Oh for the Love of Onions

One afternoon some dear homeschooling friends of ours (9 kids!) that live locally called to ask if we'd be interested in heading off to some nearby paddocks to collect some onions with them and we jumped at the chance.

Every year once the onion (or potato) pickers have been through the paddocks, our friends  get permission to go in afterwards and collect any produce that hadn't made the grade. They go with another family (of 8!) and this year were kind enough to offer us an invitation to come along too.

Our haul after we have given some away to Grandma and friends.

It was a lovely evening and the girls and I had a great time grabbing the onions off the fields. All that bending and hauling bags was hard work but really rewarding. Agent Smelly spent more time talking to one of her friends so only managed a couple of half bags much to our amusement. The Fashionista despite picking with her bestie did a great job and collected a few bags.

There weren't so many red ones left and those that were, were quite small. We still collected enough to see us through for quite a while. There were loads of brown ones that were of really good quality too, I am not sure why they leave some of them. We got a great haul ... imagine how much our friends got with their crews!!!  These onions would have been simply ploughed back into the ground if we hadn't of picked the left overs so if you live anywhere near some onion fields (or some other produce) write to the people and ask if you can clear out the paddocks after they've finished picking them, you might be lucky like us and be given permission to pop along and clean up.

As we now have onions a-plenty I had the girls help me make some onion soup. We learnt that it used to be made by peasants during a time when they could not afford much and hence was referred to as "peasant soup". The papa and I don't mind it but the girls have suggested I don't ever make it again, even if we end up living as peasants.

An Adventurous Day Out

Recently I took Agent Smelly and one of her friends, Miss Y, to Sonshine Ranch as part of a homeschool outing.

As part of the day included some horse riding the children needed to wear closed in shoes. When I picked up Miss Y, I asked her if she had togs and sneakers in her bag as she was wearing jandals (thongs for you Aussies and flip flops for you Americans and Brits). She told me that she had, but unfortunately when we arrived at the camp / adventure park and she went to put on her sneakers she found that she had forgotten to pack them. Well her bottom lip actually started to tremble (seriously was the cutest thing I have ever seen) and she was about to burst into tears when I quickly said "here try these on" and kicked off my own sneakers (we were over an hour away so wasn't like I could slip back home). She tried them on and thankfully these sneakers that are loose on me fitted her perfectly. Unfortunately her jandals were slightly a bit big for me (I have tiny feet) but I managed to tramp all over the hills and through the trail in them without breaking my neck ... the things we do!

Agent Smelly on the Flying Fox

It was quite a long ride through the bush ... I wouldn't have done it!

Anyway our first trip was down to the flying fox and the rope swing.

Agent Smelly on the rope swing

Then our group (there were 58 kids, two groups) was moved onto the horse riding. Agent Smelly was a bit disappointed that the trail ride was very short as she was dying to have a proper ride of her horse.

When I finally got up the hill from helping the remainder of the kids on the flying fox (parents lend a hand at each activity) they had already set off. When they returned I saw the kids on their sweet little horsies and then she comes out of the trail on bloody Phar lap. Apparently when they asked if anyone wanted the largest horse they had on the farm, she threw her arm straight up! She so was pleased she got him as she loves big horses. His name was Flash and he was missing one eye.


We then broke for lunch and sat on the grass in the most idyllic little area with all these lovely ferns and bush around us.


After lunch we moved onto their last activity which was a water confidence course. It was pretty gross to be honest ... but the kids had fun trying to get across the water without landing in it. Miss Y was really struggling on that type bit you can see in the bottom photo. You need to swing back and forth to get to the next one. She was taking ages and Agent Smelly was right behind her. AS's hands get really sweaty and whilst she had no trouble swinging and grabbing the next one, holding onto the same rope waiting for Miss Y to move was too much and she slipped into the drink. It was really quite funny, especially as Miss Y was just a tyre or two from the end and actually made it to the end without falling and all the kids behind waiting started dropping like flies ... haha

Agent Smell pink togs right in the centre.

 

Miss Y bottom left sitting on one of the tyres holding on ... haha
That's a water wheel the kids climb onto and try and move by running on it like a giant hamster!

We had really lovely weather and the activities kept moving and the girls really seemed to enjoy their day out together doing some fun and new activities.


Agent Smelly really seems to be gaining confidence at these activities without her big sister around. In the past she hung back, she did them but now she is putting herself out more to the front. It is interesting to see.

Post Camp Review

The Fashionista came home from camp on an absolute high ... I seriously thought that I might have had to put her on a string and let her fly out the car window on the way home. Those little footsies were not touching the ground ... she glowed!

