though i'm not sure. It'll be good to move..we've started packing and cleaning and the place here is a shambles! I defintly won't miss our white tiles and walls!
Phil and I have been looking at flights to come and stay with you guys for a long weekend..we are looking at Queensland's Labour weekend, coming May 4th and leaving on the 7th. Will just miss Dall :( She's leaving on the 4th mum said. But they are coming here in June so that all good. So let us know if these dates are okay..if not, we will make another time. Also Gemma, are you still coming here in your annual leave like you were going too? Hayden should come too if he can get time off work if your still coming?
We have Phil's friend here for 10 days at the end of the month which will be good.
Anyway..better get Phil from work now. I've got the air con cranked up to full, as it's 38 degrees here today! God..i'm looking foward to the pool at the new place!
Keep in touch. Love Claire xoxoxo

hi every one thanks for all the blogs i love getting them. it is labour day here today and hayden and i both have the day off. i also have the day off tomorrow as well - i am going to have a massage at a trainning school. yesterday we had a bbq at the beach with carolyn tim and two other of their friends nice part from the wind just like an easterly at home strong and cold. boys played beach cricket and girls (including the guy that we are sure is gay) watched. then got sick of the wind so went to their friends house and played poker. i did quite well to start with and won alot of chips (werent playing for $ tho). today hayden wants to go out to chadstone to see how long it takes to get there and to see the other bike shop he may be going to. so maybe i will do some window shopping while i am there.

jobs are going well i like mine apart from shift work that makes me tired - but thats nursing. the staff are great and some very interesting patients. one italian ladys husband wanted to take me home and cook me 'curly spaghetti' -very funny. met a nz girl from plamerston north who was a patient as well she had just moved here to so was good to compare stories. haydens job is going good he likes it and on friday he was top salesman for the day out of all the stores.
mummy gail, haydens family are here on my birthday but the week after i have annual leave for the week so you could come then if you wanted to. but if you are to busy with your new house at that time any time this year would be ok.
Dallas is coming over at the end of april, she got in on the cheap flights so she is now gonna be the first visitor here.
mum no pictures of my hair until i get it coloured it looks yuky at the moment.

From Turiwhaia Road with two new kids

Sorry we missed you last night but at Nicole's 21st party. About 40 people there and we only new the girls, Carli, Katie, Noadie etc. Nicole was pleased to receive your card on Saturday with the money. We brought her white serving bowls and cooking book with a few little extra. We had a great meal and a few drinks and were home by 10.15. Today has been great weather, Dad and Andrew have nearly finished enclosing the pig shed ready for John Blackadder to store all his fencing material in. Bex and Lisa have left for Lincoln so won't see Bex until tomorrow.Hope you a feeling better and enjoying your days off.
P.S. Send us a picture of your hair cut. Talk soon
Love Rosie and Paul

Hello Gemma And Hayden

This is Hayley, I stayed the night at Chloe Stopforths coz it was her birthday, we went to the movies to see Norbit, it was really funny, then we came home and had tea and watched some other movies at her house. then I got dropped off and we went to watch Ellie sail. We also have been to the beach today and had a swim. Tonight we are going to make muffins for our school lunch tomorrow. Me and Ellie are sleeping in your room for the week.
From HAYLEY

Hey Gemma and Hayden

This is Ellie, Last night I went to a sleepover at the yaught club. There we had a sandcastle competion which I won (by a mile), While we were making our sandcastles there was a fishing comp. going on which no one won and some people made muffins and popcorn that we all ate with the movie we watched late, Eight Below. When it got dark we went for a late night stroll on the beach which was really cool cos everybody was jumping up and down in the sand junes. In the morning I went out on my boat and came 3rd overall and 1st in my class.
Love from Ellie xoxo

Hi Gemma and Hayden - it is Sat night and we HAVE NO FRIENDS - not quite true - tried to have BBQ here - but Gerald Casey is sick with some bot and Aunty Chris hasn't replied to msg left (expect they may be at the boat) - didn't ring your Mum and Dad - such a nice day who would be home - so EJ cooked on the BBQ, we had a couple of wines and now he is watching the end of the rugby.
How are the jobs going???
Although we have stopped making hay for a couple of wweeks EJ seems to be as busy as ever - and I have had quite a social week - Mondays have been going to Shirley Caseys for a craft day with Aunty Chris after work and Joan C when they are around - Wednesdays Melissa and Brianna have been going to swimming and then stopping in here afterwards - the last 2 weeks I have been to watch. Brianna is standing up - so I s'pose the next thing is walking - she doesn;t crawl properly - pulls herself along on the floor with her elbow. Last night I babysat in Oxford while Melissa and Graham went to a Casino evening at the club. They had the second highest $ at the end of the night so won a selection of vouchers which incl. $50 at Jo Seagars a night in a B&B in Oxford, a voucher for the other cafe in Oxford and a trip in the courtesy van in Oxford, and other things I can't remember
We thought we would have had the permit for the house yesterday - according to the man in Prime last week - but it hasn't happened!!! (yet)- we will be lucky if we get it started before we leave for Spain on 6th May. At this rate we will be shifting into the new house late Aug early Sept - when I wanted to be in Melbourne for your birthday - although Mum says that Hayden's parents will be there then - just as well you have plenty of mothers to rely on isn't it?????

