The Milk Factory

I love local newspapers, I always find hidden treasures in them.  That's how I found out about my $3 zumba class, and free swim lessons for the kids, and the Fonterra Open Day.

It was such an awesome day, something we plan on making an annual family day out.  They had games and exhibitions, face painting, free samples, trucks to sit in, a band playing, just a fun family day.

The boys loved their free trumpets.  They also got chocolate milk and cheese, and they had a spit roast company there making sandwiches (I've decided I love roast beef), and everything for free!  It was a good thing Tui didn't come with us, or they would have gone out of business. Lol.





They got to sit in a milk tanker and beep the horn.  I learnt that it's a really technical job being a driver, there are so many things you have to be in control of, deadlines to meet, technical computery machinery things.  Tough job, good on them.



The line for the factory tours was 2 hours long.  But thank goodness for this angel woman Kate who saw that I was struggling (you couldn't take strollers in the factory so I had fatty boomba strapped to my front, and holding hands with two little toddlers who did NOT want to stand still.), and smuggled me to the front of the line.  I will love her forever.  We all had to wear fluorescent vests and safety glasses.  The boys looked so cute.





We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the factory.  But man was it awesome. Ok, the billion stairs to climb, not so awesome.  But everything that we saw and learnt.  Heaps of cool robots that the boys thought were amazing.  I learnt that in a day, the factory processes 6million litres of milk.  80% gets made into milk powder and exported, mostly to china.  And the last 20% is what gets used for milk, cheese, butter, cream, and cream cheese.

A long tiring day, but so worth it.  Malachi's still buzzing about the robots and the tankers and "can the lady give me another icecream?".





Thanks Fonterra.

Easter boys

Ok so this will be my last Easter post. 4 isn't that extreme is it?

We had to wait a while to get a nice day, when they were both awake, when they weren't sick.  So maybe Vili's first "Easter" was a week or two late, but he didn't know and I'm not going to tell him.






He really had no idea what was going on, but once he saw that Malachi's egg had treats inside, he was shaking those bad boys to find the ones with treasures.












Don't tell my mum that I let him eat a chocolate egg.  But he loved it.





Happy little Easter boys.
(I promise they both had fun, but this was the only picture of both of them looking up and not looking at the eggs, and they look like they're depressed. lol.)



Until next Easter....

Rotorua Marathon

Yesterday we traveled to Rotorua to be support for my brother John running his first Marathon.  I could not have anticipoated how much of an emotional day it would be.  Now it's no secret that John is my favourite sibling, we were often mistaken for twins as children.  We shared a bedroom by choice, and just seemed to be on the same wave length.  I love him to bit.

On the drive down there I was thinking about what an amazing thing it is to run a marathon.  There's no prize, other then your own self satisfaction, there are months and months of hard training involved, that no one is making you do except yourself.  What a huge personal accomplishment.  Before the race started I was already in tears.  I am so, so proud of my brother.  He worked so hard for this one day, and even though the day didn't go as he'd planned, he finished it.  John, you are now offically a maraton runner.

Here are some pictures from the day.
(I was lucky enough to borrow my brother in law's father's paparatzi lense, but I should have practiced with it first coz some of the pictures didn't turn out, due to my lack of experience.)




And they're off!




Cheerleader # 1.







The marathon track went around the Rotorua Lake, so at least it was awesome scenery for the 42kms.







Cheerleader # 2.



Cheerleader # 3



The whole cheer squad.




Dad drove up and met up with us.  John had some issues with cramping in his legs and had to walk the last 10kms, but Dad was there to support him.  I ran with John for about a km, but my jandels just weren't cutting it so Dad took over.




The cool thing is, Dad ran this same marathon 20 years ago.





I am so proud of my brother. (I promise I started the day modestly, but running in a dress just didn't work out well.)







After the race was done we all went to Polynesian Spa's for a soak in their mineral hot pools.  Great day.

Because I never want to forget

Last night we had a family family home evening.  It happens once a month with all the munchkins etc.  Yesterday I was teaching the lesson about Easter (Nursery version).  I told them, "...the angels rolled the stone away and Jesus wasn't dead, he was alive again...", and before I could continue on with the story, Nathan lept from his chair, threw his arms in the air and SCREAMED, "HE'S ALIVE!!!!!"  Too, freakin funny.  Everyone died of laughter. He was so genuine, so excited, so extatic that Jesus was alive! I loved it.



I love that boy.

Hot Cross Buns

One of my favourite parts of Easter at home is these little delites.  I don't know why they're not sold anywhere else.
The process was drawn out and not quite right, but they sure tasted good. So good I think I might try again on Monday.





But I found this really cool blurb on someone else's blog about the story behind the buns.  Kinda interesting.

"There’s so much legend and lore behind Hot Cross Buns, which date back to the old country. English folklore said that Hot Cross Buns baked on Good Friday would never spoil throughout the following year. Some bakers believed that holding on to one Hot Cross Bun and hanging it in the kitchen meant that all yeast products in the coming year would rise successfully. Some sailors took Hot Cross Buns on their voyages to ensure their ships wouldn’t sink. And friends who gift one another with Hot Cross Buns every year are said to remain friends for life."

Auckland Day Trip - 2

So after the zoo we navigated our way into town to the Sky Tower.  (Note to self and all: Never move to auckland unless you enjoy oneway streets, confusing motorways, and being lost in general!)  I've been to it before, and so has Tui, but never inside.  Malachi was super excited about going in the big tower, until he saw the glass platform, then he lost the plot and freaked out.  He wouldn't go anywhere near the windows.  Vili thought it was great! (I feel bad for the cleaners that had to get rid of the handprints and slobber my baby left all over the glass.)  I don't think it was worth $30 per person (thank goodness for coupons!), but was very cool.  Good way to see all of Auckland.





In the elevator going up, which went up 50 floors in like 20 seconds - very fast!



The view from the top.









This glass was 30cm (I think that's like 12inches??) thick.  But it was so trippy to stand on!! And even though I KNEW it was safe, I still hesitated. Malachi freaked out. Vili loved that he could see the cars beneath him.









Leaning on the glass was a bit of a push.  Tui wouldn't do it.  I only did it to make him feel stink. Lol. The photos dont do it justice.  I was like lying on a wall of glass leaning over the city. Crazy.



The very best part of the day was going to see my Grandparents.  My Pop is coming to the end of his mortal adventure, so it was nice to see him, and to give my Nana a big hug.   The boys love them.

Auckland Day Trip - 1

So we tagged along with my brother's family and went to Auckland for the day.

First we started out at the Auckland Zoo.
Oh my gosh.
As far as zoos go, A-MAZING!!!  The way it was all set up, the viewing platforms, it was just fantastic.  We spent about 4 hours there, and only left coz we'd run out of time.



























There was a bunch of chickens running free around the place. Vili spotted one in a bush and followed it for a bit.



Then I saw one with little chicks and I caught one. It was so soft and light. Malachi wanted me to keep it. And Hannah thought it was just the bee's knees.








How funny that our little piggy boy's favourite animal was the pig.  He was so excited, squealing away at his cousin piggy.






There was a meercat enclosure that had tunnels underneath it and you could pop up and see them. Cool.





We got to feed the Giraffes.  Yes people, like actually feed an actual giraffe.  It was huge!! Like 7ft tall, maybe bigger.  I'm so proud of Malachi, he was so brave sticking out his hand for that giant creature.







And we got to ride an elephant too!!!



If you're visiting Auckland, it's a must see.  Worth every cent!