Fun things we did over Easter Weekend

Picnic with fish & chips on Mt. Victoria

Super14 rugby at Eden Park for Patrick and Timothy

Lunch at Columbus Coffee at Smales Farm (except the bit where the lady panicked when she could not get out of the bathroom)

Relax in the sun with a good book at Premier Lounge at Albany Westfield

Kids sleepover at Oupa and Ouma

Curry and Rice take-aways for Mom and Dad

Dear Vaughan's
Um, well I need help for one of my videos on http//www.clubpenguin.com/. Timothy be your oldest, Patrick and Nadia be your penguin (Note: Do not throw snowballs like mad dogs) and I will be my second oldest.
Server: Rainbow
Place: Timothy's igloo
When: Tomorrow 10:10
I'll put it on You tube. Patrick can film too.
Love from,
Elizabeth

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Vaughans

Teachers don't know everything

Last night while sitting round the “klein tafeltjie” having dinner, Elizabeth proclaimed: “Teachers don’t know everything”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Mrs Smith didn’t know what a Pub Crawl was and she had to ask Finn’s helper.”
“How did Pub Crawl come up” I asked, partly knowing the answer.
“We had to write about our weekend in story writing, so I wrote I went for a Pub Crawl”

We may have to rename our “safari-ete” down Takapuna’s main drag.

House Cleaning

Elizabeth: "What are you doing Mummy"
Nadia: "I'm cleaning the house"

Elizabeth: "Who's coming to visit?"

The Best Weekend Ever!

The last weekend was the BEST EVER!
1.Friend came over
2.I went to a friends house
3.Swimming (first lesson)
4.Tenpin Bowling!
5.KFC
and that is my great weekend bye

Cricket at it's best

Today my team had our best practice yet!
I had a really high catch (for our age) and it just whistled past my head and colapsing with my cap.
The good parts are that I was exelent at batting hiting our coach for 6!
Allthough our coach wasn't really balling properly it was still a good hit that rocketed away over the fence.
Our team cought 20 balls in a row on only our 2nd 3rd or 4th try!
I was glad to get my bat back

Hot Water

After many years of putting up with ridiculously slow flow from our hot water cylinder, today we had a brand new high pressure unit installed. It's fantastic - I have no idea why we waited so long.

Thanks to Nadia for organizing this.

The wonder of e-mail

Today I received this e-mail from Elizabeth:

From: Sky Wishs
Sent: 27 February 2008 5:51 p.m.
To: Nadia Vaughan
Subject: Sad

I'm 100% board can you please please please think of something to do!PLEASE

/Elizabeth\

North Shore Times - 26 February 2008

Junior learn from the best

Former All Black Ian Jones has helped a young team reach the grand final of an inter-school touch tournament.

Under Jone's coaching, five and six-year-olds from Milford School's year 1 and 2 team have been competing at Becroft Park every Thursday since mid-October last year.

By the end of the 10-week tournament they had qualified for the final.

For most of the players it was their first taste of the sport.

Bayview were the eventual winners, but with further coaching from Jones, Milford will be looking to go one step further next year.

Update by Patrick: For those of you who haven't seen Elizabeth in a while (or ever), she's the lovely little girl on the far right.

Milford School Newsletter - 21 February 08

Yr 1 / 2 Milford Kiwis Touch Rugby Finalists
Becroft Park touch rugby finals were held on 14 February. Yr 1 / 2 Milford Kiwis put up a strong game against Bayview Mixed team. Despite daring skills, speed, energy and excellent sportsmanship, Milford Kiwis were runners up with a 12 to 3 loss.
Harry Tiger-McNamara scored the first try 4 minutes into the game. Jansen Pallesen scored twice in the second half.
Inclement weather did not dampen spirits. Milford Kiwis consistently played as a team, supporting and encouraging each other. The turf was wet and slippery, many players became grass casualties, but bounced back with enthusiasm. The team was well supported by peers and family.
Congratulations Milford Kiwis on your efforts and dedication for the 2007 – 08 season. Thank you to coach Ian Jones, manager Janine Jones and parents for their support.

Last night we became...

New Zealand Citizens (finally after almost 10 years)

Along with 500 other North Shore Residents.

See pics:

http://www.toppix.co.nz/OathFebA-Z/210.htm (en Nadia pak haar tande uit)

http://www.toppix.co.nz/OathFebA-Z/209.htm

Stickybeak's Adventure - By Timothy

Stickybeak came to my house. He was very tired when he got to my house because we had to walk. He got a rest when we sat down. Then we went to the computer. He saw a snail race and Stickybeak said: "Those snails look yummy." I forgot to say he was watching with his three friends, Harry, Rocky and Greeny. He had trouble getting to sleep because of the fan and my mum vacuuming but he got to sleep in the end. In the morning he watched me read my Glory Gardens book from the library along with three other friends, Mike, Lily and Princess.

From: Stickybeak's Journal (Room 5's very own platypus)

The difference between boys and girls

The other day Elizabeth explained to me when girls fight, they fight with words and say really hurtfull things to each other, but boys have a bit of an argue at lunchtime and it's soon all over.

Great insight for a six year old I think.

