photostory friday and the wedding crashers

ok, so we didn't TECHNICALLY crash a wedding, but it makes one hellofa blog title doncha think???

these are ZUCCHINI FLOWERS, accompanied by a DELICOUSLY garlicy (and most probably terribly fattening) AOILI, and some yummy bread and dipping thingees

we ate these with our cocktails on the top floor of a very nice hotel overlooking the beach

the view was mostly fantastic, except for the dude we saw crossing the road wearing nothing but a pair of speedos and one of those weird mini umbrella hats.

speedos are also known as budgie smugglers

i'll leave you to ponder that one for a while....

however i digress...

the balcony where tara wanted us to sit was closed off because the wedding breakfast was going to be held there

so we went to the OTHER outer room to get some sun and a view, but it looked like this:

but seeing as the wedding had already occurred

(and we knew this because of the bar full of loud and happy wedding-guest-type people)

we figured it would be ok to move some furniture and set ourselves down with our cocktails

and so we did

and it was good

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli




Regarding the Christchurch earthquake, I just wanted to thank all my bloggy and online friends for your continued messages of love, support and concern over the past few days. This is what makes the blogging community great and I am so grateful for you all.

Christchurch is my hometown and my parents, in-laws and close friends live there.   Although Christchurch is 400km away, 'everyone knows someone', and we are all deeply affected.  My family and friends are safe and well but living through the most dire of situations.  Please keep them in your thoughts.

wordful wednesday and the chainsaw manicure

did you see what i did there?

when you read the word 'chainsaw',  you probably thought 'chainsaw MASSACRE' - as in texas,  but i actually wrote MANICURE. 

a little word play....(dorky word play, but it's my blog so i can be as dorky as i like!)

it also kinda looks like a T-REX ran through our property, but these before and after pics are pretty cool

mr scrappy wouldn't let me loose with the chainsaw, which on reflection (after seeing him carefully avoid having branches fall on him) - was probably a good idea


BEFORE

AFTER

before

after

now we can see our letterbox from the house when i'm on the lookout for happy mail!

camping 2011 de-brief

first let's start with the crappy bits (coz, into every camping trip, a little [or a SHIT-LOAD] of rain [and gail force winds] must fall...

NOT our tent - and they took it down shortly after this, rather than have it blown down!

we KNEW the heavy rain and WIND was coming, so we actually tethered miss 14's tent to our car!!!

then came the rain

rain on its own isn't so bad, although being cramped into one tiny space ain't that much fun...

 but when the WINDS come too...

this was BY FAR the worst wind and rain we've had in 12 years of camping, so we dropped the girls' tents and abandoned our camp site for the night

thankfully, there were tourist cabins available IN our campground, within sight of our tent, so we could keep a weather-eye

WEATHER EYE - GET IT?????

it's sturdy enough that it withstood the wind and rain, and although it DID take on a little water, when the storm passed, we simply moped it out and carried on with our holiday!

i took this as we were driving away from our tent

the white frame in the front is the gazebo, which is really only intended as a SUN shade.

not water proof, and CERTAINLY not gail force wind proof!

when the rain stopped, it took a day or two for the flooding to subside, so were actually trapped at the campground for a day, as this is the only road IN OR OUT!!!

HOWEVER!!!!!

PRIOR to the 3-day storm [at the end of our holiday], it was

GLAMPING AS USUAL.....

....and so we had...

my own personal barista 

we needed ALL of those plugs i tell ya!

toaster, kettle, bread maker, ipad, iphone, hair dryer, fridge, waffle iron, laptop...

i'm sure i'm forgetting something?????

AH!  the kitchen sink!!!!! hehehehe

oh yeah - i became a bit of an instagram whore on mr scrappy's phone

me likey instagram

at one stage (during the good weather) - we almost had the entire campground to ourselves!

there was beach frolicking

great views

(i think this is a preset filter in aperture)

gorgeous beach babes

jumping

more jumping

still with the jumping

 we LOVES our jumping!
 

until we fall down.....

there were daddy kisses

 amazing sunRISES

i got up at 5.30am and all i got was this

TINY MOON!!!

fabulous sunsets

that sun sure knows how to set!

and of course friends

there were birthdays

"I GOT IPOD SPEAKERS!!!!!"

birthday breakfasts

my first attempt at french toast!

 birthday LUNCHES

and more birthdays

 birthday KISSES

 and sun drenched beaches

DID YOU ENJOY YOUR BRIEF SOJOURN AWAY FROM THE SNOW?????

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

wordful wednesday and the magic teeth

Hard to imagine that only FIVE months separate this photo

from this one

the orthodontist wasn't wrong when he said all the ACTION will take place in the first SIX months, and the 18 after that are just for tweaking.

i still can't get over how a tooth that's at a 42 degree angle almost in the SECOND row of her mouth can just WANDER up and join the party - AMAZING!!!

quite the transformation huh?