We arrived up north and went to the local for a few games of pool and some drinks for the fam bamz. As much as there is nothing in this town I do love coming back here.
The next few days were spent cleaning the Marae and trying to get it all ready for the food and for all the people who would be staying.
We had Hangi for the birthday so Nan went all out and got some beef, mutton and pork from one of the locals who killed hung it all up and made it into meat. We had a lot of raw meat to pack into bags.
Nana Lesley and Grandpa have veges galore in their garden so gave us a lot of beetroot which Nan taught me how to pickle. Boil up the beetroot stems dirt and all. Once cooked peel the skin and dice it up. Mix together some water white vinegar and sugar taste as you go. Throw in some of the beetroot let it soak up some taste that and change as needed. Its super yummo.
A few shots of my nieces. Te Atawhai is a techo-freak. She loves technology and knows how to play just about every game that is on my iPad even if she doesn't know what she's doing. Te Ataahua loves the iPad too but not as much as Te Atawhai.
The birthday was a few days later and we had lots of family and some of Nans friends turn up. She had a lot of fun and loved that the family from Kaitaia had come down. Last we heard they weren't able to make it BUT most of them did and I'm glad they all came down.
I'm not sure what my niece wanted to a take a photo of more. Herself or her red vine that she got the weird kid lol. Love and miss the girls though.
We also had to take a few shots of all the cousins for Nan. It's now my job to arrange it all into an album for Nan which I will do once I've moved and settled into the new place.
After birthday celebrations were over we drove up to Houhora to see my brother. It was a great day up there visiting and getting to see some of my Dads side of the family and stopping in and having some fish and chips. I was tempted to swim with the girls but everyone was in a hurry to get back to Horeke.
This is my niece and my cousins daughter. A lot of the family think they look like twins apart from Te Atawhai having a more rounder bigger face than Te Ataahua. The Mane gene is def strong for them to look the same. It also took a million shots to even get a photo with the both of them smiling. In the end we had to play a game of see who had the biggest smile.
After all the celebrations and visiting was over we drove down to Auckland spent a couple of days here just chilling out and winding down from the past week and a bit of celebrations. It was nice to spend time alone with my parents and Aunty. I was sad to see my family go but I had so much fun with all of them. Looking forward to spending more time with my family again soon.
All in all it was a great 2 weeks off and I'm looking forward to getting back into work with both the kids and Global. I'm relaxed and now ready to get back into everything with work exercise better eating and all together a healthier happier me.
Watch this space.
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