Random tidbits

These are just some other pictures and things that we've been doing that aren't really worthy of their own post, but need to be documented anyway.

Vili loooooooooves my glasses.  He's forever begging me to wear them.  Tui thinks he suits them.  He's going to see a specialist soon abouth is lazy eye, so he may end up wearing glasses.  Good thing he already likes them.

The boys are so excited about their sister coming, they've been practicing having babies themselves.

 
Malachi went on his first big kindy trip. Daddy went with him. They rode on the bus to the Kiwi house, a sanctuary where they breed native NZ birds, lizards etc. Malachi was so excited about it, he counted down the days, invited everyone he knows to come with him. He had so much fun.

Tui and I have been trying to make our date nights more fun and less food (ok, not LESS food, just something else along with the food lol.) We went and played mini golf. I completely SMASHED Tui, like always. It was so much fun. Except the bending over to pick my ball up all the time....

I'm so big it's not even funny. I think I'm 33 weeks here.  I'm almost 39 weeks now, and I feel like I should have one of those 'Wide Load' pilot vehicles with flashing lights going in front of me, warning everyone to watch out. lol.


Malachi has Tongan flags that he puts on his bike and rides around saying "Go Tonga go!!".

I hope I don't stop noticing and documenting the little things about my boys once their sister comes along.  I know how consuming a newborn can be.  But I wanna make sure that I always take the time to remember my first two babies.

Farewell Pop.

This time last week I was sitting in a car with 4 of my 5 siblings on our way to Auckland to be with our Dad and Nana after recieving the news that our Pop had just died.  Strange that that was a week ago.  Seems like so much longer then that.  So much has happened. So many experiences, emotions, so many people, so much travel.  It's amazing to me how something so sad can bring about so much good.  Our family seems to have bonded in a way I've never seen.  Everyone dropped what they were doing to drive/fly in from all over to be together.  Past quarels and differences were forgotten, or at least put aside, and only love and support remained.  If only we could have learned to be like that while Pop was still alive, if only we didn't need to wait for someone to die in order to show them how much they meant to us.  Ironic, I guess, that someone can be sick for a long time and we can't ever find the time or the money to visit, but as soon as they're dead it's suddenly possible......

Pop was 80 years old.  He'd lived a good life.  He'd been sick for a while, had prostate cancer, angina (sp?), heart problems, stomach problems.  You name it, he had it.  In the last few months he wasn't much of himself at all.  And I'd always thought that knowing someone was on their way out would make it so much easier when it happened. I was wrong. I also assumed that having a knowledge of the plan of salvation, knowing that he isn't lost, simply moved on to the next phase, would make it a happy experience.  Wrong again.  Knowing didn't make it any easier.  Although it did make me more aware that my sadness and grief was for myself, that I was sad I wouldn't see him anymore.  He wasn't sad.  I'm sure he is quite the opposite.  But again, knowing this didn't make it any less painful.

I'm glad my boys have had a chance to meet Pop, be with him, know him a little.  One day their little memories might fail them, so I wanted to write a little about Pop, so that they could one day read it and know about the man who was their great-grandfather.

Pop was a qualified mechanic. He could fix, or make, anything. He loved his cars and motorbikes, a passion he passed on to his sons (my Dad and Uncle). And Pop used his skills to help anyone he could. He was always ready to teach you something. Not loudly or forcefully, but quietly and patiently, showing first by example.

He was such a hard worker. He lived by the motto that "if a job was worth doing, it was worth doing well". So not matter what job or errand or employment he was engaged in, he gave it 200% and did the very best job he possibly could. There was not a lazy bone in his body (I must have inherited those from somewhere else).

Pop loved Nana dearly. I've never seen a man more dedicated to his wife. He lived to please her and make her life easier. He did the dishes every day of his life, to show his appreciation for Nana's amazing cooking. He supported her in whatever interests she had, he stood beside her through any difficulty.

  Pop was a great father. Although he was part of a different generation, one a little heavier in discipline and lighter in emotional expression, he was a great Dad. He had so much patience with his children, he wanted them to achieve and succeed. He worked long hours to give them a private education, so that they would have options. And as they grew he supported them in whatever ways he could. He was proud of his children.

Pop was a great grandfather. He was like a father to my cousins who's fathers where not always present. And he also took time out for us kids. We used to go and spend a week in the school holidays with Nana and Pop, and he always had little projects for us to do in his garage with him, building something, painting something else. I loved the time he'd spend with me. As #4 of 6 children, individual attention was a rare thing, but Pop made sure we got it from him. I have no memories of him every being cross or angry with us when we made mistakes, only ever being gentle and kind.

