FRIENDS

A friend is a precious possession

Whose value increases with years.

Someone who doesn’t forsake us

When a difficult moment appears.

And our road will be smooth and untroubled

No matter what care life may send;

If we travel the pathway together,

And walk side by side with a friend.

Henry Van Dyke

Without these friends, our life journey would be a lot more difficult.
I am honoured to be in the company of such great friends.

Our families got together and had a "MYO - make your own" pizza night at Sharron's. Natt came also with her children, Nathan and Georgia.

Sharron & Natalie

These two of my very special friends, Sharron & Natt, have been a divine inspiration to me with their own life's experience to share and pass on, in their journey through families living with children with disabilities. They just 'get it'!

As well as Daniel, Nathan has cerebral palsy and has a huge crush on Nicola (he wants to marry her!) . She is the lucky one getting lots of hugs from him and Georgia!

The pizza night was thoroughly enjoyable for everyone.

The pizzas turn out perfectly...

And in keeping with the theme, there was even a simple but effective decorated pizzeria to eat at!

Whilst as Sharron's, even though I have seen it before and admired it, the dragonfly makes more sense to me now -how apt that Sharron also has one. (see blog post Dragonflies In The Midst).

Last week, Lezanne and I decided to cross an item off our ever-expanding bucket list, and enjoy a leisurely lunch and coffee whilst people-watching in the charming suburb of Parnell. I can't say we saw anyone of particular interest though!

There were a lot of tourists still here for the rugby world cup, and still lots of flags flying in support.

 A lovely afternoon of comradeship with lots of laughter and chatting!

Daniel has had eye-surgery this week for correction of his eye squint...I am pleased to say I am at this very moment enjoying seeing the smile on his face and laughter in his eyes whilst he watches Charley and Lola on tv...he can see still yay! His eyes may look like the devil (the whites of the eyes have turned red and bloodshot!) but this will eventually abate and we will be keen to see if his eyes are straighter. He was pleased to have lots of extra cuddles from Cameron.

And lots of attention in the hospital including his mother spoon feeding him an iceblock!

Nicola had wacky hair day today at school. She had this fabulous idea of half a head of curly hair, and half a head of straight...thanks to the clever work of her Mum and the hair straightener, wacky results were achieved!

Nicola has also made some good friends (or BFF's as they are called in this day and age - BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!)  this year at school.

Nicola and Paige

Emma and Nicola

Tonight some of us were very lucky to spend some quality time in the company of our friends at the mall. It is great that the kids are getting old enough to go shopping together by themselves whilst Lezanne and I could share some fine words over a leisurely coffee. The girls came back with their hair and nails done (ok, the nails were a disaster that they had to go to Professionails and get the superglue taken off whilst the whole shop laughed at these kids and their $2 shop talons!. But the hair was a hit!)

Leandri and Nicola

The boys came back with.....slingshots! A disaster waiting to happen!

Cameron and Luan

Next week Nicola gets to be on sticky tv, in a mud pit talent show, a competition her friend Emma won for herself and 10 friends and Nicola was lucky enough to be invited to attend. She has a list of instructions including:
 §  Be prepared to enter the ‘Mudpit’- bring a change of clothes and shoes.
I am sure this will be a source of muddy delight and will make for great viewing - watch this space!

FIREWORKS, FLAGS & FUN AT MOTAT!

Daniel has a new motivational interest...the iPAD!
Lezanny was lucky enough to get one for her birthday and so on Daniel's weekend visit there, he took over!

Luckily for Dan, we have planned a visit to Homai Library to try one of these out in the school holidays so here's hoping we can secure one...he certainly has fun interacting with Lezanne's one, especially when he can read a story, then tap on the pig and it farts.Nothing like a bit of toilet humour.
 Now I don't know where Daniel learned this, but on the way home from the Bobath physio course, quite randomly, as we were pulling into the McDonald's drivethru, Daniel very matter of fact said:
"Mum, you a pain in da bum!"
Ahhhh, I probably shouldn't have encouraged him, but I laughed , and that set Daniel off, and we laughed and laughed all the way back to school! It's those little sayings that come out of nowhere that need to be remembered and looked back on with fondness.

With the start of the rugby World Cup here in little ole' NZ, there has been a big buildup and opening ceremony in Auckland with fireworks on the Sky Tower. Daniel had spied the Sky Tower three times in the week leading up to the RWC opening, on his way to the Bobath physio course, so he knew where it was, and what it was, but was unsure about "fireworks" coming off it! As I jollied the clan along so we could have a view of the 8 minute pyrotechnics, Daniel produced a fake yawn, telling me he was tired and wanted to go to bed. Those that know my kids, know that they never want to go to bed...this was just a little way of Daniel telling me "I'm not sure what I am going to come up against at these so-called fireworks Mum!"
With a little bit of encouragement I managed to get all the boys in the car (that was also including Todd who was also dragging his feet, Nicola was at Paige's house for a RWC event), and off we went, 10 minutes up the road to view the fireworks...and they were spectacular!

