Breakfast on Anzac day

My Fil made spaghetti beef chow mein this morn. To complement, I made a soy rice combo drink from my soy maker.

Ingredients:
A handful of soy beans(that's all I had)
A handful of pearl barley
A handful of multi grain rice 五谷杂粮。

Steps:
Rinse ingredients.
Soak the ingredients overnight in cold water.
In the morning, pour ingredients and the water into soy maker.
Fill the water level to 1.2lt mark in the machine.
Cover, choose programme and hit start button.
Drinks will be ready in approximately 20 minutes.

BOS Y1 to Howick Historical Village (part 1)

In Term 1, Noel learned about Now and Then.  Their excursion was a day trip to the Howick Historical Village.  I signed up to be a parent helper.  There were 2 other classes going so there are nearly 60 childresn, 4 -6 teachers and 9 parents.

This is Noel's class waiting in the school compound for the bus.  I was assigned 6 children (5 boys and 1 girl)
 

When we arrived, we were greeted by 3 women dressed in the Victorian era.  The kids were very well behaved (most of the time )

We were divided into 2 groups, and our group went to a part of the village with Mrs White (I think) to learn about what people wear in those days.  People wear cottons, and they cover themselves , only their hands and face can be seen.  3 boys and 3 girls volunteered to be dressed up.

Did you know that even a girl at a young age in an upper class family is expected to wear a bustle( butt cushion) to improve one's silhoutte. 

 

 

The boys wore different variety of things from a normal daily costumes to tophat and waist coat.

 

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.