Apparently she

• made lots of lovely new friends
• rode mini quadbikes
• went on a sea biscuit in the harbour (one of those inner tubes that gets toed by boats)
• participated in a talent quest; she danced of course
• made crafts (see hat above - formerly all white truckers hats)
• swam in the camp pool a lot!
• did a confidence course
• did archery (she stunk!)
• used air rifles (she stunk again!)
• participated in a sand castle competition (the group she was in won!)
• slid down a hill on a zoom slide (see video at 2:20 mark)
• did tobogganing down a hill
• did some team building activities
• had a go at BMX riding on a set track. She ended up being the only girl to make it onto the leaders board and apparently when her name was called out that evening, all the little boys in camp groaned to hear a girl had made it onto the male dominated board ... which still cracks her up when recalls it.
• and of course because it is a Christian camp (there are lots of non-Christian children who also attend so you don't need to be Christian to attend), there were bible games, memory work and bible stories which were all good fun apparently.

Here's a video compiled by the camp organisers. TF is in a few shots but as the video is quite long, if you simply look at the 2:20 mark you will have a bit of a giggle.
Click here for the camp video


Each group of 10 girls (or boys ... they are kept separate for some things, like sleeping ... lol) is assigned an aunty (or uncle for the lads) who sleeps in their dorm room with them and basically is responsible for their every need. TF was blessed with the most wonderful young lady, Aunt V, who sadly may not be back for the next camp as she is finishing Uni this year and hopes to end up in full time employment. Aunty V did so much more for TF than simply making sure she went to bed on time, went to all her sessions, etc. She had some wonderful conversations with TF and ended up being the most wonderful mentor and example of a kind, warm and modern, open-minded Christian woman that TF herself would like to be one day. 


It turned out that TF was the only pescatarian (a vegetarian who includes seafood in her diet) or even vegetarian on the camp (surprising with over 160 kids I thought) but the lovely kitchen people made her special dishes, similar to what everyone else was eating but substituted vegetables for the meat. She was really impressed at how lovely and kind these ladies (and gentlemen) were at accommodating her dietary needs.


She is already looking forward to next years camp. So am I, Agent Smelly is going to go too, so the Papa and I will get some alone time for the first time in like FOREVER!

Abandoned Mama

Yesterday I dropped my big girl, The Fashionista, off at her first ever summer camp. For those of you in the States summer camps aren't that common in this part of the world.

She could of at least tried to look a little sad at leaving, nay, abandoning me!

A nearby homeschooling friend who she mostly chats to online, invited her along just before Christmas. TF was rather interested and showed us the details and we agreed she could go. It's $210 but we thought considering that it's 7 nights and days with meals and lots of fun activities (paint ball, swimming pool and beach, camp fires, flying fox, BMX bikes, archery, air rifles) that it was pretty good value.

Agent Smelly is also old enough to attend but as AS still falls asleep in the car on the way home from Guide Camps, which only go for the weekend, we thought it might be a bit much for her. We discussed it with her and she agreed that she really only wanted to go for one or two nights so we suggested she wait for another year or two.

Unfortunately when we tried to book the camp, we were told it was full but TF was first on the waiting list for girls in her age bracket. I heard from Miss E's mama this week, that Miss E had told her that she felt bad because she was praying that someone would cancel or drop out so that TF could go but it meant someone else would be disappointed. She even had a sticky note attached to their home computer screen saying Pray TF can get a space on camp. The whole family apparently were quite aware of Miss E's desperation to get TF to attend with her.

Well of course she did get accepted a week or so ago and then the excited emails arrived daily from Miss E (I can't wait until camp, only x many more days until we are on camp, etc) which kept us all in fits of laughter leading up to the camp.

So anyway as I said, I dropped TF off at camp yesterday, which is just over an hour away. She was so very excited and happy to be there and I was kind of being brave and being happy for her (despite her abandoning me ... yes she reads these) but also a little sad for me cause I am going to miss her (feeling guilty yet baby girl?). 

This is the view from her bedroom window people. She's on the top bunk, right beside Miss E, and so this is what she sees looking out her window from her actual bed! It's How hard will it be waking up to that everyday.  This beach is a "surfing mecca for wave riders, with three world-class point breaks". One of the bays is said to "offer the longest left hand rides on the planet".

The following photos I took whilst on my way back into the nearby township, parked up at the one way bridge waiting for out turn. The camp is 6km out of town.

 

 

I had to console myself (due to being abandoned and all) by shopping at the little township. Luckily for my credit card I am still in recovery mode so I only managed a couple of shops.

Well there's always next week when I pick her up ...

Family Fantasy Night

The local primary school PTA organised a FAMILY FANTASY NIGHT (pirates, mermaids, gypsies, etc.) as their yearly fundraiser last night.

The PTA had organised lots of games, demonstration, raffles, stalls and food stations set up but the big draw card was the FREE outdoor cinema set up for later in the evening.

