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so, now i’ve caught my breath, here’s what actually happened yesterday

i took esther in to town as she was playing with the Queen City Big Band.  she was a stand in for a trombonist who couldn’t make the day.  the band leader (a teacher) of esther’s big band is also in the band so invited her to join for the day.  they played for two and a half hours with esther sight reading pretty much all the pieces

jane and i watched about half of the performance between the two of us and the band were excellent (See video clip below)

when my car parking ran out of time i zoomed in to town to photo a band playing in Aotea Square

while i was waiting to photo them i found out i had been approved to take pictures of Coldplay at an arena show later that evening

meanwhile jane went for a haircut and the two of us met up with esther towards the end of her performance and then came home

all the ladies then went out later in the afternoon to get their nails done while i edited my So Laid Back Country China photos then got the park and ride bus out to the stadium across town

i arrived two and a half hours early so sat on a bit of grass until the sun went down.   the rules around the concert were very strict but you can see my final results (which i’m very pleased with) here:

http://photosfromthepit.com/coldplay-hits-new-zealand-global-trek/

there was tonnes of confetti – much of which ended up in my camera bag which was a nice surprise when i got home!

here’s a sneaky peak of the photos (but you can see them bigger on the link above)

here is esther playing her trombone:

crazy day with lots of photoing, esther musicing, beautifying and windows getting cleaned.  will update tomorrow as i’m editing Coldplay photos this evening !

i worked from home today.  esther and i took pearl to the vets first thing as her back leg seems a bit stiff.  the vet gave her some tablets and we’ll keep an eye on her

the vet loved the diagram that jane drew so much that she kept it to stick on their notice board!

esther went shopping in auckland for the entire day

kezia had school and then went to a church christmas gala thing at her old school which was partly run by church. kez was on photo duty

jane had a day at wenderholm with her class putting grit on pathways which was a really good day by the sounds of it

after work i did lots of photo editing of yesterday’s photos, which you can see here: www.davesimpson.org/blog

work for me then our work lunch which was a very tame affair, then watering the garden (i thought we’d asked for a low maintenance garden) then the K Rd First Thursdays carnival

jane had school.  kezia had school

not sure what esther did, but she didn’t have school

i might add some more photos from the carnival when i’ve done my edits

esther had her last exam so has no school until february other than the odd bits and bobs.  esther also went in to town to go to a food festival

kezia had school and youth

i had another crazy day of work.  i think jane had the same but our paths only crossed briefly as she has gone out for her book club xmas dinner

jane had a day at the beach with her school kids doing mapping skills and trundle wheels and playing on the playground

kezia had school

esther was revising

i had another crazy busy day at work

jane and i had stupidly busy days at school/work

esther had an exam

kezia had a viola exam

jane is out tonight at a birthday meal

esther is out tonight at her big band leader’s adult big band practice as they are trombone short (and she’s a short trombonist)

church this morning.  i was asked to take photos because the band consisted of people who used to go to the church years ago

and on bongos was Timo Tagaloa who is an ex-All Black.  So that was fun to photo

the rest of the day was editing photos and then popping out to the shops to buy a hair drier and a thermometer to measure the water temperature

turns out our hot water is 57 degrees C,  the outside air in the house is 25degC, esther’s banana which she was eating was 20degrees, and the pool water which was 27degrees

esther did revision

kezia did practice for her viola exam tomorrow

esther and jane took pearl for  a walk early

kezia was up until 3am at a friend’s house watching the Gilmore girls which has just come out on Netflix, then had a sleep over

she came back in the morning (rarther tired) and then we both went to the mall to take jane’s ring back as another stone had fallen out.  the shop will get it sorted for free though so that’s good

this afternoon kezia needed dropping at her rehearsal at an annoying time so i didn’t do anything

jane did marking, esther did revisioning

this evening esther went to a birthday party

and jane and i went to kezia’s christmas in the park concert which was good, but very cold by the end

 

busy day at work for jane and me.  jane has got some nice classes for next year so that’s good.

esther went to the library and kezia had school and has gone to a sleep over.

one of esther’s exams had an error in it so that’s exciting:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11755144