Pregnancy

This is the year that is crowned with His goodness and our paths drip with abundance.

We claimed this blessing upon our household for the year 2011 in Jesus' name.

Never did I expect His goodness to be manifested in the form of a baby number 3.

:)

I took the pregnancy test kit on 20 Jan 2011 and it confirmed my guess.

I must have been about 6-7 weeks pregnant.

This took me by surprise and I dare say that our God works in interesting ways and forms.

Praise the Lord for He is good.

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 04

14 Nov 2010

Set off at 1130am.
Wanted to let the kids play on the beach near Marahau but the sand there was too hard. They wont be able to build sandcastle with their brand new sandcastle kits that I brought from sg. We decided to head for Motueka for our much needed dump station.

Bought a takeaway at KFC for lunch today before we set off for our long drive to Greymouth Top 10.
By dusk, we only made it to Punakaiki where the infamous Pancake Rocks stood. We took a leisurely stroll to view the rocks just the evening sky envelopes us and by the time we made our way back to the campervan, it was already dark.

We decided to camp out tonight.
Found a spot close to the beach and camped out under a night sky filled with twinkling stars and the sound of the crashing waves just behind our campervan.

What an awesome experience!

Dinner : Pasta with minced pork (Jamie Oliver's Hearty Italian Flavour)
Pork Porridge for the kids

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 03

13 Nov 2010

Head up to Abel Tasman NP today.
DL did his hang-gliding with Tasman Air Adventures.
GP and I were contemplating if we should do it too.
But the weather decided it for us.
The wind condition was too harsh that DL's ride was cut short and they had to cancel the rest of the hang-gliding rides for the day.

We stocked up on food at NW Motueka and had lunch at McDonald's.
Arrived at Old MacDonald Farm in the late afternoon and took camp spot #8.
Dinner : Chicken Porridge for the kids; Noodles with chicken and mushrooms for us.

Decided to check out the bath area. The tap was designed such that the water was either very very cold or very very hot. It was impossible to bath the kids under such condition. So I gave them a dry bath with wet wipes and powder.

We spent the night in the tent for a change and had some privacy as a family. DL made a lovely bed for our tent. :)

Sweet!

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 02

12 Nov 2010

Rise & Shine at 10am.
I really had a good night's rest. A much needed rest indeed...
The kids slept well too. Rachel didnt need to wake up for a pee which is quite unusual.
The bed was also comfortable for our backs. Sturdy and comfy at the same time. I think the leather bed base helped.

We had bread and hard boiled eggs for breakfast.
The kids were very excited to check out the surroundings since they did not get to see much of it last night. The weather was great too. Blue skies with long white clouds.

We were running short of time as we needed to be at the Whale Watching Centre at 1pm and we only managed to leave at 1230pm. (We need to drive about 20mins to reach the centre). That leaves us with insufficient time for dumping so we decided to skip it till the next stop.

Sensing some hesitation from GM to take the helicopter as well as who's gonna sit with who.. (we need to split up as one heli can only take 3 adults; they are 4 of us! Kids get to go on the heli for free...), I suggested that DL will join 2 other strangers who had signed up for the ride and the 3 of us (GM, GP and me) will take the ride together with the kids. We finally got a consensus and it was good. We could move ahead with our schedule.

Indecision brings about nothing but a waste of time. Sometimes someone has to step up to make the decision and very often, I find myself in this role. :P

Our pilot of the day was Lee Armstrong. He gave a briefing before we set off to catch whales. (The other two strangers backed out from the ride and that left us, DL, GM, me and the kids on one heli. GP chose not to take the ride as he had enough of heli rides in his younger days while working in the States.)

We managed to catch two sperm whales. Saw one just before it did a backflip into the water and the other one taking its own sweet time at the surface refilling oxygen and probably fell asleep while doing so. We didnt have time to wait till it does a backflip into the water and had to head back to shore. It was a fruitful ride nonetheless.

Bought takeaway from a nearby cafe for our late lunch before we head north to Old MacDonald's Farm, Abel Tasman NP.
(Tarts/Quiche/Lasagna/Salad/Carrot Cake)

Make a quick stop at Ohau Stream where seal pups can be sighted but we didnt catch any. Winter would probably be a better season to sight them.

It was a long drive and we decided that we had to pull over at a public carpark to spend our night instead of pushing on to Old MacDonald's Farm. Had a late dinner at Relish Restaurant in Nelson.

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 01

11 Nov 2010

The plane landed smoothly at about 1145hrs at Christchurch International Airport.

As we were unsure if the stuff (milk powder, health supplements, instant cereal drink, coffee, biscuits, camping tent etc) we brought would clear the customs without declaring, we decided to go through the DECLARE lane so as not to risk the NZ$400 fine. The customs officer who checked our stuff turned out to be quite friendly and especially lovely toward Rachel. Our luggage went through the x-ray machines and we were good to go. No problem with the stuff.

