February is the time to scrap January

How are you all getting on with scrapping your 2011 ??

If your looking for inspiration be sure to check out Birds of A Feather . Carol and I are looking for friends to help keep us inspired! So far Brenda has joined us with scrapping a happy memory from her January.

Here is what January at our house was all about this year....

 Our youngest had a dream that began in 2010. Camden wanted to be a 'cowboy' the bull riding type of cowboy. I said 'NO'! But along come January 2011 and it finds us trailing from one Rodeo to the next watching our Cowboy ride bulls! This page lets Camden know how I feel about this matter, and I hope one day he will look back and appreciate my feelings...at the age of 15 he really only has concern for the way 'he' feels. :-) Which is fine, because that's what being 15 is all about I guess.

 

Check out details of our challenge HERE We have no cut off time so just join in when you want to.

  Carol has scrapped about the men in her family, and what goes on at a family gathering.

 Here is the sketch for this month, we would love to see you twist it around, shake it up, add things and make it your own!



Hot stuff!

Hot...sweaty and grubby!  This weekend was a busy one for our boy. Camden was a Marshall for the Duntroon School's Motor Bike Rally on Saturday. He had left home by 7am and rode all day until clearing the track by about 6.30 pm. This is what he looked like when Andrew and I arrived at the Rally around 3 pm on Saturday afternoon.

Camden fell into bed about 11 pm, and Andrew and I were not far behind him, the extreme heat, and wind of the day had worn us all out. So when the fire sireen bleared in our ears at 1.30 am we were all a little slow to wake. The first thing that come to my attention, upon waking to the shrill siren was the smell of smoke. I mumbled to Andrew that the fire must be close because I could smell smoke...then my brain jumped to life. Camden is a volunteer fire fighter and I realised he was not up so I jumped out of bed to rouse him. I open our bed room door which leads to our living area and there looking at me through our open windows were large bright orange flames, not too far from our house! I raced up stairs to get Camden who was just pulling on his trousers. We had a hasty look out of Cody's bedroom window (also upstairs) and saw that the paddock between our house and the main road was ablaze, the howling wind was playing havoc with the flames.
Camden raced off to the fire station, which is just over our back fence. I raced to the bedroom and after a quick chat with Andrew we decided it would be best to air on the side of caution and hoist him out of bed, just in case the flames got to our house. Getting Andrew out of bed is like getting him into bed...it takes time.
Anyway, to cut a long story short Duntroon Fire brigade, with the help of Kurow Fire Brigade saved the day and all was well at our house, except for the lingering smell of smoke.

This is the scene today-  photo taken from the main road  -  the up-stairs of our house can just be seen in the background.

 This burnt patch really is closer to our house than it looks in the photos.

I took this photo from outside our gate, its looking towards the main road ,and the fire damage.

Back to Camden for a moment. Tomorrow he sits his first NCEA exam. A week ago he sat an entrance exam at Otago Polytechnic, and as a result has been excepted for next year. Camden will start the Poly tech course at age 15, which is far too young in my opinion! I really do not want my little boy heading out into the big wide world already. SIGH

A whole lot of Bull!

We had a very wet weekend in Rangiora at Bull Riding School this weekend

Camden had a ...'excuse the pun' ..ball!

Almost harder than riding the bull is getting onto it in the first place, If you get out of the 'box' without breaking both your legs then your half way there!

Shame you cannot hear the bull snorting...its quite scary to watch your youngest doing this very crazy thing!

The goal is to stay on the Bull for 8 seconds,

and your only aloud to use one hand...crazy!

Cam is so lucky this bull is a young fella and has not grown his horns yet!

Never ever linger when you fall off!!

Camden now needs lots of gear, I can see this 'hobby' is going to be costly. Cowboy boots are at the top of his list, a hard riding helmet is at the top of my, and Andrews list, and I cannot believe they learn this crazy caper without having to first put a helmet on!

Today it was back to work, and then home to unpack our bags as we never got home until late last night.

Camden got his restricted drivers licence duing the school holidays,so it looks like Andrew and I will be staying home for a whlie now as our van is never here!

Back tomorrow with some scrappng, for now its off to bed we go because us old folk need our sleep! Night night.

Fence photos

The highest fence line in NZ... as promised, exciting hu?...Well only if your keen on fences I guess. Camden was very excited to get to see this fence on his latest hunting venture.
this fence line boarders D.O.C land, high in the Dunstan Rangers and it is about 7000 ft above sea level!

A nasty bit of weather blowing in.

This is one of the three huts Camden stayed in this trip.

Not camping weather

Wouldn't you just know it...its pouring rain here tonight for the first time in ages! And do you know why???...Its because our Cam headed away on School camp this morning!! Like his mum he's unlucky with the weather.

Here is Cam, with two of his mates, Hamish and Dean, waiting patiently on the rest of the team to pick them up on their way through Duntroon this morning The boys are heading up the Ahuriri, tramping in with their packs ( about a four hour hike) and tenting for three days. My guess is it will rain until Friday!!

