Well, Jesika was home!
And when she is home she wants to make up for lost time and do EVERYTHING!

 

First thing on the list was to go out on the boat.

So Tim rowed out to get it in while the crew got themselves ready.

Jesika took the following photos, which I have borrowed as they tell the story way better than just my words

Sasha was engrossed in a book so anywhere in the sun was comfortable!

Jesika - happy to be back at the helm again.

It's been quite a while.

Tim & Seb had mussel work to do

It was a very educational trip for Evan.

His first look-see into the mussel farming industry.

Of course, all work and no play makes dull boys.

So some fishing was definitely in order.

I really like this photo.

 

Once they had the job done they returned for lunch.

Phoebe & I had been hard at it in the kitchen.

I made a large pot of soup for lunch and then got on with preparing food for a party.

Phoebe made cheesecakes

 

 

 

 

Our day was spent unpacking and getting many loads of washing through.

We tidied the house and got food prepared ready for the onslaught.

 

Seb & Phoebe arrived mid afternoon.

Followed closely by Jesika, Evan, Sasha & Mahalia.

Mahalia had her orthodontist appointment earlier in the morning so we had left her in town.

I nicked these photos from Jesika's camera (which is actually my old one so that must give me some licence eh? )

Evan went through baptism by fire and drove the Terrano home!

The crazy back seat drivers

Typical that the grader was working - when there is rain in the forecast they always send out the graders!!

They did a spot of sightseeing at the top of the hill before coming down to the house.

It was a glorious day for Evan's first trip to Port Ligar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were up and packed and saying our goodbyes to Lee by around 9:30am.

Stopped off at Starbucks in Mission Bay to pick up some essentials and then headed to Kelly Tarlton's for the morning.

We had been driving past it every day and Azzan had been asking if we could please go.

So that's what we did with our last morning in Auckland.

Stella, Jason & Journey met us there.

We had a bit of an adventure as we came through the doors

We made it through the jaws attack and then walked through the Antarctic section.

Stella & Azzan disappeared - I found them in the snow mobile

Azzan was trying to figure out where the music was coming from

Big kids!!

The Gentoo and King penguins were in a temporary ice room while the new walk through sanctuary is being built.

There were a few baby King penguins in there, they were very cute fluffy critters.

Azzan enjoyed time with Journey.

We watched the rays being fed.

By this time Azzan was flagging.

I suggested taking his photo in the shark's mouth but he was very uncooperative.

(I thought he was just tired but looking back, I am now realising he was actually starting to get sick.)

I thought it was really interesting finding this after our children had brought home the 'mermaid's purses' only a week or so back.

The coral aquariums were beautiful.

Azzan was sad that the coral was shut up inside here.

Nemo popped out to say hullo as we passed by

Mahalia admiring some interesting fish

Seahorse Kingdom was beautiful

Azzan meeting some curious fish.

 

Ken arrived and spent half an hour catching up.

He and Tim headed outside to talk for a while.

Then it was time for us to make tracks.

So we said goodbye to the others and scarpered in the city.

Parked up at The Mission and walked with Mat & Sunni to Burger Fuel to get lunch.

We had time to down our very delicious burgers, find a bathroom, then get gelatoes for the girls, a strawberry thickshake for Azzan and a frappaccino for me.

Then we raced back to the car.

Goodbye hugs for the new Mr & Mrs Holt and then we high tailed it out to the airport.

We made good time.

Swapped our gear from the rental to the shuttle and got dropped off at the terminal.

We waited for half an hour then just as we were about to board Azzan disappeared into the bathrooms and the plane was held for him!!

We finally were boarded and on our way.

Good flight back, just a few bumps as we came in towards Nelson.

There had been a lot of rain while we were away.

Jesika, Nathan & Evan arrived to meet us.

We transferred all our gear onto the truck and then left Jesika & Evan to visit John & Sally.

Seb had done my grocery shopping so we didn't have to dally anywhere.