I was having a wee bit of trouble with my camera and the night setting, so not the best shots by any means,  but I can state that the troops were highly impressed with the real event.

At the finale, we could hear the crowd cheer at the Viaduct all the way from where we parked in Sunnynook!
It has been awesome seeing all the flags flying everywhere welcoming the nations to the Rugby World Cup.

There are many cars with flags attached to them, representing many countries, but the majority being for the ALL BLACKS! Funnily enough, most flags are in the form of their country flag, but the NZ flag mostly flying is a black flag with a silver fern on it (like the AB's jerseys) rather than the national flag of our country!

Earlier this week I signed up for helping out Nicola's class at AJHS to go to Motat, museum of transport & technology. This is the second school trip I have done with her class this year, after the Howick Historical Visit - a very intriguing delve into history, so the latest one promised to be also much fun.
There was a wide range of modes of transport on show...from trams

with a real tram ride thrown in,

This tram was commissioned on loan from Melbourne.

to fire engines and everything in between (there was some random Kiwi stuff there too like the car from the Goodbye Pork Pie iconic kiwi movie).

For the technology part, the class had fun rearranging their body shapes!

Pagie and Nicola at the wave mirror

I started to feel old when, in the telecommunications part of the museum, I had to teach my group of 10 kids how to dial the old fashioned telephones with the dial up numbers (no push buttons here!) They really had no idea how to use them!

In the middle of the day, I fell behind the group a little to take time to 'stop and smell the roses' (except they were poppies, another reminder that spring is here!)

We had a lesson on simple machinery that helps in everyday life...Nicola was the only one in the class that remembered the pivot was called a fulcrum and then got to lift the teacher, literally!
One minute she was wayyyy too light to lift the teacher...

The next minute, with the fulcrum positioned correctly, there was lift-off!

What can I say, it was a really uplifting day all round!

TAKING A STEP BACK...

Who dat? He sings like MJ, he dances like MJ, he even talks like MJ! But since Michael Jackson is actually now dead, this is Kenny! Nicola and I were lucky enough to see him at the Bruce Mason theatre in Takapuna. What an awesome show!

He even came up into the audience, right down our row and touched Nicola's hand. She boasted she was never ever going to wash it again! Now THAT was a night full of entertainment!

In the same week, I was also lucky enough to take Cameron to the Vietnamese Water Puppets.

This was an outside show which was part of the Auckland Arts Festival.
It was our first time to Aotea Square where Cameron also "met" Lord Auckland.

Towards the end of summer, actually probably the beginning of spring, we had a little break away, first time exploring the North, not the far, far north (that is still yet to come), but still further north than here. We know why it is called "the winterless North", the weather was simply stunning! It was the very end of March/beginning of April and we ended up all boogie boarding in the surf at Mangawhai heads! Now that's saying something for me to get in the ocean over my head! We rented a little bach with a deck bathed in sunlight and a tree littered with ripe feijoas which was just perfect for our weekend away.

On exploring Mangawhai heads, we found....a sand dune! Woohoo, I was hoping to cross off one item from my bucket list...sand-duning! Only problem was, we didn't have any equipment!
Not to worry, the seed was firmly planted then, so after much excitement, we then went away for another weekend and took the De Beers with us!

We sent the kids out on a mission and they came back with the perfect sand toboggan - a large real estate sign! Shhhhhhhh, we don't know where they got it! But it worked a treat!

This photo captures the pure adrenaline rush that we all felt, particularly Daniel, who was keen to go again!
I am happy to say I did manage to cross this one off my bucket list..."a dare" I said to Lezanne, "I'll do it if you do it" (crap, I didn't think she would actually agree!)...and so, we actually did it, one after the other!!!

IT'S HEREDITARY!

Take a look at your hands and fingers...do they remind you of anyone?
I can look at all three of my children's hands, and see Todd in two of the kids and me in the other...Nicola and Daniel have inherited Todd's hands, and Cameron has mine.

And I can see the same in feet too...

If I didn't know any better, I would have not have thought Daniel was my son...physically, he is a mini-Todd (and they even won a photo competition in the NZ Woman's Weekly once for Father's Day for looking so alike!)...maybe other's can tell, but I can't see any physical features the same as me. Except maybe only his eye colour!

But apart from the physical side of things, there are many other traits that are passed on through our kids...some good, some not so good...I have passed on my determination to Daniel! Out of all of the traits, for Daniel, this has helped him through his rocky road of life!
All three kids seem to have inherited both Todd and my sense of humour! The knock knock jokes that fly around the table at dinnertime are unbelievable. It is rapidly emerging that Nicola has Todd's quick thinking wit.

Nonwithstanding, the kids have flown (literally) through the BIG move this year to Auckland with surprising ease and am happy to report we are all settled well.

Peace Bro!!!