Viethoa Restaurant 新越华

Today we went to try out this little Vietnamese Chinese cafe in Highland park.  It's located on the Cascade Drive end of Aviemore Drive and here's what we had.



Grilled Chicken with Vermicelli  it comes with shredded carrot and cucumber and crushed peanut and the fish sauce

Jake ordered this STewed Beef Noodle Soup

Entree was the Crispy Spring Roll

This is the Grilled Pork Chop with Vermicelli.  it comes with shredded carrot and cucumber and crushed peanut and the fish sauce

The Beef Noodle Soup  (I asked for Lai Fen 濑粉 instead of the Hor Fun 河粉

Abel turns 3 ...

in Feb ....Here are some photos. I am in the mood to blog again. 
We had family dinner at a Thai place in town. 

Abel blowing the birthday candles.

Abel cutting his cake..

He wanted an Octonauts cake. He chose 4 characters to be on his cake.
If you are familiar with this cartoon, the polar bear is Captain Barnacles, the carrot looking thing is a fictitious creature from under the water called Tunip the vegimal,  Kwazii Kitten, and finally Peso penguin.   

Here Abel wanted a slice of Kwazii Kitten all to himself ;)

Meet Obi Wan Kenobi

Noel made this peg doll while I was on the phone with my mum.

He used a craft peg, some pipe cleaners, felt pen and paper.

First he made the eyes and then the mouth and hair. Next he colored the body. He then asked me for some pipe cleaners. He made arms and finally he made a cape out of paper and use sticky tape to stick to his peg doll.

After he finished, he got me to ask him questions about the identity of his peg doll.

He kindly informed me that in the olden days children made wooden peg dolls and played with them.

Easter @ Cornwall Park

Vinka took this pic of the boys climbing tree at Easter picnic with the church family.
It was a fun day. The boys had Easter egg treasure hunt and probably ate too much easter eggs that day.

Playground at Taupo

 

 

 

After dinner at Taupo, we let the boys burn their energy at the playground close to the i-centre.
They loved the climbing frame thingie and this tubey thing.

Blue lake pt 2

 

After splashing in the water, we set up in this little table for the boys.

Blue Lake (Tikitapu), Rotorua

One of our highlight on New Year's eve was going to the Blue Lake at Rotorua. It is about 10 minutes drive from the Rotorua town centre.

Noel and Abel had a blast before playing in the water.

 

 

They goofed around and laughed so much, they didn't realise how cold the water was.

Te Puke - Kiwi Country

 

We came here when Noel was 13 months with Shin when she came to visit us. 4 years and a bit, we came again with Abel.  The boys went all the way up the giant kiwi fruit and then they run and roll on the grass.


Showed the boys the kiwi fruit vines.

They checked out the kiwifruit toys before eating the kiwifruit icecream in the outdoor area under the shade of the kiwfruit vines.

 

Kiwi fruit close up.

Lunch time at Tauranga (31.12.12)

We stopped by Tauranga for lunch.  It is by the Strand.  I really like this table and chair. It can probably sit 10 easily.   It is  made from macrocrapa and it looks like it will last many years! I don't mind having one for my backyard 

Here's our fish and chips, there's quite a few different type of fish, cods, snapper etc...

Run Abel Run...

This is one of the last pic of Abel with his chubby cheeks. He seems to have lost that now :( 

Waihi part 2

 
Main street

The Cornish Pumphouse - this structure had been shifted from its original location to where it is now.

 

 

We could walk right to the edge of the mine.

31.12.12 At waihi

We were at Waihi for a couple hours on our way to Rotorua and Taupo. Waihi was first discovered for its gold and the gold mine is still operating.

We visited the museum and check out this mighty tyre! 


The boys played dressing up in their little kid's corner.

 

Some exhibits from the olden days

The museum was laid out very nicely. Lots of information are child-friendly and presented at child's height.

 

 

The museum has daily tours but we did not stay for those.

新年蒙恩