cupcakes

Easter LOOONG Weekend

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Happy Happy Happy Happy Easter…or what I used to write in EVERY Easter card–> HOPPY EASTER! The four day weekend is here. Emzie and I have been counting down the days until the Easter Carnival. Over the last month we had been debating on using the time off to fly to: Christ Church, Queenstown or Wellington but never bought flights to anywhere.

My family graciously invited both of us to join them at their batch in Taupo. (It took me at least a month to figure out “a batch” is what I know to be a “cottage”). Emma and I strongly considered going and helping the kids hunt for all their Easter treats! After weighing all the pros of cons we chose to stay in town. We have both already been to Taupo and weren’t keen on the petrol bill. The total commute time would be around 4 hours one-way. Stopping off at the free Mud Pools was the only real attraction we were keen on seeing along the way.

I picked Emzie up Thursday night so we could do our grocery shop; as most will be closed on Friday and Sunday. We have my house to ourselves all weekend so we picked up some drinks and happily continued our Full House marathon. The episodes NEVER get old!!!

IMG_5679IMG_5687There is a Mahons Amusement Park for all of the Easter Weekend. Em has been stoked for the ferris wheel and I am pumped for my FAVOURITE ride the zipper. The rides begin at 9:30 and run to 10pm. I enjoyed my little morning sleep in. I was welcomed to a exceptionally prepared breakfast sandwich of: avo, ham, tomotoa, cheese all things I have wanted on a burger!!! We googled the Carnival to find out what rides would be there and how to get the most bang for our buck! We got an email notifying us that there was a $45 unlimited rides wristband. We arrived 12PM ready to ride the rides. TO OUR UNAMUSEMENT the wristmband deal did NOT begin until 7:00pm.  Tickets were $1.20/each with each ride averaging 6tickets OR a bundle pack at $160…
“I do NOT know who would do that unless you had a massive family. And if you had that big a family you probably shouldn’t go” -em
Both of us felt it was in our best interest to stay IN TOWN for 7hrs so we would not waste gas driving home and back AND having to sacrifice our prime parking spot! (Later that evening we discovered there was plenty of parking had we wanted to leave and come back).

IMG_5705 How did we fill up 7 whole hours? We revisited all the tourist shops we have visited numerous times before.   MOSTLY we walked all around downtown trying to search for CHICKEN WINGS –not buffalo– NO definitely not the same I was informed. She had a craving and we tried so hard to fulfill it.We were also trying very hard to not get stuck paying the 15% surcharge taxed on during public holidays! We realized it would be like us tipping on any bill in Victoria bit we were NOT having it. We found a place where we didn’t have to tip.We finally (after my legs felt numb and wobbly and Emma thought she was going to eat me) settled on an Italian restaurant. We shared a mushroom, free range pork, on a white base pizza, with a side of fries and aoli. It was the first pizza I had without tomato sauce and it was incredibly delicious. With my Amsterdam Beer (delish) and Em’s diet coke we were quite satisfied with our solid decisions.

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“But really at that point, I would have eaten cheap Chinese food..but not at that place we went to withAna and Kaik” -Emzie

We prolonged our comfy eating environment and slowly made our way back to the car in our last few hrs of waiting… all in the name of saving money. Nothing left to do BUT NAP. Good thing we were both blessed with the shortness of limbs so we could each somewhat comfortably curl up and hide from the public. “It wasn’t uncomfortable but it wasn’t comfortable, there are worst situations.” – Emzie We slept for about an hour and then only had 1 hour left before  6:30. At that point we we couldn’t stall any longer and were so anxious to have free reign of the rides. How many times did Em ask if it was time to go or what time is it??? Well I lost count after 7 hours of her eager eager eagerness.

IMG_5752 The rides were awesome! The Zipper ride wasn’t available but I fell madly in love with the Super-Loops. Can’t say Em liked hanging upside down too much but I LOVED being suspended in the air! After we exhausted ourselves from riding all the rides we drove home. We arrived home to a phone text from my Kiwi-Mom hinting that the Easter bunny may have left me some Easter treats. Love me some sugary treats.

Saturday was a lounging day. We filled our day with lots more Full House, cupcake baking and a delicious Easter dinner. Emzie’s honey ham was cooked to perfection. Can’t believe we still have another 2 more days off. Life is good.
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Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend!
Buddha Blessings to Everyone,
xox Amanda

….Cous Cous your Mom is in my thoughts. Wishing her a very speedy recovery. Love you babe!

Thanks for all the BIRTHDAY Wishes

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I was going to go to bed but I thought I should blog quickly first. Thank you to everyone who shared their birthday wishes with me. As always, it was a pretty awkward day with the kids shrieking how OLD 27 was. I encouraged them to stop saying the number but they felt the need to keep reminding me of my age 🙂 The family bought me pink roses and made me vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. We unwrapped gifts after the fireworks…well actually the kids unwrapped the presents and then showed me what I got. (I am pretty excited to see them on Christmas morning. They are going to be HYPER when it’s time for them to open their own gifts!)

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Emma and I spent the whole day together. She really wanted to make sure that I didn’t forget it was my special day. She prepared me days before that I would not be allowed to sleep the day away because it was MY BIRTHDAY and a day to be celebrated. MY pleas to just sleep the day away fell on closed ears.  It was a pretty great that my birthday landed on a gorgeous Saturday so I had the day off work. We went to a restaurant close to the beach to have breakfast then quickly headed off too the zoo. Burma (the Burmese elephant) was out walking around which was a huge treat. Quite often she is in her glass house chained up to a pole so it was nice that she was roaming around. She came quite close to the wall so we were able to get some great shots of her. She still looks like a baby elephant to me but I have been informed that she is fully grown.

