Anatoki salmon fishing

Today we went to the Anatoki Salmon farm to catch some salmon. These are their rules: if you catch a salmon and release it, you must pay $50 for the fish's funeral. When you catch a salmon you have to kill it with a spike in the chilly bin. (Dad did that part for me and Zak). Then you give it to the cooks and you select your choice of seasoning and pay them $19 per kilogram.
They supplied the fishing rods, a net and a chilly bin which we took to the fishing pond. Dad gave me a hand with casting the line. I almost caught a fish a couple of times. Then I moved to the other side of the pond but after a while I clearly was not going to get a fish so Zak raced over to the fishing shop and brought some bait. Dad tried sticking it on the hook but it broke into two. We soon realized that you had to cast your line and throw in the bait where the hook was. We finally wrestled one up the bank and took both fish back. They smoked one and vacuum packed the other.



Me fishing.


Me holding my slimy fish.

By Emma.

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Kaiteriteri

Although it rained on and off all night and looked dismal in the morning the sun came out before we got to Kaiteriteri today and we had a great day.

We had planned to do a bit of a Sea Kayak adventure but with Cathy unable to paddle we had to settle for renting one for just an hour so I could go for a spin with Zak and then Emma. We saw some birds nesting in trees on a little Island (probably Herons). The "chicks" looked pretty huge, the size of a seagull! Maybe almost time for them to try flying themselves.

BB

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World of Wearable arts

Today we went to the world of wearable arts and classic car museum in Nelson. Me and Mum went the wow part and Zak an Dad went to the car bit. there were lots of cool costumes, but I particularly liked 'florabundance'. It was a knitted dress covered in knitted flowers of a variety of different types and colours. There was a theater where you could watch the wow show video from this year. We saw Grace in her hypnotism bra. Afterwards we went to the car part and had a look at the cars. All the cars were still in excellent condition. I liked the Aston Martin, but I don't have a favourite.

By Emma

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Follow Zaks minifig

One of Zak's minifigs is traveling with us and is blogging at AdventureMinifig.blogspot.com. He's posted a couple of pictures there today.
BB

On the road again...

We are in Wellington after driving 9 hours from home. We listened to The Hunger Games audiobook on the way. Zak and Emma think it is a pretty cool book but Cathy and I thought it really sad.
Our hotel is just up the road from the cinema that premiered The Hobbit a couple of weeks back so we stopped to take some pictures of Gandalf.
The pizza we had was better than what Emma and Cathy had last time they were in Wellington. Apparently the one last time had a really thick base that was barely cooked - like eating raw pizza dough. Disgusting. today's was much better.

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Cheflings

Today Emma and I made a delicious mac & cheese and Eton's mess for dinner.We decided to make this together because Mum cannot make dinners with her titanium arm and Emma got a new cook book.

Watch out on thursday because we are making something else and Emma's going to post a blog!

Zak

This is Cathy's hand.

Now with Titanium!!!

While playing soccer with workmates a couple of weeks back, taking her turn in goal, she blocked a shot from one of the guys and received a distal radius fracture.

Today a plate was inserted. The anesthetic hasn't worn off yet so she can't feel anything...

What's going on?

Getting my kids to blog is like pulling teeth! They tell me that this is because they are so busy (Emma says "IT'S TRUE"). I think they might be right!

So what has been going on since Zak's birthday.


Well first there was Emma's Birthday. A dozen girls came (and Zak escaped to a friends place). It was an 'M' party so we had Minnie Mouse (Emma), models, Marilyn Monroe, an M&M and an awesome Johnny Depp Mad Hatter. We had a magician who did a trick where a rabbit magically appeared in a box. The girls are getting a little too wise for this sort of thing now... They were certain that there was a secret compartment in the rabbit box. But his card tricks had everyone completely baffled. They played lots of games and ate lots of chocolate.

A couple of weeks back we all went on a ski trip. We stayed in a lodge with 6 other families including some of Zak and Emma's friends. It was the best ski trip the kids have ever had with 3 days of beautiful weather! Both Emma and Zak are skiing quite well now. Emma is skiing the blue runs right from the very top of the mountain. Zak is even doing some black runs. And, unlike last year, he behaved responsibly and stayed in control... Cathy and I took turns skiing with the boys (Zak + 4 mates) or the girls (Emma and Michaela). I could keep up with the boys but was glad of the time with the girls on the less challenging slopes! (Some video here).

And as it is also Soccer season, our weekends are pretty full. Both Zak and Emma play on Saturday mornings. I'm Emma's team coach and Cathy is Zak's team manager. Both teams are doing OK with some wins and some losses along the way. Cathy is also playing on Sundays (which oddly means that she has been rained on more than the kids, including today when it rained for the whole game). I've played a little indoor soccer with work people but I've had problems with my back this year so I haven't played much.

By Bruce and Emma.

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Birthday Fun

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Zak, happy birthday to me!

