11/1/19 – digging my toes in

its with dragged feet and buckets and spades full of resistance I’m packing up and heading “home” today. We’ve had spectacular weather, amazing experiences and so much relaxation I don’t even know myself! I’ve read two books – novels, not kids stories – for the first time since before the girls were born! I’ve swam daily, gotten a lovely glow to my skin and two very happy little bronzed beach babies. You might recall my Christmas wish – to have that god awful tube from my nose to my stomach removed? Well it was removed for Xmas, but I’m having to head home to see the specialist about it now. This is a positive thing, maybe we will finally have some answers, but it does mean leaving paradise…. but here’s the great news…. we are coming back! After the specialist appointment we will head back up for a week (or more lol). We just can’t get enough of this place, so beers, books and babies will be packed back up here for a bit more un-schooling; fun and adventures! Wahoooo! We are an incredibly lucky little family to be given these unreal experiences, and we are forever greatful for this! Without the caring kind people in our lives these adventures wouldn’t happen! Hope you’re all enjoying this summer heat, we sure are!  See ya soon home :) xx

9/1/19 kids are good for that

  1. You know what – I love my kids more than anything in the world – but sometimes they’re a-holes. Sometimes they’re hard work and sometimes ya wonder if you could make money from selling them … jokes. But Over the last 3 days we’ve had the absolute pleasure of meeting a really cool couple and their four adorable kids who were staying next door for a few days and to be fair we have the girls to thank for that! I love it when you meet people and you get that feeling that you’ve actually made friends for life! I hope that we will maintain this new friendship – the kids adore their kids and we think they are all pretty cool too.
    We visited the Leigh Reptile Park today with our new friends and I have to wonder how on earth such a place keeps going. It’s one of those places where you just can’t help feeling deflated for the owners as underneath the slightly shambolock running and unkept grounds there are some incredible creatures that I would highly recommend you go see if you’re in the area… maybe if the reception was welcoming and tidy, the grounds were better kept, the stench in some of the displays a tad less and some signage and/or a map of the grounds I’d go as far to say make a special trip to visit! We saw 2 Alligators, a monkey, loads of lizards and turtles – it was quite something. To the lady on reception – I really hope your day gets better, cause with the lemon bitter “greeting” we received is enough to put even the hardest nosed person off! The reception apparently sells bottles of water… but that is if you can find anyone in reception.. or in the park at all that might work there. Other than that – there’s no food or drink available for purchase despite picnic tables dotted around the grounds – maybe something they could think about along with the other things I’ve suggested to make this place truly incredible?! That said – the kids didn’t notice these things, and had huge “wow” faces at every enclosure – it was a great day out all in all :)
    We called in at the Matakana Country Park for a play and something to eat on our way home… low and behold the Stables wasn’t open… again. Maybe the restaurant “The Stables” and the actual stables are run on same schedule as I’m yet to have ever found either open?? Forced to eat at the little café there I was again disappointed when 5 ladies stood gossiping while I waited patiently (ok not really feeling so patient at all) at the counter to pay for our drinks. I have to say it today – WTF happened to customer service? Actually WTF happened to just being polite? Acknowledging your clients (aka your paycheck!). Pick your game up guys, it was pretty shit service.
    Please remember the above are all only my opinion and don’t let it put you off going to these fabulous places to see for yourself – I trust that the Leigh Reptile Park Lady had just had an awful day and she’s not always so rude, and that the staff at the café were in the middle of a team meeting to improve their service! My favorite comment today was from Alexa “mumma you know that alligator is just playing dead right? It’s trying to trick you into going closer and then it’ll snap you up and eat you!” . Such a clever cookie :)
    Another awesome few days, good wine good food and great company – lets do it again soon aye xx

