Wednesday 16 December

Wednesday was the last day of swimming lessons for the year.  James came home very excited because he has moved up a level.  He will now be in level 4 which is the same level that Brent is swimming at.  The other big thing about level 4 is that he will now be swimming in the 25m pool all the time not in the learners pool that is 18m.

The certificate reads:
This certificate has been awarded for proficiency in the following:
- 25m freestyle with bilateral breathing
- 25m backstroke
- basic breaststroke kick
- strong butterfly kick
- water safety

Well done James & I am lookking forward to seeing you square off with your brother in the swimming stakes next year.

Sunday 13 December - Christmas Photo

I am working backwards here as Friday 11 December was such a busy day. 

After celebrating Brent's birthday at Drexels in Hereford Street I took the boys to Ballantynes to have a photo with santa.  Unfortunately Mr 10 year old now deems himself too big to have a photo with santa so for the first time ever for James, he got a solo photo of him & santa.  Obviously this isn't going to be a happening thing anymore so I'm pleased that I did at least get one of James & santa. 

I always thought it was a nice to have a yearly photo of the boys & santa but I have to admit I never stopped & thought what happens when they get too old?  Oh, well I'll work that out next year & this year will just have to be the way it is.  Quite nice really because Brent has 2 photos of just him & santa so now James gets to have the same but just at a different age.

Monday 14 December - Remembering Nana, Brent

These are the 2 decorations Brent chose.  His ones were cheap so I let him have two.  The star is because "nana was a star nana & because she is now up there looking down on me."

I think the red heart is pretty self explanatory.

Tuesday 15 December - In rememberance of Nana, James

This month has been incredibly hard.  I thought that by now the pain may have disappeared but this month has contained a lot of "firsts" & obviously there are still more to come.

The whole buying of an ornament to remember nana by came out of a flip comment made by one of the boys on about December 2nd.  "I wish we had an advent calendar from nana to open."  The sadness I felt was very deep & I was quickly in tears.  Luckily I remembered that while clearing out mum's bedroom we did indeed find 2 advent calendars.  I took one & Jo took the other.  Even more lucky, given the state the garage & the house is in with boxes everywhere from both our house & mum's, is that I knew exactly where to find it.

So the boys do indeed have a last advent calendar from nana & they take turns everyday to open it.  I must remember to take a photo of it. 

Mum used to love Christmas & every year she would go "all out".  She would get her christmas tree out & let the grandchildren have free reign in decorating it.  She would have tinsel on stair banisters, a musical christmas tree that the kids loved hearing & a advent calendar of her own that the children would open with her.

We have always given the boys a christmas ornament, usually  something based on their life at this stage.  I am still looking for an ornament for the boys at the moment (but I am finding the whole christmas thing very, very hard) but when we were in Ballantynes getting James' photo with santa it seemed a great opportunity to maybe buy a decoration that they would want to remember nana by.

James chose this little cherub & at the moment it sits with all the angels "where nana is, mum."

June 5

Her function is to sit and be admired. - Georgina Strickland Gates

Mo sitting in the window of the spare bedroom, surveying her kingdom but more importantly sitting in the sunshine to warm up.

Monday 16 November - Sick Child

James woke up at 2am to tell us that he wasn't feeling very well.  We sent him to the toilet while Scott got out the ice cream container for beside his bed.  Poor boy wasn't very well at all yesterday & after last week's episode with Brent I decided not to risk sending him to school.  He spent all day in bed, either sleeping or just reading or sucking his thumb & quietly talking to Pooh & Bridget.  He didn't keep anything down, water or food, until we gave him a couple of pieces of toast at dinner time.  Luckily he kept them down & I gave him Pamol later when I went to bed & that stayed down too.

I've kept him at home today but I have to say he's very perky & is eating & keeping everything down.  I just love 24 hour sickness things like this, at least it is over quickly.  There is a huge change in how James handled being sick this time, he's matured.  There's no more throwing up everywhere, crying & sitting in the mess.  Now he just matter of factly throws up, cleans himself up & gets back into bed.  It is incredibly helpful to me as I no longer have to go through that horrible feeling of wanting to be sick at the same time.