A+ Student

The other night while having dinner Timothy said: "If I was a teacher and you were my student, mum, I would give you an A+ for three quaters of the time"

The Tooth Fairy

Growing up, whenever a milk-tooth came out, we would leave it in a shoe overnight and the Tooth Mouse would come along, collect it and leave 5 cents in it's place. The Tooth Mouse has now been replaced by the Tooth Fairy who leaves 2 dollars - which is probably not much more, if at all.

The other night Elizabeth had a wiggly tooth - after several attempts by the parents to get it out (on her request) and lots of tears (from her), we suggested she go to bed and try again in the morning. Fifteen minutes later she came into the lounge, very proudly holding up the offending tooth.

She has real determination, that one.

Doctor Zhivago

When I was in high school, there was this weird kid (and I mean that in a good way), that was absolutely crazy about the movie Doctor Zhivago. I wanted to see it ever since and last Thursday (28 years later) me and Nadia sat down and sat through the full 3 and a half hours.

It was excellent.

Amazing Race - Vaughan Style

What is the price of Coco Rocks 385g at New World?
What is the price of a Long Black at Columbus Coffee?
How many steps up to the first floor in Borders?
Find the hours of business of two banks
What is the name of the shop between Just Jeans & Jeans West?
Name 2 animal of which they have life size statues in Natures Window
How many cash registers in Number 1 Shoe Warehouse?
What is the price of a return ticket to London at Flight Centre?
What is the price of a style cut at Just Cuts?
How many step from Columbus Coffee to street level?

These are the questions we had to answer on 21/1/08 for our own little Amazing Race.
We ran through Albany Mall, searching high & low, left, right and centre...
And the winners are...
Well, the boy team finished first but...
answered one question wrong (or not quite right)
so we had a tie...

Hoe ry die trein ...

Timothy, Elizabeth and me went on our annual train trip to New Market on Monday. Turns out the train is much cheaper than the bus .. go figure.

Anyway, we had a look around the Sony shop, then some lunch (yay, MacDonalds) and back to Britomart.

A great time was had by all

New Zealand vs England 20Twenty

Yesterday night Patrick and me went to the 20Twenty match between New Zealand and England at Eden Park. New Zealand had won the toss and selected to bowl first. (What was McCullum thinking) Two early wickets for New Zealand in the second and fourth overs. Pietersen was getting the score going until he departs with around 40 runs off around 20 balls (WOW). England put up a total of 184/8 New Zealand had to chase that with a terrible start. They were getting a lot of runs behind the stumps. The best score was from J Oram with a total of 61 but went out with a catch by Ian Bell. It was hopeless, with Oram out we were never going to win. Martin had come in. Most people thought he was gone first ball but no he got 5 runs and every one of those runs got a cheer cause he can't bat at all. England had beet New Zealand by 32 runs. Man of the match was Mascarenhas for England. Four people made there 20Twenty Debuts at this match they were
(England)
P Mustard
GP Swann
(New Zealand)
JD Ryder
TG Southee
I was very tired after the match. It was after 10o'clock

A world first

A world first .. for me at least. I bought something off TradeMe (NZ's version of Ebay). Well actually Timothy paid for it - I just had to do the buying bit. It's a PC game - Grand Prix 4, that Timothy had been wanting for a long time.

Its a great day

Today its a great day its so much fun! Very sunny! Not Cold I need a fan! But its still great And the best thing is .....................................NO BOSS!

Grand Prix 4

We could be getting Grand Prix 4. We bought it off trade me now we just need to get it I hope we do!

Re:A1 Gp

We got first in the Championship tables after both Sprint and Feature race. Thats another reason I was happier than him

A1GP

On Saturday me and Timothy went to the New Zealand A1 GP in Taupo. Got up at 4:30, arrived at the track at about 8:30 - in time for the first race of the day. A long day with lots of wind and dust - I had so much dust in my ears, you could plant mielies (corn) in there. Nevertheless a great day with some exciting racing. Got back home at about 9 in the evening with Timothy slightly happier than myself since his team (NZ) got 1st and 4th, while South Africa got 4th and 7th.

Sir Lemons

Today on Club penguin I saw a penguin but hes not just a penguin he makes a blog for Club penguin hes sir lemons. He was in the gift shop looking at a catalog then............................................................... HE WAS GONE!

No Boys

On the 21st January 2008 the girls are alone at home . My entertainment is gone so I'm going to entertain myself at home so I'm not bored.

Facing Your Fears

Today at Milford Mall, Elizabeth asked if she could hold onto my arm when we go on the escalator. After thinking about this for a bit she said:
"No, it's OK Mum, I'll face my fears" and proceeded down the escalator unaccompanied.

We can learn a lot from our children.

Earache & No Sleep

Timothy woke up last night at midnight with a terrible earache and what started out as a peaceful sleep turned into a night of very little sleep for the both of us, him waking me at 12, 2, 4 & 6am.

I went through the day totally knackered but found a second breath when I received this e-mail:

Hi Mum,
Thanks for taking care of me and I'm sorry you didn't get enough sleep.
I hope you can get some sleep tonight.
Lots of love
Timothy
xxxooo

And yes, our family e-mails each other all the time.

A deal is a deal

We have a deal with the cockroaches around here. Our place is inside and their place is outside. Whenever they come inside, we are allowed to kill them. Whenever we go outside, they run like crazy and hide.

Last night I found one in the bathroom , so I killed it