Carrying on from June, I don't want to go for another year and have to recall what has been going on!

James reached 17, and is now on the streets of Hamilton after passing his restricted licence. Nicky has all but lost her car, but on the most part the independence he now has is great.

St Johns hosted a rugby team from Marcellin College (Melbourne). Somehow the Morgan household ended up with 5 (yes-five!) boys for one night. (and three the next night). They all had a great time, being introduced to paint ball, Waterworld and Hamilton in general. Of course, SJC convincingly beat them in the game.

Kendall reached her teens relatively unscathed. A sleepover with plenty of games and not much sleep was in order. She also passed her hip hop exams, scoring a couple of points off distinction.

Brianna plodded on with netball, with few wins, but plenty of fun. The rain always seemed to hamper Saturday afternoon, in fact, it seemed to rain for 5 months straight!

Now it's cricket season, James is playing for the 2nds and Ian playing social. Kendall is also playing 'spring league' netball, for St Columbas (not enough for SPC to make up a team).

Brianna continues with guitar lessons, and is planning to sit her learners licence within the next month. That will mean the 'L' plates go back up on the car, much to James' disgust!

We have booked our spot at Whananaki again this summer ... looking forward to getting away from it all .... now we just need a boat!

Roll on summer!

One Year!!

Yep - it's almost been that long since I last posted something. here's a *brief* run down of life in the Morgan household since my last post:
August 2009 - Kendall turns 12
September 2009 - Visits from Brendan, Aki, Joshua and Cathy, plus a 40th celebration for Mike
October 2009 - We painted the house over two weekends, must update the picture here as it looks a lot different now!
November 2009 - James finally gets his learners licence, Bri turns 14
December 2009 - Christmas comes (and goes), as does Ian's birthday
January 2010 - Ten year flies by since we welcomed in the new 'millenium', went camping at Whananaki, what a great spot!
February 2010 - Back to school
March 2010 - can't be much, I have nothing to say!
April 2010 - We got burgled :-( Girls drive to Wellington with Steve and Shanz and FLY back (first time in a plane).
May 2010 - Just a month ago and I really can't remember anything significant!
June 2010 - That's this month, we are 18 days into it, the ABs beat Ireland and the AWs cause a stir in the WC - ho hum.

Zoo

Nicky drew the short straw and went on a school trip to the zoo today. It turned out pretty good, except for the torrential rain early on that resulted in everyone getting very wet. It dried out and turned into a good afternoon, and everyone had a great time.

Rotorua

Brianna and Kendall were lucky to head to Rotorua for Queens Birthday Weekend with Grandma and Claire. They visited the redwood forest, went on the gondola and luge, relaxed in the Polynesians spas and generally had a pretty good time!

Well Brendan has chastised me for not keeping our blog up to date. I look back on the last 5 months and wonder where the time went! Here's a summary of life in the Morgan household since our last entry:

February: Brianna is a 'terd' - starts at SHGC. Kendall happy to be oldest at school, can finally get the newsletter! James cruising at SJC - doing Advanced PE and Economics as his optional subjects.

March: Nicky spends a weekend at the beach with friends, dines with a real life astronaut (and his lovely wife). K's Hip hop and karate classes underway. Brianna doing theatresports, and taking guitar lessons. James into cricket, as is Ian. After much procrastination, I finally complete my Real Estate salesperson course and get my certificate. Cathy comes over for a surprise visit from Melbourne, James loses his bed for a few nights.

April: Rugby season starts for Ian and James, netball for Bri. Ford wins Hamilton 400, and we have family visits from Ian's brothers, Stephen and Andrew. James is now gainfully employed, although loses most of Sunday along with Monday evenings, working at Countdown.

May: Kendall sticking with karate and hip hop, earns her first belt. She also raises over $300 sponsorship for participating in the 'Heart Stopper Challenge' - thanks to family and friends who dug into their pockets. James' rugby not so good, and Ian suffered an early season injury with two weeks off after a harrowing game against Old Boys. Brianna joins the 'Masterchef' programme at school .... bought home the most delicious curried kumara soup last week, am hoping to make some today once I finish updating this blog! Girls have both gone to Rotorua for the weekend with Grandma and Claire, they have the camera, so hopefully they are using it.

Highlight of the Year: not sure
Lowlight: Chiefs being PUMMELED (is that how you spell it?) by the Bulls - game finished about 6 hours ago and I have been awake since 2.30am, so feeling rather jaded!
Funny thing about updating this blog: I keep referring to my facebook comments to see when things were happening!

There you go Brendan.

Wellington and back

Taihape, Shanz and K on a swing somewhere,

Obligatory photo on the tank in Waiouru, Desert Rd (at a guess?)

Connie and Nicky had a pretty uneventful trip to Wellington on Wednesday (as far as long drives go). The car was well packed with all of Steve and Shanz wedding pressies, and we took about 7 1/2 hours to get there, with a few stops on the way down.

