Living my dream

Rovaniemi, Xmas Day

I woke up this morning early. I wanted to go to church. I wanted to see what a Finnish service is like. Looking outside it read -5. Oh my goodness. It was the coldest we'd been in so far, but by the time I grabbed my camera it only read -4...

Matt woke up and was surprised and excited to see his stocking with toys in it..

So off I went to the local church. Caught the bus there, not knowing where to go. And it was only 5 mins away. It was a beautiful church. Amazing ledlight windows. Everyone was in their big winter coats and hats. It felt quite solumn. Of course, the service was in Finnish and I didn't understand a word. But several songs were obviously traditional carols, and I was sure they were singing a NZ Xmas hymn TE haranui, but surely they couldn't have been? The music was the same. It reminded me of my Nana.  It was her favourite Xmas song. Also the all male choir was OUTSTANDING. Oh my! I could have sat listening to them all day. Simply beautiful.

After, I walked back to the hotel with another lady from the tour. It was beautiful. The snow was on the ground and it was cold and it felt like the world was so fresh.

Getting back to the hotel was another story. Poor ole Andy had to make up some Nano block figurines which are like lego, but way smaller and they had done his head in. Grin.

Luckily we were going out for a day of snow fun at "Snowland". Basically an open area with lots of activities to try out. While waiting for the bus, we wandered down to the river. Stunning scenery.
And then it was off. Snowland wasn't far away and we heard how out of the city it was -8!

These little things were seen around a few places we went. The kids LOVED them. Unfortunately the snow was too soft to work properly, but the idea is someone sits on the seat, while another person runs behind and pushes. Its fun when it works!

The first thing we tried out were the little skidoos. Mini snowmobiles for children. Sooooo much fun. The idea is to stay on them as you go around and around in circles, but my three thought it was better to roll them! LOL.

As you can see they were kept on quite a short rein.

In the background (where the brown container is), is the toboganning and then down towards the top right corner is where the adult snow mobiles and 4 wheel drives are.

Of course there was the now standard reindeer skins around a campfire for everyone to warm up beside and eat. I just adored these little 'shelters'. Especially today. It was particularly cold and yes, SNOWING! We had snow on Xmas day!!!!! Now it really was a WHITE XMAS! To say I was excited is an understatement. It actually started a little earlier than this picture, but not really. And then when we got here, it started for real and I just kept grinning over at Andy saying 'It's snowing! It's snowing!'.

Toboganning was one of the kids favourite things today. You can see why above.

This was another. Check out those bikes. The person hooning along behind them is Andy. How cool is that?! The kids weren't allowed to ride them alone, but a 'guide' took them around. They LOVED it.

Check out the expression on Dan's face. Too precious! I LOVED it too. So much fun.

Next on the list was snow mobiling. I'd had a turn the other night driving, but found it quite hard. With Andy's advice on how to handle one, I gave it another go. So much easier. I really enjoyed it.

The kids of course got to go in the sledge behind the instructor. They really seem to enjoy it.

Half way around we stopped for some people who were cross country skiing. One of the children had fallen over and people were helping him get up. It was interesting to watch Finn's in their homeland carry on as normal. Doing their everyday normal things. But for me, I got a chance to take a picture too.

That's Andy on the front snow mobile. Mine's behind him. You can see how dark it's starting to get already. It's about 2.30ish in the afternoon.

When we got back I discovered the man who was handing out hot chocolates. So good!

Seriously, I went back for about 3 cups. It was yummy and warm and boy it made me feel good.

And there's a photo of a fence. Gotta love those fences with snow all over them...

And Sarah "Take a photo of me Mum". Of course my beautiful girl!

And the BBQ where we got our sausages for lunch.

Again, the pots of fire amongst the snow. They were so beautiful. And so in contrast with the snow all around them. A striking contrast.

Then it was time to go. We'd spent a whole day out in the cold. Thank goodness it was only around -5, not -20!

When we got back to the city, we decided to go for a little walk. We planned on meeting Tania, Paul and Ryan at the ice mountain, but got sidetracked with the open air ice skating ring.

Sarah took to ice-skating like a duck to water.

I on the other hand....

Needed a little help. ROFL! I used to ice skate as a teenager and was expecting to be able to just put on ice skates and go. But Nooooooo! LOL. I later came to the conclusion that having no sides to the ring was quite scary. At least in Avondale, I could skate to the sides and hold on for dear life. Not so here.

