Friday challenge ~ 3 little piggies

Hello and so sorry for the lack of postings lately.

After 3 weeks in Hawaii then a further unexpected 2 week trip to Sydney has left me with hundreds of blog drafts (many of which are still in my head) yet nothing posted.

Then a good friend of mine here on Norfolk Island challenged me to link up with a Friday favourite photo. I gladly accept this challenge with reminders, you will see me more of my wonderful life appear on this blog.

Here lies another challenge though. I take thousands of photos each week, so how do I chose just one to post?
Well this weeks photo came from a tiny moment within a whole wonderful day that deserves its very own blog post. I guess that is what this challenge will do the most will be to generate a lot more posts each week from looking through my photos.
Though time challenged myself, I find it hard to say no to anything and I like to show you all how lucky I am to live on Norfolk Island.

So.....here is my Friday Favourite

This is the link to view my friends wonderful blog and her Friday favourites.
Norfolk Exposure

40 things about me

40 things about me

 

1. when I grow up, I never want to grow up.
 
2. A song I would write about my life? Sunshine and lollipops by Lesley Gore.
 
3. Favourite Cd's would be Marvin the Album by Frente followed by Aquarium by Aqua...what can I say, I like quirky.
 
4. Most romantic song ever 'With you' from the musical Pippin. Also Longer (John Bowles sang the version we played at our wedding 17 years ago).
 
5. I worked at Maccas, I think I started at the base wage which was $3.04 an hour. I still have my blue nylon 80's uniform and name tag too.
 
6. I did a manufacturing jewellery apprenticeship when I left school.
 
7. My favourite scents are Coconut, Vanilla, fresh Lemon blossom,  and honey.
 
8. I love the flower sweet alyssum growing in every nook and cranny for its sweet scent of rich honey.
 
9. Something I can watch over and over Anne of Green Gables and any Jane Austin, especially Pride and prejudice. (Ironically, these books are often found on my bedside table also).
 
10. What I listen to on my ipod. Glee.
11. Favourite show on TV GLEE followed closely by better homes and gardens (I used to LOVE watching Burke's Backyard, even as a teenager) I don't watch very much TV but like watching my kids as they watch funny shows, horrible histories is one of their favourites.
12. I dislike scary or violent movies, dislike messy toothpaste anywhere & people smacking chewing gum in my face.
13. I have been a vegetarian for about 15 years (why?) I am a sensitive soul, I love animals and also witnessed an unfortunate roasted rabbit coming out of the oven at a friends house when I was about 10, lets just say I never wanted to eat animals again.
14. My favourite family holiday destinations were 7 mile beach at Gerroa/Gerringong plus Hawaii and also Norfolk Island.
15. My first acting experience was in a few drama class plays then 'The Loudest Whisper' at Cronulla arts theatre at age 13.
16. I LOVE performing in Musicals. My first musical was Godspell with Miranda musical society at age 16. My favourite is Pippin which I have done 3 times. I met my husband Brandt while performing in Anything goes in 1991 and we were engaged a month later.
17. I love watching Musicals. As a child my favourites were always the Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire MGM musicals. I also liked Audrey Hepburn movies. Singing in the rain, Calamity Jane and 7 Brides for 7 brothers still remain my favourites.
18. I am happy with my clutter, I know it is out of control. I am always writing creative  lists and hate throwing out all my little bits of paper. I still have letters filed away in storage that were passed to me in class dating back from 1986 (they are in a very organised alphabetised folder that is bulging) Chances are if you ever wrote me letters, I have kept them.
19. I avoid housework, its the only way I fit everything else in my busy life in :)
20. I love being an Auntie 12 times over but wished I lived closer.
21. I would do anything for a friend in need.
22. I love taking off on a plane, but never sleep the night before I do.
23. Actually I don't sleep much anyway...too much to do, life is too short. hehehe so am I.
24. I am 5ft tall.
25. I am the youngest of 5 kids. I have an awesome family and love them all.
26. The numbers of my birthday day, month and year all add up to 9.
27. Bubbles is my poison of choice, I don't like wine, but enjoy an occasional port. Also a Baileys Milo is a much preferred choice on a cold night.
28. I had 2 childhood imaginary friends, one was called Rogger, he was a lumberjack and resembled Glenn Shorrock. The other when I was in kindergarten was called Angela Bumface, she was rude and was allowed to be naughty and swear. She was based on a naughty girl in year 6 called Angela.
29. My favourite colour is RAINBOWS!
30. what would I take to a desert island? my family and my camera (and Dora the explorer, she can solve any problem and get home from anywhere in the world with her amazing backpack).
31. I love freshly made ice cream, especially coconut or liquorice. But have had a brand new ice cream maker in the cupboard for 6 months without attempting it myself.
32. If I could change anything about my life it would definitely be living closer to my family and friends, that is all. Anything else that can be changed, I do.
33. And I would get a dog right now if the right one came along.
34. I sign my paintings as Cristina Rose as I was engaged when I began painting at age 19 so was in between last names. They are my first 2 given names
35. I love my name now, though as a kid I preferred Tina to avoid being called Chris or Christine. I changed my name constantly in year 1 to be simply Kim, then I got exotic and called my self Cristy plip plop, fruity brown Abba, leaf, Pineapple, fire engine etc and my family have NEVER let me forget it.  * note don't automatically put an 'H' in my name, you lose brownie points and I may revert back to one of my colourful names. My family just called me Zany Lyle. 
36. My last born son was born at the same hospital that both Brandt and I were born in except that it has been rebuilt now.
37. I am addicted to taking photos, I don't want to miss a moment of this great life!
38. I have always felt like I am the luckiest person alive!
39. What in life matters to me the most? Family.
40. One word that describes me.........BUBBLY.

