A rocky week, but back to normal now

Ahh...home.  It has been one of those perfect mum days - the housework got done, a few of those "one day" jobs got done, the pantry is full of food and baking, the kids all played outside happily ALL day in the tent I put up for them, I got to listen to music as I worked...and I finished the day with a wine, saffron rice and pan fried fresh fish.  Marty is now reading stories to the kids, cuddling up happily on the  couch at 7pm, wind down time.   Life is good.

I'm not gonna lie though.  It's been an adjustment for us all!  I came home rested and relaxed, although very weary after 2 days of travelling halfway around the world.  I came home to a tired out husband, and exhausted kids.   With school productions meaning late nights, a girl recovering from illness, and the standard tiredness that comes with the last week of term - and the added drama of having no mummy at home for almost 3 weeks - it was never going to be an easy week.  I was straight back into mum duties from the moment I got home, changing nappies and attempting to clean the unidentified sticky stuff from the table.  I have been falling asleep on the couch (in front of my 3 weeks worth of tv shows to catch up on) by 8pm every night - even with the daylight saving change!

This week there have been tears, there has been yelling - and that was just Marty and me.  The  kids (especially Jaimee) have pushed my boundaries as far as they could as they tested the limits again.  I boiled over when I told Jaimee to do something and she yelled back with her dirtiest scowl "I'm TELLING on YOU - and ran off to dad!!  We both had to adjust back into our "mum" and "dad" roles - he had been doing things solo for a while, and I had been doing nothing for a while - and when we were both pretty tired...well, let's just say the neighbour's may have been wondering what the heck happened at our home.  Thankfully, I was well aware that this week was going to be like this, so I didn't feel alarmed by the drama.  It was bound to happen!  We are all settling back down now, thankfully prayer and lots of discussion has helped a lot.  Today was the first day of the school holidays, and I am thankful it was so relaxed finally. Ahhh...this is home.  

And since I know everyone wants to hear what my Dear Darling has to say about this....here is Marty:

Ha I dont have much to say really. Mum comes home and ruins all the routines we had established of Dad just doing everything and the kids not having to do their jobs for 2 weeks, to suddenly have to start doing them again was a big culture shock for them. Life was obviously far to easy under Dad.

But yes the 1st few days of Mummy being home was to be frank awful. The girls especially turned into absolute monsters. Thought we going to have to call the Ghostbusters.

(Oh and I wasn't yelling - I was just using a different tone to my voice - and lets be honest I hardly talk anyway so any sound that's come me from probably does sound like yelling. 

PS from Nikki - Don't let him fool you.  He can yell! (giggle)

School Production 2013

Tonight I dragged my tired self out to watch the girls school production.  Last time the school did a production it was about Moses rescuing his people from Egypt, this year it was the sequel: all the adventures they had while wandering in the desert, through to the big battle of Jericho.  

Jaimee was feeling very proud to be given the job of leading her class out onto the stage for the dance they did as the people of Isreal.  She loves that kind of responsibility, and adores acting - often doing little plays at home for us or with us.  She did a great job today, although once her part  was over she sat giggling with her best mates!  She made sure I was going to sit in the aisle seat near the front, as she had to grab someone up to dance with her - so mummy got picked to do the birdie dance with her wee giggling girl.  Seriously,  it went on forever.  I got  dizzy!  But it was fun sharing the moment with her.

Kate was a stunning snake, writhing and wiggling just as good as Beyonce up there on the stage.  She told me she was a coil dancer, check out her moves...this girl can get her groove on!   At the end of the class snake dance, while everyone else was doing their thing, Kate turned around, spread her arms out wide and did a full curtsy to the audience.  So funny.  The diva actress takes her bow!  Later, when she was done singing the chorus along with the rest of the school, she did the same thing - full curtsy finish.  giggle.