But again, it was so beautiful. I'm guessing around 3pm in the afternoon, but pitch black unless under lights. No wonder there are the most amazing lighting displays everywhere.

That evening, we went on another snow mobile trip. It wasn't as much fun as the first night. For a start it wasn't snowing. LOL. But also the guides were different and kept stopping us. The idea was to hopefully see the Northern Lights, but it was too cloudy. Sigh. Nevermind. We had a wonderful time at the teepee drinking warm berry juice around a roaring campfire.

Unfortunately it was about here that Matt started to say how cold he was. We just thought he'd been out in the cold all day he couldn't handle it. After all we were all warm. It wasn't until later we found out his socks were wet and he was REALLY cold. Jeepers I felt for him then! It was also about now, that the camera stopped working. It just refused to use part of the zoom. Not good! Then to top it off, when we got back the bus wasn't there. I had three screaming kids in the middle of a forest in the dark and cold and the bus wasn't there. Oh jeepers!

Thankfully it didn't take long to come, and we all got back home, warmed up and to bed.

It was a wonderful Xmas day, just had a few tweaks at the end to challenge us. Grin.

Boxing day was the busiest by far. It's next. Be prepared for lots of photos!

Big Picture Classes

Today over on the Big Picture Classes blog, is a post written by myself. Grin.

Check it out here.

I have always been in awe of the classes you can find on BPC, so to actually author one myself was a dream come true.

If you're looking for a class that will challenge you and make you think, then this is the class for you. Being a self-paced class you can spend time on it any time you want. Come and join me and take the time to treasure the important people in your life.

Find out more here.

Lapland, Day 2 - Santa's hideaway

"All night I kept going to the window to look out and see where we were. Each time I was surprised and reminded where we were. Lapland! I wish I could describe how I feel. Everytime I think about where we are and what we're doing my breath is literally taken away and my heart filled. It is just such a big awesome wonderful dream, that is actually happening. Wow!"

An excerpt taken from my diary

I was very very very excited to start the tour for real today. Our first day being outside, in the woods with elves, and reindeer and and and....

So again, we got dressed in the morning and headed out to the bus. Our stop wasn't too far away. Approx 20 mins. We met the people who we'd be spending the next few days with and they were all Australian. Meant that we wouldn't be having too much trouble with translations.

Driving along we managed to see the sun rise. It was really pretty.

Then as we got closer to our destination, we were warned to look out for elves and bears....

And suddenly there was one. Running from tree to tree, hiding from us. Oh the wonder and squeals as the children saw them. The bus stopped and a wonderful excitement took over everyone as we disembarked and the children got into a big snow fight/chase with the elves and bears.

I adore the way the people involved in everything we did really got into it.

Then it was time for a short walk through the woods to our 'main' destination. I was so darn excited about it all, I took a huge tumble in the snow as I clambered out of the bus and tried to find the path. Lost all dignity and grace but saved the camera. Whew!
Isn't this beautiful? Sigh. I love the little fires that are lighting the way. Fires were something that were used in such a romantique way the whole trip.

As we arrived at our winter wonderland, we had a Lappish ceremony where soot was painted on the childrens noses (so the reindeer could find them again next year!) there were lots of laughs.

See all that snow in Dan's zipper. I don't know how he didn't freeze!

And then it was official photo time under one of the many places we crossed the arctic circle.

When we were waiting between different activities, we would all wander down to the lake and make snowmen and throw snowballs and stuff. There was a fence up to stop us getting too close as it wasn't thick enough for any of us to be on it. Too warm. LOL! But isn't it just amazing?! Love it.

Suddenly we heard bells and saw reindeer wandering through the trees. We all raced closer to see them. They are so different to what I expected. They are way smaller. For some reason I thought they'd be bigger. But this makes them even cuter!

And us just about to go for a ride. Some of the reindeer had antlers, some not so many. We were told that after each mating season they loose them, and start all over. Apparently they can grow up to 2.5cm a day! That's amazing!

As we were driven around, this is the view we saw...

And of course once finished we had a good pat of the reindeer. Being told to be very careful around the antlers....

Isn't he stunning?!