Wenesday 11 November - Front garden

It's been a while since I took a photo of the view from my front door but with spring coming to a close it's probably a good time to take one.  As you can see the wisteria is still in flower & now my iceburg roses have started to flower as well.  Thankfully it rained because really the garden is quite dry & it must be almost time for me to turn on the automatic sprinkler.  Behind that table is a lemon tree & it is just laden with fruit at the moment. The lawn needs to be mowed weekly now because the daisies in it are attracting the bees & James just loves to run around in bare feet.  I think we had a milder winter than we have been having recently & nothing has really been killed off & everything is just bursting into new growth.  Next year I will have to seriously consider getting a lot of the trees pruned right back because the heights they will be at will be starting to block of some of the sun coming inot our rooms.

Tuesday 10 November - A Christmas Card

Over the weekend I found some time to complete the Mojo Monday sketch #111. Here's the sketch...

Here's my version.

All product I used is current Stampin' Up! product & a full detailed breakdown of what paper & what measurements can be found here on my Stampin' Up! website.

Monday 9 November - James' Original Haiku

This is the original copy of James' haiku that has been published in the NZ Poetry Society Anthology called "Moments in the Whirlwind."

The judges comment was: "I would like to give a special commendation to one handwritten & illustrated haiku by perhaps our youngest entrant [James Criglington]. His/her haiku while obviously a familiar yet new take on perhaps the most popular haiku of all time gives us a wonderful picture of the author's delight in his recent understanding of the art form:

the little old frog

sat on the black wonky bridge

splash! Splash! silence there [. . .]

Friday 30th October

I have finally got the main room looking the way I want it, more especially having my Stampin' Up! cards & projects on display but not taking up half the room.  This sideboard used to be in the lounge until we had the big change around of furniture.  I have always wanted the sideboard where it is now but I'm not sure why we didn't have it there originally.  My guess is that as the kids grew things that are in it are now no longer ripe for the picking & it is "safe" to have it in the main room.  It also makes sense to have it in the main room, where our dining table is, because the drawers hold the good cutlery, the placemats & the cupboards hold the good dining set. 

Tuesday 27 October - Creating something Christmassy

Is Christmassy a word?  Oh well it is for me.  I managed to carve out some time yesterday to create a new project using Stampin' Up! product.  Should I show you a photo or just ask you to follow this link & then click on projects?

If you click on the link it will give you the list of what I used to create it & maybe I will make one up at my Christmas Extravaganza workshops that are happening in November.

Monday 26th October

This photo really belongs on Sunday because that is when it was taken but we had 2 different events happen on Sunday so I thought I had better document both.

Erin, Neil, Robin, Phyllis, D & M came back from Sydney & had a stop over in Christchurch before heading on their way to Invercargill.  We don't often all get together so it was a perfect opportunity to have a photo of the whole family.

New Website

I have a new Stampin' Up! website that is up & running, so I have been working on getting it looking more like my own.  If you would like to take a look it is here:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/katscraps/

Wednesday 21 October - Our Birthday Present

Happy Birthday Scott!

We decided to buy a joint birthday present for ourselves this year.  My much loved Canon 300D is starting to get a bit the worse for wear.  The external flash mount is a bit out of shape & with the advances in technology it is getting to be a very "old" camera.   So out with the old, not really we have kept it for the boys if they want to use it when they are older, & in with the new!  I went into town this morning to have coffee with Scott & while there we picked up our brand new camera!  The lenses we already have fit this one however the memory card & the battery unit are different. 

So now my photo numbers are going to start back at number 0001, I got up to 8936 on my other camera.  This photo is actually photo 8933 so not quite the last one I took.

Saturday 17 October

We are still moving stuff.  The reason it is taking so long is that we are doing a weed out of all the stuff that we no longer want or need & hopefully we'll be able to sell some of it for a dollar or two on Trade Me.  At the moment I am selling some of my retired Stampin' Up! stamps on there & shortly I'll be adding books & cds.  I am thinking that a great big purge of my craft room is in order too so maybe some of my scrapping papers & cardstock will end up on there too. 

Another room that needs a good purge is the boys' play room.  See that big white container it is full of lego & then there is another the same size also full of lego.  I am getting to a stage where I really hate lego, I hate finding it all over the house, I hate standing on it, I hate it getting sucked up the vaccuum.  However it is one toy that gives James so much fun.  James is a different child to Brent.  Brent will happily watch tv or play on the computer, but not James really.  Give him some lego & he can be amused for hours.  I realise it is good for him but there is only so much lego a mother can take strewn through out the house.

