How to kill mulitple birds with one stone

Today was an absolutely stunning day. My sister sent me a text early in the morn to see if I had risen from my summer holiday slumber (usually I rise a weeny teeny touch later during hols) But indeed I had risen! (and had performed multiple jobs, to prepare myself for the early rising that will start again next week) I too had noted the lovely day and thought to myself, I should really make the most of this day. My sister usually follows a probing text with "we should make a plan" type text - she likes plans. After some thought and some conversation that included many other things that did not in fact help us formulate a plan, i said "we should hire one of those crocodile bikes" (ok I think i may have actually said frog bikes, but hey, they are green bikes with googly eyes, could be frogs?!) This turned out to be a most excellent idea on my part; it was all around goodness, here is why:
Crocodile bike (or frog if you wish) = entertained children, an ability to enjoy Welly's one day of summer, a smug feeling cause we were actually exercising,and a sense that we were good, caring, involved, energetic, exciting, loving mothers. There are possilbly some more benefits but this was enough to make me feel like I had made the most of the day.

Panic and being useful

I really only have two things on my mind at the moment. One of them is the sense of feeling useful again. I have come back to Wellington(nice weather!) and I am suddenly of use - Bennett wants to talk to me, he wants me to do things with him, I am cooking and doing washing and cleaning - I have not really done any of these things for a month now cause when I am with me mother she does them all. I am not sure if i am lazy or if I simply regress when I am in my mothers presence(it may be a bit of both) It could be that my mother is simply wonderful - Bennett seems to think so because he barely talks to me when she is around.
The other thought that has been taking up a lot of brain power is PANIC. I start a new job in a number of days and I still have no idea what my timetable looks like, and what these people will be like at my new school - I must admit I do actually feel really sad that I won't be at WHS teacher only days this year (now that is really sick!) I am in want of a cure for this panic, any ideas?

Being a tourist

I have spent the last 5 days at my aunt's holiday home at Lake Tarawera(which is 20mins from Rotorua). It is a lovely place - admire for yourself..

above is the view from the front yard and below is a view from their jetty up toward the house

Normally when we go here we just hang out swimming, kayaking, jet skiing etc... although we did do that this time, we also decided to be tourists in our own country and experience some things that you can't do everywhere in New Zealand. First up Bennett, my Uncle Greg and my cousin Griffin went to skyline skyrides to go up in the gondola and go down on the luge - it really was great fun



If it was indeed so much fun you may wonder why Bennett actually looks like he is off to the dentist instead of a fun day out - the first two dark, grumpy looks are because he doesn't really enjoy me snapping his picture, the last dark look is when we were on our way back up from the luge on the chair lift - chair lifts, it turns out, are not his idea of a good time.
This joyful trip was not enough to satisfy our tourist cravings, oh no we had to have more! So the next day we went off to see some bubbling water and steam, we practised our "ooohhhing" and "aaahhhhing" on the way so we would seem like the genuine article when we arrived, fitting seamlessly in with the other tourists - sadly we didn't practise our ooohs and aahhs in German so we didn't fit in at all. We did however enjoy the views (it is very hard to capture steam, bubbling water and other such geothermal wonders well on film, so enjoy some more cheery poses by Bennett)



being a tourist in your own country really is a good idea. However, I will not be submitting my photos to the New Zealand tourist board to help promote this idea - I am not sure Bennett's enthusiasm really comes across in the photos.

How to put together a birthday present

My little sister recently turned 30 (this makes me feel slightly old, since she is the baby of the family; I imagine it makes my mum feel older) My sister's partner sent me a list of things she wanted for her birthday (outdoor furniture, a wheelbarrow and a weed eater) this list was an absolute horror to me! What sort of presents are these? Where are the frivolous things? Anyway, after much searching for a present, me and my mother decided upon a piece of outdoor furniture (I also got her a little something frivolous because I just couldn't stand it) The joy of the outdoor furniture present really didn't occurred to me until my mother and her two sisters tried to put it together. First they all gathered around the instructions saying things like "g goes into e2 clockwise, where is e?" "which way is up?" "which one is left or right?, Oh I don't think that really matters" My aunties abandoned the project after this conversation got them utterly no where. My mother started putting the bits back in the box.

However, my mother is not one to let anything defeat her so easily; she had a plan. A glass of wine it seemed would help her be able to navigate those tricky instructions - so she got right back on it with a glass of wine in hand. Now not only did she have only one hand but a muddled brain to help her put it together - that sounds like just the ticket!

Strangely she found this was not the ticket at all, and she abandoned it so she had both hands available to down the all the bottles of wine that are so abundant at a 30th birthday party.
My sister's partner and his step father took over (making all woman present seem like we were unable to read and decipher instructions) and after an hour or so they managed to get it all together. Abracadabra - one put together birthday present and one amusing time had by all observers.

Annual badminton tournament

This title is probably somewhat misleading,or maybe even a little white lie. Although playing badminton during the summer is an annual event, it is not really an organized tournament that is held. Everyone in my family plays, but the way you sign up is by Bennett requesting "Do you wanna have a game of Badminton?" if you come within a one meter radius of him. Being his mother I often come within a one meter radius of him so am cajoled into joining up to play in the tournament. I have not been very successful this year. Bennett has greatly improved since last year and he can now beat me without me letting him win. When I am not playing I am often called upon to be the very interested and engaged audience "Mum, clap when I get a point" "Mum, cheer like you are a large crowd" this is a YYYAAAHHHHAAAAAAAA sort of noise that I can never really master. However, even though I am a some what inadequate audience member I do get lots of 'helpful' pointers on how to improve, how lucky I am to have such a helpful son. I must learn to keep at least 1 and half meters away from Bennett for a couple of weeks.