We dropped Nathan home, picked up the groceries and then drove straight home.

All was well when we arrived back around 9pm.

Skip was racing around very pleased to see us & Tinga had survived his camping holiday in the outside aviary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was woken at 8:15am by a text from Diane to say that they hadn't gotten home till 4am so were canning the proposed brunch bbq because they were too shattered.

She & Wilf had stayed back to make sure the church was completely cleaned up and ready for the Sunday morning services.

I was all cool with that and sent some texts to the older children to let them know.

Only got response from Jesika so left her to sort the others when they finally woke.

As you can imagine there was very little movement from the younger folk until later in the morning.

We were up and showered long before the children so had time to socialise with Tim & Lee which was nice.

 

Once we made contact with the older ones and some decisions were made we activated the 3 youngest and headed into the city to meet up.

The guys had a desperate need for burgers so they congregated at Burger Fuel in Queen st.

When we arrived they had finished eating so we went for a wander down the street.

Anson & Nathan - mischievous as ever - decided to fit in with the locals and held hands as they walked down Queen Street

We found our way to Mezze Bar where we met up with Tahi & Fern and hung out for a couple of hours.

We sorta took over one end of the cafe!

It was heaps of fun.

Fern was not at all impressed with me taking her photo.

But she was wooed by Evan and decided he was pretty okay and let him take heaps of photos of her.

The others all decided it was time to mosey so they headed off to explore.

Azzan's GO teacher Mary arrived and hung out with Azzan & I for half an hour.

It was great to finally meet her in the real.

We walked up the street with her and then said our goodbyes and went to find the others.

They had been having some fun.

Shanni took these photos

 

 

It was soon time to load the travelers into our people mover and get them to the airport.

Tim stayed at The Mission with the 3 youngest and went home with Diane after they had cleaned up.

I took Phoebe, Seb, Nathan, Jesika & Evan to the airport to catch their flight back to Nelson.

Then I found the hotel nearby where Marah & Anson were booked into.

They were leaving at the crack of doom the next morning so it was easier for them to stay by the airport.

I stayed and chatted with them for a while and then drove back to have dinner with the others at Diane & Wilf's.

Sunni & Mat were there too.

We had a lovely meal but were ready for a not too late a night so left around 9pm.

We were all very ready to crash out for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ceremony was held in the choir of the church.

It was after 7:30pm and the main lighting was from candles.

It was a beautiful atmosphere.

Tank was supposed to deliver the rings but I think he got his message wrong.

He turned up anyway and joined his parents in the ceremony

Azzan read a poem by Hovis Presley - he did really well.

'I rely on you
like a camera needs a shutter
like a gambler needs a flutter
like a golfer needs a putter
like a buttered scone involves some butter
I rely on you
like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
like an HGV needs endless derv
like an outside left needs a body swerve
I rely on you
like a handyman needs pliers
like an auctioneer needs buyers
like a laundromat needs driers
like The Good Life needed Richard Briers
I rely on you'

Afterwards we celebrated in one of the transepts.

The strobe lights made it look really pretty.

There were some speeches later on.

And plenty of food

Doesn't our darling look lovely?

Jesika & Chelsea - both live in Melbourne but have to come back to NZ to catch up!!

Stella & Jason made a pinata.

I had a go and sent it flying.

Then after it was rehung Azzan & Mat had a bash at it.

But it was Sunni that managed to beat it down and get all the goodies out.

 

We had a lovely night.

It was wet outside but no-one cared.

We finally headed off home sometime around midnight.

The party continued for many hours after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all arrived at St Matthew's at 6:30pm for the official family photos.

Once the photographer had done his thing we all got our own cameras out and had some fun.

The architecture in the church is a wonderful backdrop.

Wish we had've had more time and better cameras.

 

All of minus Sunni & Cat

The Clan

(minus Cat - who was in Corsica that night so couldn't really get there in time!)

