I just had to put a couple of photos of Missie here for you.
She has decided that she really likes the vege garden, and on a hot sunny day I saw her sheltering under the leaves of the Rhubarb plant.
She looked so cute that I couldn't resist getting the camera out. She didn't like the flash and the noise of the camera though, and almost seemed to frown before going back to sleep.
As most of you will know, we have a creek that runs around 3 sides of our property. The kids enjoy exploring this creek, and we see small fish, freshwater crayfish and eels in it.
Braden, Jordan and Josiah love fishing in the creek, trying to catch the eels. So far the eels have managed to avoid getting caught, and just getting a nice easy meal instead. That is until the day we went to Muriwai Beach (as per the previous post).
After enjoying ourselves at the beach, we headed back to our house for a sit down and a BBQ dinner. The boys begged to go fishing in the creek, and so off they went, with a hand line, hook and scraps of meat for bait. Now, you need to understand that this is not the first time they have done this, and we are quite used to a very pleasantly quiet afternoon as they try unsuccessfully to catch the eels.
This time things went badly wrong (from the eels point of view). We heard yelling of "We've got it! We've got the eel!" At this point we looked out the door, and sure enough, they had hooked the eel.
Now, months earlier (in anticipation of the possibility of this very moment) we had made a couple of rules about eel fishing.
1. No eels in my kitchen.
2. The father of the successful fisherman has the privilege of dealing with any catches.
Lucky Phil - Josiah was holding the line, and taking responsibility for the catch. We hustled a slightly reluctant Phil out the door to deal with the eel, and grabbed cameras, knowing the boys would want proof of this momentous occasion.
And here they are with the 
poor eel that was then released to fight another day. The boys really wanted to bbq and eat the eel, but Phil convinced them that it really needed to be properly smoked to be palatable. Phil then spent the next several minutes rubbing mud on his hands in an effort to remove the slime from the eel!
Now my problem is, where so I begin?
I have just been downloading a whole lot of photos off my camera, and thought that I should really post something, as apparently there are people that read my blog! Who knew?
I have a few photos of Muriwai from when a small group of us went there one Sunday afternoon a few weeks back. It was a fantastic sunny day, so we made the most of the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and have a little fun.
Here is a great photo of Lauren posing for the camera.
Jordan was clearly exhausted by the picnic lunch.
Tiffany did not take her swimsuit with her, 
figuring that she would just have a little paddle in the water. How naive! We will let her off this time for not knowing what a west coast beach can be like - dry sand one minute, and thigh deep water the next. Needless to say she was still slightly damp when it was time to leave.
Part of the getting wet was her own fault, although she tried to blame Kyla. Her side of the story is that she got wet when Kyla tried to splash her or some such nonsense. Here is photographic proof that she got wet trying to push Kyla over! Clearly she is not to be trusted! ;)
Jordan, Josiah and Braden spent most of the time either playing games with the Dads or digging in the sand. They appeared to be having fun.... if the amount of sand on them was anything to go by.
Lauren, Zach, Annelise and Jayna spent a 
crazy amount of time jumping over waves... refusing to admit that they were cold. Apparently their lips turning blue does not in fact mean that they are cold. Neither does shivering. We learn something new every day.
And then there were the ones who were
stuck to the picnic blanket. Still, they appear to be having fun too, and I did see Rachel walking at one point!
So, a great day had by all.
She has decided that she really likes the vege garden, and on a hot sunny day I saw her sheltering under the leaves of the Rhubarb plant.
Lucky Phil - Josiah was holding the line, and taking responsibility for the catch. We hustled a slightly reluctant Phil out the door to deal with the eel, and grabbed cameras, knowing the boys would want proof of this momentous occasion.
poor eel that was then released to fight another day. The boys really wanted to bbq and eat the eel, but Phil convinced them that it really needed to be properly smoked to be palatable. Phil then spent the next several minutes rubbing mud on his hands in an effort to remove the slime from the eel!
Here is a great photo of Lauren posing for the camera.
Jordan was clearly exhausted by the picnic lunch.
figuring that she would just have a little paddle in the water. How naive! We will let her off this time for not knowing what a west coast beach can be like - dry sand one minute, and thigh deep water the next. Needless to say she was still slightly damp when it was time to leave.
Jordan, Josiah and Braden spent most of the time either playing games with the Dads or digging in the sand. They appeared to be having fun.... if the amount of sand on them was anything to go by.
stuck to the picnic blanket. Still, they appear to be having fun too, and I did see Rachel walking at one point!