DL decided to get a SIM card from the airport and it took him quite a while to decide which ones to get. Meanwhile the kids got active at a small arcade centre at the airport. They were no one there so they basically jumped onto a ride and then hopped onto another.. without paying any coins of course. :)

After DL got his SIM card, we quickly made our way to the pickup area where the Pacific Horizon (PH) representative was. She drove us to the PH office which was located within minutes drive from the airport.
We saw our campervan and it looked pretty big. DL had to go through a briefing and made some checks on the campervan. The staff was kind enough to show us how to transform the seats into beds and many hidden gadgets of the campervan.

By the time we unloaded everything, it was almost 3pm. I was extremely tired and hungry by now. The kids were also starting to get cranky. But we still need to get some groceries before we can hit the roads to Kaikoura Top10.

Went to Raewards' Fresh Produce to pick up some fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. Their locally grown vegetables looked so big and fresh. I marvelled at how palatable they looked. Then we hopped over to New World Supermarket (NW) to load up on diapers, milk, pasta, biscuits, chips etc.

By the time we reached Kaikoura Top10, it was already 8pm.

Mum got to cook her first meal on the CV while we washed up. I did a dry bath for the kids simply because it was too cold and they was no detachable shower head.

We had pasta bolognaise for dinner and it tasted so yummy! After that, I went to get a shower and was glad that the water was hot, despite it lasting only for 7 minutes.

Hit the sack soon after and didnt remember how I made the kids sleep. I guess I was super concussed.
Thanks to DL for transforming the bed all by himself.

 Campervan with all our luggages

 Rear of the campervan which is used as a dining table for meals

and transformed into a double bed at night. 

We kept it as a  bed throughout our trip!

Stove Top (right) & Wash Basin (left)

Bar Fridge (below)

 The tiny bathroom that is indispensable when nature calls!

NZ South Island Campervan Vacation Day 00

Day 00 - 10 Nov 2010

One of the things that we wanted to do this year was to have a family vacation, either the four of us or with the extended family. As DL has always wanted to experience traveling on a campervan, we finally agreed to do a 14-days trip down under with his parents.

New Zealand's North Island was the place where we spent our honeymoon. Five years later, we were back but this time, we headed for the much acclaimed South Island.

Departed Changi Airport on 10 Nov 2010 via SQ297 at 1945hrs.
Rachel was very excited with her "first" flight experience. I doubt she remembers any of her previous flights as she was still very little. This time round, she got to choose her own toy, was given a pair of pink earphones and had her child's meal.
Ariel fell fast asleep shortly after we boarded the plane and was already in dreamland when the plane took off. But he woke up in time for his meal (post weaning meal which consists of meiji milk, mashed potato, cauliflower, tomota and chicken; all mashed up). After he's done with the meal, he started to poo. A very efficient digestive system he has!

At 2250hrs, we experienced pretty rough air turbulence. That was also around the time when Rachel cried as she was force-led to the toilet by GM. I comforted her and brought her to the seats at the back rows and continued to have my meal there with her. The seatbelt sign was on and we couldnt return to our seats even though I was already done with my meal. It didnt help when Rachel wanted to pee (again!!) and one of the crew told me that "this (referring to the air turbulence) is really bad..."

I didnt like air turbulence at all. It bothered me as my very first flight experience was pretty turbulent. I always wondered if the plane would stop functioning and crashed due to the bad air turbulence. DL, on the other hand, is never worried. Oftentimes, he would be fast asleep and unaware of the rough ride. I tried to be calm as I sat next to my little traveller. We prayed together for the air turbulence to clear so that she could go pee pee. We sang "Jesus Loves Me" for a good 20 minutes...

Half an hour later, we were able to return to our seats. She released herself and finally managed to find a cozy position to sleep. Ariel slept in my arms after I nursed him and thank God, I was able to put him into the bassinet without awakening him. I did that as I could not hold my pee. The others were sound asleep.

I was tired but I just couldnt get myself to sleep. I could only close my eyes for a couple of minutes, opening again to see if Ariel's doing okay in the bassinet and if Rachel's neck is resting on the cushion... I think I did that for about half an hour before they started to offer the next meal.

 As long as the kids are travelling with me, the mother instinct in me would be to make sure that they are well-rested. My basic needs can be met later...

In another 3 hours, we would land in Christchurch. Yippee!!

Lunch with Rachel

Mondays are library days ever since I started homeschooling Rachel.
We went to the Woodlands Regional Library today.
As usual, we would borrow up to the maximum that the library card permits, 6 books or 2 audio/visuals + 4 books.
And these are all children's books. They were damn heavy!!

After library, we would usually head out for lunch. Ichiban Sushi is one of our favourite lunchtime haunts!
I love japanese food and so does Rachel.

We managed to get a table right next to the food belt and Rachel was so excited and hungry that she readily picked her sushi off the belt and tucked in using her bare hands. She also loves Cha Soba which is one of my favourites.

We had a great time chomping down the food and talked like we're friends!
:)

Note. This post was published a week later.