Sunni & Mat and their wedding group

Not many could wear black on their wedding day and look wonderful.

Sunni did it and was stunningly gorgeous.

Bri, Azzan & Phoebe

Mahalia, Marah, Phoebe & Shoshannah

Bri & Nick being regal

then more relaxed

and very relaxed!

Marah & Anson

Jesika & Evan

Seb & Phoebe

Mahalia & Phoebe

Shoshannah, Mahalia & Phoebe

Tim & Raewyn

and again

 

 Nathan was on bar duty so he was busy setting up before the service

Tim, Sebastian & Anson having manly talks

Azzan checking out the food and having a wee preview!

Don't the cupcakes look amazing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The younger three were all weary after our late night but with the incentive of hanging out with their older siblings for the day they were soon up and packed and in the car soon after 10am.

 

Sebastian, Nathan & Phoebe flew into Auckland early Saturday morning.

They shuttled into the cbd & hung out with Jesika & Evan until we arrived in the city.

Anson was picked up by Glen at 9am and taken to the North Shore for a business meeting.

 

We all decided to head to Theatre Coffee Company for brunch.

It is so cool there and despite not having booked we managed to get the large table up the back underneath this wonderful ceiling window.

When we all hit the streets we tend to have this ability to 'take over' the environment.

I guess we do easily make up our own party when we get together - this time there were only 13 of us

Evan found a great way to sooth Azzan - head massage is most acceptable after a late night.

Fresh healthy juices are also very good after long days of travel and late nights.

And they really do excellent juice combinations at Theatre.

Everyone was starving hungry so fell on their food when it arrived like rabid wolves.

The boys plates were clean within minutes!

Anson was dropped back soon after we arrived so walked up to meet us.

He got a tad lost but I managed to talk him through the tangle of streets and Nathan walked to meet him so he was soon here and very ready to enjoy a hearty brunch with us all.

Marah had bought a wonderful new camera as they came through duty free so Christian was able to give her a few tips.

I am most impressed with it - it takes wonderful photos.

I am thinking I might have to dump my new one cuz I am getting so frustrated with it.

It is just a model or two newer than my older Panasonic Lumix but the older one takes better shots more easily.

Eventually it was time to leave.

We said our farewells to Christian.

Tim, Seb & Phoebe headed to Beggs XL while the others headed off for a shopping spree down Queen St.

I went back to the car.

While sorting out where I needed to go I got a call from Sunni asking for some manpower.

So I called up the guys and they all headed to the church to help Mat with the setting up.

Then I drove to Ponsonby and after circling the block several times I eventually found a park down a back street where I could stay for a couple of hours.

I could see the parking wardens in action closer by so didn't want to risk being towed of fined!!

Sunni had suggested a couple of places to get my hair and makeup done.

So I first of all went to Servilles.

My stylist was Vanessa - and crazy enough - she is married to the cousin of our friend/neighbour Jude!

She was lovely and I was soon transforming my hair from 'blah' to fantastic

From there I walked to shops down to Smashbox and had my make up done.

That was fun.

It seems to be a real popular artform these days.

They were flat out busy there the whole time I was in there.

 

By the time I had finished the weather had changed for the worse.

It was cold and raining.

I zipped across the road to a pharmacy and bought an umbrella so I could at least try and get back tot he car without too much damage done.

 

When I arrived back at The Mission everyone was just chilling out.

We eventually got ourselves dressed and ready for the 6:30pm family photos before the wedding.

Mahalia & Azzan scrubbed up beautifully.

The pink beads had been bought on the shopping spree with Marah and went beautifully with her boots and nail polish.

Azzan was 'the man' in his new three piece suit!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left Tim and the children to chill out for the morning.

Tim took them for a walk to the beach and the park and then they just relaxed.

I drove into the city at 9am to pick up Jesika & Evan.

Conveniently there is a Starbucks at Mission Bay so of course I had to stop for a quick fix.