Homeward Bound

On Friday night, we took this photo with Daniel and Danielle after sharing a yummy meal together, relaxing over wine (that was mainly me and Danielle!) and laughs - just the way I want to remember our time with them.  I had such a great time connecting with my family, there is nothing quite the same as spending time with those people you grew up with. 

The next morning we caught the train to London bright and early, waving goodbye to mum, Murray, Daniel and Danielle from our seats.  We arrived in London at lunchtime and launched straight into the chaos of things by catching the tube, suitcases and all, to our Hotel!  My hands still have callouses.  Waiting for us was my great Aunty Nita, who lives near to London but I had'nt met before.  She was fun, she chatted to us like she had known us for years, helped herself to food from our plates and kept us all at ease in her company.  She found out I had 3 children, which she was astonished at ("But you look so young" - thanks Nita!) and I found out she used to be a ballet dancer and then later an actress (she was in Avengers!).  

By now it was 3pm, and we only had the afternoon to see London as we were off to Paris at 7am the next day.  We used the tube to get us to the Tower of London first, one of my favourite buildings.  Sadly, the viewing platform gave us only a view of scaffolding really this trip - making it not quite as majestic as I remembered it!  I was disappointed that my family didn't get to see it in all its glory.  We didn't have time to go through it and its SO expensive anyway, so back to the tube it was - Mum had put together a bit of a sightseeing walk for us, so we used that as a basis to get going.
First up was the awe inspiring Big Ben, Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abby.  I love these beautiful buildings and we all snapped away pictures of the magnificent clock.  

Then we wandered off towards Trafalgar Square via St James Palace and Downing Street.  Steph and Josh couldn't believe the amount of people snapping photos of the entry to Downing Street.  "People don't take photos of John Key's home" they said.  We joined the crowds taking their photo with the soldiers at the Palace.  Poor young guy looked a bit miserable as he stood in perfect attention despite all the tourists gazing at him.  Pretty awesome buildings though eh?

At Trafalgar Square we went to take photos on the back of the massive Lions, recreating the pic I had taken 12 years ago on my last trip to London.  But As I posed on the back, I got told to GET DOWN by a cross looking security guard.  Oops, guess that's not allowed now then.  I slid down and Steph settled for having her photo taken standing in the Lion's paws.  As we wandered around, pointing out objects of interest, I randomly said "Oh look - and there's a big blue chicken".  Everyone thought I was being silly until they saw it too!

We wandered down towards Buckingham Palace, walking the Mall which is beautiful with it's tree lined street.  Josh said it reminded him of Oak Avenue here in Hastings.  We all agreed that London is pretty and clean, not nearly as bad as it's reputation makes it out to be.  The buildings are amazing and the Tube was surprisingly clean and efficient.  At Buckingham palace, we ran into these guys dressed in gorilla outfits - we had already spotted them several times on our trip as they snapped photos around the city.  One of them joined me for a photo - thanks Mr Gorilla!

Picadilly Circus

We ended our day in Picadilly Circus, where we had good ol' McDonalds for dinner, and then took the tube out to see London Bridge by night.  Tired from a long day, it was off to bed early - but not before a quick pint in the local pub by our Hotel - where they were showing the highlights from the America's cup!


The Next morning, it was off on the Eurostar to Paris.  At 300km an hour, it only takes 20 minutes to cross underneath the English Channel! Within just a couple of hours, we were in France.  After dumping our bags at our hotel finally after a taxi ride (it should have been a walk, but we got a bit lost getting out of the large station!), we headed out to find food.  We had lunch in a lovely little restaurant, where we got to grapple with the waitresses and get to grips with the language barrier.  My meal was delicious - duck breast in a pepper sauce with sauteed garlic potato. Yum Yum!  Refueled, we decided to wander the city and see the place.  We crossed over the river on one of the many bridges which sides are packed with padlock after padlock, engraved with lovers names locked together in the romantic city.  Later, I added Marty and I to the many names engraved in various pens on the bridges.  We saw Notre Dame, and lots of other amazing beautiful buildings as we walked.  Every hotel and museum, church and bank, it seemed was decorated with ornate statues and amazing architecture.  Paris sure is beautiful ....