Brianna and Kendall did not seem any worse for wear when we arrived with the time they had spent with the newlyweds, in fact they were having a great stay. They had visited Te Papa, Wellington City Musuem, the Hutt Pools, walked around to Oriental Parade and had experienced travelling into town on the train.

Brianna at Wellington City Museum, Steve and K messing around on 'The Wall' at Te Papa,
Yes - Kendall had to earn her 'keep' although the lawns were pretty miniscule!

We went to Lower Hutt on Thurs, in part to check out TVs with Steve, and while there we visited the New Dowse Garrelly (not sure what happened to the old one?). Steve also later took us on circumnavigation of his suburb (walking) , it didn't start out that way, but after over an hour - it sure did feel it! He then tried to convince us that falafels are the best thing since sliced bread.... Kendall and Nicky disagreed, Brianna was just polite!

Friday was spent at Eastbourne for some of the day, (and the leftover falafels made it to the picnic blanket somehow!). Connie, Steve and Kendall went to performance in the botanical gardens on Friday night, and on Saturday the TV was picked up and the lounge rearranged for it to fit. It does look 100% better than the old CTV. Nicky and Connie took turns driving home, and we eventually arrived back in Hamilton at about 9.40pm Saturday night.

Lake Taupo looking east (taken from above Tokaanu)

Summer Time

Well, the kids have only 10 more days or so holiday then its back to reality. Brianna has just spent 3 nights with friends at Lake Tarawera, we drove over last night to pick her up. What a great holiday spot. She has enjoyed a few great days on the lake, biscuiting, swimming, and relaxing with her friend. Photos are:
The 10m cliff that the kids were jumping from (that is their boat) taken from the oppisite side of the lake. Only James braved jumping from the top, the others went about half way (or less) before piking out.
Dinner with a view.
Lake Tarawera at sunset.

Tomorrow Bri and Kendall are heading to Wellington with Steve and Shanz for a week. Nicky and Connie are travelling down on Wednesday to stay a few nights and bring them back.

Bri is back to school on the 2nd of Feb, James and K on about the 4th or 5th. Can't believe it has gone so fast!

Take care!

Well it has been too long since I last entered something here. Christmas seems like a distance memory ... until I see our bank balance.
What a busy few weeks we have had! This afternoon we returned from Tauranga after a busy few days for Steve and Shanz's wedding. We travelled over on Wednesday and stayed three noghts at Roshanna's sister's house in Welcome Bay. This was the venue for the Hens Night on Thursday, and we had PLENTY of fun at that!
On Friday I was thrilled to catch up with an old friend (Shelley) in Tauranga, and also met her gorgeous wee boys. It had been at least 7 years since we had seen each other.
Very early on Saturday morning I was woken by the sound of rain, and the wedding day in Tauranga dawned a little overcast ... just perfect actually as the previous few days had been extremely hot! We packed up early and headed to the Motor Inn where we were staying Saturday night.
We spoke to Brendan on Skype and were excited to her that the baby was on his or her way, perhaps it could arrive on Stephen's wedding day, after all, this was the reason they couldn't make it over!
After hair and make-up (this consisted of me playing hairdresser and make up artist to the girls) there was a last minute rush to get me sorted, then to the church for the ceremony. My first job as MC got off to a great start when I gave the guests the wrong directions to the reception venue, but they still seemed to all arrive!
The actual wedding ceremony was very moving, and Roshanna and her sisters - Virginia and Kimberley, looked beautiful. Steve and Mike scrubbed up pretty good too.
The reception venue was again, just lovely, and as the night wore on, there were some great dance moves. Ian managed to break out 'the worm' on the dance floor and Kendall was booty shaing and krumping like nobody's busness, much to the delight of the guests. I forgot to mention that J, B and K all spoke really well, surprising Steve and Roshanna, and Ian and I were really proud of all of them. James played DJ again, and Brianna barely left the dance floor, having a great time with Roshanna's cousins.
It was also great to have Brendan and AT beamed in 'live via satellite' from japan with their message for the bride and groom. They were dressed appropriately in their suits and ties, that was until they stood up to turn off the camera, and the bottom half was a little less dressy - boxer shorts was it? In any case, a great surprise for all the guests.
The night ended all too soon, at around 12.30, and we were tucked in bed after a bit of a post mortem by around 1.30am.
The morning rolled around all to quick, and before we knew it we had to clear out of our room and pack up and head to Brian and Jude's for a lovely brunch. We got to see the photos from the day before -all 600 odd!
We were home by around 3pm, and were exhausted, and the gear is still lying on the family room floor as I write this.
We went to 6pm Mass, and it was here that dad told me of the new arrival in our family, a wee boy for Aki and Brendan (Joshua) was born in Japan. (The triple threat, as James calls it, of James, Jack and Joshua). The boys now outnumber the girls in the cousin department. That could change though!
Well, I was going to post photos tonight, but I have work in the morning and think it will be better to haul myself to bed, and finish this tomorrow.