Blog

i went to little barrier island today with the photo club.  it’s a ‘closed’ nature reserve and you have to get special permission to go.  i had to give my passport details and they check with interpol etc that you aren’t associated with any international bird or plant smuggling ring!   lots of photoing and interesting sights.  the actual arrival and departure at the island was via a small dingy with a fancy ramp/pulley system.  cameras were in dry bags.  i’ll do a proper review of my photos tomorrow

meanwhile here kezia had swimming so left home at 6am like me.

and esther had tennis.  she won both her matches, including one which was very close so she was particularly pleased to win.

the rest of the day they’ve spent doing homework and house work whilst i’ve been swanning about on an island in the perfectly still sea

that makes me very thankful that i have a lovely family which lets me go out to have fun.

Here is Esther’s violin exam certificate. She did the exam in December, but certificate only just arrived.

It is Valentine’s Day of course. Here are a few of our cards. At Kezia’s school you could buy a cupcake and get it delivered to your Valentine. Kez paid for one for herself, to make sure

 

 

Dave worked fro home, Jane gallivanted around meeting friends and drinking coffee and then went for a walk with Esther and Pearl while Kez was a t swimming. Dave worked from home and prepared his stuff for his trip tomorrow.

it’s a year until the cricket world cup kicks off in auckland, so there was something happening on the way to work this morning.  the chap below is famous.  but i don’t know who he is

i had work, i assume the girls had school

esther had orchestra, kezia had swimming, i had band practice for sunday

i dropped esther off at school on the way to work as she had a band practice.  busy day for me.  stomach still not behaving itself which is a shame.

jane and the girls had school

kezia had dentist and then violin.  she loves the dentist which is a bit strange i think.

esther had youth and i took our neighbour to camera club.

two images today on the subject of ‘reflections’.  the triptych above got honours (highest grade – woot!).  the one below ‘only’ got highly commended because it didn’t quite have the creative spark needed.  but he said that technically it was really good.

everyone had school/work.  esther won some sweets in her social studies class for knowing that europe was having a financial crisis.

esther had tennis this evening during which i had a wander round mairangi bay to take some photos.  and jane went to kezia’s beat meet the teacher evening

i worked from home today as my stomach has been bad.  i was front of the bus queue at the bus station when i decided to abort my journey which was a good plan.  working from home was fine though as i had all my stuff from friday.

jane had school although her timetable today meant she could have a couple of hours with her friend Peggy speaking german

the girls had school which seems to be going well i think.

esther had big band practice this evening so i went for a walk round the local business park (hence rather mundane pictures)

then this evening jane, esther and pearl went for an evening stroll as poor pearl hadn’t had any exercise today.

jane was in the band at church this morning.  kezia was at a sleepover and esther and i were busy digging (see below) so none of us were there to see her unfortunately.

this afternoon we went in to auckland to celebrate kezia’s birthday (belatedly) with high tea up Sky Tower

and this morning jane sang in church while esther and i joined with some neighbours in cutting out gorse bushes.  i’m splitered and blistered.  all the ‘ered’s.

before (above)

we found a hole post from the local golf course which was quite impressive

and after (below)

swimming early, tennis morning and friends for afternoon tea

kezia is at a sleep over and jane has gone out to the cinema

kezia received some presents in the post from a friend in the britain

and i put an SSD in my mum’s new laptop which i made more complicated than it needed to be, but i got there in the end.

i worked from home, everyone else went to their schools.

kezia had swimming and esther and jane went for a walk with pearl

we all watched an episode of some design challenge tv program featuring one of my old university chums and then jane and i watched a film.

it rained lots.  but it’s still nice and warm

waitangi day today so a public holiday.  this morning we went for a 7km walk with friends round the estuary at orewa followed by a picnic.

this afternoon was me sleeping, jane and the girls doing school prep/homework

this evening jane’s gone out to a music practice