But boy does it stink!!! Every few metres we were hit with another pong of urine, or the sight of a wet puddle in a corner.  Once in a back street we even saw a poo which looked suspiciously human (gag moment).  What is it with this country?  Since when was it ok to wee on the side of the road?  It was pretty gross and ruined a little of the beauty of the place with it's dirtiness.

Notre Dame

Just another  beautiful building!

  We refeuled with some REAL italian gelato in the centre of it all...oh so good.  The french couple seated next to us kept giving us filthy looks and I heard the word "english" from them.  They obviously didn't read my top.   I had worn a NEW ZEALAND t-shirt on purpose, knowing how the french detest the thousands of English tourists that rudely refuse to even attempt their language - but they do love the kiwis!  "ahh...Rugby!" they say with a grin when we tell them where we are from.  Later on as dad sat for a minute and the others shopped, I used our street map (unsucessfully) to attempt to figure out where we were in this massive city full of tiny streets.  As I stood there in my short skirt looking a bit confused, I was approached by a young french man, offering his help.  I tried hard to flash my wedding ring as he asked me friendly questions about where I was from and who I was here with.  He was no help at all with the map though, he laughed and said "Paris is big!".  Ah well...it added to the illusion of the city of romance anyway!

We managed to see the Arch de'trumph before crossing the Pt. Alexander III bridge and checking out the Eiffel tower lit up in the dusky light.  After dinner we set off for home, well ready for our beds and with bruised feet from hours of walking the city.

The next day we headed off to see some of the big tourist spots before I headed off to the airport for home.  We wandered up Montemarte to see the magnificent Sacre Cour.  It stays pristine white because the brick reacts with the rain and is self cleaning!  Awesome eh?  Unfortunately, we got totally fleeced by the African's that prey on the tourists at the base of the church.  They grabbed our wrists as we walked past and before we had a chance to say "no thanks" they plaited us some coloured string bracelets as they chatted cheerfully to us.  Lovely?  Maybe.  Until they expected "a small note" for their services.  They literally grabbed money out of dad and steph's hands, and made off with about NZ $30 for the pathetic bracelets they left us with!  It did taint the Sacre Cour visit for us a bit, and the inside was not nearly as majestic as I recalled it being on my previous trip there after that experience.  

The view of the Eiffel tower from the top of the Sacre Cour was pretty cool though - it showed how HUGE the engineering feature actually is.  It dominates the skyline and we were off to see it up close!

By the time we got there, I was starting to think about my upcoming 30 hour adventure homeward, I had to get back to the Hotel soon for my lift to the airport.  So we snapped some shots and said goodbye to Josh, who was keen to wander the city in his own time for a bit.  It took us a while to work out the connecting transfers on the Metro system to find our way home, and we were all hungry by the time we left the station for the hotel.  Grabbing a french bread combo, we munched as we walked, believing I was in good time with about an hour to go before my pickup - just time to freshen up and finish lunch.  Not so!  It turns out that the phone we had been using for the time had reverted back to the UK time - so was an hour behind paris.  I discovered this I turned on my charging iphone about 2 minutes after arriving at the hotel- just as the phone rang in our hotel room to let me know my shuttle ride was waiting for me.  Panicked, I chucked stuff into my suitcase, changed my socks (ew - 30 hours in the same socks after walking around the hot city all morning? no thanks!) and flew down the stairs as dad followed with my suitcase.  It took me about the whole trip to the airport to calm down after that!  I discovered halfway there that I was sharing a shuttle with a kiwi family, who had been travelling  Europe following collecting a silver medal for NZ at the world water skiing championships!  To make it even more uncanny then sharing a pariscab with New Zealanders....they were booked in on ALL the same flights as me! It was quite fun - we chatted in Franfurt, in Hong Kong and said goodbye in Auckland!  

