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we spent the morning pootling around in a tourist boat around the kaipara harbour and a couple of its tributaries

we went with three other families and had a great time.

the weather forecast was torrential rain but in fact there was no rain at all during our trip

afterwards we went for lunch at a cafe

this afternoon kezia and i went to the mall to get me some new headphones for podcast listening, and also to pick up my new glasses

i don’t have any pictures of my new glasses, but if you’ve seen my old ones and/or my sunglasses, then they are exactly the same as them (nearly) so you might not notice

this evening esther’s gone to a sleepover and in the morning they are going to get the ferry to rangitoto and spend the day there on a bach

 

day at the zoo today and our good friends the dunnings came round this evening for dinner and a swim.

not much to report today.  jane did millions of houseworks and gardening.  the girls swam whilst i watched the hobbit film #1.

kez and i went to the supermarket this evening then we all watched some telly.

boxing day started with lots of skyping in to family christmas days which was lovely

then we drove to huia which is across the water (on our side) from the lighthouse we visited last saturday

it’s nice to see the same bit of water from a different angle i always think (i don’t, but that’s the kind of thing people say isn’t it)

peal came on our walk which started alongside a dam.  you can just about make it out above the grassy area in the middle bottom of the photo below

we dodged rain showers and pearl did marvellously despite the very hot weather and constant up and down hills of our two hour walk

this evening there’s been some pool playing

and pearl keep trying to be as cool as pearl.  i’m not convinced she’s got it yet

jane was up early to walk pearl

then it was santa present opening in our bedroom

breakfast was freshly squeezed orange and fresh croissants/pain au chocolat

we met debbie and courtney at a nearby church for their morning service

then drove over to takapuna where there were people playing in the sea with their new presents

lunch was a buffet a hotel in takapuna

i thoroughly enjoyed eating whatever i wanted (making for a rather painful afternoon unfortunately, but it was worth it!)

the food was great and there was a clown/santa and face painter

we opened a few more presents back home  then jane and i had an afternoon snooze

then we did a few more presents and the girls had a swim

then this evening we’ve done a bit of skyping and telly watching

happy christmas all!

jane went shopping with esther early this morning

then esther and i went on various errands including getting some more ink for the printer and a new heart for Barry the pool cleaner (seen in the picture above)

pearl walked jane and the girls wrapped some presents

this afternoon/evening we’ve had church.  jane sung and i did sound

it was one of those services where everyone who turned up had another special request for the sound guy (ie me).  we ended up using about every lead and channel on the desk but all went well i think

then this evening after church was packed back in to its storage transport container we went home and watched The Choir

somehow we’ve ended up with loads of presents under the tree which is very exciting

pearl is learning some new tricks, like how to have her tennis ball and eat it.

the girls skyped their friends this morning whilst jane was out exhausting pearl with a run

kezia spent the day at a friend’s house while esther and i watched old doctor whos and rubbish film and jane sorted some school things away

then this evening we went for a stroll down by the fsih market (kezia spotted the spelling mistoake)

then we drove over to motat (museum of transport and technology) once it was dark to look at their charity christmas lights

and after that we queued in the car for half an hour to drive down franklin road which is rightly famous for its christmas lights

a great ending to a good day

we had our usual sunday morning skyping with jane’s parents

then it was off to church

this afternoon kezia and i went to the shops for some extra decorations

then kezia spent ages decorating the tree

then this evening we went out to see jane’s work colleague Gaenor.  she used to live in the next village to us in the UK and went to the same teacher training place as jane

and it turns out her husband and i had similar tastes in music in the late 80s, early 90s.

on the way back we drove round the neighbourhood looking and lights before coming back to look at our own

here’s some bonus pictures of pearl

today was a great start to the summer holidays

we dropped pearl in to doggy day care just after 8am

then we drove the nearly two hours to awhitu lighthouse

it’s only 40km from our house as the bird flies, but by road it was around 120km as you have to drive to the bottom of the peninsula and back up again down windy roads

you can go up the lighthouse and walk around the outside up high

 

the lighthouse is there as there are shifting sandbars in the entrance to the harbour

it was a bit windy there so we needed our jumpers

then we drove down to awhitu regional park which was lovely

we went for a walk to the homestead after a picnic in a field where jane’s crisps blew off her plate

bits of the walk were sheltered and we were all down to t-shirts by the time we got back to the car

we’d seen a bird park advertised on a sign on the way there so we stopped in and it was excellent in the traditional kiwi style

this meant falling down cages, an honesty box system of payment and a really nice chap who owned the place who was happy to show off his birds

this is charlie.  he kept saying ‘can i have a cracker’

his crackers were actually nuts.  you can see them in the video below

we were delited too

on the way back we stopped off at waiuku information office to find out if there was enough to warrant a return trip.  which i think there is.

pies are popular in waiuku

here’s the video

(For best quality, hit Play, and then click on the sprocket wheel ( )in the bottom right of the video and choose 720/HD.)

the christmas/summer holidays officially start here.  i’m now on holiday for the next 3 weeks.  most of the telecom building seem to have gone home by lunchtime, but everyone on my floor was still there by 3pm when i left.  that’s the trouble of sitting on the executive floor.

 

there was no decorations either.  bah humbug

the girls got the bus in to town late morning and did a spot of shopping.  i met them for lunch and we watched a salsa band play

this evening kezia had her swimming lesson in an old volcano hole which involved jumping off a peir in to the fresh water and swim alongside the black swans

on the way home i went to the doctors and picked up various medicines (medical centre above) so i’m all set for the xmas break.