Category: Uncategorized

i had the day off work and had a lovely day out with my wife jane (pictured)

after the girls were dispatched off to school we drove up to matakana where we went to a cafe we’d always wanted to go to, but is always closed!

we then went and bought some new bed clothes from a very posh shop who will make them for us which is ideal as of course our duvet is european dimensions

after that we popped over to the Morris and James pottery factory.  we’ve been there many times before, but never coordinated ourselves to go on the tour.  so this time we found out what time it was going to be on in advance and arrived in good time

and we were glad we did because the tour was excellent.  you can see some more of my pictures of the guys spinning his pot here:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/funkypancake/9g35pF

we then had lunch in on site restaurant (sitting inside as although the sun was out it is still a bit chilly)

and on the way back home we stopped for an hour in the wairewa hot pools and slowly boiled in a private spa

this evening there’s been pancake making and telly watching

and the girls are on school holidays from this evening

esther spent the day with her concert band and big band doing performances in three schools

and kezia had a nice day at school

so that’s that.

kezia spent the day with her choir performing at various places including a couple of retirement homes, a preschool and a primary school (i think)

esther did something similar with her concert band. the girls passed each other briefly in the Albany mall food court during their respective refuelling stops

i had a busy day at work

at 10.15 the office emptied out to watch some guy in a wing suit sweep across auckland.  it sounded more exciting than it looked as most of the time was spent descending on a parachute

these people didn’t seem too bothered by people falling out of the sky

then at lunchtime i met up with buzz

i walked past our old church youth leader who was doing some guerrilla knitting

esther had tennis after school and kezia had her orchestra practice (i think)

jane had a busy day shopping and doing some errands for a chum

and jane’s out a church meeting this evening

jane was in wellington today but came back safely having had a lovely time in this nation’s fair capital

esther spent a day filming for Shortland Street with her choir

kezia had school and the two of us tidied the house then went to opening night for the North Shore Salon exhibition

both girls had musical things before school and esther after too.  and she had her trombone lesson (but no violin lesson today)

i went with kezia to her parents evening.  she’s doing excellently and a couple of her teachers said she was brilliant – especially the science teacher who was very pleased she’d got 100% in her last test!

jane left just after we did this morning and drove down to the airport as she’s having a day and night down in Wellington with a chum. sounds like she had a good flight and her friends house is in a nice location.

the picture above is of kezia’s art project which we saw while zooming between teachers.

work for me.

school for the girls

kezia has a music practice until 8pm

esther had a marching meeting this evening too

jane did various things, but i’m not sure what.  that’s the beauty of being on holiday

i also spoke to our roof man who confirmed the roof repairs are going to be very expensive.  oh dear.

church this morning

esther had a concert band and big band workshop all afternoon with an australian school’s equivalent who had come over for a competition in Rotorua and wanted to practice in front of a live audience before heading down to the competition

that ended with an hour long concert that parents could go to (see below for a link to the audio files)

while esther was at her workshop, kezia, jane and i met up with a french friend of a friend and took her to Muriwai

i recorded esther’s performances.  you can listen to the concert band here and the big band here.

the concert band piece is quite elaborate and they had a stand in singer so the intro/outro vocals aren’t quite perfect.  sorry about that!

then this evening there was some family together time

we all woke up naturally this morning.  jane took pearl and esther for a walk then went for a coffee with debbie

the girls did homework all the rest of the day, although esther did pop out with jane and me to look at an open home which was quite near by and 6 bedrooms and something like 4 bathrooms and 2 kitchens and about 4 or more living spaces or something.  it was massive.  we’ve no intention of moving house but it’s fun to look at other houses.  especially if they are massive!

this afternoon jane and i went to the flicks to see Man Up and then went for a walk on the beach before doing grocery shopping and heading home

then this evening we all watched Oceans 12

we saw this little dress on the beach.  i think barbie had gone skinny dipping

usual long friday morning walk on the way to work this morning. then a really busy day at work.  but good busy.

jane had her last day of term so is now off for the next three weeks.  yay

esther has gone to a chinese evening at a local school with a friend

and kezia has gone to a party with some other friends

i sorted out some remote computer problems and then jane and i sat and watched some telly

another cold day.  but so purdy.

school for all.

the girls went to Westlake’s got talent this evening where esther was being a helper.  kezia went with a couple of chums who had tea at our house before going out to observe the talent.

i had my annual appraisal at work today which couldn’t have gone better (in a good way!) so that’s nice.

jane went to esther’s parents teachers evening and she’s doing very nicely

i got honours for both these images in the photo club this evening

esther had concert band after school

and it’s been very cold. in fact the coldest place in auckland was Whenuapai which is a couple of km away from our house at –2.1C this morning.  esther was a bit chilly by the time she’d walked up to her school music practice with her instruments first thing.  that doesn’t sound cold by UK standards but is chilly for Auckland which is pretty tropical most of the time.  nice to have a warm house.