Adventures of a Smith road trip and etc :)

 Ah, home again there really is no place like home! We had a lovely trip and I think we all enjoyed ourselves very much!  Here are a few pictures of our adventure!

The drive down to the Wairapa was uneventful which is a good thing with 4 little children.  :)

At the Optland's they have a lovely view!

Ready for church.

Oh you can tell Aaron is giddy!

 On the way back we made more stops for photos and etc unfortunately we took all day (8:30am till 7:30pm) to get home mainly because Keith didn't want to be in his car seat.

We just started out driving and found this scene and had to stop and take a photo.  This bay goes into the Tasman sea. :)

Pukerua Bay

 The weather was pretty good to see the mountains along Desert Road (it looks something like a desert which is probably why it is called 'desert road').  I can't believe we couldn't see anything on our way down due to rain and cloud.    Mt. Ruapehu, according to the map, is still considered an active volcano as is Mt. Ngauruhoe which is next to it and Mt. Tongariro is next to that which had some activity today!!! See: Mt Tongariro erupts  Hmm, maybe that explains the sulphur smell we smelt near that area yesterday??...wow. :)

Mt Ruapehu

So, the next place we stopped at was of course, Lake Taupo...oh that place is gorgeous!  Just so my family knows this lake is actually a crater lake meaning at one time this used to be a volcano...and then it blew its top...and eventually became like this.

Lake Taupo

 Not easy taking a photo with one hand while holding baby in the other but we mother's manage some way!

Smile for mom!

 Me with most of the children at Lake Taupo.

Smile for Dad!

 Jett stepped on to this rock and tried to get back but lol...he slipped and ended up getting his shoes all nice and wet.

Hahaha

 Mcdonald's which are well known for their playgrounds.  Sadly all of the M's we were at have loud music which isn't at all kid friendly. 

Yippie fun!!

Anyways, we are home safely and trying to catch up on Mt Laundry...at least we have gorgeous weather for drying!

To Wellington and other random bits

I thought I should update this blog before we head off on a adventure next week.  We are attempting an 8 or so hour drive down to the Wairapa on Tuesday all being well,  and then Thursday we'll drive another hour and a half to Wellington.  The communion season starts next week in Wellington.  I've been very busy recording story books onto a CD for the kids in hopes this might keep them happy for 80 minutes. And then we have DVD's if all else fails. :)

I thought I took a lot of photos this week but I found out that it was just a couple! 

It feels very silly when we tried taking a photo of ourselves by ourselves.  But after several fails we took this one.  I think we took it after we had a laugh from seeing the other failed pictures.

Big boys with their toys. Or sort of. :) 

 This was a spur of the moment kind of job.  I decided the lilies were mostly dead, and it just looked like a weed bed more than anything else so I tackled it, and tore away at the weeds, and half dead lily leaves and left it a little more tidy looking!  I also discovered one lone rosemary plant had survived! 

 Awww these moments are fast fading with this little man! :'(

 Jett at work again with a little more gear. :)

 One of the lovely roses growing here.

 And last of all Amelia's new church dress that I finished a couple of weeks ago.  Now I wish I put sleeves on it, but maybe I can find a cute bolero jacket of sorts to go over top.

Now to wind down for the night and get ready for tomorrow. :)

Cushion covers :)

I finally completed two cushions/pillow covers!  It would be three if the first one wasn't so bad.  Can you guess what these are made of?  

White fabric?  Well, that is obvious...but actually I made it from Jett's old white dress shirts.

They make the back so much easier to do than the usual pillow covers.  

Now if I could only figure out what colour I would like in the living room then I would be almost all set.  :)

Crumb coated Chicken thighs

I've been liking quick but tasty meals as of several months ago...or was that years ago?  Anyways, who doesn't like easy recipes?  This one I found off of All-Recipes so I can't claim it as mine although as with all of my recipes I tweak them just a bit. :)  For some reason I feel like I already posted this recipe so if I did I'm sorry, and if I didn't you'll know that I still have the so called "baby brain".

So what you need...

6 Chicken skinless/boneless thighs (do not get breasts unless you want Really DRY meat...just warning you)

1 cup or so of bread crumbs (my tweak)

1 tsp salt or so

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

So you preheat your oven to 400degrees F. Then you mix the dry together, and coat the chicken.  Pop them in a baking dish that is preferably greased a little.  And bake them for 20minutes, turn them and then bake for another 15-20 minutes or until done.

This obviously makes a little bit of a "spicy" dish...but that all depends on how much spice you want.  Omit one or two of the spicy spices (lol) and it will still turn out good. 

This is a dish that goes good with Au gratin potatoes...oh that is another easy quick but yummy dish.  Thanks to my mother in law for introducing me to that one. :)