 

 

 

 

turning 7

 

Sienna

How old are you? 6, nearly turning 7

What happens when you turn 7? I get a cake.

What will be different about you? I will be older and taller, even taller than Dad.

Is there anything you will be able to do better when you are 7? I will be able to write better and do my work better.

What can 7 year olds do? Ride a big bike with a bike stand and maybe get to school earlier.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A vet and an artist. When I am a teenager I want to be a babysitter.

What hobbies do you have? Singing and dressing up with makeup, pretending to be a vet, playing football, painting and craft.

What games do you like to play? Mini golf and ponopoly (monopoly)

What is on your birthday wishlist? A mother cat with 10 kittens, Lego friends, Olivias house and Mia and the vet.

Where is your favourite place on Norfolk Island? Mini golf.

What is your favourite breakfast? Weetbix & brown sugar

What is your favourite lunch? Salad sandwich

What is your favourite dinner? Spiral pasta with cheese and tomato sauce

What is your favourite dessert? Ice cream with chocolate on it and sprinkles

 

What type of Pet would you like? I already told you…A mother cat with 10 kittens.

What would you call them? Sweetie, belle, sharky, tiger, milly and molly.

 

 

Ozone Friendly

Brandt and my first 'baby' was a 5 week old bullmastif/Rhodesian ridgeback/ rottweiler cross puppy that was rejected by his mother.

He was born 20 years ago today.

Our little baby red rotty was supposed to be an outside builders dog, but he was sooo cute he soon became a bed buddy.
I am sorry that I don't have any puppy photos of him with us here on the island to share on this post.

6 months after we got engaged, Brandt had tragically lost his beloved dog BA. When he found out about this puppy he said yes straight away.
It didn't take long for him to become our big red rotty and he took up most of the bed!

Ozone became our full time companion, he went EVERYWHERE with us. I often drove around with him in my yellow VW bug and even took him to work with me.

We took him to Tasmania one Christmas, he came to Noosa for our honeymoon and many more trips.
He appeared at my Nana's place up the road for a cup of tea and toast every Tuesday and Thursday and the odd Saturdays. We loved him to bits!

On his 10th birthday 10 years ago, my preschool class had a doggy birthday for him with cake ,candles and dress ups.

Sadly he passed away 9 years ago while I was in hospital with my newborn baby Teddy.
I am so sad they never got to meet. My last moments spent with him while I was in labour, he was a good hugging partner through the night. Brandt and I are still heartbroken, we know we need another dog and we hope the right one will come along for our children to love and cherish soon.

I miss you Ozy, Thanks for being the best buddy to us for almost 11 years.

Ages and Stages

WE try not to compare our children as all 3 are different from each other, we have accepted and love the best parts of their individual personalities but every now and again we like to see who they look like and guess who they will most be like as they grow older.

While pondering on this recently, I realized that Jasper who is now 2 years and 2 months is exactly the same age that Teddy was when Sienna was born and Sienna at 6 and a half is the same age that Teddy was when Jasper was born..... so, It is time to go through the photo archives to see who these little people were then and who they are becoming now.

After a recent fancy dress party where Jasper wore a shirt that my mum made for 2 year old Teddy, It was definitely time to compare.