6/1/19 Designer slides and one piece togs

 First job today was to invest in a one piece swimsuit (no more free shows!) and a pair of sunnies. Shoot me now … I went back to the warehouse for a bargain lol. Got me some cute sunnies for $9 (sunny shopping is traumatic due to the scarring and uneven-ness of my face post cancer!!) and a lovely one piece (described by girls father as “old lady togs lol”). But you know what -the huge grin on Alexa’s face when I put them on (not laughter at my wobbly bits btw – Happiness that mum would continue swimming with her!) and it’s worth it! Besides… I am “an old lady” now right?! :) swimmers and sunnies in hand I headed back to the caravan to fix my expensive federation slides once and for all. (See photo). I’m taking orders now – Limited numbers available. Get in quick lol). Off to snells (at low tide I’m convinced it was originally named smells but some underpaid overworked administrator misspelt it and it’s now officially know as Snells??) for a “swim” in ankle deep water warmer than your average mum bath ( you know the bath – the one you run… but by the time you finally get in after each child suddenly needs you urgently 523 times it’s only moderately warm and 1/2 the water has seeped down the plug but you’re too tired to bother re-filling??!?). The girls had another un-schooling geography lesson here – digging knee deep in the sea bottom finding layers of different types and discussing how this ocean might have been years ago. Fascinating. (This brought up memories of Brett’s childhood asking me quite seriously – “when you were little Did you run away from the dinosaurs or did you play with them?” .. he got his favorite dinner that night I tell ya!! Lol). Jorja (aka animal whisperer) found a cat at the beach and promptly tried to bribe it into the car with a blade of grass! Crazy thing is it bloody followed her! Steve now resides in her bed… jokes, we left the cat at the beach but not without protest! That kid would give up her family for ANY animal or creature I swear! Anyway, It’s so hot today I can literally feel my lily white butt in my newly purchased navy and gold old lady togs burning, so back to our meals on wheels and some shade (aka gin and tonics under the awning), so signing off for today now before my ramblings get gin-edited lol. Cheers, chin chin. Have a great avo everyone, see ya tomorrow for more adventures in the life of madrika xx 

5/1/19 lily white butt

I could totally get used to these sleep in’s, 8am starts are quite pleasant!  After a quick picnic/share platter breakfast we packed a picnic and headed to martins bay – pink mermaid boogie boards in tow. We set up under the Pohutakawa tree (to New Zealand’s Xmas tree song on repeat!) and waded straight into Luke warm water! Alexa again showed her determination and love of the water catching some waves, and Jorja although quietly a little more reluctant joined in. You may notice my kids wear sun  hats in the water – there’s a good reason for this. At 24 I was diagnosed with a rare and severe form of skin cancer in my face which was tracking to the nerves in my brain. I was given (an uneducated guess based on very very few statistics) approximately 6 weeks to 6 months to live if I didn’t undertake immediate surgery and high dose radiation therapy. It’s now nearly 15 years later and I’m telling the brief version of that incredibly life changing story so I’m sure you clever cookies can assume the outcome! Anyway, we don’t stay in the water for too long, heading into shade for breaks (from the sun and the intense eyeballing of two over confident little girls!). The girls made me “coffee and ice cream” in their buckets and I laughed to hear Alexa ask if I wanted a “vanilla latte with four shots or just three today?” Lol. We repeated this three times before lunch time when we packed up and headed back to our home on wheels. I realized I had some gin and tonic left… so the afternoon flew by lol. The girls Dadda arrived in the late afternoon as he’s working up north this week, so we headed back to martins bay to show off our new skills… including Jorja getting repeatedly roll bowled and a-holed by waves, and my skills included loosing my sunnies to a rogue wave quickly followed by loosing my bikini bottom!!! (fk you The Warehouse and your “everyone gets a bargain”! I wasn’t counting on the bargain being a packed beach full of summer lovers getting a free show of my lily white butt lol… “oh my gosh, look at her butt (inside joke again). Bikini bottom and pride slightly saved by some serious “if you can’t tie knots tie lots” repair work and all was well again! We headed back to our meals on wheels deal and the girls decided to make a campfire. Yet another un-schooling lesson about fire unfolded and everyone remains unscathed. We are off for a fish at Sandspit wharf shortly to end another beautiful day in holiday paradise. But firstly – I’ll leave you with some pearls of wisdom:
– $5 bikini bottoms are a bargain… for the viewers – not the wearers!
– sunnies should never be worn in the surf
– my calves are KILLING me from our viewless hill climb yesterday lol
– getting roll bowled and a-holed is a child-hood right of passage (so proud of your fast recoveries (yes “recoveries” my brave Jorji)!
– Gin will make you sin lol