Finally in New Zealand, I burst into tears at domestic terminal when I discovered I might not be able to get home as Napier was very foggy.  I prayed, Marty prayed - and the weather cleared.  I was finally home.  As I entered the airport, two little girls screamed "MUMMY!" and attached themselves in a big embrace to my legs.  Luke went into hysterical silly mode, laughing and laughing and throwing himself on the floor in his attempt to run at me.  It was adorable.  And then it started.  "Where are our presents?!" the girls demanded several times.  Sigh.  They weren't happy with the "I am your present" either!  I have to admit though, they were delighted at what I chose for them, and adore their new Hello Kitty soft toys, taking them to school today to show off.  Luke loves his dinosaur suit, stomping around the place happily roaring.  After getting straight back into mummy duties, cleaning the kids craft stuff off the table and scrubbing at fingerprints, I finally unpacked and was asleep on the couch before 8.20pm! 

 It's good to be home.  

They cant find me !!!

Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm hiding. They cant find me. Got to keep this at a whisper. I've been held captive by these crazy as terrorists for the last 2 1/2 weeks. But I have managed to escape and am now in hiding waiting for the extraction team to arrive. Unfortunately the 1 person extraction team is only just boarding a flight in Hong Kong. Hopefully those terrorists don't find me - because they are lethal.


















Look at them ! They are terrifying - they even made my escape harder by coming to sleep in my bed every night. Sure they may look all cute and cuddly !!! But that's not cute and cuddly people, don't be fooled by those Innocent looking faces, that is them scheming and plotting ways on how to torture me and try and turn me into a crazy person.

Torture techniques included things like
"I'm hungry"
"No I don't want that"
"I'm full" followed 10 minutes later by "I'm Hungry"
"I don't want to go to school"
"I don't want to make my bed"
"I'm watching this show - I'll do it after"
"He hit me"
"She hit me"
"She wont share"
"Its my turn"

other techniques included - lets get everything out just after dad has put it away. That was a technique used alot by the smallest one.
Lets see if we can get more water out of the bath than we can keep in the bath. Again the smallest one was very good at the method of torture.

The old get up out of bed a 100 times because I'm thirsty, got to go to the toilet, i didn't get a cuddle from Luke, scratch my back was another method of torture used by these terrorists.

But their most lethal technique was the fighting amongst themselves just to see who could torture me next.
That was the one that nearly pushed me over the edge and caused me to crumble - but ive held on. And right now I feel like Steve McQueen in the great escape.


Well I did it - Ive kept alive 2 rabbits, 2 cats, 2 fish, 2 Hot dogs 2 Banana Fritters and 2 Scoops of chips.
oh wait and 2 kids. So I would to say that is success all essence of the word really. Ive probably forgotten something or didn't do something -but as any good father knows - main job is keep the kids alive. Anything beyond that is an absolute bonus.


I have to say I now have huge admiration and respect for single working parents. Because it is full on, especially with multiple kids. But to do it everyday on your own is well I don't have the words to express it to be honest. From the moment you wake up to the end of the day is just chaos even with the best made plans.
I've only done it for 2 1/2 weeks and even though I have handled it all pretty well - I'm still shattered at the end of each day - so for someone to do it for 365 days a year that is just epic. I think there was only 2 or 3 nights where I got to sit down before 9pm at night. (one of the things I was actually looking forward to most was having control of the remote and watching plenty of sport - i hardly watched tv at all - I was pretty much ready for bed by the time I finished doing everything so could be bothered watching tv) And even though I prepared everything for the next day the night before so that I could maybe take the mornings abit slower - no chance really - cause my kids are not morning kids - so even that was chaos. In hind sight I wish I had taken at least 2 days off per week instead of one. Though I have to admit I think I have been way more productive in my payed employment working 9-3 4 days a week than I am in working 8-5 5 days a week. If only I could get my boss to pay me the same for the shorter hours as he does for the longer hours.