All three of them are too cute and are growing up so fast with a whoosh! I know I can't slow down time, but I certainly do just enjoy them for who they are right now (well.... most of the time ☺)

 ♥Treasuring the moment♥

☺

sharing some puppy love

This week we reminded ourselves of Brandt's beloved best friend B.A (black animal) who died tragically ‎20 years ago  and left him (and everyone who knew him) heartbroken.

 His beautiful dog was waiting for him at a butchers shop across the road from his house, when he saw the car turn into the driveway, he ran across the road to happily greet him, only to be run over by another car.

Angus on the jobsite

Angus's unique way of sitting on the back of the truck like a cat on a wall with his tail hanging down.

This week some very good friends lent us their dog Angus (nicknamed McAngus at our house) we have all been very happy to have another great dog at our house.
It is amazing how similar the 2 dogs are in personality the way they both tried to go surfing with Brandt and the way they both followed him around the building site (and the way they both sleep on his bed!).

 

  We would love to get another dog especially as the kids have never had one, it is so hard to get good personality dogs here on the island & via internet shopping.
Fingers crossed the right one will come our way around Christmas time.

 In the meantime, Angus's owners who have a 2 year old and a newborn baby ensure us that his social calendar is clear and he is free to come and have a play at our place anytime, I am sure we will take that offer many a time.

None of us could fit on the lounge this week, so we happily sat on the floor.

There were 5 in the bed and the black dog said 'move over'.

Brandt and I did get another dog, A big red rottweiler cross with bull mastif and rhodesian ridgeback named Ozone who was our 'baby' for nearly 11 years, we lost him 9 years ago when Teddy was born, he deserves his own post one day.

turning 9

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope you have a wonderful Easter with your loved ones today and stay safe wherever you go.


With Love from us here on Norfolk Island.

Easter Carnival at Norfolk Island Central school

This year has flown by so fast that I have completely lost all concept of real time since starting university.
 It is Easter weekend 2012 already! AND I still have Christmas blogs to update not only from 2011 but from 2010 too.

Most of my photos and comments now go straight to facebook for friends and family to view, but the Easter carnival is such a fun event each year that it deserves a blog post.

Here is my little princess with her pipecleaner bunny ensemble that she made on the last day of term today.

 Each year the kindergarten to year two parents bake a cake for the cake stall to sell, I only have one year left to do this until Jasper starts school so am already planning next years cake.

 After the successes of my rainbow layer cake at last years Easter carnival and since, I made a short stack version this year in softer colours.

Last year there was a fight to see who would buy it first.

See original here it has the recipe of last year's rainbow layer cake.

I like the chocolate pastel version of today's cake, I think it worked out okay. I wonder who bought it?

Tonight the carnival was wet on and off again, but luckily the warm autumn night didn't deter may of the locals who happily walked around damp for an hour or so. the rides and amusements all still continued through the evening, the kids love it as running through the rain is one of the added joys of childhood

There are so many favourite activities, I hardly see the kids all night (until they come back for money)

Their favourites are the green machines (low to the ground bikes that can zoom around a track like go karts but with pedal power) and sumo wrestlers( big puffy suits to wear to wrestle your opponent to the ground, funny to watch) for Teddy and for Sienna, the merry go round, inflatable dragon where you can go through his mouth and climb through its belly and out its tail, also bat the rat, flying pigs and facepainting.

Jasper loved the merry go round, but was content to play to hang out with me in the facepainting room as I did my shift. He did like the trash and treasure room also and spent lots of time (out of the rain) playing with toys that look exactly like all his old baby toys that we used to have at our house, luckily he didn't ask me to buy them back again, I only just got them all boxed up and given away to the school.

Here Sienna is attempting to go for a fourth arm break by rollerskating everywhere along the wet and slippery paths and through muddy puddles, she had lots of fun though but those white Barbie pants will never ever be white again.

The perfect end to an exciting night, a chapter of a good titanic book and clutching a prized balloon.

Celebrating World Autism awareness day on Norfolk Island for the first time.

            On April 2 around the world, Autism awareness is celebrated.

This year, Norfolk Island didn't just join in to the world's celebrations, they lead and owned the day by offering the most amazing local support using people power.

On Norfolk Island, the whole event began only 3 weeks ago with a comment on facebook which I asked the facebook community of 500 of my friends and family "should we light up something blue on Norfolk Island for World autism awareness day?" and "what should I turn blue on April 2?"

From then on a flurry of activity from many individuals all accepted the challenge given and took it upon themselves to organize something for the event.

The date was set as it is a worldwide yearly event and through a few emails to ask for permission, the salthouse was chosen as the building to light up with thanks to Peter Davidson for coming in to work early on his holiday to get the permit approved.