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Kiwi Tree

Kiwi Tree

After we walked around the whole zoo we went and grabbed some caffeinated drinks. We needed energy to continue the celebrations. We went to the Christmas Wonderland. It is New Zealand’s biggest indoor Christmas forest. over 150 trees are uniquely decorated by different themes. It would have been nicer if the building was a little bigger because there were so many trees and people, strollers and kids all in one square building. Some of the trees were so cute. All the money from tickets was donated to charity!What is a day without a little shopping? We were both on the hunt for presents for our kids. My kids keep changing their minds on what they want for Christmas so I have yet to buy them anything but I am hoping to complete my shopping pretty soon. My homemade Christmas cards are finally done and I am hoping to get them all mailed off tomorrow. After shopping we drove to Brown’s Bay and got pizza to eat at the beach. How nice is it that I got to eat Birthday dinner at the beach in December! I can’t even complain that it was windy because the air was still warm.

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We went home for a bit to swap photos and relax before the fireworks. I was able to send off a few birthday thank you emails and enjoy my flowers. It was the first time I had ever received flowers and I GOT two bouquets in one day 🙂 Emma dropped me off when it started to get dark out. I met up with my family  on the grass and we (the parents) shared in some bubbly and strawberries. When we got home the kids were excited to eat my cupcakes and open the presents. It was a really late night for them but it was a great end to the day.

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Sunday (my Canadian birthday) I got to celebrate in my own way! I slept in with NO ALARM CLOCK (even though I could hear the kids running around the house I could just smile and roll over)! I hung out in my room reading text messages and facebook posts and got to chat a little with some friends. I went upstairs and had lunch and shared cupcakes with the boys. Pretty much my whole day consisted of lounging, playing with the boys and finishing my Christmas cards. The 6 year old tried to help me with my cards at one point so there are a few that…aren’t up to my level of perfection. There wasn’t much he could do to assist me so I let him put some stickers on the cards. Unfortunately when they were going on crocked I patiently tried to explain I like them to be straight and not clustered together. Eventually I let him peel them and then give them to me…production slowed until he got bored and decided to make his own!

So that was my birthday weekend!

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xox Buddha Blessings,
Amanda

Survey says…

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My 26 answers:

1. First/middle name: Amanda Sumalee Dowput MacWilliam

2. Were you named after anyone? Negatory..Amanda because they liked the name Mandy, Sumalee because it’s Thai, Dowput the staff at the orphanage gave me

3. Do you like your handwriting? YES and NO..like it better than others and sometimes it’s great sometimes it’s uber ugly

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? mortadella

5. What is your most embarrassing moment? Oh gosh I have a lot…when my skirt got stuck in my underwear in Thailand after using a stand-up bathroom. During my Nepali lessons I offered my teacher some chips and grabbed them out of the bag to give to him. It was my ignorance in not realizing in their Nepalese culture to not touch the food you are offering to someone else. SHOULD have paid more attention to that chapter of my book.

6. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with yourself? Probably…I like my fun side but I don’t like all the baggage. I am pretty sarcastic but I think I would like that!

7. Are you a daredevil? when it comes to food –>usually yes, physical stuff –> Not when I am  by myself but if others are there to encourage me then yes for sure.

8. How do your release anger? Exercise, music, crafts, sleeping, crying, ranting to friends, writing

9. Where were you born? Asia somewhere…I love the people who know the hospital and time and room number and all that jazz…okay you got me I’m a wee bit jealous. Pretty sure it was in Bangkok, Thailand.

10. Do you trust others too easily? Initially I am very shy and guarded and find myself suspicious of others’ intentions.  But once I trust you –I am extremely open.

11. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies…or any of my brothers’ toys

12. Do you use sarcasm a lot? YES definitely—often..close to all the time?

13. What is your favorite movie? This list keeps getting bigger for me: My Life, Crash, Grease, I am Sam, Nine months…I can watch these movies OVER and OVER again. I also love all musicals.

14. Nicknames: let’s see if I can remember them all: Carly, Roomie, David, Bobby, Munday, Snoochie, amansuma, Swampert, Amandy, Lil’M, miss M, Asian, Lover, Bradley, Brad, Bandit, Bp, Brice, Suma, Sumzie, Battery, Mizzle, Brown Daughter, Sumalia, BC/Brown Cousin, P.I.C., Mandar, Brenda

15. Would you bungee jump? Done and done

16. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No never. Waste of time!

17. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Rocky Road, Cookie Dough, Bubble Gum, Strawberry Cheese Cake, cookies & cream– I have a lot.

18. What are you listening to right now? Keys typing on a keyboard, someone showering, the dishwasher running

19. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Their height, then their body type

20. Hair Color? Black with touches of natural red

21. Do you wear contacts? Everyday of the week

22. Last Movie? Eat Pray Love (Loved Julia Roberts in it)

23.Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Happy endings. But I do love watching scary movies with people who are terrified of them (..dom that is a shout out to you lover)

24. Summer or winter? Both!-summer for weather, winter- for wardrobe

25. What is Your Favorite Dessert? Anything homemade Cheesecake! Pumpkin pie! Cupcakes!

26. What did you do today? Was up at 7am to get the children dressed and fed for school. Packed their lunches and completed the school run. Came home to work on dishes and laundry. I had a nap then began my homemade Christmas cards. Then more laundry before the school run to pick up the kids. Fed them a snack and packed more snacks before heading off to soccer. Came home and prepared supper to be ready  for 6pm. Completed dishes and bedtime routine began. Babysitting night ended around 10:30pm.
[My typical day is usually from 7am – 6ish. ]

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have suggestions for future blogs.
Check back for another post tomorrow!

xox Amanda