We had to head over the Harbour Bridge and do some things on the North Shore.

Sunni had given Jesika & I a gift of an hour with a stylist.

Must admit I really didn't know what to expect.

We dropped Jesika off at 10am for her hour there and Evan navigated for me so we could find our way up to Wairau Park to pick up several things for Sunni.

Then it was back to swap over.

I had my hour there and they went back up to Wairau Park to pick up some other stuff that hadn't been ready at first.

The hour I had with Julia Turnwald was far far better than I ever imagined.

She was really lovely, helpful, supportive and encouraging.

At midday I was collected by J&E and we drove back to the city.

Unloaded all the things we had collected, rang Sunni and got some more jobs to do.

We then had to negotiate our way over to New Lyn which was a nightmare.

Road works, traffic, people, a really yucky part of town.

We finally found the place, picked up the order and then got out of there as fast as possible.

We headed directly back to Kohimarama.

Tim & the kids had asked if I would get food for lunch.

We were going to stop at a supermarket but never went past one and then as we came into Mission Bay we spotted Burger Fuel.

So it was hard down on the anchors chaps! Find a park and then deliberate over the menu.

An easy thing to do when you are starving hungry.

15 minutes later we walked out with 7 burgers and 3 bags of kumara fries.

We arrived back at the house and found a couple of wee fish in the pool.

The air temperature really wasn't terribly warm and the pool is not heated but they were having a ball.

We hoed into our burgers.

They were wonderfully delicious.

Evan & Tim had food all over their faces which caused a lot of ribbing

They are huge burgers and are not really delicate to eat so you just get your munchies out and go for it!

We eventually managed to get Azzan out of the pool to eat his.

Mahalia only managed to eat a small amount of hers and then she took refuge in the spa pool to warm up.

We sat around and talked for a while.

Lee came home, chatted and then went out again.

It finally got too cold outside so we headed upstairs and reclined in the lounge until it was time to get ourselves ready for the evening out.

We drove into the cbd and hung out at the City Mission.

Diane is the head lady there and is using the office space for some wedding activities.

The children under 16 were looked after by one of her social workers.

The ordered in pizza, played games, and then she took them for a drive in the van and they explored the Viaduct Basin area before coming back to watch a movie.

Meanwhile the adults all headed to Ponsonby to Nostalgia for an evening out to celebrate Wilf's 60th, James's departure and Sunni & Mat's forthcoming wedding.

Diane had booked out the upstairs room.

It is a wonderful venue and so beautifully decorated.

Worth a visit just to look!

It was a great night.

Anson & Marah had recovered enough to be able to enjoy the evening.

I sat with them and Jesika & Evan and Mat's bro Jared.

I think we were the craziest and certainly the noisiest table in the room!

I popped over to see Sunni & Mat & Tim at another table between courses.

Tim was enjoying time with his nearly son-in-law.

We ordered from a set menu.

I had the eye steak, but was so busy making sure the waitress removed the liver from my order that I forgot to tell them that I like my meat dead

As I hadn't made the request I felt somewhat obligated to eat it as it arrived.

I thought I did pretty well actually - only gave Anson 2 smallish pieces I really could manage.

I cut it up small and hid the pink parts in the veges and tricked my mind into thinking it was actually cooked.

The meat was extremely tender so not totally unenjoyable

Dessert was definitely something to write home about though.

I had the Rhubarb Creme Brulee.

It was delicious - especially the strawberry sorbet.

The dinner was a surprise to Wilf but he still managed to wax forth eloquently after the meal.

 

We left a lot later than we had planned so by the time we got back to The Mission the children were all ready to go and we were all very ready for bed.

Got back to the house around the pumpkin hour so now all are tucked up and sleeping sweetly.

Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would have trouble getting the children up and moving this morning after their long day yesterday.

But they were all up soon after 6:30am!

We were packed and out the door and down the road by 8:30am.

