Niamh's First Birthday

Sorry!! I know it has taken me a long time to upload piccies of Niamh's birthday! Her birthday was March 6th and she got a swing for her birthday. She had a great time, eating lots of choccy cake and spreading it where the sun don't shine!!! It was a small family gathering but Niamh seemed to have fun.
I can't believe our wee gorgeous Niamh is already one!

Hong Kong

The big family adventure started in Hong Kong where we had a lovely room (for the 4 of us!! Arrrgghh!) with a great view from Hong Kong island towards the mainland.

We had a wonderful days adventure at Hong Kong Disney, Beth had a great time dragging us from one ride to the next and Niamh had a lovely time sleeping through most of it.

The girls met the large disney characters and though Niamh was slightly bemused by them, Beth was terrified!!

Being blue eyed, blonde, white children, they attracted a lot of attention and ended up in a lot of random peoples pictures. Dave had to rescue Beth at one point as she was handed around a group of people who wanted to cuddle the white kid.

The end of the corn harvest

Beth and I have had a lovely time seeing the whole lifecycle of the corn plant.

She helped me plant the seeds and then helped (I use that term loosely) transplant the seedlings from their warm conservatory haven into the outside vege plot. She helped to water them and we watched them grow and grow. Then the best part! Eating the corn! We picked it and the first day we just ate it raw because it was so juicy and devine!! Niamh loved it too and ate her corn very enthusiastically.

Now we have to wait until it is warm enough for us to start the whole cycle again.

Ireland

Niamh on Grace and Donal's wedding day.



Beth and Colin ready for their big walk up the aisle.



The Bramwell-Cooke Family.



Niamh and Aunty Emma - they instantly had a special bond



Dave and Niamh at 'The Snug' in Bantry Bay.

Overseas adventures

O.k so I know I've been slack at letting you know about the holiday....which was wonderful!! So when I get a chance I am just going to keep putting some photo highlights on for you to enjoy.



Beth exploring Beehive huts



Beth and Colin (flower girl and page boy) hanging out before the big day.



Me and Susanne with wee Jonathan in Brunsweig (Germany)



Niamh in Frankfurt



Dave, Beth and Niamh enjoying a refreshing bottle in our Hong Kong hotel.

The day is here!

Yep today we leave on a jetplane to the other side of the world. Are we ready? Are we finished packing? I don't think we are ever really going to be ready and no we have not finished packing. I have left the girls pack till last as I knew it was going to be the hardest! We are hoping to travel reasonably light for a family of four but already we have had to add another bag. My initial idea was one pack for Dave and I and another for the girls then a carry on bag for Dave and I too. Of course then we also have the two single umbrella strollers. But with the wedding pressy, christening gift etc Dave and I just can't fit everything in one pack hence the addition of another small bag.

Things we are looking forward to at the moment....Hong Kong Disney, Germany spending three days with lovely Susanne and her family, Ireland, getting to see Grace and Donal and their new house, catching up with old friends and spending two days with Ezi who is coming over from London to join us for a couple of days exploring the east coast. Grace and Donal's wedding where Beth is flower girl! Seeing the madness of Tokyo and the beauty of Kyoto again and then we are hoping to come home to hot weather!!!! The last comment is the only part I am not sure we are going to get!

Anyway as well as packing I have cleaning and washing to do so this domestic goddess better sign off and get busy. Dave must be excited too as he is outside trimming the hedge and it's not even 9 o'clock yet!

We will try and post the odd update here and there so you can see what we are up too. We have decided to also take the video camera so we have a recording of our adventure seeing the girls probably won't remember the trip otherwise.

Look after New Zealand for us while we are away.

16 days to go!!!

Whoa, reality is starting to kick in! In only 16 days we will be loading ourselves and our precious cargo on a large plane to head overseas!!

We head out of Auckland just before midnight on Nov 15th and head to Hong Kong. We are staying in Hong Kong for three nights...we are hoping that breaking up the trip will help the girls adjust to the time changes a little better.

We then travel to Frankfurt where we are staying one night in Frankfurt and then three nights with my friend Susanne and her family for three nights...they live in Braunschweig which is three hours on the fast train north east of Frankfurt.

We then hop across to Ireland, stay one night in Dublin before heading south to Killarney. We are in Ireland for just over three weeks. Our big reason for travelling at this time of year is that my friend Grace is getting married to the lovely Donal and we have been invited, Beth is even the flower girl! So we have a few things to do once we are in Killarney and fabulous people to catch up with! We are going to travel round some of Ireland as well so that I can show Dave some of the highlights.

On the way home we are stopping in Japan for three nights, one night in Tokyo and two nights in Kyoto. We will be in Kyoto for our third wedding anniversary on the 16th of December. Then we get home on the 19th!
I imagine we will be very happy to be home and will be happily shattered from all our adventures!

Two great friends are house and dog sitting for us so it is great to know we don't have anything to worry about on the home front.

So don't expect any updates while we are away I will be having far too good a time to be sitting at the computer!!

I will have to load photos later as it isn't working at the mo. :)