Friday 16th October - Battery Charger

Well I thought I had better take a photo of this little fellow seen as he caused so much heartache recently.  I lost him & it meant i had to resort to Brent's little oint & shoot camera that seemed to be difficult for me to hold still, I always had blurry photos.  Scott found the battery charger in amongst the "stuff" that has been pushed from room to room while the house was getting fixed.  I guessed it would be somewhere but there were so many boxes to search through.  I am so glad that we have found it, now I can use my big camera again.  Yippee!

Wednesday 14 October - My early birthday present!

A couple of months ago I signed up to get the Club Scrap Retreat in a Box.  It was shipped out of Wiscounsin last week & to my great surprise I received it yesterday.  Wow!  Was the first thing I said when I saw the size of the box.  It was big!  I then spent a couple of hours unpacking it & oohhing & ahhing over everything in it.

There was a cake box that had a small personalised pink hand towel rolled up & encicrled by paper that made it look like a cup cake, even with a plastic cherry on the top.

There were three different scrapbook kits, a crop in style photo organiser (one of the big ones that holds photos in one section & then in the other there is room for 12 inch paper), a thermal water bottle (with the Club Scrap logo) and 6 projects for me to sit & make.

It really was like Christmas & now i just have to find time to make the projects & maybe I'll be able to show you them or even make them again in Stampin' Up! paper.

Tuesday 13 October - Freesias

These freesias have just decided to start blooming, they are actually bulbs from Grandmother Crigs garden so they are almost a family hierloom.  They also have the most fantastic scent.

June 4 - Junior School Cross Country

Well after several postponements we finally got to have the junior school cross country.  Mum was able to come & watch.  James had to race against the year 4 boys so he was a bit annoyed that he only came in 12th but that was a great run.  This photo is of him nearly crossing the line & as you can see even at the end of the race he was smiling.  Got to love my little smiler!

 

Monday 12 October - Wisteria

I've only just noticed that our wisteria that hangs over the pergola at the entrance way to the house is starting to bloom.  It looks so pretty when it is in full bloom, but gee do those little flowers go everywhere including inside the house.  It looks like my daily sweep of the porch has to start up again.

Friday 9th October - Rearranging Furniture

The good thing about having the carpet done is that really big peices of furniture have to be emptied out so that they can get moved out of the room to be carpeted.  What this means is that when we finally got to put things back in the various rooms it wasn't such an effort to try to rearrange rooms differently.  The "blue room" is a good example of this.  We used to have the entertainment unit sitting against the wall opposite the large window, with the 3 seater couch underneath that window, a 2 seater couch where the entertainment unit is now & a chair against the doors that open out to the patio.

We've decided to change that around so that we can fit a desk from mum's in the same room & we will be able to put a laptop on it.  The boys now have homework that includes internet use so it is best if they have their own computer that is linked to the computer but right beside Scott's computer so we can monitor what the boys are doing on the internet.

Thursday 8 October

The in laws were all flying out to Sydney via Christchurch & Wellington so the boys & I took the opportunity to go & see them while they were at Christchurch airport.  As we arrived at the airport we heard the "wok, wok" of a helicopter.  I was quite surprised to see not 1 but 3 Iriqouis helicopters coming in to land at the Defence area of the airport.

We went inside the airport & found the in laws & the boys had a lot of fun playing on the playground pieces with Danja & Magnus.  Once we had seen them to their gate we went past the Antarctic Base & were lucky enough to see the last helicopter fly off down the runway. 

Tuesday 6 October - Carpet is Done!

We only had one man in to finish off the carpet & I have to say I was worried that it really wasn't going to be completed in the day.  It was finished at 4pm!  The carpet looks fantastic, it smells of that nice new carpet smell & because we bought the thickest underlay it is beautifully soft.

This photo is an up close view of the carpet.  We opted for a textured but multi coloured carpet.  It is primarily brown but it has blue running through it.

The house looks fantastic all carpeted & is a mile away from what we had on February 11.

This is where we started from:

We cracked open a bottle of bubbly (lemonade for the boys) to celebrate the end of our very long & at times arduous 8 months.  It still brings tears of joy to my eyes today when I think that it is all over apart from moving everything back into the house.

It has been a very emotional journey for me, not at all helped by having other family issues occurring at the same time.  I am sure that this has made me stronger somehow & I am hoping that it has also brought Scott & I closer.  I know there were times when we were biting each others heads off, but we got through this together & he has been a tower of strength for me & I hope I was for him.

