So Long Summer...... it's been swell.

Or as Daffy would have coined it..... Sho long shummer...... it's been schwelllllll.

What a kiwi summer it was. Okay, well the previous summer seemed to go on & on & on as all the kiwi's around me were v. fond of saying on finding out that was our first in nu ziland soil.

So Easter was our final hip hip hooray we're off in the carlycampa, for the season. We went to a fave. holiday spot ~ Awhitu & man am I glad that we are in with management! The luxury of a hot shower & electricity is NOT to be underestimated. Hey, I am happy to go to camping spots with just the basics of a drop toilet & bush shower, i.e. all the camping spots we go to. But if you have the magic key to facilities then why the heck not use em?!? I mean, why stay all sweaty, salty & greasy if you don't have to? So yay to John & Thomas for the hot water, many thanks gentlemen.

One v. impotant piece of advice when camping with itty-bitties ~ don't go when daylight saving has finished, it makes for a very looooooooong night. Waiting for bed-time means that the time has to be filled in without copious amounts of use of torches & lanterns. Mozzies love that light. That's when we got started on the what animal? game, more about that one some other time. Sure, it got dark early, but who wants to send the kids to bed at 6.30pm when you know that they'll then wake up at 5AM?!?!?! And an itty-bitty whispering in your ear that they are awake and is everyone else awake & can I get dressed & I'm hungry & where's my breakfast & & & & & ......is just toooooo much at that unearthly time of the morning, that I just ain't the morning fairy that I used to be (not). Pity that the canvas tenting doesn't mask the screams.......

King Carlyboy is da man. He built us a pay-shio (Kath Day Knight would be so proud of my v. own Kel) onto the carlycampa. This means we have a covered outdoor play area in which to house the table & chairs, stoves, stove stands & most importantly the newest gadget -> the camp kitchen. Even better, this pay-shio is totally detachable & comes in a lovely shade of blue in which to co-exist beautifully with the carlycampa. Already he is planning to add to this area, he's talking walls & clothes line people -> v. civilised indeed.

The area prior to building the pay-shio (after the night-time clean-up & pack-up, but what a thing of beauty the camp kitchen is) :

Now, the same area with the pay-shio da da da da da....... sweet ain't it?!?




That would be Angelface & Fairygirl with their over-flowing Easter Bunny lootbags ~ yes indeedy, the v. same gorgeous bags from Aunty Mel. So the whole thing matches. I'm not much of a blue kinda gal, but them's the breaks. We may even have to venture back to Otahuhu to get a 2 fold mat for the outdoor area to go with the 3 fold mat inside the carlycampa. Now that the camping season is over we get to unpack everything, circle the catalogues, plan for stuff we need & then hopefully we get to go shopping....

So, a few shots from the weekend:




I have gotten into the habit (thanks to a few birthdays) of baking some cupcakes & taking them along with us for dessert. Chocolate cupcakes seem to go down especially well.....

The kid-bait or swing as it is more commonly known. As you can see it attracts kids no matter what & whether you can see it in the dark is of no consequence. But it is bloody funny to see kids racing each other over to use it, reaching up to grab it kind of mid-stride & then come to a screeching stop when they realise the swing is missing. (Does that make me a masochist?!?)

Anyhoo, it's a great thing to have.

It was cold peoples.

That's post chocolate cupcake feast smeared on Fairygirl.

Told you the bags were stuffed full. Not all chocolate thank goodness, our resident choco-holic Miss Fairygirl was in absolute heaven. We had to cut off her supply once we kept finding egg wrappers trails leading straight to her. Harsh, but we had to save her from complete chocolate melt-down (geddit?!? ha ha)





I would just like to state for the record that King Carlyboy was there on the weekend, although there is no actual photographic evidence of his fine self. He was the one on the non-flashing end of the camera for these pics.