Hello everybody

On my actual birthday me and my friends played an outdoor laser tag. We had a lot of fun shooting each other on Mt Albert. The next day was my family birthday. I got pretty much all the stuff I wanted and some great things I didn't. We had lots yummy cake and snacks, I wish I could have waffles and ice cream for breakfast every day! Now I see that I got 4.6 kg of books. They will keep me busy for a long time.

Thanks for the presents and making it to the party.

From Zak

A Good Friday

Hi everybody

On Friday we were at the Bay of Islands. The Easter bunny gave me a chocolate bunny and it seemed to shrink during the rest of the week. Today we were going to see some of the historic sights of the Bay of Islands. Hooray. First we went to see the Treaty House in Waitangi and brought a translated copy of the Treaty. Did you know that before the Treaty House was restored it was used as a sheep barn? One of the reasons we decided to go there was my social studies class in school, we were studying the Treaty. After lunch at the Treaty House we went to see the Hundertwasser Toilets which were kinda boring because Emma had to look at every little detail. I mean who would go on holiday to examine toilets?

Zak

I have no hair!

As previously mentioned I signed up to raise money for Leukemia and Blood Cancer NZ. As loss of hair is a common side effect for the treatment of these illnesses, their fund raising promotion is called Shave of a Cure. Their stated goal is to get 10,000 people to shave, representing the 10,000 people suffering from these and related illnesses at any given time in NZ.

I figured that sacrificing my long hair I might be able to raise a reasonable amount of money for this cause and jumped in. Initially I spammed all my friends and relatives and people I work with at Datacom and some of our clients that I work with. Then it got posted on the Datacom intranet...

By the appointed time for the shave (done in the lunch room at work for maximum publicity) I had raised about $3500. Some cash was collected and a few more people donated later bringing the total to $3855. I'm pretty happy with this total. It is more than I really thought I could raise but mostly it isn't about me but about the seriousness of the cause.

So, what does Bruce with no hair look like? Check out the photo I posted on my Shave Page http://www.shaveforacure.co.nz/view_event_profile/6557

I don't like it. I especially don't like how it feels when I, unconsciously, rub my hand over it. I REALLY don't like it when Zak messes with it. He will be lucky if he doesn't lose a hand in the next few days...

BB.

- Posted using BlogPress from Cathy's iPad

Earthquake - Poem by Emma

Earthquake

The earth cracks it starts to shake,

The angry toddler is awake,

Crack and crumble goes the earth,

Breaking bones and ripping towns,

The toddler kicks and bites and hits,

The earth stops shaking,

Mum puts the grumpy toddler to sleep,

We mend the broken earth,

Bandage broken bones,

Recover from the injuries and

Life is peaceful once again. 

I'm getting a hair cut...

I know that it is normal for most people to get several hair cuts a year but I've been managing with one a year for about 20 years now. This time it is going to be different. Its all coming off...

Shave for a Cure is a fundraising event for Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand.

I don't actually want a haircut. I certainly don't want to have my head shaved. I've thought about getting it cut a lot of times in the last 20 years and decided to keep it this way. So why am I doing this? Over the past 10 years a couple of friends and a couple of colleagues have died from cancer and a few others have been treated and are now well. There isn't much you can do to help in situations like this but here is something I can do. And given I have a lot more hair than most people, I should be able to raise a lot more money! :-).

Please sponsor me at Shave for a Cure


Thanks,
BB

I did the Weetbix Tryathlon last Sunday and bet my friend Josh.I had a lot of fun but someone crashed into Josh in the biking and he lost a lot of time. My favourite part of the tryathlon was the biking because I went very fast. Josh never overtook me and afterward we played on the bouncy castle and I ate more breakfast. Then we went and had lunch at the beach.

Zak

The Lunar Eclipse by Emma

I woke up on December 11 2011, I didn't open my eyes. Instead I was pulled out of bed and carried along. I felt a cold rush of air as we past the front door. Someone wrapped me in rugs and put me on a couch outside. It was Dad.

The lunar eclipse started at 12:45 AM. A lunar eclipse is when the earth's shadow hits the moon so that it blocks the sun. I struggled to keep my eyes open, the moon was cloudy and bright yellow. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. So I closed them and dropped of to sleep almost instantly.

By Emma.



This was sort of like what I saw.

[BB - Unfortunately, it was cloudy most of the night so we only saw the eclipse in glimpses. Waking Emma was hard! I had to shake her for about 5 minutes and she was as floppy as a rag doll! At this point the clouds were clearing and the eclipse was finishing so she didn't see it at it's reddest.]


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Bruce rides in an ambulance!

No flashing lights, no siren but it was the only way for me to leave the gym after putting my back out at the weekly work indoor football game yesterday.

I've had trouble with my back since I was a teenager. Mostly I keep on top of it with just enough exercise but occasionally if I over do something and twist it the wrong way I'm left pretty sore and not very bendy for a few days. Last year I had a bit of a problem that kept me away from football for a few weeks but it didn't stop me from riding or working. This is worse...

