cheers for the family

2012 eh. Big year. Some really sad times in there with the loss of family and friends along the way, but also a huge year of growth, fun, adventures and changes for all the mob at Moir St.

Some selected highlights, roughly in chronological order:

Seeing the New Year in with the Annan's, Russell's, Rose's and Nijsen's (and Clark's) in the rain of Tauranga.

A recurring wet weather theme then continued throughout our attempts at holidays as we got raied out of Coromandel camping, birthday weekend in Waikanae, family holiday in Raro and Libby / Ro trip to Whangarei...I am sure there was more too.

Lots of big birthdays and family stuff: Pappy 70, RoRo 65, Hamish 40, Arthur 5 and Emily and Eugene engaged!

Libby got really into the school and kindy life and social circles - el Presidente (with Tracy) of the kindy committee, helping at school, teaching at Vic and making and cementing lots of good friends through these and with writers group.

Libby also discovered her new passion for running and balanced that with Zumba on a regular basis. Dougal stayed fit with half marathon training and clock a PB of 1h 36m in June.

We had lots of good times with friends, including visits from both Mick and Juanita. BBQ's, picnics, curry night, Mt Vic Dad's beer club etc. Also spending some good time with Dean and Penny and getting to know Harvey has been very important to us. We miss Dean. Libby sadly also farewelled Uncle Paul and Nana MacBrayne.

The boys discovered new talents, including for both acting and rugby. Arthur as the tail of Whataitai in kindy play and Frank as Marama. They both loved the rugby, pulling in many tries and hand overs, making some new friends and keeping Dougal on his toes as coach and the whole family entertained on the sideline. Turning 5 was also huge for Arthur - finishing kindy, starting school! Frank lost teeth - 4 of them and started to grow some new ones. He also nailed his first ever downhill MTB ride on new Xmas bike, even pulling a over the handle bars flip at the bottom without getting hurt.

We got the boat out a few times, in between the wind. Including one fabulous day in the middle of August when Libby sunbathed on Ward Island while the boys caught fish. The boys showed their incredible fish catching talents on Grandad MacBill's fancy hooks - pulling in many many fish - including 17 terakihi keepers one days off Makara with Tony (boys got over 20 fish each). We also took all the Annan's and Juanita out to Matiu/Soames Island. A good lesson in not overloading the boat.

We managed some great trips - the highlight being the family holiday to Raro. Very wet, but fantastic trip, spending time with Hamish and Priscilla + G'Marg and Pappy. Boys learnt to snorkle and climb coconut trees. Other notable trips included a long weekend camping at Kennedy Park in Napier (hanging with the Russell's), Riversdale - catching crays (and hanging with Vicky and Caroline's mobs),

Dougal sorted the resource consent for the house so we are ready to go with that in 2013, had couple of great boys trips to the West Coast (with Murray, Gav and Stu), and finished the year in a slightly new job.

The year ended with the hottest Xmas in Wellington ever. Thank goodness for for the swimming pool! And seeing in 2013 at Atomic v 24 party people with our party crew.

We opened our memory jar yesterday - some funny ones from this:

2011
Final assembly 2011: Frank up twice - Council and Principal's award for academic excellence
the school fair and fireworks night - up late, boys running wild
all biking out to Cape Palliser (Arthur on back) for picnic, then visiting the grandies and a huge storm on the way home
15 Oct. Saturday. Boys slept in, everyone pottered (Dougal in shed, boys in garden, Libby cleaning). Frank wrote his 'jumper the dinosaur' story. A bike ride along Oriental bay, drink at Beach Babylon, then home for dinner and rugby
Arthur's bike party: him zooming around on his new bike, everyone singing and eating cake, A getting kisses and hugs from Annan girls
Arthur sooooo excited about starting big kindy he was wagging his tail
Christian (speech dude) saying Arthur totally owned his learning / working with sounds and that he was 'one in a million'
Boys weekend in Wellington with Muzz, Stu and Gav. Arthur rubs Muzz's forehead and asks 'are you going to grow some hair here?'
Three boys doing the haka before the AB's v Canada game - shirts off and stickers on faces

2012
15 Jan Arthur "First we were dogfish, then I was a man eating shark and Edie was a lady eating shark" List / Annan backyard picnic in howling nor'wester
25 Feb Frank "I don't have a sweet tooth, I have a sweet tounge"
26 Feb. Arthur learns to ride without training wheels at Clyde Q School - he is a legend, a star a hero
15 March - Arthur spinning round and round in circles talking on phone to G'Marg "...yes, but I have a black eye...no, at gymnastics. Big Ted boomfed into me. And tomorrow it will be yellow. And I'm green all over. From slime"
Making silly faces at each other with fake eyes
Last day of daylight savings - perfection day: swimming, cheese scones, bike ride alond Hutt River, Ange and co over for BBQ and 4 little boys (ours + Sweeney and Harper) battering each other with noodles and pillows
Arthur sleep talking "Wheres....me..?"
June - the talk of the Clyde Q mums - Frank getting married to Malena with Joe as best man
30 June weekend in Waikanae. Stunning day and big bike ride along the river, beach, ice cream, picnic and playground plus big swing
8 July Family adventure and picnic at Whiteria Park - cold but rock hopping, fresh bread and throwing logs in the water
21/22 July - Libby in Whangarei. Boys weekend - 6 try haul for List boys, Frank double player of the day (ours and their team), rock hopping on south coast, Dougal and Frank biking to the super jump thing at Frank Kitt's, followed by waffles, then Ange's for dinner with the Clamphams
30 July - going to Kung Fu Panda II - Frank dancing and kung fu fighting like a man possessed at the end to theme song
School reports - WOW. Very proud!

Phew! Looking forward to 2013, going to be a good one.

opps, been a while since the last blog.

Slackers. Seriously though has been a big month - both being busy and also coming to terms with the loss of Dean.

Been a bit happened since the last blog though that does needs reporting. The highlight of course being Arthur turning 5 and starting school. He is loving it and doing really well, but is also clearly having some attitude issues rubbing off on him...

And on his brother...

Maybe is was the playing rugby at the Cake Tin that lead to Frank needing to get a haircut like an All Black..?

We also managed a great family trip to the Hawkes Bay - stayed at Kennedy Park, checked out the speedway, animals at the farm park place and hung out with the Russells! Great times.

And, once in a while we actually see enough sun to break out the togs! We love slippery slides.

And to make sure we stay sane, we also have been having some awesom dance parties where Libby and Arthur bust out some Zumba moves while Frank and Dougal mosh and mix the moves. Interesting hat Libby...