Sunday, December 23, 2012

Getting ready for Christmas

I love Christmas.  Getting the lights up, the tree all decorated...and the almost innumberable holiday treats!  I made ginger snaps for a cookie exchange and ended up making A LOT!  So took some into work.  Everyone loved them.
Then there is the traditional carmel popcorn balls.  I've been kind of busy so I didn't get them done very early.  I gave some away today at church and decided to try something different.  This year I added white and dark chocolate on top.  So yummy!
You can see the part where some is missing...because I COULDN'T resist! :-)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Kaitoke Regional Park

We ended up leaving town later than planned, so we didn't get to the park until 10...only to find out that the gate closes at 9 pm! :-(  So we grabbed a few of the things that we'd need for the night and started walking.  We found a decent spot (in the dark! haha) and put up the tent.  Maggie had never put up a tent before so it was a fun adventure. :-)
Here is Maggie and Gillian the next morning.  We realized that we were at the wrong part of the park!  So we took down the tent and drove to the right entrance.  To find out that gate closes at 8 pm, good to know for the next time!  Haha...

So Maggie and I drove back to town (it is only about 30 minutes away) grabbed the bigger tent, my other shoes (because the grass was wet and my shoes got soaked!) and bug repellent and headed back out.  Here is a picture of Maggie putting in a stake.

After we got everything set-up and had some lunch, we went for a walk.  We camped right next to the river, behind some trees, it is the best spot there!  My friend Jamie showed me where it was.  :-)

The three of us on the bridge over the water.  Don't look down!  Lol, actually this one isn't as high as Waihine Gorge, so it's not too bad.

This is where they filmed "Rivendell" in the Lord of the Rings triology.  So they put up some markers and we took our photos. :-)

This was cool, it showed the heights of the various characters in the books.  As you can see, I'm jsut shorter than a wizard...I'll take that! :-)

Friday, December 7, 2012

Going camping this weekend :-)

Some friends and I are going camping this weekend.  Pray for sunshine!  Lol.  My friends Maggie, Gillian and JC are coming with me camping this weekend.  We will be camping in the place where they filmed Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings trilogies.  Although it has been returned to it's natural look, it is still cool to think that I'll be camping in such a cool and beautiful place.
But we will have fun regardless of the weather!