After a few minutes of play I noted that I didn't feel as flexible as usual and then as I was just moving around on the court following the play something happened and I found it necessary to get all the weight off my back ASAP... I crawled off the court and spent about 15 minutes on the floor before I managed to stand. That didn't last though and I soon realized that I wasn't going back to work so called Cathy. Before she arrived it had gotten to the point where I just could not stand at all so an ambulance was called to deliver me to A&E.

After chatting with nurses and doctors, getting an X-ray, dosing up on painkillers, napping for 90 minutes, more painkillers and muscle relaxants, I was issued crutches and sent home.

I'm a lot better today, using the crutches to take some of my weight off my back when required but not able to bend much or sit up for more than a few minutes at a time. Hopefully, I'll be OK to sit by Monday but I guess I'll be missing football for a few more weeks...

BB.

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Lego

For the last few days I have been looking for two Ninjago lego sets in the shops. These are the last two sets I need so I have the whole series.
Usually this would be simple and it would only take half an hour but this time it took a whole day and we went to about 10 shops. The reason for this that Lego launched a new series of sets and the shops had sold out of most of the old sets in store. In all ten shops we only found one of the sets I wanted but all of the trading cards and bricks had been stolen except one brick.
We got a Ninjago carry case like mine for my friend Matthew because it was really cheap and the spinjitsu dojo to keep for my birthday.
That night Mum spent hours looking for the to sets on the computer and found both! Unfortunately one was at a ridiculously high price so we only brought one. I really want some of the more expensive Ninjago sets because then I will be able to beat matthew in spinjitsu and I am going to buy some as soon as I can get to the shops again.

Zak

Go Stars! Dallas Stars Ice Hockey, by Zak

For the last three nights we have been staying with Shane, Tonya and their daughter Erica in Texas. Last night we went to watch an ice hockey game where Shane and Tonya's home team, The Dallas Stars played against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

An ice hockey game has 3 periods and up to 6 players per team at a time. But sometimes players get sent into the penalty box. When there are an uneven number of players in each team, the team with the most players has what is called a power play.

Ice hockey is a very physically game because the players are allowed to barge into each other. Sometimes this makes them mad and they start fighting. Most fights happen in the third period when the players are tired and determined to win.

By the end of the second period the score was 2-2 and two of the sponsors promised that they would give free food to all the people in the stadium if the stars scored a goal in the third period. One gave chicken strips (which we ate today for lunch) and the other gave crispy beef tacos (tomorrow's lunch). Luckily The Stars finished with 4 goals and the opposition were still on 2.

It is a very fast paced game. The players were very accurate with hitting and trapping the puck and they skated nimbly across the ice. The thing I liked most was the fights, and the chicken strips (if they count).

Looking forward to the tacos tomorrow.

Zak



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Joshua Tree

We had a really great weekend camping in Joshua Tree National Park and captured a few thoughts....

Adventures by Emma.
1. Rock climbing
For my first time, I was going to do real rock climbing. I was the first child in the camp site to go rock climbing that day. I wore a harness and rock climbing shoes.
"On belay", I said.
"Belay on" was the reply.
I started climbing by gripping onto the rock ledges. Pushing my feet up after my hands. Up, up , up went. Not once did I glance down except for a photo. I didn't glance down because I was quite determined to reach the top. I kept going and going. Suddenly I looked up. I was at the top. I hadn't realized it before as I had just kept climbing.
"Do you want to climb the overhang?" he asked.
"Yes", I replied.
I climbed up a bit further to where the overhang stuck out and two cracks split the rock. I looked around to try and see what I could do.
" I can't see anything to hold", I called down to Ben.
"Do you want to come down"
He started feeding the rope and I started to slowly walk down.


Adventures by Bruce.
I got stuck on a rock face. I had climbed as far as I was able, and was being belayed back down when the rope stuck fast. Just pull harder the guy said. No I said it's really stuck I and hung from the rope waving my feet and arms in the air. As places to be stuck go, it wasn't bad. I was able to sit on a ledge quite comfortably. It wasn't too hot or cold, there was no wind, and it was hours until dark.

To get me down, Steve climbing up by a different route, and climbed up above me to pull the rope out of the crack it had got stuck in. All of which took about half an hour. I did the same climb the next day and everything went smoothly.

Adventures by Zak
I bled. One of the most interesting moments was when I fell off a rock about a meter high and scraped my leg along the side of it. I have a big graze all along my right shin.
Another of my interesting things there was when I went rock climbing on the huge rock and made it to the overhead that was near the top of the climb. Unfortunately I couldn't get past that,but I tried.
Probably one of the best things was when Dads friends Will found a furry brown tarantula on the road. He quickly captured in a bag and dropped it into a plastic box for all of us to see.

We met lots of people, and had a great time staying up late around the camp fire toasting marshmallows.

Zak

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The missing episodes...

A disadvantage of using an iPad is that software updates all have to be OK'd by Apple. When IOS5 came out it broke the app we use for blogging so some incomplete blogs from our trip were stuck on the iPad for the last few months until Apple finally OK'd the fixed version...

Now it is going again I'm posting a couple of posts we had been working on way back in October.

BB.


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