Spaghetti Trees?

I know I'm a little late with April Fools but I am teaching on deception this week and found this video from 1957.  It is pretty funny and very well done for its time - check it out.  I think this was the first time that TV was used to propagate an Aprils Fool joke.  Gotta love the BBC - they have such a subtle and classy sense of humor!

 

Afternoon Tea With His Excellency

As you know, this past Tuesday, we were invited to Government House to have afternoon tea with the Governor General - Lieutenant General, The Right Honorable Sir Jerry Mataparae.  The tea was in honor of those who had donated a kidney in the last 5 years or so - there were 25 of us donors there that afternoon, some coming from as far as 2 hours drive from Welly.  All the live donors were personally thanked by the Governor General and presented with a certificate - pretty formal stuff.  Coming from America, we're not used to the ceremony and pomp and all that!  But we had a great time - after we relaxed and weren't so panicked at meeting the Queen of New Zealand's Representative - and a knight at that!

In fact, His Excellency has a great sense of humor, but I was so nervous that I didn't quite catch on at first.  We were chatting during the tea and I can't remember how we got on this topic but His Excellency commented that he knew we were Americans by our shoes.  Both Becks and I quickly glanced down at our shoes in horror, thinking that perhaps we had our jandals/sandals on, before realizing that His Excellency was joking.  Whew!  I think I was too busy trying to think of something witty and insightful to say that his comment caught me off guard!

After the tea, we were allowed to walk around the Government House and have a look at the rooms and artifacts (this would be akin to walking around the White House, but without all the security and Secret Service glaring at you behind their sunnies!).  That was fun!  We got to see the Throne Room - where His and Her Excellencies have their 'thrones'.  Well, actually it's called the Ballroom officially, but I like to call it the Throne Room!  ;-)  And I really wanted to sit on one of the thrones and have a photo taken, but alas, we had to make do with a photo of us in front of the thrones.  Anyways, here are a few more photos of the event...

 

[caption id="attachment_1652" align="aligncenter" width="462" caption="Governor General presenting certificate"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1654" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="The Live Kidney Donors, the Governor General (front center) and Drs."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1656" align="aligncenter" width="522" caption="Governor General, Missus and Me, Head of the Renal Services (dr. in chage of my case)"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1657" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Becks next to photo of Queen Elizabeth II, about as close as we're ever going to get to royalty!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1658" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="In front of the 'Thrones' - I wanted a photo of me sitting in one so badly!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1661" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Norrie State Dining Room - where visiting Heads of State dine"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1664" align="aligncenter" width="645" caption="Government House from outside"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1663" align="aligncenter" width="645" caption="Bird's Eye view of Government House"][/caption]

Adventurous Adventurers!

Today we took a family trip to Adventure Forest here in Whangarei - it's a huge complex out in the forest with several different ropes courses complete with flying foxes (zip lines) and tricky rope obstacles for all age levels.  The top level course is 12m (40ft) high while the 'junior' level course is never more than about a meter (3 ft) off the ground.  Even Dariah got in on the fun and did the 'junior' course - complete with ropes, harness, carabiners and helmet.  Here are a few fotos - we'll have to edit the videos and get them uploaded once we get back to Wellington.

Thanks to Mama for staying on the ground and videoing and taking photos!  And being ready to catch any of us who fall!  ;-)

[caption id="attachment_1446" align="aligncenter" width="517" caption="Videographer & photographer - the many roles of a mom!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1394" align="aligncenter" width="655" caption="Goofballs or Adventurers?"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1405" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Ballerina"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1406" align="aligncenter" width="502" caption="Hanging on for dear life"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1422" align="aligncenter" width="461" caption="Zachy - one step at a time..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1424" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Zachy - not so adventurous..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1427" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Taliah - monkey"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1423" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Taliah - speedy gonzalez..."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1426" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Jesaiah - I'm ready to go!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1425" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Jesaiah - spiderman!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_1421" align="aligncenter" width="504" caption="Daddy - dum-de-dum-de-dum. Bring up the rear...."][/caption]

Snow!

This afternoon, we had a cold front come up from the South Pole and it brought with it some snow (mixed with sleet, hail and rain).  This is the first time I have ever seen that much snow falling, here in the Wellington area.  A few people who have lived here for decades said they have never seen this much snow either.  Unfortunately, it was too wet to really stick - would have been fun to make a snowman!  Or at least a snowball or two.  ;-)  Anyways, the kids thought it was pretty cool so they got out for the few minutes - ahhh, memories of fun times in the snow in Germany.  Makes me homesick for the Freiburg and Germany.  Here's a short video clip...

From Vids - snow

Phamily Photo Montage...

Here are a few fotos from the last few weeks - just of various projects and things we and the kids, some of it in the first week of the 2-week term/semester break....

The kids had a painting day where they went to the local supermarket, got some cardboard boxes and each got to cut them up and paint them and decorate them however they wanted.  Amazing how long a few cardboard boxes could keep kids busy and occupied.  And inspired their imagination!  Here they are hard at work...



