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Everyone (except esther who stayed to do homework) left home at 7.30 this morning to drop kezia off at her camp.  then jane, anni and i went to the Helensville show

this afternoon esther had tennis (and won) and jane checked out a gym which she signed up to.

Anni and i went in to auckland and looked round the silo markets, watched bands playing, watched bits of the Australia vs New Zealand cricket on a big screen and learnt about the boat race which is coming in to Auckland this evening

then this evening we all went in to town for the lantern festival which was ridiculously busy

Anni brought a German homestay friend along while esther met up with some of her school friends there.

kezia texted to say things were going well at camp so that was good!

I took hundreds of photos today which i’ll edit tomorrow afternoon and may do an updated post with the pictures

kezia had her choir camp today.   she came home later afternoon rather than staying the night though due to a headache

jane had a day off thanks to her week of camping so did pearl walking with a friend and dentist

anni did some sailing after school which she really loved so that was good

i had lunch with my old colleague Simon at a German Sausage restaurant which is now a Spanish sausage restaurant much to both our disappointments.  but don’t fear, we’ve found somewhere else to go next time which does sausages.  i’ll let you know how that works out.

jane, esther and anni walked ‘the help’ this evening which is not about the Beatles.  Anni is reading the book at school.

 

girls had school.  anni went swimming.  esther went tennising.  kezia had a three hour orchestra rehearsal

jane came back and took pearl for a long walk.  sounds like jane’s camp was fun

i worked from home again.  highlight was seeing an old worn out butterfly.  some days are more photogenic than others!   busy day though with various phone meetings.

and we found out today that kezia has been selected by a local photography course provider to join their student mentoring program which is a real achievement.  they were impressed with her application letter and her little portfolio of images she sent in.  you can read more about it here:  http://www.threelittlewishes.co.nz/AKL+WShops/The+Wish+Project.html

we were all up early so the girls could get the early bus to school.  esther had a music rehearsal and kez and anni went to the coffee shop and did their homeworks.  esther also had a singing lesson, choir and concert band (i think).

kezia had violin after school and anni had wind surfing.  i picked up kezia at 6, then drove down to pick up anni and go to the supermarket before meeting esther at 7pm

unfortunately there was no time for photo club or kezia’s youth club, however, my spies were able to tell me that my image got highly commended and kezia’s got acceptance this week

jane did white water rafting and caving today and it was good.  she’s back tomorrow, assuming she survives this evening’s game which is called Danger.

school for all.  esther had various musical things.  Anni met up with friends after school and Kezia played SIMs.

Pearl went for a walk round the cemetery in the evening too which was nice

i worked from home and had many hours of phone meetings this afternoon (but managed to avoid having to travel down to Wellington for a meeting)

jane went to an army museum where the guides were excellent and then everyone who wanted to could get bumped around on a sort of tank thing.  Then they went mountain biking.

i had the day off today and spent it putting together my images to put in for my Associate of the PSNZ.  we’ll have to see how i get on.  i’m not overly certain.

along the way i had a hair cut in a proper barbers and bought some printer ink.

the girls had school.  kezia had her singing lesson and kezia had her orchestra.

anni had a Chinese New Year lunch today which involved lots of pizza (that well known Chinese delicacy).

this evening kezia and i walked Pearl and then she looked at a watermelon.  actually, i think she looked at the watermelon before we went on the walk.

jane went to camp today.  she made it there ok and the accommodation isn’t too bad.

church this morning

then anni and i went to the World of Wearable Arts Exhibition while esther did homework and kezia played Sims and made some dog biscuits

jane was up early and went for a walk with Pearl

esther had tennis this morning which she didn’t win unfortunately, though it was a good fight

She and kezia also had various homeworks to do

Jane spent the day tidying and getting herself and everyone else ready for her four nights away this week

Anni and I were excused the housework (thanks for my lovely wife) so we headed over to Piha where there was a surf life saving boat competition

there were a couple of camera crews at Piha, including one filming a version of Coast for New Zealand.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/66388336/local-version-of-bbcs-coast-to-be-shot . The presenter is Neil Oliver and he kindly let me take his photo.

that was fun to watch

this gun was for starting the race, not shooting sharks.

after watching that for a bit we walked up to the Kitekite track to the falls

there was a fair amount of water coming down the waterfall given the drought conditions.

after some lunch and a quick walk round another bit of the beach we headed back home via the Arataki visitors centre to admire the views back to Auckland

then this afternoon it’s been more domestic-y things and preparing for jane being away.

it turns out there’s a load of bee hives in the park near my office.  who knew! 

esther, kezia and anni had school sports day today.  they all did various random sports in the name of fun (‘social’ rather than ‘competitive’).

anni then went in to takapuna with a couple of friends.

jane, esther and kezia went out for afternoon tea

i had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon as my stomach has been quite rubbish for the last few weeks.  but other than that all is well.

jane has had a busy week at school so this evening there was lots of family telly watching.

i met up with Buzz for lunch and we were slightly distracted by a bunch (probably not the correct word) of tap dancers with umbrellas and a hose pipe.

i forgot to mention esther had her first singing lesson on wednesday.  So both esther and kezia are now up and running on that.  it’s a requirement of being in the choir that you have singing lessons

jane went to kezia’s school open evening last night so i was in charge of household things which is why i also forgot to update the blog.  but i’ve done it now.  sorry about that.