Little Willies' Blog: 12 week scan

Finally I get to announce to the world my amazing news. It has been one of the biggest secrets that I've had to keep and I've kept it so long.

8 Weeks ago we found out that Chelsea is Pregnant... Can you believe it... I couldn't at first.  So much has happened and changed that I have wanted to share so I decided to start a blog for 'Little Willie'.  I managed to record just about every major even that has happened so far and I'm looking forward to recording more.

Below is the link to the latest post.

Little Willies' Blog: 12 week scan:







This video makes me smile every time I see it. It is my mum to a T. She is super excited about being a Granny.

Back to geocaching

It has been a very long time since I've been out geocaching and the other day Steve invited me along on a hiking trip.  I thought about it and with me stopping squash and been staying at home I decided I deserved a day geocaching.

I checked the statistics part of my profile and it turns out that in the past 2 months I've only found 2 caches.  This is a problem. Normally I find about 60 a months. Time to get back into it.

5:00 and the alarm ripped me out of a deep sleep. Thats the first sign that its caching time.  I struggle out of bed and collect my backs and lunch that I prepared last night. With the car loaded up I head to Steves for a big day caching.  It was a quick trip up to Auckland and great to catch up with a good friend. Almost at the car park we came across a tree fall. Steve and I got out of the car and quickly cleared a way past.

We Started our walk and Were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over one of the dams in the area.  It was a good walk and felt great to be back out in the wilderness.  We found all the caches quickly and even a couple that were huge.  Had a really great day and am thinking about my next tramp already.

Good to be back on the caching wagon.

So as a quick recap I went out caching in Hamilton today to collect all the new caches.  You know its caching in winter wen you are ankle deep in water and still have a smile on your face.

Diary of a Wimpy Teacher

Samoa Holiday

It was always planned that Chelsea and I would go on holiday this year but the location was always up in the air.  We planned on going to Dubai then the UK.  As it turns out plans change and our decision was kind of made for us, but thats a whole other story.

We had been looking on the website Teacherexpress.co.nz at a couple of different locations and decided that Rarotonga was going to be our destination of choice.  Before booking and paying for the flights I decided that it would be best to head into Flight Centre and compare prices.

After spending a couple of hours talking with the agent we soon realised that finding accommodation was going to be the challenge. After the cyclone that hit the islands earlier in the year there is limited resorts and with us wanting to travel in the school holidays the resorts are very full.

We had crossed off Raro, Vanuatu, Fiji, and Niue which left us Samoa.  With fingers crossed we left the travel agent to sort out the details while we did some retail shopping.

Upon return to the Flight Centre we were greeted with good news. She had worked around our dates and managed to locate flights and accommodation in Samoa. You Beauty.  We are flying out on the 20th staying 7 days.  We are staying on both islands - Apia and Savaii.

We are going to stay at the Coconut Resort for 5 nights in the treehouse Suite, and Stevens at Manase in the Euro Fales.  Both places look really nice and I know we are going to have a great time.

Treehouse Suite

Euro Vila

We paid for most of the trip today and have to go in and pay the last little bit by Friday. We are also wanting to get a rental car while there and also looking at getting some meal deals to try and save some money.

I've been to Samoa before and thought that it was a really lovely place. I'm looking forward to showing Chelsea around and getting to explore the island of Savaii, its suppose to be amazing.

Rotorua Marathon

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since I competed in my first running event.

A couple of months ago I was talking with Chelsea about starting to run again and she passed a comment about Eliza wanting to run a half marathon.  I had just received an email reminding me to enter the Rotorua Marathon so suggested that Eliza start with the 1/4 (10km) marathon in Rotorua.  Long story short Chelsea and I were signed up.

Before I knew it it was the week on the 1/4 marathon and I had done zero training.  The wednesday before the run I decided to dust off the running shoes and see just how much fitness I had lost. I headed out the door for a gentle run.  I completed 6km in a little over 40min and felt good.  Thursday, 2 days before the run, I headed out the door and again completed the 6km but in just under 40min.  I felt good about my level of fitness and decided that if I could finish the 1/4 marathon in about one hour or at least under 1 hr 10min I would be very happy, especially because that was my time last year.

Friday arrived and it was hard work getting out of bed.  Eliza and Karl turned up just after 7am and we all piled into the car and headed for Rotorua.  On the drive south we were fill of confidence and had our target times.

The closer to Rotorua I got the more the nerves increased.

We watched the marathon runners start and then it was our turn.  Lining up Eliza and I wished each other luck and waited for the gun to sound. Chelsea was at the back ready for a fast walk as she wasn't feeling to well.

The start was the same as last year. Slow and annoying. There were walkers that had positioned themselves at the start of the race and it took a while to get through them and actually start the run.  Once I was into my stride I found it easy as I knew what to expect.  Each corner wasn't new and running towards the finish was a great feeling.

I wasn't sure how good my time was until I saw the clock above the line. 1:03:57. Not a bad mat time at all.  Race time was 1:01:23. Very Happy.

