Our Weekend Away

During the weekend Jo & I went up to my hometown of Blenheim to visit the family.

It's about a 4 hour drive, but with a young child & having to make a few extra stops it took us about 4 and a half hours; we arrived about 6:30pm on Friday night.

We went shopping with my Uncle (who we were staying with) on Saturday morning & then my Nana & Aunt joined us for a BBQ lunch. We finished up about 2pm & spent the rest of afternoon lounging around the house.

Sunday of course was Mothers Day; now while my own mum is still overseas with my sister in Perth, it was Jo's second Mothers day, and so we went out with the rest of the family for a Mothers day lunch at a nice restaurant in town; the family very generously paid for Jo & I.

My good friend Warren then took us for a drive to a small seaside town called Picton (my family has a holiday home in the sounds and so I grew up around Picton allot). Warren then came back to my uncles place & joined us for a roast dinner, as if lunch wasn't enough.

Today (Monday), and unfortunately the weekend was over & it was time to make the 4 and a half hour drive home to Christchurch. We arrived home about 3:45pm. A lovely weekend away; Jo & I both agree we'll have to go away more often. Next time we'll make sure the digital camera has fully charged batteries.

How often do you get to venture away from home for a few days? Where is your favorite destination?

One year old today

One year ago today our little Chloe was born; the year certainly has gone quickly. These 2 photo's are her when she was born, and her one year later.




She is starting to say basic mumble words like baba (buba), & it won't be long before she'll be standing by herself. You can see more photo's here on my Facebook page.

I'm looking forward to watch her grow up over the next 12 months.

The day after

I hope you & your family had a very merry Christmas yesterday.

We spent the day with my sister & her family, starting with a family devotion & communion followed by coffee & cake & presents.

We then ventured off to meet with another couple of families to share Christmas lunch & fellowship. Despite the very hot weather (40 deg Celsius), we all had a very pleasant afternoon celebrating the birth of Christ.

Today is Boxing Day which we usually spend relaxing. We had planned a train trip to Mandurah, but in this heat today (41 deg Celsius), it's just too hot to do anything. Staying indoors in the air-conditioning, in front of the telly watching the cricket, is a much better plan. We'll probably take Chloe to the pools later when it cools down a bit.

Once again I hope you & yours had a blessed Christmas. Enjoy the rest of the holiday season, that is if you get one!!





Technorati Tags: Christmas - Holidays

Christmas week begins

This week is Christmas week; there will be some busy times while other times will be quiet.

For me I have to work Monday, Thursday & Friday; these will be the quiet days for me as many business that I visit during my daily courier run have already closed down for Christmas and so I am expecting an early finish tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday is Christmas & of course there's family get together s, eating, giving of gifts & then the aftermath what ever that may be.

Wednesday is Boxing Day when usually we rest from the day before or go on a family outing; this year we are planning a train trip to Mandurah on the newly opened train line.

It's going to be hot this week also; the forecast is for mid to high 30's all week, so amongst all the festivities, the challenge will be to keep as cool as possible.

So what will you be doing this week? What are your plans for the big day? Whatever you do, I hope it's a good one for you.





Technorati Tags: Christmas

A new blogger amongst us

Just thought I'd let you all know about a new blogger who has just joined the blogging community. My wife Joanna (J0) has just started blogging.

Her blog, Jo's Simple and Wonderful Life, will be about all sorts of interesting stuff; she is a writer who is recognized by the international poets society (and has medals & trophies to prove it); she also does beeding & jewelry design which you can read all about & view some pics.

Why not take a look at her blog here, also by clicking the snapshot above. I'm sure she'd be pleased to receive your comments, encouragement & feedback through the commenting system. Say hi from me too while you're there.





Technorati Tags: Jo Parker

Getting in Early

I know it's only the first day in November, but when you look at it, there's only 9 weeks until Christmas.

If your family is anything like ours, yo have many people including children to buy presents for, & allot of people, like us, just don't have allot of money to throw around.

Jo & I worked out how many people we have to buy for & decided that rather than waiting until the last couple of weeks, & having to buy everything at once, we would start now & buy one or two things each week until the big day.

This year we have a couple of other families joining us for Christmas, so we thought we would buy something small for each family, so obviously that's extra stuff to buy, which is fine if you are prepared.

Are you going to start early, or just wait until the last minute? I think if you get organized early, you can actually enjoy the festive season when it officially starts, whenever that it; it seems to be getting earlier every year.

So, the next thing we need to think about is Christmas cards & emails.



Technorati Tags: Christmas - Presents

Holiday time

Well this is day 1 of my 10 day break. At this stage there's no plans for going away anywhere, just enjoy being home with the family & get a few projects done, or at least work on them.

My first goal is not sleeping in too long in the mornings. I'm used to getting up at 5:30am on weekdays, so I don't want to get in the habit of getting up late, otherwise when it comes to going back to work next Wednesday, I'm going to find it too hard to get up.

This morning I got up at 7:50am, so if I can keep the same pattern for the next 9 days, I'll be happy with that.

Today we have a friend coming over for lunch before he heads off to Sydney on Wednesday.

One other thing I want to avoid is doing too much or too little with the time I have off. I don't know about you but I sometimes find that when I'm on holiday's I try & do too much stuff & then end up feeling stuffed, or on the other hand, not doing anything in particular & feeling like I've wasted my time off; where's the balance.

How do you normally spend your holiday's? Do you always have to go away, or can you have just as much time at home?




Technorati Tags: Holidays

Welcome to Scott's Simple Life

Well here I am again; after 7 months away from the blogging community, I am pleased to announce the arrival of a new blog "Scott's Simple Life". It's all about my life with family, friends, faith in God & thoughts on life itself.

If you would like to make any comments about this blog, or anything I write about, then please just click on the comments link at the end of each post. Also if you'd like to keep a regular eye on this blog then please follow the links under the "Subscribe" heading on the sidebar. I look forward to being part of the blogging world. Will you join me??