New Zealand 2012 - Christmas!

It was a fun Christmas holiday with the Bennallack clan. On Christmas Eve we made "gingerbread", or Arnott's biscuit houses, while sipping homemade eggnog. Here's my house-

Here's Jade's (she secretly just squished as many lollies on as she could so she could eat them later- ha!)

Andrew & Alex's

and you can see Rachael's 3-story house down on the end in front of Phil

and the whole line-up in front of our wonderful hosts for our visit (Phil's parents)

Houses~Phil's, Rachaels, Mine, Jade's, Andrew & Alex's

 Here's the Christmas corner! It was still funny for me to come in from swimming or a walk out in the hot sun and see a Christmas tree. So crazy! With all the siblings around, the presents pile under this tree grew and grew until Christmas. It was exciting.

Christmas morning was so sweet with all the little ones around. Our niece Pacey rushed out of her room thinking she'd missed Santa coming! There was a look of panic, and then she saw her Santa sack and it was ok. (you can see her pouty face here...she's still thinking she missed it all!)

We had a full house that morning but it was full of Christmas cheer and love. Its so sweet how little kids are thrilled by the most simple of things. 

Little Savannah was so thrilled about her Pooh bear!

Little Pacey loved her sunglasses and Pooh bear too

And little Leo loved his elf outfit

Ok, maybe we loved it more than he did, but he makes such a cute elf!

It was special to be with a majority of the Bennallack's for the holiday. Who knows when we'll all be together again?!

We finished off the day with a beautiful Christmas lunch/dinner complete with Christmas crackers, Christmas crowns and all.

Such a fun Christmas holiday to spend all together. Family is the best during the holidays and we're happy we were able to make the trip!

True Tues

Well even though I've been catching up on blogging our vaycay, real life is still goin' down in the Bennallack household. And by real life I mean: 

a sudden "second wind" that came with my second trimester

which means spring cleaning, 

which means a packed Saturday,

which means puppy's first bath,

which means a clean dog.

So all in all our true real life = a clean dog. 

Haha...nah but really. I've finally been feeling "normal" again and the other day the hubs said to me, "Woah, you have a ton of energy." I'm not sure I have a ton of energy but if you compare it to the last three months then yesir, I most certainly do. And boy does it feel goohoood!

Don't get me wrong- there are still some days when I feel like this...

but others I feel like this...

So, I guess I really can't complain. I never was throwing up everyday (only if my stomach was empty), or completely miserable. But I was typically nauseous and extremely tired. Luckily, the good days are finally outweighing the bad and I actually am doing stuff now. :)

We've finally started clearing out the office so we can begin making it a nursery.
(Did I just say nursery!? Yes, I still get excited when reality hits that we'll be parents soon. As in, there is a baby inside of me!)

So anyway that's the true life goin' down here today. Not much, but you mothers out there know that energy is enough for me to be excited about :)

And I may or may not have just killed a spider! in my house! but never fear, I talked myself through it with Koda. Yes, Koda is a dog...but he's my moral support and now its mission accomplished.

Over and out.

New Zealand 2012 - Saaawimmin'

Summer in December. Whaaaaaat!? My head still has to think about that when I say it. But hey, if it's summer, no matter what time of year, you'll find us in the pool. Phil's family is just the same. Pool = fun, enough said!  Even when the Takapuna's weather wasn't cooperating perfectly, the pool was still our best buddy. We spent time both at the hotel pool and in Phil's parent's pool. Phil's infamous pool games were perfect with all the siblings and little Pacey around. 

Pacey was learning to hold her breath and swim underwater. We didn't realize how funny Pacey was underwater until we snapped this gem...

All the little nieces loved being in the water. I'm sure they loved all the attention too. :)

Cousins Arlandria and Savannah interacting for one of the first times...

How cute is this bee swimsuit/hat? Love baby clothes!

And of course, we had some "selfies" taken with the underwater camera. Love you Rach! :)

Can we go swimming...again? :)

New Zealand 2012 - Rotorua

The big kids were lucky enough to have a fun day out and headed to Rotorua. Rotorua has so many fun things to do and it is so scenic. Our first stop was Zorbing.

I was so proud of Phil! He is super claustrophobic and has been back and forth on this zorbing thing for a while. He told me he had a little freak out at the top of the hill but after that it was all fun. Its just like being in a giant washing machine, with each other, laughing the whole way. Haha. Love it!

This is the 'criss-cross' course that Andrew & Alex and Jade & Matt did. You have to walk yourself down the weavy path on this one.

And Jade demonstrating the classic "jump!" they have you do after you get out of the ball.

Next it was off to the skyswing and luge. We'd done the luge before but the skyswing was a new experience. It was a rush! It was so beautiful and exhilarating all at the same time!

We stopped at a Jellybean store up on the top of the mountain before heading to the luge. They had some cool displays. This one is a luge sled.

And then the luge. I love this thing! You go as fast or slow as you want. True New Zealand style. Plus this time it was so much warmer (and drier) than it was the last time we were there. Makes for a much more enjoyable ride down.

(Alex, Phil, me, Andrew)

Not sure whether I'm depressed or concentrating...haha

And this was Phil's face the whole time. Someone loves the luge! 

 Off we go!

We had baby Leo with us so we swapped out babysitters so we could ride with Matt and Jade

And then it was our babysitting turn.

Babysitting doesn't get any better when you have a view like this...

 After a tiring but fun day we headed back down the mountain on the gondola.

So glad that the siblings decided to head to Rotorua. I have videos of all this stuff but my computer doesn't like me today so I guess we'll just do a big video of our NZ trip when I finish up the posts. Until next time...

Addition

Baby B. will be joining us early September 2013.

So excited!

New Zealand 2012 - Nando's & the beach

Jade, Matt, Pacey and Leo arrived on Saturday. It was so good to see everyone after 1.5 years! Unfortunately Mum B. had the flu so us kids left the house to entertain ourselves. We first headed off to get some grub at Nando's. I forgot how much I love their food! This Nando's even had free soft serve ice cream with each meal. New Zealand ice cream?...yes please!

~Left to right: Andrew (Phil's brother), Alex (Andrew's wife), Me, Phil, Jade (Phil's sister) and Leo~

We followed our meal by a walk on the beach. The beach is only 3 minutes from Mum and Dads. Everything is so close in Takapuna. It's so great! 

It was a little bit chilly that day but that didn't stop Pacey from having some fun. Looking at these photos I'm about ready to head on back to Takapuna. Something about the beach is so relaxing...

We walked, talked, caught up on each other's lives and reminisced about the Bennallack days of old.

Little Miss Savannah...Andrew & Alex's daughter

It was a relaxing day to say the least! Time with family is always well spent. 

Ahhh...good ole New Zealand.