Wonderful Waiheke

So...this is Prue's Cottage on Waiheke Island - a little piece of paradise - just a thirty minute ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of Auckland. This wee cottage was situated just around the corner from where my cousin (Kate) and her partner (Damian) live with their new arrival: Lewis Barnaby Newland. Lewis is adorable. We felt very priviliged to be able to spend time with Kate and Damian at this very special time in Lewis's life, only a couple of weeks old! Considering the lack of sleep at this stage, Kate and Damian were looking very well and appeared to be taking it all in their stride. It was also lovely to be able to catch up with Moira (Kate's Mum) who was visiting for three weeks. We all caught up with each other every day, either over date and raspberry scones; coffee at their local cafe; bubbly to celebrate Lewis's arrival or; BBQ on their deck.

It was a very relaxing holiday and we didn't feel the need to 'do' anything, apart from taking short walks to the local beach; going for a dip; a stroll to the park to let the girls have a swing; or a visit to the local shops/cafe for some entertainment. We had a BBQ with Kate and Damian and invited some friends from Auckland (Guru, Sarah and their kids, Danny and Lauren) and watched the mayhem unfold as Beth unveiled some water pistols that she had chosen specifically for this event. Molly wasn't too sure how to pull the trigger on her pistol but Danny had it well under control and needless to say everyone got a little wet - even baby Lewis! Waiheke is a beautiful island: lots of lovely little beaches; sheltered bays; abundance of birdlife and exotic-looking plants; very peaceful and relaxing. There is plenty to do on the island in terms of outdoor pursuits but we were happy to just chill out for five days...maybe next time when the kids are older!

This photo was taken just prior to Waiheke at Vivien and Neil's place in Taranaki. As you can see, Maddy is definitely an Armstrong!

Kate and Damian with Lewis

Lewis at 2.5 weeks!

BBQ at Kate and Damian's place (Sarah, Moira, Beth, Lauren, Danny, Nick, Maddy and Molly)

Madeleine and Molly at Prue's Cottage

Nick and Molly at Little Oneroa Beach (5 mins walk from Prue's Cottage)

Molly doing what she likes best: eating ice-cream!

Some more beach shots!

...eating sand

Overseas

"We did it!" (as Molly would say). It was quite an adventure but Madeleine and I managed to survive the flights and jetlag (just) and spent three fun-packed weeks in Scotland, reuniting with family in Shetland (first time all together in Shetland since 1979) and catching up with close friends in Fife and Edinburgh. It was lovely to see Mum and Dad again and great to spend a week with all my siblings, recounting old stories and watching old movies and taking walks around the house where we all used to play as kids. Mum and Dad have a fantastic new extension which is cosy and warm as well as being light and spacious too. Dad had a projector screen built into the ceiling so many a night was spent watching videos, rugby and football games and plenty of old photos.

MuckleBousta

The Johnstons reunited!

Jamie, Sorley and Gudrun (MuckleBousta in the far background)

Grandpa and Madeleine

Grandma with Madeleine

For those of you who don't already know about my talented little sister, Gudrun Durham, I would like to introduce you to her work: http://shetlandtrader.blogspot.com/

Gudrun is an amazing knitwear designer. While we were in Shetland, Gudrun created a beautiful shawl using an old Shetland lace pattern (sorry G but I can't find the photos - do you have them?) She also brought with her from California, a very cool little black dress (see below) and a little hat for Madeleine. I am so impressed with her natural talent - go sis!

Gudrun's little black dress

Madeleine's new hat (made by Gudrun)

Me and Little Sis (Gudrun)

After ten days with Mum and Dad in Shetland, Maddy and I flew to Aberdeen and spent a couple of nights with Sorley, Wendy and Ben, whom I thought had grown up so much since I last saw him! Madeleine was fascinated with Ella (dog) and the cats and spent much of her time craning her neck to watch them racing around in the house. Then we caught a train (Maddy's first time on a train) to Perth where my good friend, Sue and her wee boy, Reuben were waiting to pick us up. That night I had a wonderful evening catching up with all my good friends in Fife; Gill and Adam hosted an amazing evening at their place in Auchtermuchty (love what you've done to your house you guys!) and everyone ptiched in to put on a merry feast. Sheena: that cheesecake was to die for and I haven't enjoyed a prawn cocktail for so long! If it wasn't for Lindy and John leaving in good time to get back for the babysitter, I think I would have had a very sore head the next day! The next day everyone and their kids came over to Sue and James' place so we spent the day running around in the garden (well OK, not me), drinking copious cups of tea and eating biccies. Thanks so much Sue and James for having everyone to your place and for doing such a good job of looking after me! It was so good to see you all again and to catch up properly even if it was brief! Here are some photos!