Cody's dog Bid is not part of the team, even though she has her lunch packed and looks ready to go!!

Our weekend 21st-22nd November 09

What wonderful summer days, and nights we have been having here in Duntroon.
Friday night Aimee and I moved the barbecue from the back of the veranda to the front, so we could catch the lingering sunshine while I cooked a barbecue tea.
Camden practiced his pipes on the front lawn, it was lovely cooking in the fresh air to the sound of the pipes. I did attempt a jig...but Camden said any more of that carry on and he'd be putting his pipes away!!

Saturday morning we woke up to a 'heat wave', and a faster pace of day. We had to be in Oamaru by 10.30am for the Victorian Heritage parade. Poor Cam was super hot and sweaty in his uniform. The Victorian fete is an annual event in Oamaru, with the parade on Saturday and the fete on Sunday.

Just get a load of that pram... I was wondering if this lady was a scrapbooker???

An old tractor ...there were lots of old tractors, somewhat boring I thought, although Andrew seemed interested enough in ALL of them!

Camden headed back to town on Sunday to preform and do his share of 'gate duty'. Andrew and I stayed home and once again,(another annual event it would seem) I cleaned up the shed.

Cody was tailing lambs and Aimee was still in town from her Saturday night out.

A change of heart

Today Camden had his first day at Waitaki Boys High School. Here he is, about to head to the bus stop (three minutes away) at 7.20am this morning. The bus does not leave until 7.35am but Camden likes to be early.

Camden has had a few issues at his last High School ( no real fault of the school )and his school work was beginning to suffer a little because of it. We hope that Camden will benefit from the shift and hope like crazy that we have made the right decision!

Bye Cammie

This morning, 5th of March Camden (our youngest ) headed away to Christchurch with the Waitaki District Schools Pipe Band, to attend the Pipe Band Nationals. He is away until Sunday,already we are missing his compapny!...and No Milly (our wee dog) did not go with him!

Happy Birthday Camden

Yesterday Camden, our baby turned 14! Here he is chopping into his birthday cake after tea.

Pipes in the Park

On Saturday we went to Waimate to see Camden compete in the Solo Bagpipe competitions, this was a big thing for all of us as usually Camden competes as a part of the whole Band. Here he is with Bruce, his teacher tuning up his pipes moments before his first performance.

Standing in front of the judge was very scary for me, not sure how Camden felt!!

Camden won first prize with both of his pieces in the Novice Section, and won two second places for his D grade preformances. He also won the trophy in the Novice section!

Now that makes the trailing and hard work worth it - for all involved.

Santa Parade

Saturday 6th saw us at the Santa Parade in Oamaru.

This year Camden was promoted to the front row with the senior pipers in the band. It was a very exciting and proud moment for Andrew and I as we watched with the crowd!

So hot!

It is so hot here today, has to be in the 30's, I'm sure! We have been at the Duntroon Trail Bike Ride today. Our boys still ride motor bikes, I'm afraid, even after Andrews accident. Camden' bike broke down after the first round and to spite Terry tiring very hard to fix it for him, all attempts failed. Camden had no choice but to bail out- or ride the trial bike Cody had brought home from his work at the Motor Bike shop for Camden to try. Bailing out was not on Cam's agenda so he put on his brave face, and helmet and off he went, looking a little worried about being on an unfamiliar bike. An hour later he was back, all smiles and asking us if we had brought his Christmas pressie yet!!
Cody had not returned when we left. It was just so hot that Andrew had to come home to try and find a cool spot- he's still looking for one!

Eel for dinner!

Sunday night saw me happily scrapping and watching the clock as Camden had headed to the river with a friend to go eeling. The deal was that he was to be home at 8.30pm sharp, which after some text negotiating was stretched out until 9.00pm . At 9.30 I began texting my late home lad, to no avail. He failed to send a reply. I did a little more scrapping (is that a bad thing??), come 9.45pm I could concentrate no longer on the task in front of me so went on a torch hunt, at the same time tring to reach Camden on his phone. Just as I headed for the door he appeared, bag in hand, smile on face, and saying how very sorry he was that he couldn't answer his phone because first he was gutting his eel, then he was biking home! What really disturbed me was the slimmy horrid eel he had in his bag... and the fact that he had gutted it meant that he intended me to cook it!!

Our Camden is a Fire Man! At the tender age of 13 Camden is Duntroon's youngest fireman, and although he is not allowed to attend a fire in the Fire truck until he is 16, he is allowed to go in the water tanker.
Yesterday afternoon the fire alarm sounded and Camden, who had been at the Garage doing running repairs to a motor bike, squealed up the drive in next to no time (aboard the bike, he'd been fixing). It was all I could do to keep the smile off my face!! His boots and fire clothes are on the way, can't wait to see him all dressed up! Definately a scrapbook page coming up there!