From there we wandered along the paths to Santa's 'batch'. Along the way we typically saw this

Actually that teepee on the right there is where we had lunch. And it was GOOD too. LOL. But was later....

Arriving at Santa's hideaway we found seats waiting for us...
The kids all raced in to the hut to see what Santa's batch looked like and came out with a red envelope with their name on it. OMG, the joy. Santa had left them a letter!

We sat around the campfire reading the letter from Santa. It explained how Santa was sorry he couldn't make it to see us, but he was very busy getting ready for Xmas (it was the 24th Dec), but could we please help feed the birds and animals of the forest?

Of course the kids were totally into that!

Here is one of the elves with a basket of seeds to sprinkle all around.

And the wheat that we stuck into the ground also.

Then it was time to cut our Xmas tree down. As a group we chose one, then Mr Lumberjack helped us chop it down. It was amazing to stand in the middle of the forest and look around at all these trees and chop one down to decorate. The kids were beside themselves.

 
(It was about this time that the whole 'group' thing started getting a bit annoying and I remembered why we typically don't do 'tours', but we just stood back and let it happen around us).

Andy knee deep in snow. So cool. And the snow here was so different to at home. It was soft and squeaky and not as wet. Andy and I had discussions about it's consistency. LOL. He thought it was like icing sugar because of the 'squeak', I thought it was more like castor sugar because it was so fine and fluffy. Perhaps a combination of the two? LOL.

We were such happy campers!

On the way back to decorate the tree we stopped for a photo... or two....

Gosh, it's just so pretty. Everywhere you go the Laplanders have lights. On trees outside their homes, on balconies, in the city, and amongst the forest... Beautiful.

And then it was time to decorate the tree.

The finished masterpiece. Grin. Just imagine as a parent standing back and watching your children help decorate this tree. In the middle of the forest, in snow. For a little ole kiwi family, it was pretty surreal and amazing!

Of course, when you finish up and/or get bored, there is always Dad in the background to go and chase in the snow. Grin. Love it.

While all the excitement was going on, I looked around some more. I just adored the icicles on this hut! And check out the frozen downpipe. Too funny! I mean wow. Just beautiful.

Yes, she's pretty beautiful too. Grin. And while this next one is a little blurry, I love the feel to it.

Sarah and I in the snow, hugging. Love it.

It was pretty cold (for us) and the kids handled it pretty well, but the hot berry juice, hot chocolate and fires all around certainly helped!

In fact we were pretty lucky this trip. Normally at this time of year, it would be -20 / -30ish. For us, most of the trip was -2 / -4 with the last couple of days getting colder. So it meant we could enjoy the outside much longer, much easier.

I must admit to being disappointed at first it wasn't as cold as we'd thought it would be, just so I could experience it, but in hindsight, it was much, much better this way!!!!!

And then it was time to go home. Walking back through the woods to our bus, passing the reindeer, our tree, the lake, seeing the snow all around us, on the trees and talking to new friends we'd made, again, it was surreal. Amazing. Wonderful.

The elves and bears were there to wave goodbye to us, continuing to play with the children even as we left.

The bus was so warm and comfortable and as we drove along a reindeer suddenly bounded out of the woods onto the road in front of us. It ambled along like that for 100m or so, then took off into the woods again. So magical. So pretty. So the dream.

When we got back to Rovaniemi we wandered up the road straight to the ice mountain...

We stood around watching the kids play here for a couple of hours. We had bumped into another family and their child played with ours on the mountain as us adults laughed and chatted. It was lovely. Unfortunately, while we planned on seeing this family again, to say goodbye properly, we didn't get a chance (although we did see them over the next couple of days) and so didn't swap contact details. If anyone in Aussie knows Tania and Paul and their son Ryan from the Gold Coast? Can you please show them this post and ask them to get in touch?! TA!
At one point Andy said, T don't move I've got to capture that look on your face that hasn't left the whole time we've been here. Hehehe.

Then it was time for the evening activities. Being the 24th Dec, it was actually Finlands Xmas day. So we had a traditional Finnish Xmas dinner, followed by tree decorating.
And of course Santa arrived bearing gifts for ALL the children.

OMG. Look at that beard! They each got given a gorgeous soft toy reindeer. They were stoked, as were we. What a thoughtful way everything was done.