Pop was a bit of a goof. I don't know if he ever grew out of his childhood. He was always doing something silly to make us laugh. He also enjoyed getting us into trouble so he could laugh at our expense. I remember that when we'd stay at their house, he would encourage us to lick our plates after we'd finished eating, to show Nana how much we liked the food, knowing full well that Nana would come in, see us licking our plates, and send us away with any dessert. He was mischievious like that. I love my Pop, and I'm so grateful to have known him for 25 years. I'm so sad for my Nana to be on her own now, for my Dad to be without a father, but how glad I am to know that he no longer suffers, that he's with his parents, and most importantly, that he is at last being taught the gospel. I look forward to the day that I can give him a hug again.

Balloons over Waikato 2012

This has to be one of my favourite times of the year to be in Hamilton.  I looooooooooooove the balloon festival.  And my kids have inherited my enthusiasm.  Maybe if I ever won the lottery or some rich person died and left me a bunch of money, we could buy a balloon and live happily ever after.  Or we could take a trip to New Mexico for the World Hot Air Balloon festival.  That would be so cool.

For now we're just content to watch other people and their balloons.

I love that they let you get up close and personal with the balloons, that you can stand a meter away while they're inflating them, and see this giant blankets turn into 3d statues and then burst with fire and float away into the sky every so gracefully.  I love it!!

Vili was finally old enough to enjoy it this year which was awesome.  He says "ba-a" instead of balloon. lol.  And he now spends most mornings and a good part of the day checking all the windows in our house, just incase a balloon might drift past.

We went for the Grand Assension early in the morning.  We were lucky that Tui wasn't working that morning and could come with us.

Photos just never do it justice.

Another morning we sat on the other side of the lake and watched them go up.

The other night I was sitting on the computer when I could have sworn I could hear a dragon outside.  So I went out to investigate, and there directly above our garage was a balloon.  It was so close that the boys called out hello to the people in the basket and they heard them and called back.  It was amazing!!! I'm sad I didn't get a picture.

And then the finally the Night Glow.  It was so nice not to have a baby to breastfeed this year, meant I could sit and enjoy the whole thing without worrying about flashing 80,000 people.

Waihi

Last month my sister asked if we would like to come with them to Waihi Beach for a weekend.  They were going for a wedding and wanted us to come so we could watch the kids while they went to the reception.  I take every opportunity to show Tui some new part of his new home so off we went.

Although it's only 1 1/2 hour drive away, we took our time, stopping at every insignificant place along the way.

We stopped for lunch and a swim in Te Aroha.

We visited the gold mines in Waihi.  The boys looooooooooooved it; a big hole with dirt, trucks and diggers, what's not to love? When they're bigger we might fork out the $25 each for the actual tour.....

We rode on a historical train.  So much fun.  There was an inside an an outside carrige, which of course our boys moved between every 2 minutes.

Waihi Beach itself was a bit of a disaster.  It was the worst possible weather, gale force winds, flooding, and my niece was throwing up the whole time so we didn't even end up babysitting for my sister.  And we didn't ever get to even look at the beach. But other then that it was a great little weekend getaway.

Model Trains

So down the road from us the Hamilton Miniture Engineers club.  Basicly it's train obsessed people who build these miniture trains and take people for rides on this miniture track that they've built.  Unfortunately they only run of Sundays, so we've never actually been.  Until now. (No, I didn't break the sabath for the sake of a train ride).  Twice a year they have an open day on a SATURDAY.  Yey!!! It was so awesome.  These things are like ligitimate trains, only smaller.  One of the guys I talked to, who had a steam train, said it had cost him about $100, 000 to build.  My sons who love Thomas the Tank Engine, loved that the train blew steam, that we had to stop and get coal, and that we had to stop to switch the points (Malachi even asked the driver "are we switching the points?" and the guy was over the moon that Malachi knew what that was).  There were petrol and electric trains there too, but the steam trains were by far the coolest.  I'm only sad that I ran out of coins and we couldn't ride more.  We'll just have to wait for the next open day.

 

Vili and his ticket, that he carried around for days afterwards.

Grandma and Grandad's house

Last weekend we took a trip to Auckland to stay with my parents for a night.  It was so weird being back on an Airforce base after all these years, but oh so nice.  I loved that Tui could finally see for himself just the sort of childhood I had - that it's so safe you wouldn't know where the key to the front door is coz it's never been locked, that you put your car windows up when you park, not because someone might break in, but incase it rains, that despite the fact that you could probably look every parked car and find the keys in the ignition, there's never been a car theft.  Every house is modest, with huge backyards, big fruit trees, and a garden.  Within 2 minutes walking distance is a free swimming pool, a gym, a playground, a fish n chip shop, and a dairy.  The only noise you ever hear, other then birds or kids playing, is aircraft coming and going. That if you walk past someone you don't know, they work or have worked with your Dad at some point, so they know who you are.

