“I don’t mind if we stay here the night.” I said.  “We don’t have much food in but we can rustle something up with what we have.” So that was that.  Mashed potatoes with grated cheese and gravy on top…with a side of stir fried pumpkin, carrots and kumara (sweet potatoes).  Fricking delicious!!  We rinsed…

The boat stopped and the engine was switched off.  We were in the middle of the Doubtful Sound, part of New Zealand Fiordland.  The captain told us to go outside on deck and please be as quiet as possible.  This is part of the boat trip that they have been doing for the past 50…

You know when a man has man-flu all he really wants is his mum….well that was a TJ last week.  He was suffering bad, and he pretty much just wanted to go home ☹️.  The kids hated school and me? Well I decided to have a week “off” and buggered off to see my mates…

It’s been a while since I’ve been in an airport on my own.  In fact it’s been a while since I’ve been anywhere on my own but I’m not going to complain 😊.  I used to travel a lot for my work, although back then the airport was just an extension of my office where I could get…

Hello it’s Thijs 🧒🏼hobby’s 🎮🍪🍩🐶🐱🐹🐴🏕🚴🏽‍♂️🎿⛷🍫🍕that’s a lot. I love my family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦I love my mummy the most, love you mum. My family loves to swim except my Dad he’s scared of cold water  #scared 🤣😆   That was my blog #myfirstblog. ❤️🧒🏼😊👍🏻👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Thijs

I am a little concerned that I am repeating myself and that my blog is becoming boring and “same old stuff”.  Surely people must think I’m leaving out the shitty stuff, only writing the rosy stories about the nice people, stunning views and amazing places.   Let me assure you, life isn’t all sweetness and light, that would…

 “Can I lay next to you?” Is the standard question from Thijs at around 6.30am each morning. He then clambers into bed between us and snuggles up to me as close as possible. I just love looking into those big brown eyes over his sucking thumb ❤️, his lovely long eyelashes framing those gorgeous eyes….

Rose’s favourite was Chippy (the puppy of course), Thijs loved Coby (who gave the best cuddles on the sofa), TJ and me both loved Lu (reminded us of our dog Janne ❤) but all 9 of the dogs at Tim and Chloe’s place were adorable. There were Lu, Grub, Tony, Bert, Ernie, Mac and Chippy…

During the last 6 months we have been out of our comfort zone on many occasions.  Every time we venture to a new part of the country that often means also venturing into someone else’s house.   It’s the unknown that makes it a little uncomfortable.  Usually we are both quite anxious on the morning of…

We took a drive out to Foxton beach today, just a short 45 minutes from where we are staying in Palmerston North.  Quite often while we are driving we spend a lot of time entertaining the kids or stopping them from fighting 😁😂 but also we often chat about things, choices and life in general….