We were told earlier in the day that tonight would be the 'ideal' time to see the Northern Lights, but we were shattered and the kids certainly couldn't handle it. It was already 9.30pm and we would have had to put on all those layers and our winter suits so we went off to bed. In hindsight it was a decision we would regret as it was the only night while we were there that they showed. But hey, you win some you lose some right?! And we were having the best time anyway!!!!!

Of course being Xmas eve, its the time when Santa comes visiting. We had told the children that Santa would leave their presents at home, but look what happened...

He collected their small 'hanging up' stockings when he dropped off their 'main' presents at home, and brought it filled up to the hotel. We were all astounded that this happened, and how on earth did he get in our hotel room? But the kids were so excited when they woke up! It was lovely as they didn't expect ANYTHING.

Thinking back to our time in Lapland, this was probably my favourite day (although how could I choose one when they were all so good?). I adored being out in the woods. I adored doing and seeing things I'd dreamed of. I adored the people and how they played their parts. I adored the snow. I ADORED the snow. I loved hanging out with friends at the ice mountain and I loved the dinner and 'entertainment' after. It was just so magical (there's that word again LOL).

Well, it was Xmas eve after all..... the question is, did we have a true white xmas? With snow falling on Xmas day? You'll have to wait for the next installment to find out....

Prima's been sharing more CHA sneaks

And one of my LO's was among them.

En Francais is a delightful new collection. Browns, blues and reds. Gorgeous.

En Francais is a 'travel' line with lots of gorgeous Parisian embellishments. But I think its worked perfectly for this baby LO!

Check out the Prima blog for more gorgeous LO's by the DT in this line, plus a fantastic new stamp idea.

Oh, and yes, I'm working on day two of Lapland! Grin. But it's taking longer than I hoped.

Lapland. A magical journey. Arrival and day 1.

Well, it's taken me a while to start going through my photos. But I have. Again, following Jenny's advice, I started at day one. Because this part of our trip was soooooo big I'm going to split it into days we were there (unless I can do it in shorter installments). Sorry if this bores you, but hey, it's a record for our family, so you'll just have to bear with me. Grin.

So we got to Rovaniemi, Lapland and looked out the plane windows. All we could see for miles around was snow. It was a true winter wonderland. Waiting for our bags we were met by the tour rep and Sarah and I sneaked outside to see just how cold it was and how much snow there was.

The first thing you see as you look around is this wonderful lit statue on top of a little hill. Reindeers. hehehehehe. We're really here!

Note: you'll see in alot of my photos, that the lighting isn't great as it was dark for most of the day. The sun rose around 10.30am and went back down around 2.30pm. There was a bit of 'dusk' sort of overlap, but that led to my photos having a pink/blue tinge. But hey, that's ok, I've never claimed to be a photographer! Grin.

Looking around further, was the carpark.

It had obviously been snowing as it covered everything.

I loved seeing this reminder of where we were.

We were driven into the city where we got our 'winter warm' gear. The most attractive (NOT), but warm (YES!) overalls, boots, socks, gloves, etc etc. Then checked into our hotel and went for a walk.

This Xmas tree is right in the middle of Lordis Square. We had been watching it on the webcam while in NZ so it was AMAZING to be right there next to it! Just over to the left a bit is a huge (well to the kids) ice mountain (all the snow that is moved and swept into a pile) then sets and kids play on it. I'm sure there will be more photos later....

Still in the middle of winter people ride their bikes around. I love all the snow on them. So cute!

Walking 'the long way' back to the hotel, I just loved seeing all the snow. Fences became something I LOVED to photograph with piles of snow lying all over them.

The next day we had a spare day before our first part of the tour - snow mobiling - so we went to Santa Park.

Santa park is the most amazing place. A sort of theme park underground, but very old fashioned. Very 'traditional' if you will. It was our first place to go in Rovaniemi and just took my breath away.

Imagine driving up the driveway, through snow covered trees, and triangle lights scattered in the woods to arrive at this. Pure magic.

Even just looking at these photos and writing this post I can feel my heart rate rising and my pulse quickening as I remember the joy and wonder we all felt being here.

Walking through the doors into the hill you find this. A long tunnel down into the depths of the mountain. We could hear owls hooting and wolves howling. It was quite surreal and the kids got a little frightened. But down the end where that light is, is where you pay to go in and leave all your coats. Then you go down another ramp just the same to get to the 'park' area. We were deep underground.

