Our Book of Life

Rangikawea had a Teacher only day from school. He enjoyed sleeping in past 5:30am. When he did wake up he wanted to run. It was a beautiful morning so he ran down and met us at the bus stop. When he reached the bottom he exclaimed, "that was awesome. You know why? You can stop and look around and see the cows and the trees and the horses." He loved it so much he wanted to run home after the school bus had made it's pick up. It was really great to see and I could not resist snapping a few photo's,

When you hear the words new toys, I am sure there are alot of different items that come to mind. Being in a property again reminded me that there are some "toys" that are essential to maintaining a farm. We have been without some of these things since being back but good things come to those who wait.... and with a surprise from my darling he arrived back from one of our family's homes with.... A ride on mower and weed eater. Wooohoooo! now days worth of work can get done in a matter of hours. All the family caught on to the working buzz outside. A great day. Here is Teancum using the weed eater while his dad was on the ride on. He did a great job. So did Rakaipaka. You know how I am always telling you how much Rakai adores his big brother? Well look at what we found him doing. He had found a little play chainsaw in the play house and started cutting the grass with it like his brother. With his own sound effects to go with it. He was so cute... Hikawera and...

Have you ever tried Lambs tails? No? What is it? Let me explain. When lambs get big enough, say a couple of months old, their tails are docked off. This makes for a cleaner animal. What is so interesting about that you may ask? Well it is what happens to the tails after this that is 'interesting'. Arama is from a place in New Zealand called Hawkes Bay. It is the fruit bowl of New Zealand and with rich soils, beautiful countryside and amazing beaches all within minutes of each other, it is what some refer to as paradise - to us - HOME. Here in the Hawkes bay it is a delicacy to eat Lambs tails. Even talking about them gets the mouth watering and that homer simpson mmmmmm! There is usually a hunt down for tails and if you have them, be sure the family and friends will be close by to share in the abundance. Here in Auckland we have found the 'culture' a little different. Our dear friends Kelvin and Pip have abouyt 1900 lambs this year and have started docking. They c...

I was really surprised when I noticed that I was up to the big 100th posting on my blog. I think I surprised myself that I stuck with it for so long, but I am really enjoying recording our family's journey and sharing it with my close family and friends - YOU! I sooo wanted to make it a fantabulous entry to celebrate that I ended up not knowing what to write about. Then, Life decided to take us on a BIG express roller coaster of which I am sure I did NOT purchase a ticket for! (hehehe)  So much does happen in our house, both big and small, now I have found that I am playing catch up. Soooo, be prepared to be bombarded with entries till I get up to present. Happy reading !!!!

Pinch and a Punch for the first day of the month!! Remember that rhyme? Remember the sore arms and rebutal;  Hit and a kick for being so quick!! That was this evening in our house. The little bonding moments!! Have to cherish those. Thank you Kawea for starting tonights fun! Welcome September everyone World cup starts in 19 days! Dad and Hikawera trying their luck. Dad was surprised how fast he was!! hehe.

It has been a really big week this week. It began with a sick little lamb. Our dear little girl lamb "aroha' was not drinking too well and she became really sick. On wednesday I went to Kelvin and Pip's (the family who gave them to us) and they gave me some medicine to try on her. Sadly when we arrived home, we found she had died that afternoon. So sad but glad she is not suffering anymore. With that, the next morning we held a burial for her. While Rakaipaka surveyed the area ( he really is neat to watch how comfortable he is around our farm) Renata helped dig the grave.  Rakai helped say a karakia (prayer). When asked what church song we were to sing at the end of our little service, Renata said, "no, not a church song - Mary had a little lamb!!" So there we were singing Mary had a little lamb to our dear little lamb!!! I set about making a new pen for the two boys. I was grateful for the materials that had been left behind by the previous owner. In abo...

Every morning we sit and wait for the bus with Nauvoo and Hikawera. As the weather is now getting warmer (9oC this morning) we are now opening our windows! As our neigbours are cows it is polite to say hello. Here is a picture of Hikawera and Rakai sayign Good Moooooning!!!!

I love watching Rakaipaka run to feed our lambs. As soon as he knows it is feeding time he grabs one of the bottles and runs as fast as he can to the pen. He soooo LOVES it. (gets very upset if you don't let him take the bottle or feed them)  Such a cutie!

Renata has been really great helping me around the farm. This day we were....yes clearing more gorse. Renata did a great job at sawing  some big branches for me. He really did a great job and stuck to it till he was finished. While we were clearing we found the group of rocks Arama was telling me about. I would love to see us put a bridge over these as a feature.