Chelsea was finished before me and completed it in under 1hr coming 70th out of a couple of hundred women. Not bad at all considering she was unwell.

We both had heaps of fun and I'm looking forward to doing another run soon.

Auckland Zoo

This weekend was going to be one to remember and nothing was going to change that.

Saturday started with an early morning wakeup to watch the Chiefs playing over in South Africa.  I new that we were going to win but didn't think it would be as close as it was.  Having watched my team chalk up a win I was in a good mood as we climbed into the car and headed north.

Chelsea has an attachment to all zoos and Auckland is one of her favourite. When she found out we were heading to the zoo and even better, doing a Zoom Experience she was like a kid a christmas. The smile on her face went from ear to ear and she kept doing this funny dance.

On the way to Auckland we experienced 3 seasons, beautiful sunshine, rain and wind. Even if it was pouring down and blowing a gale it wouldn't have affected how amazing the experience was.  We arrived at the zoo at 9.30 just as the gates were opening.  Taking the opportunity to see the animals waking up we made beeline for the tiger as they can always be found lazying about. Then it was the alligator, orangoutangs, sealions, penguins, rino... well you get the point. Even though we only had a short time before the tour started we still managed to see a lot of the animals waking up and starting their day.

Then it was almost time, 10:35 and man did it go slow. It felt like the night before christmas, when you just want the morning to come only time goes so slow. This was the same. We had to wait 10 minutes which felt like an eternity.  We were greeted by a lovely lady Harriet who was going to take us down to the enclosure and take photos.  She was a super friendly and energetic person to take with and had lots of interesting things to say.  We got to see the Auckland Zoo Shoe Shop which stocked the best in gumboots.  With a pair of gummies on we were ready to get our hands dirty.

Harriet took us down to see Burma and told us lots of interesting things about the zoo and the elephant.  After learning lots of new things we were then takin into Burma's sleeping area and meet the very friendly zoo keepers.  We were told why its important to scrub down an elephant and watched as Burma was lead into her 'shower'.

Seeing this amazing animal so close and hearing her speaking was a moment I'll have forever.  She is such a beautiful animal with a fun attitude.  We were given half a banana to feed her so that she knew we were friendly and not a vet.  Didn't really have a problem meeting as Burma loves her food and once she realised we had some, we were friends.

Andy, the keeper, let us into the enclosure and we got to give Burma a quick pat before he got her to lie down.  Watching such a large animal get on the ground is a sight. Every movement was careful and slow as she doesn't want to move her 3,500kg twice.  Once on the ground she was given a pile of fresh veg's and I was reminded of a scene in a greek move with a lord or lady lying on a bed while being feed and cared for.

We were invited back into the enclosure, given a scrubbing brush and set to work. To begin with Chelsea and I were in awe. Not wanting to hurt this beautiful animal we were apprehensive about scrubbing to ruff. As it turned out Burma's skin is really tough. To touch it felt like leather and her hair was really bristly.  To say we enjoyed this experience is an understatement. It was amazing being able to help out the keepers and get hands on with an endangered species.  Burma so super relaxed, lying on her side eating and drinking while we scrubbed.

After her wash was over Burma was lead out the back to have her nails painted and her broken tuss cleaned out.  She was then lead out the front where Andy gave a talk to the general public.  While this was on we were in the enclosure with another keepers asking a raft of questions.  The keepers are so friendly and easy to talk, with you genuinely felt welcomed.

After the talk we left Burma to relax and got to have last chat with the keepers before they had to get back to their duties.  Andy was a real down to earth guy who clearly has a close bond with Burma.

This is a day that I will never forget. Thanks Auckland Zoo, Andy, Harriet and everyone that works hard looking after and caring for the animals at the zoo.

Mystery Weekend

With another weekend fast approaching it was looking like I wasn't going to have anything exciting planned. I set myself the goal of planning a trip somewhere or at least a hike.

After a little searching I came up with an idea and started searching the net to see if I was going to be able to pull off a Mystery Weekend.  After several phone calls and booking the tickets the plan was layed down and an awesome weekend was to be had.

To make things even better Chelsea had know idea what I had planned or where we were going.  I decided to leave her some clues along each day and make her guess.  Its pretty clear that I like tramping and geocaching so I tried to make the hints related to those activities.

Clue One: pack a bag for you weekend ahead, don't forget your shoes and a map.

It wasn't long before Chelsea and others started thinking that we were going caching or on a long tramp.

Clue Two: We depart at 10:45, don't worry its not a long walk but you will be getting muddy.

This stumped her as she knew we were not flying anywhere and now not tramping... but getting muddy??

Clue Three: This one is a little harder but lets just say it is a little slice of Asian culture.

That was all the clues that Chelsea needed. She came home from school with a huge smile on her face. I asked her if she had an idea as to what we were doing. She said she had a good idea but didn't want to guess incase she was wrong and was then disappointed.

Needless to say, after all her researching, she was right... For our Mystery weekend we are.... well you'll just have to wait and see.