Friday, October 13, 2006

Gray Family









































































Gray Family

We have had some awesome weather over the past 3 weeks. Sunny and clear blue skies and hardly any rain! That is minus the last two days with 160 km per hour winds and Bush fires near Dunedin. I have posted some more photo's of what we have been up to lately.
Caleb & Hayley and I went to there favourate park in Balclutha last weekend as they are now both at the age where they love playing on the slides, swings etc..
When we went to the park the local plunket comittee was having a picnic. They had all the kids and were giving out Balloons. And of course Caleb had to go over and literally stalk and stare at the lady who was giving out the baloons untill she offered him one! I always try to go on a family outing on a Saturday. At the park they have a awesome play ground and lots of Bird Averies. They also have a pond and tame ducks to feed. The children love to feed the Ducks! We are slowly settling in down here. Now that calving time is nearly finished we may be able to have more family days with Dad present for the first time since the beginning of July. I am really enjoying Playcentre with the children and the socialising aspect of seeing other adults.
I have been helping Brendon on the farm lately and I feel like it is the best thing that I ever did. I finally feel useful to someone (Brendon that is). As most of you will know I have been battling Depression since Hayley was born. I believe that the change of shifting down the South Island has helped me out of the depression, but I would have to give all Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for bringing me back to life (for helping me get my mind, confidence and motivation back). I have been feeling a lot better and doing a lot more since comming down here. Getting out on the farm was the best thing that I have done to increase my self confidence and help me to realise that I am just as capable as the next person at doing anything that I set my mind to. Including little things that I struggled with before....e.g. The thought (I am not joking) of mowing the lawns....going back out on the farm to work again for longer periods of time (for the first time since before Caleb was born)....
Brendon has found himself really busy since arriving in Balclutha on the 31/5/06. We have HEAPS more responsibility here than we did up in Waiuku. We feed 560 cows on this stuff called Kale from 31/5/06 untill August. They are given small amounts to graze each day and you have to shift fences on about 3 different runoffs. At least we will know what to expect next year!

I have included a photo of our house so that you all know what our house looks like. I have also put in a photo of Caleb and Hayley's own sandpit on the back lawn. They spend hours playing in it! Well better go get the cows in for Brendon now! Cheers untill next time!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Introduction

Introduction: GRAY BLOG

Welcome to our blog. Since we live so far away from the North Island now, we thought that we would set up this blog, so that you can check in on us once in a while to see what we have been up to and also how fast Caleb and Hayley are growing every day! We are hoping to pop up to the North Island for our summer holiday some time in Feb, all going well.
We welcome a visit from any of our family and friends as there is always a spare room! & foldout beds for the children.

Where we are located (for those of you who are not quite sure):

Near Balclutha, South Otago
Balclutha is 1 hour from Dunedin and 30 minutes drive to Dunedin Airport and about 11/2 hours from Invercargill.

I will have some more photos to follow. Here is one of Caleb and Hayley. They keep scrapping over this bike so I decided to put both of them on it so that the screaming MINE tantrums would stop! It became an instant hit as you can see with there smiles on there faces!