Tri, Tri, Tri

To beat my time last year. Shouldn't be hard b/c last year I was just recovering from a C-section! I don't know what posessed me to organize Luca's first bday party the same day as the Women's Triathalon, but somehow it all worked out. I didn't sleep too well the night before (I blame the massive sugar rush, and late night cake decorating session for this) but ended up doing well in the race. So well....(okay, I'm bragging a bit here...but heck, I deserve it) that I placed 11th out of like 550 people. Yeah, yeah, yeah!!! Next year the goal is to be in the top 10.

I never considered myself a 'runner' and I still hate doing it, but it's becoming easier. The biking section was better this year thanks to attending spin classes (I just kept imaging my instructor yelling at me to go faster/harder) and borrowing James' bike, and the swim comes fairly naturally. The reason I like Tris is because just when you feel like you've pushed yourself to the limit, you have another section to look forward to (to take a break till you get your energy back). I was D-E-A-D at the end of this race, but it was a good start to a very very busy day. Thanks to my support crew of James and Luca. Okay, bragging session over :-)

First Party

Here it is....my masterpiece of a birthday cake. It actually looks better farther away then it does up close. I was up till about midnight the night before the party trying to ice it...I had planned to finish it earlier but then we recieved an unexpected call from Qantas telling us our flights to the States had been cancelled. Yeah, that's right cancelled...which in turn has messed up all of our connecting flights. We can to a compromise with the airline (after about 2 hours on the phone with them) and although it's not as good as our orginal plans, they have re-routed us so now we don't have to transfer through LAX, and we get into San Fran a bit earlier than we had planned...but now we have to go through Sydney instead (more hours on the plane with Luca...) Anyways, back to the cake.

It turned out well - for my first attempt. James helped me a bit with the icing and in the process we probably consumed about 3/4 a cup of buttercream icing...it's hard to stop eating it once you get started. We went to bed with blue stained teeth and tongues...that stuff is hard to get off!

Oh, yes. You can tell he's impressed with cake. Ha, ha. I think he was more interested in the candle. I'm beginning to think that buying a cake may be the better choice. Less stress, less consumption of buttercream icing, and well a bit easier. But there's something to be said about the homemade not-so-perfect icing cake...

Here Luca is opening up some of his many gifts. Recieved lots of awesome goodies to keep him entertained for days (and us busy cleaning them all up from the lounge room).

Luca's friends Ryan and Jaycob came and they all had fun splashing around in the paddling pools. It was a HOT gorgeous summer day.

The three boys and Mom's together for the first time. Caroline and Ryan (they just moved down from Auckland), and Karlyn and Jaycob (she's due with her second baby in 8 weeks!)

Luca showing off his new toys to Jaycob. You should see Luca shake his butt and shoulders when the music plays - actually any music that plays he starts to do a little jig.

In summary, we had a great 1st birthday with a few friends and family coming over for lunch at our place. James and I were exhausted when it was all over, and we can only think about the many more birthday parties in the years to come. I wander when they can start having parties at McDonald's? Ha ha

Pretty things

I've just started a floristry course - L-o-v-e it. Here's a few things I made this past week....victorian tussie mussies (aka posies, nosegays).

Party Prep

At first we weren't going to have a big 1st birthday party for Luca, and there was no way I was going to spend hours slaving over a birthday cake for him. My, how things change. I started talking to other mothers in my coffee group, and after looking at all their pictures of the cool cakes they made, and hearing stories of the big 1, I suddenly felt the pressure to get baking. After all, he will only turn one, once right? The party is planned for this Saturday and we're keeping it simple by only inviting a few family and friends....if you're reading this, and you're not invited, don't feel bad...it's just we didn't want to make it into a big thing.

We're hoping for a nice day, b/c our house is too small to fit everyone inside. We'll get the splash pools out, the bubble making stuff, and put on a basic bbq, and of course my piece of art work cake will look fab. Here's hoping!

I was going to make this cool cupcake train thing, but I couldn't get it to work right, so I've borroweded a co-workers cake mold and I'll cross my fingers that I can figure out how all the different icing and piping bags work. I made the cake today, and plan to freeze it until this weekend. When we picked the date for his party, we forgot that I had also signed up for a triatholon that same morning. Will be a busy day for me, to say the least.


My official cake taste tester....

Look he's 'busting' out of his onsie...I should retire it to the 'too small' pile, but I just love the color on him - really makes his eyes sparkle. And look! We got a package from the Barbaro's today...Splenda for all my low fat baking. Unfortunatly Luca's cake is far from low fat, but that's okay I hopefully won't be eating it all by myself.

Tent City

We had a fab time camping at Tolega Bay with James' parents and nephew. We got to use our new tent (it was great! and so easy and quick to put up) and had the convienance of having James' parents there. Here's a pic of their tent - it's MASSIVE with three seperate rooms- but worked really well having Luca sleep in there with the portacot. Although our tent is great - it's a bit small to have 2 adults with queen size airbed and a portacot in it. I have to admit though....you can't really totally relax when you're got an active 1 year old on your hands. Luca is getting into EVERYTHING at the moment. If it can fit in his mouth, or if it's something dangerous - he'll no doubt be near it. The only chance I got to read a book/magazine was during the 5.5 hour drive to get there. All part of the fun.

We had gorgeous weather, and spent lots of time at the beach. Luca likes trying to eat the sand and also getting it into every single little fat fold that he has.

Not so much a fan of the water though - still a bit too cold. This isn't florida afterall!

Daddy teaching Luca how to build sandcastles and use some of his new Christmas Toys.

I know that the whole point of these campground is to do...nothing...but I'm not one that can sit still for very long, so one day we drove the 45mins into Gisborne (a city I had never been to before). Walked the shops, ate at a cafe, and visited two wineries. Gisborne is known for their chardonnays, and we didn't leave empty handed.

To help combat all the snack food and wine we consumed on holiday, we took a few hikes - with Luca in tow.

Sometimes he falls asleep while in the pack. Poor thing, doesn't look comfortable does it?

But he woke up shortly after to check out Cooks Cove - this is where Captain Cook (who discovered NZ) first docked his boat.

All in all, a great 4 days. We're looking forward to camping every year - and might plan another overnight camping trip this summer (but somewhere closer to home).

Kiwi Camping

We're off to Tolega Bay tomorrow for 4 days of camping - Kiwi style. It will take us around 6 hours to drive to the campground, which is on the East coast of NZ - one of the very few parts of this country that I have never been to. It's out in the boonies (or as they'd say in NZ...the wop-woops) but is supposed to be this really nice laid back place with a great beach and walking trails. Apparently there's nothing much to do there, and that's the beauty of it (so they tell me).



Camping Kiwi style is this....packing everything but the kitchen sink, going to a campground which is nothing more than a fenced in paddock with a few trees, showers, toliets, and camp store and squeezing your tent in amongst strangers. Familes often go to the same campground year after year and spend several nights there (7-14).

We're all packed up with books, beach gear, and Luca survival gear. Woo-hoo, we'll finally get to use last year's Christmas present - our tent! We're meeting up with James parents who will be staying at the campground for two weeks.

We haven't had a vacation or escaped from Palmerston North for quite some time now, so we are really looking forward to our first camping excursion - kiwi style. Here's hoping our tent neighbors don't mind a crying baby....hee hee.....

Happy New Year!