We found this type of scene greeting us.

As we wandered along looking into each area we accidentally found Santa. He was sitting at his desk writing as we peeked in. I think my heart literally stopped when I caught a glimpse of him sitting there. We called to the kids who all came running and in we went. Santa was amazing with the children. Chatting to them, including them, talking about how he was waiting for them to come so he could give them the cards he was writing them. It was simply magical (I'm going to use that word alot because it really is the best word to describe my feelings throughout this holiday).

And the photo taken by Santa's elves including us adults....

Look familiar? For those of you who use PNP (Portable North Pole), we were told this is the same place. I have still to look at my video to confirm.

Next stop was 'Elf School' where we all got to learn what Elves do. There are 5 key points to be an elf. One of which is to be able to peek in windows. Of course they got children to practise.

Then through to the bakery to decorate Mrs Claus own home made gingerbread cookies. I was beside myself with glee. Can you tell?

Apparently that grin didn't leave my face the whole time we were in Rovaniemi. LOL.

Next stop was the Elf Workshop. Everyone who goes there can make their own Santa to either keep or add to Santa's facebook page. Because the base was made of wood, we decided to leave ours there and Andy tapped them into the beam running along the ceiling (kids choice! LOL), but then we went back another time to make some, without wood.

One of the trolls decided to help us. He was amazing. It was his idea to remake the Santas but without the wood. Thank you Mr Troll!

Of course one of the things you can do around Rovaneimi is cross the artic circle. At Santa Park they call it crossing the under circle. You can see the ice Princess coming to greet us and join in the fun as we have our photo taken.

That's one thing that they did very well here, everyone took part and made the 'show' REAL. This ice princess had actually spent time in Tauranga, but when we talked about it, it was done with the kids in mind. She had already told us she couldn't leave the ice house for more than half an hour or she melts, so they were very interested in seeing how she got to NZ. She said something about using Santa's time machine to do it. Hehehehe.

Into the ice castle, we found her bed. She let us all lie in it if we wanted.

The boys took her up on it, but I decided to just sit on her throne instead. (It was -10 degrees in here).

And there's that grin again.

Of course Andy was very happy right here. Grin.

Gosh it was a wonderful wonderful place. These photos don't do it justice. And are such a tiny part of the day.

As an aside, as we were leaving we saw the doors at the ends of the ramps. They were HUGE and had the BIGGEST hinges and locks on them. We couldn't believe that this place had been built just for this park, so started googling details later in the hotel. It turned out to be a cold war bunker that they used once a year, over Xmas for Santa Park. Wowzers.

That night was part one of our tour. A snowmobile ride through the woods. We donned our winter gear and off we went on a bus to get to the snow mobile location. We got to ride two people to a snowmobile and the kids were in a sleigh on the back of one of the guides. As we got on the bikes, it started to snow. I mean seriously. Any more magic in this day or what?!

We got to an area where we stopped, warmed up around a campfire, threw snow balls and drank hot berry juice. My new favourite drink. Oh my!

And no, it wasn't alcoholic. LOL.

Here's a close look at those gorgeous winter suits. Matt in the green and Sarah in the red. We were rolling around in the snow, throwing snow balls, tackling each other and generally getting totally soaked in snow and still stayed warm. FANTASTIC.

You can imagine by the end of this ride home, we were exhausted. Probably more from exhileration than tiredness. Still it was time for rest before we began the next part of our tour the following day.

Note: This trip was a dream of mine for 35+ years. In NZ, Xmas time is summer time. Yet as a child we would get Xmas cards with snow covered trees, snow men etc etc. I always felt like we weren't getting a 'real' Xmas because it wasn't snowing. While I DON'T feel this way at all now (I love our summer Xmas's), my dream was always to have a white Xmas. To have the children see Santa at the same time was just the icing on the cake.

More soon....

 

CHA Sneak Peeks

Ok, so am I the last one to know about this website? It's been around for a while, and I found it while googling 'CHA Sneak Peeks 2012'.

Right HERE, you can find a list of all the new products that are coming out by which company and a link to the post about them, with pictures and details.

I LOVE it. I could spend hours going through each individual post, but had to take a look at some that I'm naturally drawn to because of my scrapping style.... Thought I'd share a few....

My Minds Eye

OMG, I love their new paper lines "Follow your heart" and "Be Happy". So pretty. So trimmable. So me.

