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church this morning

then this afternoon mum felt well enough to venture out to the beach for a walk.  so we did

a day inside thanks to cyclone Lusi.  everyone pottered about doing their own thing which was just what we all needed i think!

this evening we watched a film which no one particularly enjoyed

big cyclone is heading right for NZ so we’ve managed to get both cars and the guinea pig in the garage.

mum is still poorly so has been having some nana naps and taking it easy today.  i think her drugs might be starting to work though so hopefully she’ll start feeling properly better tomorrow.

jane had school.  i worked from home and got a big document written.  the girls had school too.

this evening we watched a film about a forgetful man and his robot.

Pearl and mum are getting on well.  so that’s good.

my mum arrived this morning after nearly 3 months at sea.  i got there at 6.15, just after the ship docked, and when it was still dark.

using the method of mobile phones mum was able to appear at a big port hole and wave

she wasn’t able to disembark (get off) until 9am so i had a happy few hours taking pictures of the boat waking up

after we’d driven home and dropped off mum’s cases we went to see kezia in her inter-school swimming competition

then this afternoon we popped by the doctors to check on mum’s throat which has been a bit painful recently and the doctor discovered she has tonsillitis, so she’s been given antibiotics and prescribed plenty of rest.  so that’s good as there’s a tropical cyclone on the way so we were planning on staying in anyway!

esther went to learn about how you become an air hostess at lunch today.  and jane had school

here’s the current spread of relatives for those keeping a track.

so, it was with sadness that we said good bye to my uncle graham and janet

they were with us less than 48 hours, but we packed so much in yesterday it felt like a week (in a good way)

they had a relaxing day today by the pool while everyone else was at work!

here they are recreating their pose for some photos

we stopped off at mount eden on the way to the airport for some viewing and photoing

then it was fighting the air new zealand computers and then some old fashioned form filling before they went through to departures.

my mum arrives by boat tomorrow morning

here’s some bonus pictures of kezia

uncle graham, janet and i spent the day doing a big tiki tour round north auckland.

we went to muriwai, cross country to puhoi, puhoi pub, puhoi cheese factory, parry kauri museum, Ransom wine tasting, wenderholm beach sitting, takapuna beach cafe and beach series sport watching

weather was amazing.  excellent day

meanwhile jane had school

and there was esther violin, kezia swimming, esther tennis

here’s a load of photos

here’s my uncle graham, here visiting from the UK for a couple of days.  i picked them up from the busy airport this evening (it wasn’t very busy)

kezia had a school holiday and was kindly looked after by tracey and they went out for lunch at a nice cafe

i took jane’s car to work as i was driving on to the airport this evening and noticed it was a bit bumpy at low speeds.  i took it to a tyre place next to my office at lunch and they informed me the tyres were pretty much bald and the tracking was all off.  oops.

 

kezia had swimming

mum was in wellington

today was just church and tidying

and a bit of homework / lesson preparation for some.

mum’s getting close.

here are a couple of edited photos from yesterday

a busy day which started with kezia and jane leaving home just after 5am to get kezia to her new 2.5hr saturday morning swim training.  when kezia came home she and i went to the mall to get her various swimming training equipments.

that took 2.5 hours too as that’s how long the car had to wait in the valet place.   on the way home we went by a tyre repair place to get an old car tyre inner tube for kezia to make some leg stretching exercise things

when kez and i were doing that, jane did some family supermarket shopping and house work and esther did homework.

kezia then did home work and violin and was pretty exhausted by mid afternoon

today late-afternoon i went to muriwai to do a photo shoot of two gymnasts.  it was organised by my friend mike and he invited me along as a second photographer which was nice.  i’m really pleased with what i’ve seen of my photos, but with 731 shots i took there has to be some that are ok!

and my mum has now arrived in New Zealand and therefore has moved on to the other map.  Kezia was a bit worried as her head has left the big map and she shouted  ‘where’s nana gone?’

we got kezia a rubber duck when we were out shopping.  apparently they have to balance it on their head when doing certain strokes to practice keeping their heads still.

and here’s kezia enjoy manchester mania.

work for all.  busy day for me leading up to a meeting this afternoon which i went to on my own and got a good result, so that was good!

jane had a good day at school and met up with the teachers she was on camp with for end of Friday drinks

kezia had swimming this evening in her new swimming class.  esther i watched some doctor who

visitors are getting close now