Goodnight everyone,

Madrika

Sent from my iPhone

Friday 4/1/19 day 8 summer holiday

Today we woke up to a bit of an overcast day but still warm, with slight winds. I found the idea of making breakfast shit, so lazily I conned the kids into going out for breakfast. We drove from Snells to Matakana Country Park where the girls ordered chocolate muffins (bad mom!) and to ensure some balance (pmsl) I ordered a chia seed coconut pudding thing with fruit. I’ve had some amazing chia bowls.. this one sadly was slightly gag worthy towards the end. Anyway, I have just confirmed my relation to Grandma D is indeed by blood (inside joke). There’s a really cute (lame!) mini train there, on which misha the dog (genuinely cute!) is the driver (not really but it’s a good gimmick). The girls love this ride, and could go round and round the pond surrounded by stuffed animals pointed out by the driver with silly inuendos all day. It’s cool for the fact the kids think it’s awesome and therefore gives me “cool mum” kudos. There’s also pony rides… however after visiting the park 5+ times I’ve never seen them running them – today’s reason was however valid and my condolences to the family and friends of whoever’s funeral it was. There’s also a menagerie of petting zoo animals for which you can buy animal food to encourage. There’s donkeys (one seriously lame and uncomfortable which was sad!), goats, alpacas, pigs, sheep and roosters chickens and all other birds that scarily stalk you as you wander round. Jorja made lots of jokes about one being about to bite my butt (oh my gosh look at her butt! – another inside joke) managing to deepen my dislike for all flappy winged sharp beaked bastards that constantly draw me back to my horrific fear of birds established firmly in the 80s with the watching of the Stephen Spielberg(?) movie Birds. (Shuddering at the memory now). We wandered on from there to the awesome playground featuring cleverly built play obstacles like pirate ships, princess castles, fire engines and the sort. The gold coin donation box for upkeep of said playground must however be empty as there’s a bit of wear and tear shining brightly – that said it’s very clever and the kids love it! There’s only so long a middle age frekily white skinned lady with arthritic back and short attention span can bare being at a playground, so with promises of another adventure I loaded the girls into the car and headed off in search of the Leigh Sawmill. I didn’t find it, but found a brewery! Took all my will power and good mothering skills not to pull in lol – so onto Leigh wharf we went. It’s so pretty it is worth a look, although the girls may not yet appreciate that? There’s a little walk round the rocks to the left, and from that we found what looked like a hill climb, presumably to a view point. We climbed up stairs after stairs till we finally reached the top…. and no view at all lol. Jorja apologized profusely and repeatedly for making us go up… but truth is it was nice to be in the shade, and awesome to see both girls climb up without a word of complaint! Ice cream was promised as a reward, so back in the car we got to trundle off to Matakana hoping to catch up with Reece Witherspoon. Typically for this time of year there were 42,624 cars in matakana and only 63 car parks…so sorry Reece, maybe next time. We pushed on to Charlie’s Gelato closer to Snells Beach with plenty of parking. It was here, as I was ordering, that Jorja decided to get up close and personal with the concrete floor – head butting it in spectacular fashion leaving a five head where her forehead had previously been. Luckily they had an ice pack on hand so we sat with that on her head while sampling some of the delicious gelato flavors on offer. A nervous ride back to Snells watching Jorja ensued and after a bit of a rest and some boiled eggs for lunch she bounced back good as gold – she’s one tough cookie that one. We had a bit of a rest for a couple hours, then I caved to the constant demands of a drive to Martins Bay for some boogie boarding “in the waves”. Alexa really impressed here – with her confidence and natural skill she had a ball –  proud mumma moment!! Got some cool snaps of both girls getting stuck in having a go, then jumped in with them – more “cool mum” kudos gained. (For the record – the water was really warm!). Back home to Snells for dinner, then into the caravan for movies on the laptop, some story telling and finally sleepy time (please!!). Great day again, falling more and more in love with this beaut caravan by the day and by god I’m proud of my awesome little girls and their cool attitudes and love of life and all it holds! Goodnight everyone, can’t wait for the adventures of tomorrow!