Then Andre Nobbs accepted the offer to light it up for the night and provide some music which led to the blue light foundation being involved and cooking a great sausage sizzle as well as a disco for the kids inside the salthouse complete with blue flashing police lights.

As a separate interest, Mal Tarrant asked Bruce Kelly if it would be possible to light up Government house, Bruce asked the new Administrator who was only to fly in to his new home on that day, he willingly agreed.

Mal organized Shorty for the lights.

Claudine made 100's of blue ribbons and an Autism awareness t-shirt design up at Photopress and asked for permission to sell blue cupcakes at the post office during that day via donation, Deb not only approved, but made 100 cupcakes also then bought the staff blue Autism awareness t-shirts to wear on the day. The cupcakes sold out!

 Mal T also made an extra-large batch of blue caramel popcorn to sell on the day, Naomi at the olive made blue cupcakes and The Olive and Latitude 29 both sold the blue awareness ribbons.

Some shops also decorated their windows blue and Edie in Pete's place also made and sold blue cupcakes for a donation and awareness.

At one stage I was  overwhelmed by the amount of support and recognition the community was willing to give to an event in its inaugural year.

At the Salthouse from 4:30pm it had been a very windy day with thunderstorms and rain forecast but someone weather wise decided to smile on us as the wind dropped and blue skies appeared just as the crowds of people arrived. So with Blue people, blue skies, blue lights, blue food and drinks everything was blue except our moods. It was great to see so many come out on a Monday night to celebrate this great cause.

As the sunset and the lights glowed bright, Teddy gave a very inspiring speech about his life with Asperger's syndrome and his hopes for the future.

Here is Teddy's speech

Hi, my name is Teddy. I'm eight years old and have Asperger's syndrome.

I don't like people using loud voices, it makes me feel like I am in a battle zone, lots of people and kids don't understand Asperger's.

All I would like is for people to understand and accept that we are all different but we have some amazing qualities and skills to share with the world.

So please try and speak calmly as we have feelings too.

Lots of people with Asperger's have made a difference in the world like Einstein and Thomas Edison.

I want to be a famous architect and make a difference in this world too by redesigning places like Christchurch earthquake zone and the Brisbane flood area, Japan's tsunami area and W.A bushfire region.

I want to make a difference and make the world a better place.

There were many cars driving around Kingston as they came out to see Norfolk Islands landmarks lit up and glowing bright blue, it was really impressive.

Although it was not technically a fundraiser, the locals who are finding times tough themselves all dug deep and collectively raised around $800. What an amazing community we live in.

 The parents of local children with Autism are extremely grateful and would like to see the money be kept locally to provide Autism awareness here on the island. If you have any suggestion about how to raise and keep awareness local please email me on Norfolkislandphotos@gmail.com

good friends Mal and Rose came to celebrate both their Birthdays at the salthouse,
Rose even made blue birthday shots!

The kids loved the blue light disco inside the Salthouse complete with Police flashing blue lights inside and its changing colours outside.

I would like to thank everyone who came and supported us throughout the day and during the night.

Especially the following who went above and beyond helping,

Jonno and Rick at the Norfolk Islander, George on radio Norfolk and everyone who listened when baby Jasper wanted to talk! Alison at Norfolk online news, Anita at KAVHA, Peter Davidson, Mal and Raewynne Tarrant, Christian Bailey agencies, Shorty from Kiernan agencies and Jim from Norfolk Electrical, Bruce Kelly, The new administrator the Hon. Neil Pope and Mrs Pope for generously letting us light up your new home on your first night there, The Norfolk Island Police, Andre Nobbs and Mick Donohoe, Jasmine Kiernan, Greg and Joelene for the sausages, Tosca for the bread, Kiernan agencies for the sauce, butter, serviettes etc, Brandt, Doug, Eve, Caitlin and Dan who came to help set up. Gary at Photopress, Claudine, Deb and all at the post office, Naomi, Sarah, Monica, Rose & Edie and anyone else who I may have missed but who did anything extra to offer awareness on that day.

Already the photos of our two historic buildings lit up are circulating on the world on Autism websites such as 'Light it up blue' and 'ASPECT' with some great comments about how great they both looked. At last check there were nearly 200 people who have shared the image around and around 1000 people have pressed like to both the Salthouse and Government house Image.

April is Autism month, so if you still don't know about Autism, you have the rest of the month to find out all about it.

Try ASPECT for lots of amazing information on Aspergers and Autism spectrum disorders.

 Autism is for life, a little understanding and acceptance of our wonderful children goes a long way.