good morning/day

Good Morning all~

Well, this morning Pauly and I went on a walk/run? around the Domain. Which is a beautiful huge park, in the center of which are the enclosed gardens, and the memorial museum. Today there were about 500 Maori boys and girls playing cricket on the fields, we are still perplexed by this game.
We are off now to go do a little cleaning for grandma, and then we are back to set up the tent for Fran & Jaime's huge 21st bash tomorrow. We will be taking plenty of pics of that..sounds like it is going to be quite a party. They are even setting up a huge bouncy castle! You know where we will be.
Just wanted to check in, thank you all again for the posts, and tell you how much we love and miss you people. Keep writing, we eat it up!
Love S&P

our beautiful abode

pretty little vignet from the flea market...
garden level bedroomperfect 'lil kitchen
my favorite part, the patio. Beautiful place to walk out onto in the morning with your coffee!

life in the fishbowl

the fishtank in the basement...

our apologies

no really, I am sorry...

rainy day...activities?

SO guys, mom wanted more pictures, unfortunately not much interesting happened today. I went b-day shopping for Paul, and Pauly worked for Steve at Freightsafe, which was interesting but unfortunately they didn't document it for us. :(
Anyway, some funny pics for you all to enjoy~

Monday at the Beach

Hey all~
well nice day at mission bay today...yes that is the beach. and yes it is only a five minute drive from 'home'. Not bad incentive for you people to visit.
We have good news today..we have managed to land a house sit in KeriKeri over x-mas, and Chris is letting us borrow his car to get up there. Which means....WE DON'T HAVE TO RIDE THE BUS!!!!! HOORAY!
Paul managed to get me to go hiking for the second time today. A thirty minute hike up Mt.Eden. No mosquitoes dad, and chocolate at the finish line. Sounds like he is catching on huh?
Well we miss you all...love your posts. feeling very loved, missed, if a bit patronized! No Matter, we know it comes from the heart.
My love,always
S

some random N.Z. moments

pauly pocket & his mandana
sweet little Mark
beautiful shed in Auckland, thinking of mom...

Painful!!!

dear god man! I guess they liked it! We are still waddling... and no I am not Pregnant! But thanks guys....

eat up!

More pictures they cry!

lefsa, lefsa, and yes MORE Lefsa! I think that we may have beat the 8inch stack mom and grandma made! Ours was 9inches tall! fat fat fatties

MORE comments PLEASE!

so guys, seriously, you do know that we live to hear your comments right? So PLEASE keep writing them, and we will keep posting. We miss you, especially on Thanksgiving...but we are making Lefsa today, which with any luck will turn out half as good as Grandma Coop's magical stuff.
lots of love
S

Finally Pictures From the Farm Stay!

Sorry we took so long getting these up! Hope you enjoy! We are back in Auckland where we have landed a 90 something Nissan Pathfinder! Loaned to us from Chris Parkinson, Stephen's Son. We get to play with it until Christmas. Should be nice for some fishin! Hope Thanksgiving goes well. We started the lefsa tonight. Should be ready for tomorrow.

Before Setting Out for Keri Keri..

Really bad urban planning...but fun. Reading to the monkeys before heading to bed. Long bus ride awaits us in the morning.

Fishing Trip in the Keri Keri Inlet...

This is a picture of the beautiful Sarah, and an ok looking waterfall behind her. Rainbow Falls eventually winds its way down to the Keri Keri Inlet, where we caught these nice little snapper. Hold the fish out to the camera and it looks a lot bigger! I learned that a long time ago! I've decided I don't think I'll ever fish in legitimate ocean swells ever again. These little guys cost me my breakfast. I do so much better in waders on the bank of a river. Finally another small meal on the farm, 5 lbs of fresh snapper!

Dad, lets build this at Hood Canal...

This is a great little prefab on the way to Keri Keri! P.S. the plans were posted in the window and I took pictures of them. Can't you see it perched on the hill looking over the water, or pushed back on small stilts on the hillside!

Sonic the....

This one is for you Brian. Its true! These little guys run around the grounds collecting golden rings and jumping lava flows!

Cottle Hill in the Evening...

Yes I got Sarah to take a hike while in Keri Keri...it was a small one...but none the less a great view from the top. I can't believe people eat these! I can't believe lamb is baby sheep! I thought lamb was singular for sheep, not an edible baby!

Evenings on the farm...

Nights on the farm were pretty slow and nice. Paul finished a Hemingway classic read aloud to Sarah and played Bocci Ball with Grand kids. Peter, you will be happy to know that I was schooled by this little nine year old ringer. We could take him back to the park blocks and hustle some old Italians. Remember that time we convinced that kid at the Mariners game that Ichiro actually was better at bocci ball than baseball?

Sipping homemade sherry out of little glasses was fun. However, small bunks are not condusive to spooning.

Wild Chickens!

The best part about semi-free range chickens is looking for their eggs!

Keri Keri Kilos!

Working on the Vineyard

One thing we found interesting about this place was how the owners tried to make light of how much work it really was. Do you remember that scene in The Family Stone when Sarah Jessica Parker is making the strata, and she says..."now whisk the egg. Just as fast as your wrist will allow...just fast fast fast." Working here was kinda like that. One of them would say, "ok today we will fix the black spot, it should take you a few hours, the first few rows are alright, so just fly through them and you should be done in no time." Meanwhile Sarah and I are thinking, "just fly through the vineyard Paul, just as fast as your little midget legs will allow. Just fast,fast, fast. That job took 3 days. The shot above is another one of those little jobs. Just a few holes in the bird netting. Just a little sewing! That's all. That job took the remainder of the stay...and I didn't finish.

The other picture is of the boss giving a cooking class to local school kids!

I have to admit...these people know how to have a wedding!

In the closing hours of the wedding the Bride's family sang a song to the lucky couple.

Above is Paul with the legendary Scotsman and the groom. Oh...and the rumor about how they wear there kilts is true. Give'em enough Heineken and watch for yourself.

To the left, the brides father and one of the Irish sisters learns of the Potato Famine from the prospective of Scotland. Which goes something like this. "Der goddt man. Swallow yur ferkin pride and come over to Scotland. Eye got soo many of the damned things i might as well fill mi bathtub with em' and take a ferkin bath in the ferkin things."

What happens when you take a bunch of Irish, give them an open bar, and play "Don't Rock the Boat."