Next time I complain I have a boring life, you all have my permission to remind me of 2009 & how life is sometimes a lot more pleasant when it is boring & predictable!

Here's hoping this is the last post with the label "fire" on it!

Monday 5 October - Carpet laying Day 1

Monday was the first day of carpet laying.  Carpet Court arrived at 8:30 & immediately the 2 men got to work ripping up the old carpet & underlay.  They got both big living areas plus a spare bedroom & the hallway up to that room all done by about 2pm & then they left.  Apparently they didn't have anymore carpet with them so they weren't even interested in lifting the carpet in the other rooms.  The good thing is that we were able to start shifting all the things from one end of the house down to the other end.  I left at 7:15 to go to a craft creations meeting leaving Scott to move the rest of the stuff.

Geocaching Layout

This layout was created with all Stampin' Up! product.  If you want to see a larger version or find out more please visit my Stampin' Up! blog post here

Sunday 4 October - Moving Furniture

In preparation for the carpet layers coming on Monday we moved a lot of belongings to other storage places.  Spare beds have been taken to the storage unit, a lot of my craft supplies etc have been taken up to mum's & a lot of the more essential furniture got taken out to the garage.

I have to say the whole refurbishment of the house has been a long tiring & madening process.  I am getting to the end of my tether with it & it drives me nutty when I can't find things, for example my camera battery charger.  I know I have had it at our house, but I can't tell you when I last used it or where I put it.  I'm upset I've lost the thing because the other cameras don't take nearly as good photos, & of course as much as I would love to go out & buy a new one I know that somewhere between the storage locker, my house & mum's house there will be my charger.  It just annoys the heck out of me that I can't find it.

It seems like a lot of work but I will be so pleased when we are finally back to rights in this house.  This house has been topsy turvy ever since the fire in February so it is the light at the end of the tunnel that is shining now.  I have to keep reminding myself when I get upset when I can't find things that we are so nearly there.  We are so close to the end, I've just got to hold on to that thought.

Thursday 24 September - Virgin Earth

I've just finished another book. I just love reading Philippa Gregory books. I seem to get lost in them & have to consciously put the book down to do other things.






Virgin Earth follows on from Earthly Joys, this time following John Tradescant the younger. It is based during the reign of Charles I & the battles between the parliamentrians & the royalists. It was a time when you had to watch what you said & what religion you had, if you didn't like it & you could afford it, you could catch a ship to Virginia & try to be one of the first settlors there. John tried to live his life in both places & determine where his sense of loyalty lay. Of course it took to the end of the book for him to find that out.

As with her other books I was drawn in & found it hard to put down.

Next book I'm reading is Tribute by Nora Roberts.

Tuesday 22 September - Skiing

The boys went skiing yesterday & up the mountain they had someone taking photos. They had several photos taken & this one is the one I liked. They had a wonderful time skiing together & James was very excited about skiing through white out conditions at one stage. The day had very strange weather, sunny one moment & then cold & snowing the next. What it does mean is that the boys will now be very used to skiing in flat visability. It hasn't put them off at all because they are up there again today.

Monday 21st September - Nor west in Wanaka

It's not too surprising that this time when we have come down to Wanaka, we have been hit by nor' wests. The nor'west in Wanaka is very cold & prone to drop rain on us, unlike the lovely warm nor'wests of Christchurch. The 3 boys went skiing despite the weather & at times they were skiing through falling snow. Scott put the boys into kids club so that meant that Scott got to ski by himself all day & got 19 runs, a personal record for him. The boys only got 6 in the 4 hours of ski lessons that they had. They all came home very excited & ready to go up again today.







This photo is the weather that I had. Spatterings of rain & mainly cloudy, windy conditions.

A new layout

I went scrapping in the weekend & although I didn't get much done, this layout did get finished. This is Scott all dressed up for our formal night on the cruise (that was a few years ago now).

Tuesday 15 September - Thrush in the garden

The birds are really starting to make a racket at about 5am. I think most of them are starlings & blackbirds but yesterday I saw this thrush. I kind of like thrushes, they seem like a chubby quiet type of bird. I particularly like their speckled breast.

Thursday 10 September - Hair cut

Yesterday was my regular cut and colour so this time I decided to actually take a photo of the salon. Next time I might even pluck up the courage to get a photo of me with my colour sitting waiting to "take".