Glitz

Loving their new designs, but especially this one:

All that pink and brown. Yummo!

Spellbinders

Yep, for someone like me who loves intricate doillies, isn't this just gorgeous?! And so many layers to use individually or together. Sigh.

Or what about this gorgeous tepot die?!

And check out what Christine made with it. Adorable!

The Scrapcake

Love this range. Gosh. So pretty.

As are all the others. Click on the blog link above to see more!

Websters

As usual Websters put out a ton of new products. Just having a quick squizz, am loving their new Everyday Poetry line. Here's a link to look at some samples. Of course my love for their products doesn't stop there. But I'm still looking (and drooling). Grin.

Sigh, so much new stuff to look at. So much new stuff to drool over. Loving it.

Am still searching and looking, might have to come back with some more favs later.

I was so looking forward to yesterday

We were on meant to be on another road trip. Down to a spot near Raglan. We were going to hand our roosters over to a lovely lady to keep and care for in a rural area. Then we were going to meet Vicky and her lovely children for lunch and a play at the beach. It was going to be a good day.

I woke up early, decided to go to the lounge and read my book and write a blog post, when after half an hour it hit. A violent vomiting bug. UGH.

There goes that day.

But after 3 hours of nastiness, I did get to sleep.... alot. I did get to read 1.5 books. I did get to rest. All things I needed to do. So I'm guessing my body was just in revolt. Grin.

It did mean my wonderful husband who took the day off to look after the kids started to enlarge our chicken area. They will now have free rein of the whole bank that is just below their current run (where all the fruit trees are). All the posts have been put in. And today Andy is putting the netting up. I can't wait to see how they all react when we pull down some of the current fencing to allow them into this much bigger area!

So today I'm feeling weak, but alive. Whew.

My goal for today is to be able to stand up for more than 5 mins and to be able to walk to the end of the garden and back without needing a sleep. Grin.

Have a great day all!

Prima deliciousness

Ok, ok, so that's not a word, but jeepers, I've been surrounded in Prima deliciousness ever since I arrived home and now you guys are getting to see it all too! I've loved Prima for so long now I can't remember when the love affair started, and each time I see a new release, I sit there and think how will they beat this release? Then the next one comes along and they do. I know. So cliched, but so true. They have an awesome group of designers!

Anyway, enough rambling....

Have you been keeping up to date on their blog? Make sure you do. Every day there is a new set of gorgeousness to drool over.

Because I was away over the most valuable creating time I haven't created as much as I normally would, but I have done some. Grin. And here's a couple I can show you....

An altered teapot.

For the kiwi readers among you, I found this teapot in 'The Warehouse' the other day. It was on sale for $6.97. Well, what a bargain! Perfect for altering!

Just one of the many 'favourites' Prima has put out this year is this mini canvas pendant. Isn't it divine? And of course can be altered should you choose.

I used a ton of gorgeous new flowers. Am LOVING the teeny tiny ones they've put out. Perfect for filling any gaps you may find.

And of course the trinkets are one of my other fav's.

For those of you who know me, this is a wonderful expression of myself. I'm a tea addict and the quote could not be truer.

Speaking of trinkets, here's another project I've done using them. Isn't that birdcage ADORABLE?! Uh huh!

I also love the new wooden elements that have been released this season...

So cute.

Now that my creating is finished and packed up in a box to be sent away, I can concentrate on a few other things. Namely photos from Lapland, and my Spellbinders final project. Yay.

Get Picky

Get Picky has a new sketch up for January. It's a great one. And as usual has more than one photo. LOVE it.

This is my take on it....

The night before their 8th birthday, Sarah wanted last photos of them as 7 year olds. Of course I obliged. Grin.

A white background, gorgeous punch, Websters Papers (hey, did you see they've announced their DT for this year?!), a huge Dusty Attic clock and of course Prima embellishments.

To see more gorgeous takes on this sketch make sure you pop on over to the Get Picky blog and see what the DT has created.

And before you say it, I know! I'm remiss. Hanging my head. LOL. I need to get my photos of Lapland done and dusted. But well, let's just say January has got in the way. I'm up to my ears in CHA, BPC, Spellbinders and Get Picky. Plus doing a few day trips too. Grin. So I'm doing each thing as I can. Will update more asap. Have a GREAT day!