As we have lived in this small town for so many years and we know so many people I was able to drop the girls there early to meet some friends, hand them my mobile and some cash and then head home (2 mins away) until it was nearly time for the movie to start.

Big blow Up Screen on the school field, taken before it got dark.

We grabbed some $2 burgers from the PTA's food stall and with the thermos of hot chocolate and snacks I had, we settled on our picnic rug with sleeping bags and pillows. I have got to say despite the rather cold weather (summer has been late arriving in NZ this year!) and the fact that the movie showing was The Princess Bride it was a fun evening.

 

Seriously The Princess Bride is supposed to be a bit of a cult movie but The Fashionista and I simply cannot understand the attraction to it.

 

 

 

Taken just before the movie started, as you can see excited much!

 

Coffee anyone?

We went to the Waikato Home Show recently especially to visit the home builders stands as we have been considering building rather than buying an already established home. It was exhausting day and the weather was appalling. Thankfully most of it was indoors.

We entered lots of competitions and today I received a call from Lockwood Homes telling me that I won an espresso machine!




Delonghi Dolce Gusto - Circolo

Yeah ... now if I only drank coffee.

The Sound of Music

 

Living in NZ there are not a lot of live theatre productions on the same scale as overseas but every year there is at least one "big one". This year it was The Sound of Music.

 

Now because I am slightly crazy at times, I ended up organising an evening for homeschoolers. I needed a minimum of 30 and ended up with 65 people in total as we were able to get a really good ticket price. 

 

Part of the singing by the Nuns was in Latin and as The Fashionista has done a bit of Latin, so my and some other parents amusement, she was quite excited at interval to blurt that she could actually understand the words they were singing. A proud nerd moment!

 

It was a really awesome evening out and the show was delightful. The lass who played Maria was simply amazing and the Mother Superior blew us away with her singing.

 

 

The girls, before the show, with two of their dearest homeschool friends,

 who live a few hours away but were dropped off to watch the show with us.

 

 

Here they are again after the show

 

 

Nothing like late night Churros ... nom, nom, nom.

 

 

Hamming it up on the streets of Auckland in their op shop finery.

 

 

 

 

 

Angels Out and About

During the recent school holidays an awesome gift arrived from our friend (and one of my favourite bloggers), Sue Elvis in Australia. It was a personally signed copy of her newly released book, available from Amazon, The Angels of Abbey Creek. The girls were over the moon ... there were actual squeals of delight people! 

 

Sue who is a home educating Mama too, has been posting pictures on her blog with her own family out and about with her new book, so 'my angels' and I decided to take it along with us when we went rock climbing recently. You will have to forgive the photo's ... some plonker forgot the camera and had to use her phone, which frankly doesn't take great pics.

 

 

 

Hmm, what's that in The Fashionista's hands?

 

 

 

And again in Agent Smelly's hands, right before she dropped it on my head!

She's not the most co-ordinated of souls.

 

 

 

Coming down ... and having a read!

 

 

 

The Angels of Abbey Creek didn't make it out from under Agent Smelly's polo ... these climbing walls were a bit of a 'stretch' for my little short angel.

 

 

 

My big angel with "The Angels of Abbey Creek". She had no issues

climbing up quite a few of the advanced walls. She's like spiderman!

 

 

The workers in the rock climbing place, along with many of the kids there at the same time, were wondering what in heavens we were doing taking pictures with the book and were quite impressed when we explained that it was a published book from a friend. It was rather funny with them all keen to take a look at the book.


Hopefully soon we will have a review for you. We have read part of it and so far all are enjoying it very much. Thanks Sue, you are so talented.


You can purchase your own copy of The Angels of Abbey Creek from Amazon when you click on the link.  Sue also writes an unschooling blog called Stories of an Unschooling Family aswell as Sue Elvis Writes.

The Tweens first Daffodil Day

Cancer is something that has effected my family quite personally.
 
My Aunt Deb, a really close friend and sort of my idol (she was only 6 years older than me) died from cancer when she was just 32 years old, leaving behind a four year old son. Later two of my nephews who were only pre-schoolers, lost their mother Julie suddenly from it (within 4 days of diagnosis!), whilst she was only in her 20's. Two deaths of two very young mums taken by this really awful disease.  The Papa's own father died from cancer also, but it was before I ever met him.
 
For this reason every year I volunteer to sit on the local stall on Daffodil Day to collect money (sell pens, raffle tickets, etc) to help raise money and awareness.
 
For any international readers who don't know what Daffodil Day is, it is the Cancer Society's annual flagship event and one of the most important fundraising and awareness campaigns in New Zealand. As well as providing an opportunity to raise awareness of cancer in New Zealand, it's a major funding source for the Cancer Society.
 