I love this time, it's my time to relax & catch up with all the gossip from not only the neighbourhood, it's amazing what the stylists now about the neighbourhood, but also on the celebrities via the likes of Women's Day & Women's Weekly magazines. In my life it's the only time I get to sit & read these sort of magazines.

I have these cuts & colours every 5-6 weeks & I found out it is only 14 weeks to christmas! I have made all my hair appointments up to christmas yesterday, only 3 more to go!

It's amazing how quickly the year has shot by, especially this term, my boys finish school next week for the end of term, I feel as if I have missed it all by being in a strange kind of funk.

I suppose it is part of the grieving process where you kind of live from day to day not realising how fast those days are disappearing, just getting up out of bed, doing what you need to do but not really able to think ahead. I keep feeling like I should just "get with it". I get notes from various teachers saying "parents please get your child to do this..." & end up feeling guilty because I've been letting the boys down. I can barely manage to keep the house clean & tidy & coercing the boys, especially James, to do his homework without having teachers send home notes like "please get your child to hand his spelling homework in daily", "please get your child to learn his 2 times, 5 times, 10 times table" I feel so overwhelmed by it all & then I feel guilty for letting James down, but really can't the teachers just give us a break. I'm trying my hardest to "get a grip" but extra demands from school just don't help.

I just want to get away from all the demands, the house still demands attention & probably will do until after the carpet has been put down & the furniture back in place; Scott's mysterious ailment that has still not been fixed but has now cost us $450 for specialised antibiotics that aren't covered by Pharmac & because of that, not covered by the medical insurance; James' learning difficulties; Brent's horrible, surly attitude; & of course trying to clean out mum's house.

When will it all just stop & let me catch a breath?

I need to breathe, I need to just STOP!

Wednesday 9 September - Organic box

I thought it would be a good time to take a photo of what's in the box at the moment.

This week's contents are:

- potatoes

- pumpkin

- parsnips

- brocolli

- celery

- spinach

- mandarines

- apples

Tuesday 8 September - Happy Laundry Maid?

In an effort to get the boys to help out more around the house I have offered a 10cent reward if the boys hang out the washing before going to school. This is the one job around the house that the boys seem to like doing. Yesterday Brent hung out the clothes & what you can't see in this photo is that he was singing the whole time. I must say that's a nice change to the surly attitude that he has been having recently.

Monday 7th September - Boys Choice

Every Monday afternoon I have to pick Brent up from school at 4:30 because he has had fencing. We then carry on through to town & pick Scott up from work. During this time, the boys have had a lot of fun taking photos along the route. This particular photo was taken by Brent. The flowering cherries along Harper Ave are in full bloom now & look spectacular. Brent wasn't the only one taking photos of them. I think that all the blossom will be gone in the next nor' west but at the moment the avenue looks beautiful.

RIP Mum

It is one day past a month since mum died. I went through my photos today to find the last photo that I took of her. Aptly it was on Mother's Day & when I stop & think about it, it really wasn't too many months before her death. I found a beautiful quickpage from Raspberry Road Designs that I thought was perfect for mum. Funnily enough the quick page came from the Tea for Two kit, mum was always a tea drinker & on Mondays her sister & her would sit down & have tea for the two of them & discuss their lives.

credits: Raspberry Road - Tea for Two quick page; Meryl Bartho, Digital Scrapbook Place - Digital Dates

Saturday 5th September - Creating!!!

Yippee I have finally felt like creating something. Yes it is a very quick & easy quick page from Club Scrap but at least I have sat down & created something.

credits: Gimme a Ring Quick drop layout from Club Scrap digital.

Stampin' Up - Ribbon Promotion

Stampin' Up! have released the details of their September promotion. You can find all the pertinent details on my Stampin' Up! blog.

The basics of it is:
Buy $120 of product during September (excluding shipping)
or
Host a workshop with a sales total of $700

& you get a free ribbon bundle.

Check out the details here:
http://katscraps123.blogspot.com/2009/09/septembers-promotion-ribbon.html


Contact me if you would like to place an order, or even better hold a workshop.

Wednesday 2 September - Nor' west

It was another nor' west day yesterday. This particular wind direction brings the planes into the airport on the "northwest runway". What it means is that all the planes from B767 size downward come flying past our house. The boys used to love it when they were younger going outside when they saw a plane fly by. In Christchurch it is a bit of a cheap pasttime to actually park your car beside this runway & watch the planes come in to land & take off. We've had many takeaway meals out there just watching the planes.

