The Fay Family 4: Final Fay Update for 2015

Well it is the last day of 2015!! It is hard to believe that we have now been back up in the North Island for over a year. We have had a wonderful, adventurous and eventful 2015 that is for sure. December seems to mark the biggest changes of all to the house though.... nothing like the new year coming to make you realise you need to finish those goals from the current year!

So hopefully in order here are the main highlights of our December:

After having a wiggly tooth for months and then discovering that his new tooth was actually growing up on angle behind Daniel was given a time limit to wiggle his loose tooth out. The Dental Nurse (who he doesn't really like) told him that if he didn't have it out by the 1st Dec that she would have to pull it out. Well the 1st Dec came and still that little baby tooth was determined to hang in there. I let him know that I'd have to ring and make an appointment - which I did - when he very quietly came to me and asked 'guess what?'........ It seems that he really didn't like the dental nurse and the thought of going was so daunting that he 'accidentally' knocked a rock (one of many that he collects) off his window still and into his face making his tooth get knocked out!!

Finally his second tooth has fallen out. Goodness knows when the rest are coming!

December was also the month of rain here, well at least it felt that way. It began on the 1st and didn't really clear up until Christmas Eve! Just in time for us going camping though thankfully. We headed away on Christmas Day (after present opening at 0030 hours by excited kids who thought it was morning and then more at 0630) over to the Wairarapa with the mice, kids and dog in tow. It was a full car I can tell you :) We camped at Putangirua Pinnacles Campsite which allows dogs and we were lucky enough to arrive to a fairly empty campsite. It meant we had a primo spot with early morning sun to warm us up, all day shade (to keep the mice cool) and sun in the evening to warm us up again as the night arrived. It was a full moon too so the the fact that we had completely forgotten things like torches didn't matter too much :) The kids loved swimming in the lagoon as did the dog and we enjoyed using our family sized tent for the first time and having space! The weather couldn't have been better - calm, clear and hot!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Swimming in the lagoon

Daniel enjoying his camping breakfast

Walking up to see the Pinnacles

Liam has also been making lots of changes around the house and he's been busy every weekend bang whacking something. So far we have our new front door in place (this is my favourite even though it isn't functional yet as before everyone was searching for where to enter or knocking on my reflexology room door), enclosed the porch downstairs, put a new floor on downstairs, insulated downstairs and begun to clear out the side of our property to make room for car-parking space. It is all starting to come together now after years of wishing and dreaming.

Our new front door in place

Liam downstairs. It used to be a wood porch, now it has a proper floor, insulation and door.

This month we also finally booked to go and visit Kápiti Island. It did take us a while to get there though after our initial 5th December booking as they cancelled due to bad weather twice then we had to change dates due to the kids being unwell! Finally, fourth time lucky, we got there just after Christmas and enjoyed a bright and sunny day to explore. The view from the top was awsome with the South Island and Taranaki visible. We were seranaded by Hihi (stitchbirds), Korimako (Bellbirds), Tieke (Saddlebacks), Túí and Kokako all the way walking up to the top along with some noisy Kaka. The kids even managed to see 2 of the 4 Takahe on the island. So worth the wait :)