Mahalia was the only one with a cell phone that worked that was free to do some essential jobs for me.

So I dropped her off outside Nelson Tailors with Azzan's suit pants just before 9am with all the instructions written down as to what I needed done.

She also had Shanni's phone to take to Vodafone to try and find out why it wouldn't work on the new system.

The rest of us arrived at Nelson Beauty just in on 9am.

Shanni & I both had appointments there.

Julie was happy for Azzan to set up my laptop in the spare room so he was able to skype his GO teacher from there.

When Mahalia arrived she came into visit with me for a bit and then she spent the rest of the time on my laptop after Tim arrived to collect Azzan.

The guys had haircuts scheduled at 11am with our lovely Welsh friend Sandy at Monaco Hair Salon.

After Shanni finished she went off belt hunting.

When I was all done Mahalia & I met up with Shanni.

The girls went off to get hot potatoes for lunch and I met Mandy at Des Pierres and had a nice plate of salads.

They did a very tasty assortment - I chose the risotto salad and the broccoli with curry sauce - very tasty.

I had to run then as we had a 1pm appointment.

Tim and Azzan arrived a few minutes late.

Azzan was proudly sporting a flash bright purple haircut.

He and Sandy had been having way too much fun methinks

 

The kids sat in the Terrano while Tim & I had our meeting.

Nathan was in town too so we had a chat with him before heading off to do the last of our chores.

I picked up the guys pants from the tailors then whizzed in to The Warehouse to pick up a photo frame.
Shanni found a pair of shoes so she was happy.

Mahalia is still not feeling at all well so she chose to stay in the car most of the time.

I flew back to Starbucks to get a frappacino to go and we raced on to the airport.

I dropped the girls and our bags there.

They sat out in the sunshine and waited for us to return.

I picked up Sasha from work then drove out to Richmond to meet Tim at her place.

He finally turned up.

We loaded ourselves into the Terrano.

Left the truck parked up there.

Got back to the airport and organised all our luggage.

Said goodby to Sasha and she took the Terrano home.

We had limited ourselves to two bags of checked in luggage and the rest was carry on.

We didn't have too long a wait until we boarded our flight to Auckland.

The flight was fairly uneventful.

I was across the isle from this bunch of rabble 

Shanni got loose with my camera cuz it was more accessible than her own.

Not hard to tell who's daughter she is eh?

When we were starting to descend the hostess told Azzan that seeing as he was such a polite young man she would love him to pass the sweets around the cabin.

He did an excellent job - and was rewarded with a coffee cup full of them.

I thanked the hostess very much and told her it was so lovely of her to give him so many when we would have to live with the after effects of all the excess sugar 

 

The setting sun was absolutely glorious on the clouds so Shanni took heaps of photos.

These are just a small selection of the better ones.

It was 6:30pm when we landed.

Jesika & Evan had flown in 3 hours before us and picked up the rental car.

Lots of big sister hugs all round.

The waited over at the nearby shopping centre and then swung by and loaded us all on once we had our luggage.

We had a bit of fun leaving the area as we had to fuel up the rental car and because we missed the turn off into the fuel station we had to go around a few extra blocks and roundabouts.

Eventually we got back there, got fuel and water and then Jesika drove us to the city centre with me navigating.

Finally arrived.

Met up with Sunni & Mat.

More hugs all round.

Unloaded Jesika & Evan and then I took the wheel.

It is an 8 seater people mover - a bit daunting as it is a very different vehicle from what I am used to driving, but I manged fine and we soon arrived at Kohimarama where we are staying the weekend with Tim & Lee.

They had dinner waiting and we fell on it with great voracity as we were starving hungry.

Mahalia was first into bed looking decidedly unwell.

The other two were soon settled too.

We sat upstairs and chatted with Tim & Lee for a while and now have crashed out for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I woke at 4:18am precisely and turned off the alarm and rolled out of bed and into the shower.

Azzan was up soon after.