The more I have gone through this experience the more I think that parenting is not a single person job and I don't think its a 2 person job. It is definitely a family/community effort that needs to take place because without help and support it really is a tough job.  I want to say a big thanks to my Mum and David - who helped me out when I really needed them - especially when I was sick on the 1st weekend and then again on the last weekend when Jaimee got sick and we had to rush up to ED. And having Luke every day when I had work. I thought I would have a real battle dropping Luke off - thinking he would be real clingy to me - but I'm no match for Granma - I could have easily just pulled up at the end of the driveway and opened the car door and he would have taken himself in. It was getting him to leave was the biggest problem. Mind you in saying that every time Nikki face timed us on the ipod he would keep saying "hello granma" Hello granma"


I was expecting to have some real quality time with the kids while Nikki was away but with all the busyness of being a single parent and with everything that needed to be done - I do feel like I failed abit in this area for sure. Though in saying that I have to take in account that the 1st weekend I was very sick and the weekend just gone Jaimee was very sick - so all the fun stuff I had planned for the weekends was kind of wiped out by sickness. But we have had some good moments, like Sunday afternoon playing card and board games.

Hmmm this blog is now feeling far to serious - terrible.
Mind you nothing much else has happened really to be fair -nothing of excitement anyways.
Its mainly been dealing with sickness the last few days. Have to say it was very disconcerting when my son actually asked to go to bed on Saturday night. Its actually kind of scary in a way as normally its a real battle to get him to stay in bed so when he actually took himself to bed I started to freak out.

No I'm out of ideas now - I was hoping to make my final blog a real funny one - but however it what it is.
Quote of the week though does come from Kate.
My sister was picking up her kids from our mums. And she was telling her son to come.
Kate says "listen to your mum"
Aunty says "Just like you listen to dad aye?"
Kate replies "not really, its so hard when mums away"


oooo Cheryl just for you - i baked up a storm on Saturday
did Lemon Muffins
home made muesli bars for my bike rides
choc chip and sultana biscuits
and a bran type slice


Well the extraction team has just left Hong Kong - less than 16 hours now before they get here. Providing the weather here doesn't cause any problems. !!
So the question is - would I do this all again and let Nikki go away for a few weeks. ?
Yeah I think so - of course I would probably do it all differently.
Next time I would do it without the kids !!!


Thus ends my final blog - I may or may not make an occasional guest appearance in the future - but as for now I will now I will hand the reins back to my gorgeous wife - have to say she has looked rather stunning in some of the photos she has sent through.
Anyways take care - look after yourselves - be good to each other oh and I have just realised I kept alive 3 kids so I have done better than expected well done me.

Oh no now those little terrorists have found me - well it was a good game of hide and seek while it lasted.....

Castles and Spiders

Today was our last touristy day before we leave Edinburgh, and it rained just to give us a real taste of the lovely weather here.  Wasn't going to stop us though! Daniel and Danielle, Mum and Murray, all joined us for a trip to the Palace of Holyroodhouse (The Queen's Edinburgh Home) this morning.  This was one of my favourite tours when I went 10 years ago, but over the years they have moved away from tour guides to audio tours, which lost a lot of the personality to the tour.  However, it was still interesting to giggle away as we told the story about the hundreds of portraits in the Great Hall - they were all done by one artist in a hurry because nobody really knew what the ancestors looked like, so the pictures are pretty much the same face with different features and angles!  We saw the bloodstains (or quite possibly, red floor polish to make it look more interesting) where the Kings men murdered the Queen's lover by stabbing him 56 times. And guess who the Kings man was that carried out this grisly task?  Yep, another one of my lovely ancestors.  Oh dear.  The Abby was beautiful in its ruined state to wander through too.  