How I wish my boys could have the same upbringing.  The kind of lifestyle that encouraged and nurtured childhood adventures and imagination.  We never knew about stranger danger, coz there wasn't any.  Now I can't even let my son check the mail by himself for fear of something happening.  Gone are the days I guess.

So, now that I've gotten all that sentimental stuff out of the way, we had such a good time.  Dad took the boys for rides on his motorbikes, he took them to look through a bunch of different planes (they got to sit in the pilots seat and everything), I took Tui on a history tour, showing him my old houses, my kindy, my school etc.  And of course we got to be with my parents.  It was a short and sweet visit.  We're trying to make the most of the time we have to do things with the boys, things that will be so much harder when there's a new boss in town who's needs will come before anyone elses.

No (no points for guessing who dressed them that day....)

This plan took off right after we moved out of the way, headed for Afganistan.  The boys cheered and screamed and waved their little hearts out, thrilled to have a plane they'd just been in take off a few meters away.

This plane was the reason my parents lived in the states for a few years.  Dad ran the project to have them modified to do something that I'm sure is important.  They were the first in the world to do it.  My Dad even got a special recognition and medal from the Queen for his work on them.

We have a photo identical to this, except I'm 5 years old on my first day of school. My how I've grown....

Summer Fun

I love summer.

Warm days, cool nights, just the way I like it.
Pity it's all but over.

We've been back to Cook's Beach a few more times in the last month, as well as Raglan.  So we've been having some serious summer fun.

Malachi busting to go toilet, like always, and us on our way to cooks beach.


My oldest child.


Dinner with the cousins at the campsite.

Malachi is a hawaiian baby through and through, so at the beach he's in his zone.  Vili is really warming up to it the more we go (I may or may not have been doing some exposure therapy on him....unethical, I know.).   But their Tongan blood (and lack of body fat) just isn't OK with our south pacific water temperatures.  So their wetsuits have been a heaven send.  Without them, they're done after 20mins, but with them, hours on end.

Gotta love that black sand beach.

We got the kayacks out a few times up at the beach.  Malachi loves them. We go out on little adventures, in caves, up and down the coastline.  Vili will only go with my Dad for some reason (I'd consider myself waaaaaaay safer then him but whatever).

One day we went over to Whitianga and rode in the pedal cars. So much fun!! The boys thought they were just fantastic.  Lucky I had Tui to pick up the pedaling slack, coz man it was hard!!  Fun though.  We've been meaning to do it for ages and I'm glad we finallly did. Before we have too many kids to fit.

We've done a few hikes.  One was to Whitianga Rock, only about 30min up.  The boys are such troopers, they walked the whole way.  We also walked/hiked to Cathedral Cove.  Now that was a mission for a 6month pregnant person, especially carrying an 18month old at the same time.  But again, Malachi walked/ran the whole way on his own.  That kid is gunna be a long distance runner. 

At the top of Whitianga Rock.


At Cathedral cove.




After the hike back up. Can you tell they're ready for a nap?

Malachi went fishing with his Grandad to catch us some dinner.  He was so proud of the little fish that he caught, carried the dead things around for an hour after he got back.  And then he kindly shared his dead fish with Vili, who took great pleasure in playing with it's eyes.  When I told him we needed to bury them (so they wouldn't stink out the rubbish) he told me "I know mum. Coz their spirits already went to Heavenly Father, that's why their bodies go in the ground." Lol.

We've also been doing lots of water play at home.  I'll fill up some buckets with soapy water, give them some spoons and cups, and they're good for a couple of hours.

And of course we go to the pools.  Malachi is an absolute fish.  He can hold his breath underwater for about 10 seconds now, picks things up from the bottom, kicks and does his arms.  I put it all down to pure exposure.  I made a point of taking them to the pools once a week or every other week.  And it's paid off.  Vili is getting braver every day.  He's using his arm floaties now and won't let me hold him.  And he just wants to jump in, go under, and float back to the top.  He dips his face in the water, trying to swim like Malachi.  2 hours is never long enough for these boys.

 

But their absolutely favourite summer fun activity is riding their bikes.  They will do it from sun up to sun down and then some.  We made sure when we moved that we had somewhere that they could safely ride their bikes.  And because it's all fenced in, I can just let them go for it and wait for the screams.  They race, do trains, do bumper cars.  They just love their bikes.

Oh summer, how we will miss you when you're gone.