Fifers dining in chez Le Pedens (spot Sheena and the cheescake!)
Gill and Adam with Maddy


The Girls!
(AKA Rosie, Lindy, Sue, Beth and Gill with wee Aoieffe)

Lindy with Madeleine and Rosie

Sue and Reuben saying goodbye at the Station


Our next whistlestop was Esther and Ally's place in Edinburgh - Casa Del Duncan - where I was more than well looked after and felt very at home. Eva is the same age as Molly (2 weeks younger) and reminded me a lot of Molly in many ways. Eva was a great wee helper when it came to feeding and changing Madeleine and generally keeping her well entertained! It was lovely to catch up with Sarah (an old pal from School) and Esther and Sarah and I even managed to go out for a meal one night as Ally ushered us out the door - thanks Ally! Can't believe I didn't take any photos of Esther or Ally!!!

Sarah with Eva and Madeleine

Having lunch with my good friend, Helen, in Edinburgh

While you were out...

An Armstrong/Durham/Johnston blog needs updating so I pick me. The undisputed heavyweight of the extended Johnston clan wordsmiths.

As you all know I have been existing Star Wars style out here in the colonies (THAT’S FOR YOU SAGIE BOY – ask your Dad he’ll explain the reference. Gudrun / Helen you may need help with that one too). But I digress. In fact I had grand plans while Betty was away cavorting about that place but digressing was about all that got done while I was with child. It seemed that the days ebbed into night and before I knew it I was having another feast of a canned delicacy on bread or toast if I had time to cook the bread (one night I even had a pita bread with two fillings). Once I had muddled through the early evening and packed the wean off to bed with a satisfied/stupid grin I realised that I had not planned for my own entertainment / meals (clean clothing etc).

So let me break it down (insert a MC scratch sound here ¯). I have tried to bring as much colour to this as our Ginger friends however there may be the odd patch of tan or beige mixed in (but as boowah and kaawla sing “If you take a splash of yellow and you take a splash of blue and mix them both together what colour do you get…..”).

Week 1: The week of the Granny

We Armstrong’s are closely related to the whirling dervish that is Taz . Through generations of procreation the fizzy gene has been diluted, tripled rinsed and spun dry. However a small piece of the all action, perpetual motion characteristic has grimly hung in there. The personification of this characteristic however is anything but grim. It arrived like a bad knock knock joke at the door on the Sunday after Betty scampered off. Quickly the house was knock knocked into shape. I had done the basics but as I soon found out I am way outta my league on the whole ship shape thing.

Vivien, Viv, Mum, Granny rolled into PBay and the 3 weeks started to count down. Mum was everything you could ever hope when the cavalry are called in (nae sabres). At the door to see me off to work and awaiting me slippers in hand, pipe lit and paper ready.

Day 1:
Molly and mum got on famously after they had made that each others buttons gave the appropriate reactions. Molly, after relenting and accepting that Granny held the upper hand in the ‘you must eat your breakfast, lunch etc’ stakes held on to the only form of resistance available to her. Toileting. Dourly she held on and held out and refused to ‘go’ even when deposited on the loo on every 15 minutes. She made her wee protest as often as her bladder would allow sprinkling decent around the lounge/kitchen/bedrooms. It was close to pistols at dusk but I arrived home in the nick of time. I dashed through the door (put on my slippers, lit my pipe and read the business section) and interceded. Much like the US in Iraq or the British in Northern Island progress was slow and beset by obstacles.

Day 2:
Peace agreement brokered and I again set of to the mines. You could say the rest is history. It was one thing after another.
Day 3:
Crayfish and scallops for dinner. The rest of the day I forget. Oh Granny and Molly went swimming. Maybe that is where the seafood came from.
Day 4:
Must have been the swimming as Day 4 proved to be the day where the two strong willed ladies in the house started to enjoy themselves. Molly broke her toileting fast and Mum just continued to be Granny.
Day 5:

An adventure to three medical appointments in 12 hours. All in different parts of the greater Wellington area. Granny was chief of entertainment and navigation, Molly was the client, I was a sea of calm under that stressed exterior. Admittedly this is one of the harder days for everyone even under the best conditions. Conditions were ideal so off we set. 7 hours, 4 coffees, 2 subways, 4 muffins, an apple juice, 2 litres of water, 2 bananas, 5 crackers with cream cheese, 2 accidents (no vehicles involved) and 6 albums of children’s music we arrived back at PBay. Molly asleep by 6.15 and lights out by 8.