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the first day of the term break, I took the kids (well, the 3 who wanted to go) for a bike ride along the stopbank.  We stopped to skip rocks across the river and then to make a 'raft' out of reeds tied together with long grass.  We then threw it into the river and raced alongside the river on our bikes, trying to keep up with the 'raft' and stopping off along the way down the river to watch for it.  It worked for about half the way home, but then somewhere along the way the 'raft' got hung up and we never saw it again!  Oh well, time to go home...



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we have offspring number 3 waking up with pretty bad bedhead.  Perhaps it was because he slept until after 10am that morning!  Oh well, that's what school holidays are for!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are The Chapmpions....

Congrats to the Wellington Saints for their 2011 New Zealand NBL championship win over the Hawks.  Great game guys!  The kids and I and were able to take a couple of our friend's kids with us to the Final and it was really fun.  And even though not all the kids understood all aspects of the game, they loved the atmosphere of the game and arena.

Here is a slideshow of the post-game celebrations and autograph signing. It was pretty cool that we could come right down to the floor and talk to the players - our kids were a bit nervous being around these GIANTS! Notice how HUGE some of these guys are - the kids barely come up to their hips! (click on the foto below to watch the slideshow)

From Vids - saints

Scottish Line Dancing

The kids have been taking Scottish Line Dancing the past few months and have really enjoyed it. Last night, even Dariah got in on the action (well, with the help from one of the mums - you ain't getting me out there, I have 2 left feet!). Dariah really wants to be a part of the dance group, so here she goes...

(Notice in the video, near the end that she doesn't just dance, she bounces and floats and is sometimes dragged and carried, ;-) ).  Auntie Doro, your little goddaughter is a-growin' up too fast!

PS - the video was a bit choppy - I only had my cell phone with me, so that's as good as it gets.

David

From Vids

Becks' Memory Lane - Air Supply (Part 5)

This one got Becks singin' along. She was in 2nd grade when this one came out!

Memory Lane - Air Supply (Part 4)

Ok, I lied. THIS is the last flashback for now. Ahhh, junior high school dances.....

Memory Lane - AIr Supply (Part 3)

Ok, I promise this is the last video (for today).  But you gotta admit - brings back memories of the youthful innocent days, doesn't it?

Memory Lane - Air Supply (Part 2)

Here's another one - ohh, the clothes, hair and music!  AWESOME!

Memory Lane - Air Supply

Wow, this brings back memories!  It kinda dates me doesn't it!?!  How many of you remember listening to this band?  Come on, I KNOW I am not the only one!

Fire!

After the kids got home from school and had a bit of a rest and something to eat, I took Zachy, Taliah and one of their friends for a short hike up the firebreak behind our house.  It's a pretty steep climb up - about 1100 feet /330 m - some parts of the hike is literally 1:1 gradient (that's a 45% grade!).  But they all made it, even though this was Zachy's first time up.  When we got to the top, they begged me to go along the ridge to the radio towers, so we did and when we got there, we saw 3 crosses that someone had 'woven' into the chain-link security fence around the radio towers.  Cool, huh?  Here are a few fotos...

[caption id="attachment_893" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Cool!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_894" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Look, we live down there!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_891" align="alignleft" width="614" caption=" "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_896" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Snack time"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_895" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="Up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's superdad!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_892" align="alignleft" width="614" caption="We aaarrrre champions..."][/caption]

Jesus Toast? How About Yoda Tortilla!

Our oldest daughter was eating a plain tortilla one day, just nibbling at it and suddenly she drops the tortilla and exclaims - 'it's Yoda!'  And sure enough, it WAS Yoda - in flat tortilla format!  Oh, miracles of all miracles!

Now if only we can find a way to market this like the guys over at www.jesustoasters.com!  They have invented a toaster that burns a picture of Jesus onto your toast (inspired by that lady in Florida who sold on ebay a grilled cheese sandwich with a picture of Jesus burned into the toast!).  So now you can have your own Jesus toaster!  How cool is that!  Breakfast with the Lord every morning!  Here's the youtube video...

CCW Tennis Tournament

Wow, it's been a while since we posted anything here.  Life got busy over the summer and Christmas holidays (not to mention moving house!). Hopefully I will be more consistent now that summer is over and the kids have started school again.

Anyways, we had a fun church tennis tournament at the end of Jan.  Here are a few fotos from the day...

[kaltura-widget uiconfid="2311502" entryid="0_9lq5p9k6" width="400" height="360" addpermission="" editpermission="" /]

Phamily Elf Charleston

And this one is of me and Becks cutting the rug...

Phamily Elf Disco

The boys and I did this one special for you all...

Phamily Elf 80's

And here is a video of Becks and the girls doing their dance...

Phamily Elf Hip Hop

Here is another video we did. Hope you enjoy it...

Phamily Christmas Disco

Since it's only a few weeks (AHHH!!!) to Christmas, the kids and I put together this little dance video to get us all into the holiday spirit. Ahhh, doesn't it bring back memories for some of you?!

Enjoy...

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