Not long until you are home again??? - look forward o catching up with you - hope you have time to spare???

xxx Mummy Gail and Ernie

Hey guys

My e-mail isn't working well for some reason, so I'll post pics here. Finally have some of Liam - took them on Sunday in Ashburton when we went down. The funeral was sad (and hot! Wearing mostly black in 32 deg heat isn't such a great idea haha) and Dad did really well in the speech he did on behalf for the family. He was really great. I think everyone was relieved that it was finally over, cos it was a bit of a long period of 'limbo' in between Uncle Kevin's death and the funeral. Jo and the girls held up pretty well. All the second cousins played really well together, it was amazing really. Kady actually behaved very well (haha) on Sunday, she was ok Monday but mostly tired and hot I think. Those two days were very long days and the kids did really well. I think Greg, Brody and Lydia went back to the States today, not sure, as Gina said Monday that was the plan. Kids gotta go to school, Greg has to work. Anna and Aaron go back Tuesday I think. Anna looked really well, had the cutest little bump as she's still at that "in-between" stage (you don't know whether she's pregnant or just put on a little bit of weight!). Aaron needs to get a tan again haha, mustn't get much sun in London!

Anyway this week's been good but Kady's gone back to not sleeping well for the past couple weeks, so I'm pretty tired. Had the kids stay at mum and dad's last night so I could get some sleep, tis bliss to have my own bed back and no one kicking and prodding me. I'm not sure why she's not sleeping well again, but hey, it's Kady. Can never figure her out sometimes! Mum and Dad leave for Invercargill on Monday for a week so it'll be a nice holiday for them, hope the weather behaves!

Anyway, here are the photos. Hope they come up ok. They were taken at the playground in the Ashburton Domain... it's a neat playground, heaps of stuff crammed into one little space and so much to do. The kids had a ball there.

Catch ya around.

Dall & kids

Hi gemma and hayden. we spent the day down at Kevin and Jo's in Ashburton.As it was childrens day today Liam thought he got to dictate the rules so we had a picnic lunch at Ashburton Domain and then all the kids( Kevin Stevensons Rebecca and Jills Jessica, Gina and Greg from the States Brodie and Lydia, who are now 11 and 8 and Liam and Kady) had fish and chips on Jo's front lawn, picnic style for tea. Diane and John, Lorraine and ross, Graeme and Julie all went down today too and picniced with us as did Aunty Maree and Shari and Paulettes nkids who then went home to Chch with Shari as all the aunties and uncles were staying in caravans and motels down their tonight. We came home and will go back down in the morning for the funeral. It was alovely time to all be together and Liam really enjoyed playing with his cousins. Just really sad that the occasion for us to be all together wasnt a pleasant one. Its 7 years since all Kevin and Jo's family have been together.Aaron and Anna came back to. Anna is now 17 weeks pregnant and has this tiny wee bump; she due early in August and wants Jo to go to London to be with her before she has the baby. They shift back here in October to live after almost 6 years away. Aaron has been going lots of mountain biking aroung England. Gary has been busy making a power point presentation of Kevin for the funeral service and a speech about his siblings stories of Kevins life growing up. will talk to you tomorrow night to catch you up with all the other bits. We ran into Jeannie and Barry Godfrey on our travels last night. hayden is having surgery next week for a blocked artery in his groin and a stent put in. He has to go to wellington to have it. The wedding went well. Take care and enjoy your day off Hayden. your turn to get down on your knees and scrub the floors while Gemma works eh?Maybe fit in a training ride too.Love you both from Cridland St

HI

hi guys how are you all?

its gemma i cant remember my password so writting under haydens. if you dont know hayden had to work yesterday so couldnt come to geelong. i still went though with carolyn though. nice to got there to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. train ride down there was good to - we concluded that it was very relaxing we couls have stayed on it for longer then the hour we had. saw jo race and she came 6th her team mate won. caught up with her for a we bit after the race as she had to leave pretty soon after to go back to NZ. she racing wellington tour and track nationals when she goes back for going back to USA to her new husband. hayden and i went for an outing across the river last night... to the casino complex had tea at the food court then into the casino -i made some hayden lost some also had a look around shops there jag fcuk verserce etc no money left our wallets tho didnt have a few hundred to spare!. then we saw there was something on at the exibition centre so had to go have a look (couldnt be missing a sale there dad could we!) it was a motor show but cost $18 each dollars to get in! so we just looking at some of the cars on the outside until we talked to the weirdest security guard who let us in for free... wohoo. billions on dollars of the lastest cars in there some lamos bentlys ferrarsi volvos down to toyotas etc. i got as new pair of shoes there pumas that have something to do with BMW racing team. they are awesome i love them. today was shoping day didnt require the markets today just the supermarket. also went for a look at smith st shopping area. hadyen got another day off tomorrow and im on an afternoon shift. 5 day week for me then four day weekend yay i cant wait i feel like i need it already.

Cya from gemma

ps. photo are of me and carolyn in geelong, and one hayden took off our balcony with a rainbow.