this morning we met up with some strangers for a walk in Cornwall park. here is kezia being rescued after getting stuck in a tree
the family are relatives of someone my mum knows through work and they have two boys a little older than our girls and a black labrador. we had a great time chatting as we walked in the (often very warm) sunshine.
they brought a couple of scooters for the girls to ride round the park on – the highlight was the rapid descent back to the car at the end of the treck
the park itself is called Cornwall Park and is centred on a volcanic cone (long extinct i think). you can read more here We’ll definitely be back to explore in more detail
here’s a tree that looked a bit like queen elizabeth (or princess leia depending on your vintage). it really is a lovely park in the centre of auckland.
in the afternoon we headed back home and the girls went swimming in the pool whilst we can still use it (there’s no pool at the new place, although i did meet a future neighbour at the church men’s group who has a swimming pool …)
This evening the girls went to a church alternative-halloween ‘light party’. Their initial feedback in the car on the way home suggested they had a great time – although (or perhaps because) it meant a late night. Esther said it would have been better if they knew more people, but seeing as we only went to the church for the first time last Sunday that’s to be expected !
Whilst they were partying jane and i went shopping. i had a go at the pick ‘n’ mix at the New World Supermarket (Waitrose equivalent – just about). i went for some salted peanuts, placed my bag under the dispenser slot and pulled the handle slowly as demanded by the sign.
I thought it would dispense a single portion, but instead opened the shoot wide open and my bag rapidly overspilled, only stopping when the peanuts backlogged up the spout ! I was then left with a giant bag full of salty peanuts.
Luckily i kept my cool, unscrewed the top of the dispenser and empted my bag back in. this was tricky for a couple of reasons:
- the dispenser was above head height, so there was an element of trust in pouring my peanuts in to the sky, and
- jane was laughing too much.
after dropping the food at home we went to a local bar for a crafty drink before picking the girls up, then headed back home to upload the days photos – a process which seems to take an hour longer than previous due to my poor little weedy laptop not being built for such things.
playing ‘bennis’ (balloon tennis) in the garage using suitcases as a net
tomorrow holds a trip to church (the one we went to last week), followed by their welcome supper, and then probably homework / work preparation in the afternoon.