The daffodil is one of the first flowers of spring, whose bright yellow blooms remind us of the joys the new season will bring. It represents the hope there is for the 1 in 3 New Zealanders affected by cancer.
 
This year I felt The Fashionista was old enough to sit on the stall with me and so I asked her if she'd like to volunteer with me. Of course she said YES!  Agent Smelly, never one to be left out of anything, decided that she'd like to come along also. So here are my sweet girls working their first Daffodil Day.

 

 

Here they are sitting outside our local dairy (milk bar, corner store, etc) at the table. Yes I was a proud Mama sitting nearby!
 
 

 

Aren't their hats cute? Usually I get stuck wearing one, so kind of glad with them both working I didn't have to wear it this year!

 

I love that both my girls understand how easy it is to donate a bit of time to worthy causes and am hoping that it is something they continue to do throughout their lives.

We live in Middle Earth ...

Recently along with another 117 people who are parents of, or are actual home schoolers, we visited Hobbiton where part of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.

The actual guided tours are 2 hours long and on private farmland in the Waikato. The tours are not at all cheap but as we had so many in our group we ended up getting a great deal.
 
The girls and I arrived at the entrance (car park, ticketing office, cafe, and tourist shop) by 10am to meet up with our group. Our group was then transferred over three buses to the film spot. They had buses run about every 15-20 minutes, and were driven by a guide to and from the tour area. Our lovely guide Steve gave us what seemed like lots of information and little tidbits about the movie, site and actors. Even if you knew nothing about the movie (here's a secret we actually haven't seen any of the movies!) he really made it interesting. Nothing secret squirrel of course just some lovely stories. One of the guides that works there was actually in one of the first movies when he was a small child.
 



One of the newer buses. We had an older one called Gandalf ... yes they all have names.



  
Now despite the tour being two hours long, my two girls managed to take 265 photos between them! So forgive me for the many photos you are about to see but we three just loved the place and had the most loveliest of times.





This is the entrance to where we started our walk. Those bushes that make that hedge were actually planted there by the movie studio! There's actually a tie in the top right corner that is tethering a full-grown tree that they also planted until they are truly confident it wont fall over. This was right at the beginning so I started off on my journey not knowing what was 'real" and what was man made. It was quite astonishing and really hard to tell what wasn't authentic! 
 

 

 

 

See that tree up on the hill, the big one on the right? Well that was supposed to be the tree where Bilbo Baggins' home was under but firstly because the book is set in England it of course is an oak tree in the novel. Secondly, the movie peeps were worried popping a door, etc under it they might weaken it's root system and bring it down. Therefore they built a fake tree ... that tree to the left! The plastic leaves (made in Asia, so they are imported!) keep falling off. They have apparently replaced them once and since there were a few that had blown off, we were able to pick up a few for our memory books (and for a Hobbit Fan friend in the US).

 
 

 

All the doors in the hobbit homes are different sized. As you can see the girls would have to bend to enter but on some of the others despite my lack of height (yes I am of Hobbit proportions) I could walk inside without bending over.

 

 

They use the food they grow here in the Green Dragon Inn where they serve meals.

  

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 

Loved these little chimney tops just popping up out of the hill everywhere.

  

 

Doesn't it look like real produce?

 

 

 

 

Honey anyone?

 

 

Yup, all fake!

 
 

Even the bread!

 

 

See the door is open behind? We were allowed to pop inside for a look. Sadly just part of the hill with support beams, etc.

 
 

But you could pop around and look out through the window. What a scary little Hobbit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fake Tree

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly Bilbo wasn't home. Bilbo's is the only place where they ask people to keep away from the door, windows, etc. I suppose they don't want to risk anything getting wrecked, or from wear and tear. They are so good about every other place that it's not an issue.

 

 

 

Here you can see the inside of this hobbit home. Not especially exciting. 

 

 
 

Looking over from the hill towards the Green Dragon and Mill. 

 

 
 

 
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

Everywhere you looked there were things set up as though you were actually walking through a wee village and the villagers were going to pop out any minute.

 

 

The Cheese Shop

 

 
 

 

  
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 Included in the tour is a complimentary ginger beer when you arrive at the Green Dragon. Frankly this little fat Hobbit was quite parched after walking up and down those hills so it was gratefully received. It was really quite delicious too!

 

 

 

 

 You can order food and coffee, etc from this bar.

 

 

Lots of little nooks to rest up around the place.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They hold events at the Green Dragon ... note the lanterns for some event they had held over the weekend.

 

 
 

 

Girls were posing on the little haystacks but a spider crept out and scared our Agent Smelly who is deathly afraid of them!

 

On our way back to the bus.

 
 

 

All good things must come to an end but what a beautiful day we had.