And on to Copenhagen

What an amazing place Copenhagen is. Just stunningly beautiful. So much to see and do. I could have spent WAY more time here (and I've even been here before!).

When we first got here we went for a wander down the main street. We were hoping to find the Lego flagship store. And we did. Oh my goodness! It is amazing. This is what you see when you walk in.
Now this doesn't look too big just like that does it? Wait, take a look at Sarah on the bike.

It takes up the whole front of the shop. Amazing. Then at the back, is this wall. Beside it is a bunch of pottles that you can fill from the lego on the wall. Like salad at the supermarket. Amazing. You get to choose what colours/products you want.

Then for the kids, their favourite part was the 'make your own' station. You can make 3 mini figures from the product in the stand. You can choose everything from their face, to their legs, to their bodies, to their hair, etc etc, even their accessories.

So cool.

The streets themselves were gorgeous.

Filled with Xmas lights and stalls of all sorts of food/hand made items.

This stall kept calling my name each time I walked past, but we never stopped.

These beautiful plants / decorations took my eye, but didn't think NZ Customs would appreciate me trying to bring them home. Grin.

As for the traditional stores, there were designers stores everywhere. The most gorgeous windows and clothes.

One of the many things I loved was the Xmas displays everywhere. Didn't matter where. There were trees, decorations, whatever, everywhere you looked. I LOVED it.

Yes, even at the tops of these boats in their 'new' canal (it's only 400 years old!!!! and called NEW!!!! Sheez).

Speaking of the canal, we also went for a canal boat cruise. It was good to get out of the cold, rain and sleet. Plus see more of Copenhagen....

So what else? Oh, of course, we took a walk around and went past the royal castle (just as they were changing the guard)...

On our way to see the Little Mermaid

We found Lego everywhere....

in all the toy stores were these big displays... amazing.

and we did stop for warmth sake at this waffle stand. OMG, I had one of the kids left overs. It was divine. Waffles on a stick dipped in hot melted chocolate.

Speaking of food. Their danish's were incredible. Andy had been raving about them since we got to Denmark, and I'd been putting off having any. Too scared of what may happen. Then on the last morning for breakfast I tried one and soon I'd eaten three!!!!! See what I mean. YUMMO!

Our last stop in Copenhagen before we headed further north was Tivoli. It's like an old fashioned amusement park. Sort of. It had the coolest rides, ones I'd never seen before, and was a bit more 'gentle' than other parks, but amazingly pretty too. Check it out...

and

(taken from the top of a ferris wheel - not bad considering the movement of both me and the rides below and the darkness!).

My favourite ride was this one:

All these little boats, cruising around on a lake. So pictureque and so wonderful.

This merry go round was so cool. It was two storied!

The views all around the park were stunning....

Thankfully the kids stood still enough for me to grab a photo....sort of...

I remember going here the first time and loving it, but don't remember the rides? My Nana always said Tivoli was one of her favourite places. I remembered her a lot while walking around this evening.

The following morning we were off on another plane. This time to Helsinki, with a connecting flight to our main destination....Roveniemi. To call me excited would be an understatement. And I must admit to being worried about the snow and fog.....

I didn't need to worry about such silly things. The Fin's had it all under control....which begs the question...why does Auckland and Wellington close all the time in fog???????

We're getting closer to the REALLY exciting part of the trip. I'll try and get some more photos up asap. But probably tomorrow. And then you'll see the 'goopy' look Andy kept seeing everytime he looked at me. LOL. I was in my dream. And you could tell.

Chicken talk

Well our little babies aren't so little anymore and it seems we have a few roosters among them. It's been an interesting journey and certainly fun. We will be doing it again. Hopefully soon. Grin. But in the meantime I need to pass on our beautiful boys to someone who can use them (for breeding, not eating) as we're not allowed them in the city.

I have listed the two Araucana's on Trade me in one listing (will sell seperately or together), and our beautiful Langshan also. Here are the listings:

438682902 - Araucana's

438688017 - Langshan

They have been raised in our backyard, free range and are beautiful boys. If you know of anyone looking for a rooster (or three), please pass this on.

Thanks.

Trina.

My latest LO for Get Picky

Hmmmm, can you tell I'm doing a bit of a catch up on my news? Grin.