I wanted to get his GO work typed up before we left home so it was all ready for his Skype lessons on Thursday.

He had been researching cryptids and wanted to tell about the similarities and differences of various cryptids around the world such as the Loch Ness Monster, Taniwha's, Bunyips, Yetis, and the Chupacabra - to name but a few.

We got that done while the girls were getting themselves up and ready.

Tim helped us pack up and we were gone by 6am.

 

When we were about half an hour from Nelson I suggested that the kids might like to entertain me with some singing.

So there was some debate as to what they would sing.

At one point I had 3 different songs coming at me!

Azzan was very vocal that they could not sing an Adele!!

Anyway, that got us to town in a merry mood.

We stopped off at Nathan's to unload a few mussels and meat into the freezer and then zoomed into the city.

We picked up some frappaccino's then I whizzed to Vodafone Business and picked up my new wifi units and some sim cards for the kids phones.

 

Then it was time to drop Shanni & Azzan at the library.

I zipped into the NZ shop and got a baby present organised to post to Australia.

Then I dropped Mahalia off at harp and headed to my counseling session.

After an hour there I picked up Mahalia, then the other two and went back to the city centre.

While Mahalia & I went to Vodafone to sort out porting over the cell phones Shanni took Azzan to find some black shoes for the wedding.

When I found them they had chosen some very smart shoes and a very sharp price so I was happy.

We then headed over to the NMIT where we were booked to have lunch at The Rata Room - the training restaurant where Nathan is does his course.

He was very happy that we were coming and was able to wait on us which was really nice.

He was very professional.

HE served the children some mocktails which they all enjoyed.

Then we were given a delicious selection of freshly baked breads.

It disappeared very quickly cuz we were hungry as!!

We had a choice of 3 mains.

Shanni chose the Ox-tail served with mashed potato and pronounced it to be absolutely delicious.

She had never had ox-tail before so was pleasantly surprised.

The rest of us had chicken with a goat's cheese & cranberry sauce served with kumara and baby carots.

Despite not being able to stand eating goats cheese I really enjoyed it.

Mahalia was not feeling very well so she really struggled to eat much.

Nathan took this photo before we devoured our lunches.

Then it was dessert time.

Shanni & I both had the creme brulee with rhubarb.

It was divine!

Mahalia & Azzan had the semifreddo which was ice cream with peanut butterscotch.

Mahalia was able to eat hers but Azzan had a bit of a struggle.

Nathan also made me an affagato so after all that caffeine I was buzzing and ready to hit the road again.

I dropped Mahalia & Azzan at the library and the  Shanni off for her appointment.

I shot back into town to get some last minute things.

Ties for Tim & Azzan etc.

Then it was back to pick up the children, and Shanni and head out to Richmond at a rate of knots.

Dropped them off at Andrea's for their music lesson and then hightailed it to Monaco where I was booked for a 3:30pm massage.

I was a couple of minutes late but it was still pretty good going.

I was very ready to lay back and relax by this point!

 

After an enjoyable hour I had to go back out to Richmond to pick up the children.

While I waited for them I started the process of getting their phones working.

For some reason Shanni's just wouldn't work.

I had to call Vodafone for help.

When I finally got put onto the right person he was incredibly patient and helpful and walked me through everything I needed to know.

It turns out that her phone, which she inherited from Nathan, is a Telecom phone and looks like it might be locked.

So now I have to find out from Telecom if they will unlock the phone!!

There was a lot of other things he helped me to sort out too so it was very late by the time we finally left.

We called into the supermarket to pick up some food and then I took the kids back to the house.

We unloaded, they go themselves sorted foodwise and then off to bed.

I had to zip around the corner to see Phoebe and her sister Lizzie.

Nathan arrived home soon after I left so they were all fine.

Lizzie got my dress sorted and after a couple of hours I came back tot he house.

Talked with Nathan for a while before heading off to bed.

It's been a long day but we have achieved lots so all is good.