Week 2 – Where are we going? Tall Mountain! Granny and Molly disappeared to Taranaki on Saturday am so I could paint the bathroom. Naturally I thought that this was an easily achievable task in the day and set out to prove it. Naturally I know nothing of painting and decorating other than where to buy paints and brushes so come Sunday morning when I was scheduled to head to Hawera to pick up Molly I was still touching up and washing brushes (actually I am still touching up some bits and pieces). Still the bathroom is now Chocoletto with a trim of white and I have a very happy wee wifey. In my defence a friend had a baby on the Saturday so I had whiskey to drink with the new Dad. Speaking of whiskey the ‘Linkwood’ is a nice drop Laughton.

Taranaki was grand. Weather was atrocious. Granddad and Trish were sick with the flu. Molly picked it up. Guests dropped in unexpectedly and Molly and I were bunking together. However I did get a whole day off when Mum took charge (she is a dab hand now) and played 9 holes of golf with Dad then headed up to New Plymouth to spend the night with some friends. One of the seldom acknowledged benefits of bad weather is that you are forced to stay in doors and actually catch up with folk. Visiting is a great tool to get out and about, some home baking and seek out those people that you never really do as you are at the park/beach/pool etc.

The undoubted highlight for Molly was feeding a lamb. The first thing she asked it (of course) was ‘Where’s Mary little lamb?’

I also got a haircut.

Week 3 – Nanny (our Nanny has better jewellery)
The third week was when I had committed to getting back to work. Mum was unavailable for a couple of these days so we tracked down a Nanny through some friends of ours. Our friends are pretty level headed so when they recommend this Nanny we jumped at the chance to meet her and let Molly meet her etc etc. Even after Meeting Ashleigh I was pretty apprehensive. Just an overprotective father I guess but let’s dace it how much can you trust a 22 year old with your little one? In this instance, tonnes. Ashleigh and Molly hit it off. Every night I came home to a happy, engaged, feed, etc etc Molly and every night Molly slept from 6.30 until at least 7. This is really out of character. One morning I woke her up as it was 8.20 and I had to be gone in 40 minutes and Molly needed dressed and feed. This could not have worked out better. It still took me 2 days to fully relax though.

There is something to be said for working off site. No annoying conversations breaking out all around you. No annoying phones ringing and ringing and ringing. You know no one is going to pop by to see you to discuss something and side track you for hours on end. But most excellently is that the café that is situated just alongside the library where you are working. By day 3 they figure out that you are the ‘short black and a small jug of hot water on the side’ guy. No ordering just an acknowledgement that you have arrived and they get it to you asap. Certainly makes you feel like a big shot.

Abba’s Arrival - Beth got back on time and on budget 6th of October. Molly and I were waiting with baited breath at Wellington Airport. There were tears and a ‘who the hell is this guy with the rug on his face’ semi-adoring look from Maddie for me. Molly dinnae want to let go of her Mama. Fair enough. I just had to get in line. Home, 3 loads of washing, dinner…(oh the glamour)

ps – Beth is not allowed to go anywhere without me for any longer than a week from now on.
pps – I am over the rugby loss now so it is safe to call…..

Kate's baby shower

I know, I know...it's been too long since my last post, but I do have excuses: my kids, housework; sleeping; eating; entertaining...

So...last month we were invited to Kate's (my cousin and only other relative living in NZ apart from my wee brother and his wife) baby shower. These baby showers are still quite novel to me, only been to one other and that was here in NZ too. I'm always amazed by peoples' generosity as the recipient receives a huge array of baby gifts and not cheap ones either! It seems that this is the 'norm' over here and perhaps in America too? I must say it's a good way to get all set up for your firstborn. Kate's baby shower was lots of fun and it was great to meet more of Damian's family who are now our extended family too! Lots of kids running around and Damian's Mum (Sue) and his sister (Lisa) did an amazing job of serving up lots of delicious treats to keep us all going. Kate was looking radiant, still her trim self but with a beautiful bump! We all played a guessing game as to how big she was around her waist/bump. We were all given a piece of tape and asked to cut it to the appropriate size (without measuring her of course) and bizarrely, my measurement was the closest! You should be able to see my name on the tape around Kate's waist.

The girls...

Isabella helps Kate get started on the unwrapping!

Lisa (Damian's sister), Steve (Damian's brother), Sue (Damian's Mum), Helen and Kate



The night before we had Kate and Damian over for homemade pizza (a la Nick) and Jamie and Helen joined us too. It was great to be able to catch up with everyone without trying to shout over the noise of the kids and also be able to start and finish a conversation properly. It's a shame Kate and Damian live in Auckland as we would see them much more often if they were in Wellington (nudge, nudge Kate!) Maybe they'll think about a move down here when they return from Scotland!