Next up was the Butterfly & Insect house, which Daniel had suggested we do.  It proved to be a great idea, we all had a blast here.  I wasn't sure how I would get on with the butterfly house, in the past I have had mixed experiences.  One that I did in England freaked me out so badly I had to leave within about 30 seconds because they were huge furry things.  But this time I did pretty good I thought, although mum captured the truth - this is how i walked around most of the time:

But I was brave and reached out an arm to hold one - calling through my teeth "mumm......It's on me....quick....take a picture....take the picture!".  We had time for a quick photo shoot before the next bit too....

Josh and I are FIERCE.  Grr..

Hanging with my daddy and brother.  fun!

sister silly faces

me and my bro.  He is so lovely.  I love you Daniel

 After looking around the amazing reptiles on display - everything from massive snakes, Iguana's and Nile Monitors to tarantulas, giant ants and chameleons - It was time for the dreaded handling session.  Could I go through with this? I really wanted to.  But I was not sure I could do it.

First up was the giant millipede.  No worries.  It was really tickly, like a hairbrush bristles on you and it was hard to touch.  Not at all slimy, fast or gross.  I held it twice.  But still, check out the way I clench the hand it is in with my other hand.  That turns my hand into a platter, not my hand at all really so i can hold a platter with a bug on it much easier then holding a bug.  

Next up was the snake.  I was actually looking forward to this one.  Snakes are awesome to hold.  This python felt amazing as its pure muscle moved in our hands.  I held both of them - the smaller one even licked me with its flicking tongue which was very weird.  Cool animal, I could have held it all day long.  

 But last up was the tarantula.  The one that I wasn't sure whether I could go ahead and do, even though I kind of really wanted to.  The man explained that these are harmless, blind and very docile animals - they won't really move at all.  I watched in silence as all my family happily held it and took photos.  I didn't say a thing, just stared.  Then it got to the person next to me and I realised it was now or never.  I had to make a choice.  The nerves kicked in big time - I really really wanted to hold it, but my body was freaking out on me.  I turned to mum and she saw the tears in my eyes as I started to freak.  She said something about it being ok to pass, and I broke into tears.  I really wanted to do it, but I didn't know if I COULD.  Noone else had noticed I was upset at this point, mum called dad over and he came and gave me a reassuring hug.  The handler was expert calm.  He told me to take a deep breath, relax my shoulders and take my time.

I couldn't even look as he put it on my hand.  I was too scared that I would pull my hand back and the spider would drop to the floor or I would kill it or something.  So I just didn't look while he put it on me.  Then I sneaked a wee peek, with arm still way out in front and me shaking.  It felt like nothing.  A very very light feathery touch where the feet are but that's all.  Light as anything and it didn't move an inch.  But I was HOLDING A TARANTULA. 

 The handler then took it off me, told me to take a breath, relax and gather myself up and then he gave it back to me.  This time was a little better.  I managed a nervous smile for the photos (its not a real one I assure you), and dad told me to look at the camera but I wasn't sure about tearing my eyes from my hand - what if it MOVED.  I did a quick side glance.   

 I really appreciated my brother as I look back at these photos.  Look at the intense way he is observing and making sure his sister is OK.  He has been like this the whole trip, occasionally giving me a hug or an arm around my waist and checking on me or just having a nice chat one on one.  I have really missed our closeness, we were great mates as kids, and I feel like this trip has really given that back - I didn't realise how much I missed him until I am with him again.  I love you Daniel.  

 Just as I was about to wash my hands, the handler told everyone I deserved a round of applause...and then said "But you know what is even better? Holding it a THIRD time" and then he carefully placed it back on me, commenting on how much better I was coping the more I touched it.  OK, so it was just a thing that sat on my hand and didn't move at all, but still.  I held a big big spider.  It was on me.  I am so proud of me!!!

And that was our day.  Castles and spiders.  And snakes.  (oh my!) Good fun.