Well, Get Picky have a wonderful challenge going right now. It involves making a LO around your resolutions for the new year. Perhaps a goal you have, a focus, a bucket list?

An incredible poem was given as inspiration. Well, I couldn't go past the poem. It really was that good. So I used it as my journaling. Then I added 3 photos of my family and I at a recent family wedding and it was just about done....

Lots of gorgeous Websters papers, a few Prima embellishments and it's done.

Give it a go. A fabulous memory to look back on in times to come.

Spellbinders DT call

Before Xmas, I saw a call for the Spellbinders DT for 2012.

I looked at that call several times, before deciding to give it a go. To be honest with you, I get scared of the whole stages part in a call. Making it through each stage makes it so much more worthwhile, but also that much more stressful on the ole heart! LOL.

Anyway, as I LOVE using dies I decided to give it a go. Was I ever excited when I saw my name on the Spellbinders blog while in Singapore. Wow! I'd made round one! I was more than a little surprised. Then reality hit and I realised I had to have my next piece through to Spellbinders by 4th Jan, and I was only home on the 3rd. I also had Granny's party on the 3rd. So even though we're a day ahead of USA, it still meant for me personally I only had one day to put my project together.

Well, I did it and sent it off, and was blown away again when I saw I had made it through today. You can check out the announcement here.

As usual for this type of call, there is a TON of talent among the ladies. And Spellbinders have put forward 26 people when they initially thought they'd put through 20.

So you can see it's a very exciting and stressful time! Grin.

Now I wait for some product to be sent to me so I can make a final round project. I have a little something in mind, but need to see what turns up in the mail. I'm very much looking forward to this next project and can't wait to see who makes it through this final round to make the team.

Very best wishes to all of the participants chosen! I wish you well.

T

PS: I can't show you my two projects so far, just yet. But once the call is over, I'll be able to.

Singapore part two

Oh wow, we're still on Singapore huh?! Did I tell you I took a billion photos?! Uh huh!

So here we go...

Singapore zoo. A wonderful place! We had a ball even if we were covered in plastic the whole time. It was pouring with rain the whole time we were there.

In fact during this part of the trip we could set our watches to the thunderstorms. It was amazing. They would come in around 2.30pm and that was it for the rest of the day.

Look at that gorgeous Pygmy hippo.

The most beautiful white tigers.

And the worlds largest flower.

Then we popped across to the night safari. It was so busy!

And more lights. Gorgeous. The kids were pretty tired by this time of the evening. But we enjoyed the show. My recommendation is if you are there, to go see the show FIRST, then go around the park.

The next day we went out to the Jurong Bird Park. AMAZING. I'm not a big one for birds (except for my chickens!) but Andy and his family love birds, and we'd heard great things about it, so off we trotted...

One of the best parts was wandering through the aviary where you can feed the birds...

But they hurt when they bite you instead of the edge of the bowl!

Sarah is standing on this big swing bridge, which we all walked across..

Inside one of the exhibits was the worlds highest man made waterfalls. It was really pretty!

And we saw a fabulous show with a variety of hunting birds. This was just one of the owls. It was huge, and so pretty.

Of course we had to go along Orchard road. And it was decorated with hundreds and hundreds of Xmas trees, lights and other decorations. Stunning.

We also headed high in the skies on the Singapore Flyer. I thought I'd be fine in it. But once you start getting higher it's actually quite scary.

We could see a big storm coming and just managed to get out before it hit for real.

And I love this picture of Andy enjoying the view.

I couldn't believe how high we went! Amazing.

Then it was time to hit the cold part of our trip. And here we are at the airport playing Monopoly on the ipad..

If you've got an ipad and small kids. I highly recommend Monopoly. They can play by themselves against the computer, or with each other and there is even a quick version which deals out all the properties and then you play. Plus it keeps them occupied for hours!

Ok, so I've been through about 1.5 memory cards to get to this point. I'll be back with more asap.

CHA & Prima

Prima has started doing their sneak previews for their latest product lines being released at CHA end Jan.

Have you seen them? If not, take a look at some of these posts on the Prima blog.....

En Francais Collection

Almanac Collection

Meadowlark Collection

Sun Kiss Collection

Nature Garden Collection

Songbird Collection

Keep an eye on their blog, facebook and pinterest as more and more new product is going to be revealed. Sooooo exciting!