Tuesday 1st September - A good washing Day

It was a nor'west again yesterday so I put a load of laundry on the line to dry before going up to mum's to spend the day decluttering.

Saturday 29 August - Last day of Football

It was the last game of football for the season so I decided to take my camera & watch both games. It was a lovely sunny day, warm with hardly any wind, one of those magical spring days that Christchurch can turn on. I did take photos of Brent but I really think the shot of the day is actually one of James.


This photo is one of those instances where things can be decieving. No James really wasn't ready to head the ball, no he hadn't even just done that. James spent a lot of his game running around watching the ball & even though it looks like he actually may make contact with the ball in this photo, he never did. At least he looks good while running after that ball!

Friday 28 August - More from the Garden

In a shady part of the garden these little violets are starting to come out.

Thursday 27 August - Another Spring like day

The weather this week has been very spring like, northwesterlies & warm. I decided to take a wander around the garden, while waiting for the CCC building inspector to come in the morning, & take some photos of what's in flower at this time.

One of the most obvious flowers out is all the camelias. I have a lot of pink ones but my favourite is this white one. It doesn't stay this white for long because they tend to go brown very quickly.

Wednesday 26 August - Mental Health Day

James & I both took a mental health day yesterday. What that means for James was that he just stayed in his room zoning out (no tv), playing with Lego & in the afternoon he even had a sleep. What it means for me is taking things slowly, not worrying if the laundry is running 2 days behind schedule, the dishes aren't washed & dinner isn't in the crock pot. It also meant time to just wander around the garden on a nice sunny day & take stock of what is good in life & what makes me happy in the garden.

At the moment the Daphne bush is in full bloom & the scent always puts a smile on my dile.

Monday 24th August - James in Charge

On a Monday afternoon Brent has fencing until 4:30 & then we go & pick Scott up from work. This week I let the boys be in charge of taking photos that they like along the route. We were sitting at traffic lights when I saw this mini bus pull up behind us. James loved the penguin on the front, so he took this photo.

Tuesday 25 August - The Christmas Pudding

I spend my Tuesdays up at mum's house decluttering. I can't say that I have got very far, but yesterday I went into the pantry. I did manage to clear out 3 shelves of the pantry & right at the back of one of the shelves there was this find!



There is actually a story to this pudding. Mum has made the christmas pudding ever since Grandpa died. Last year she made two puddings for Christmas Day. When Christmas Day rolled around she couldn't find one of her puddings & she was quite upset about it at the time because she felt she wasn't pulling her weight in providing the pudding section of the christmas meal. She did make her pudding & in her way she "put it away in a safe place" only to find that it was such a tricky place to hide it that she couldn't find it.



Jo & I found it yesterday & as Jo & family will be in Australia for Christmas she said that I could have it. I am thinking that we will take it down to Invercargill & we can all enjoy her last gift to us on Christmas Day.

Sunday 23 August - New Coffee Maker

When my grandmother died we bought ourselves a new coffee maker, so why muck around with tradition. We bought ourselves this nice slimline coffee maker that also grinds the coffee beans if we want. I like that it can be programmed to go in the morning so when I wake up my coffee is hot & ready & waiting for me.

Nana - Missed but not forgotten

Last night on the way back from La Porchetta Brent looked up out of the window & saw a star.

Brent: Nana's star is there!

James: Nana isn't a star

Brent: I think she is.

James: Well I think Nana is the sun so she's not here.

Brent: The sun?

James: Yes the sun, because nana was bright.

Today after football my tired littlest man saw a spot of sun on the carpet & lay in it sucking his thumb & said "Nana's here now."

Friday 21st August - Family Fun

It was Brent's turn to take a draw out of the Family Fun jar & he drew out "dinner at La Porchetta". After we had registered the boys for tennis at Te Kura we went to La Porchetta. The place was just humming but luckily Scott had booked us a table. La Porchetta is an family oriented Italian restaurant. The menu consisted of pizza, pasta & seafood.

The boys shared a bowl of wedges & then Brent had a small pineapple pizza & James had an entree sized spagetti bolognaise. Neither boy was able to finish his meal. Scott & I shared a garlic bread & a medium salmon pizza. The dinners were delicious & while eating it I think we nutted out a plan for Brent's 10th birthday this year.