Most folk who read this blog will know that I'm due to return to Scotland quite shortly, in three weeks in fact. It's going to be a big family reunion in Shetland...can't wait. I will be flying with Madeleine (Nick and Molly will stay here) to LA and Gudrun will be joining us on the second leg of the flight to Frankfurt and then onto Edinburgh. I think Gudrun and I will have no problem finding something to talk about whilst we're up in the air and Madeleine will no doubt have some tricks up her sleeve too. She has now sprouted another tooth (top right) and it has really changed the look of her face again. She and Molly play splashing contests in the bath now so Nick and I just stand back, outside of the door and let them get on with it.

Beth (sporting new short haircut) and Madeleine

Molly is well and enjoying kindergarten. She may start morning kindy by the end of the year but all depends on how things go over the next couple of months. I'm thinking more and more about a part-time job perhaps at Xmas if Madeleine can start in the local creche. I don't want to go full-time and I don't want Madeleine to go into care before she's one but I think I need to do something else soon for my own sanity!

First Tooth

OK, not a lot has happened since our last post; however, Madeleine has cut her first tooth so we thought that on its own was worthy of being published on the blog. She was very grizzly and we wondered if she had a virus as her temperature went up and down and she was pretty upset to say the least. All was revealed approximately three days later when a wee white bump protruded from her bottom gum and she wouldn't let anyone go anywhere near it! So, it was an extremely difficult task getting a photo, never mind getting a look in her mouth.

We have been experiencing unbelieveably mild weather of late, 15C again today and hardly any wind. I had short sleeves on today walking the girls to Kindergarten. Our tulips are surfacing in their pots outside the house and some of our bushes (unidentified) are flowering! It is wonderful not to have the fire on all day and worrying if the girls are warm enough during the night. It could get very cold again so, just to be on the safe side, we have ordered and had delivered another load of wood (yes Dad, we got through that gigantic load of wood that you so carefully and beautifully stacked for us in March!). Hopefully this will see us through to Spring at least!

So...what other news? Nick has started working part-time (four days a week) and is now off on Wednesdays which will be a big help for me. The idea is to give Molly some one-on-one time and to give Mummy some time off! We are looking at this being a temporary adjustment, probably until Molly starts morning Kindy when she will be going five full mornings a week. Nick is most happy to be working shorter hours. Of course, this means less money but at the moment we can live with that. Some more photos of the girls. Madeleine can now sit unaided and grabs anything within arms length. She loves her food and has her Mum cooking for her around the clock.

Sitting up on my own

Maddy's first music lesson

Show us your tooth!

Apparently not my God but it took me another chapter to find it out. I did wonder how David knew of my God but we can't go on together with suspicious minds. The good book (no not The Good Book) is Acacia, the latest offering from David. We are both engrosed in it and it is most likely that all the chores will be overlooked until one of us finishes. Luckily M&M have developed this high pitch squeal so they manage to get our attention for eating, bathing etc. What you can't see in this picture is how the foot of the bed is slightly higher than the head. This is due to the weightly literature. Loving your work David. It is always good to go to Durham on your holidays.

New here...

We have finally made it as bloggers! OK Sorley, no pressure but you really do need to get a blog too.

So, to start off our blog, we thought we would provide you with some background on the Pukeko:

"They are birds that are full of character and can provide a lot of amusement for the observer. The white undertail is flirted cheekily with every movement and their high querulous notes run the whole gamut of expression, from curiosity to interrogation to scolding. The naturalist Guthrie Smith maintained that they make great pets and that every country family should rear them."

Another anecdote found on the Web:

"I have come to the conclusion that Pukeko are suicidal. I so often see them on the side of the road, dithering, darting backwards and forwards, looking for an opportunity to cross, only to come back later to see them squashed on the road. They seem to have no road sense at all. However, the ornithologist WRB Oliver had other ideas when he said, “The Pukeko is a bold and fearless bird. It has learned that trains and motorcars are harmless and takes no notice of them.”

There is of course a whole lot more to these birds and if you're really interested, go to this website where you can learn more about our 'clever' pukeko bird: http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/pukeko.html

So...onto some local news from the Armstrongs in Pukerua Bay. Well, we have officially gone wireless and we are wondering why we didn't do this a long time ago: it is so much easier. Now we can tap away to our hearts' content from anywhere in the house. We hope we will become regular bloggers and be in contact with you all more often.

OK, so now Nick wants to use the PC. I have added a couple of photos of the weans for those of you who haven't seen them in a while. Back soon!

Our wee gloved fairy in the sunlight!

Madeleine at six months but thinks she's actually nine months and already wearing size 1 year-old trousers!

and...Santa's little helper!