Blog

so, the big news is another tornado hit the area of auckland where we live.  this time it hit hobsonville, about 5 minutes drive to our west. 

esther saw it from her school window and we all experienced the rain and wind as the thunderstorm swept by.  luckily our immediate area wasn’t affected and all is well.

 

in other news, i had a very productive industry meeting and some other good meetings too

 

after work i went to an industry christmas event for a bit then went to the crafty chicks husband night and ate cakes

jane did school.  kezia had a swimming lesson and jane and esther did some shopping

this is the Telecom christmas tree in the park near my office.

you might read on the news etc there was a tornado near where we live (10 mins drive away).  we’re all good.  everyone unaffected and arriving home nothing to show there’s even  been a storm (despite schnapper rock having recorded the highest winds at 151kmph)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10852407

Full life update later (won’t be very exciting)

busy day at work for me.  and busy day for jane too.  and the girls

jane has gone out to do the grocery shopping. esther has tennis and kezia had violin and piano

not much else to report today

other than the removal of 5 weeks worth of growth via an inbetween look (above) which had a brief public airing when i had to answer the front door half way through

jane had her church office job much of the day and some school stuff too

i had a meeting at 9.30 in Albany (where we live) so that was an excellent start to the day.  i also had lunch with our church pastor (as a thank you for doing all the sound equipment sorting. 

then this early evening we went to the beach to walk pearl

 

and for the first time we let her off her lead in such a big space (yesterday was in a smaller park)

luckily pearl came back.

we got some fish and chips on way back and that was the end of the day

there’s a new thing on the horizon at work.  interesting.   And there’s lots of shoes under the desk next to mine (photo taken with permission from Anna my desk neighbour).

 

busy day at work for me and jane too i think.  she took kezia for a walk near our old house and let her off her lead for the first time.  she came back so that’s good

here’s a funky hobbit stamp

kezia had a swim in the pool which was a bit chilly and then had a swimming lesson.  jane and esther cleaned out the guinea pigs and did laughing

lots of time at church this morning as i was doing sound and jane was doing something involving shouting from the stage.

then we had some chums who we didn’t really know back from church for lunch which was good.

and an hour or so after they left we had some other new chums from our old village round for dinner.  they’ve just moved to Auckland for a year and landed last Wednesday so in the early stages of chaos.

then this evening pearl and i dragged each other round the streets.

 

jane was up early as kezia wanted to go for a fitness enhancing run at 6.30 or something, then they both went to kezia’s swimming lesson (where jane had another run whilst waiting)

when they go back i went to a local music shop which was having a clearance sale and avoided buying anything.  then we all went to the church christmas craft market where i also avoided buying anything.  though it was good, especially watching the novice candy floss makers battling the wind.  everyone enjoyed that, especially kids walking by who could catch clouds of fluffy candy floss in their face blowing by

this afternoon esther had tennis from 1 to nearly 4 which jane went to initially then we swapped after 30 minutes and i sat watching for the rest of it

this evening kezia has gone to a sleep over which will involve watching the fireworks display by the shopping maul. 

and kezia has been at a birthday party

so jane and i went to the cinema to see The Intouchables which was great so you must go see it too.

then jane and i had burgers before jane went to pick up esther and i spent half an hour in the dark trying to get Barry the pool cleaner attached and working properly

esther won both her tennis matches today.  she was very pleased about that.

they didn’t have a picture for chewing gum…

lots of work meetings and things.  it was a bit rainy.

Movember officially ended, but i think i’ll keep it a bit longer, just to see.

jane had prayer group, school, her friend alex, school, gym (with esther), millions of housework

i took kezia and her friend to swimming, and warren and i went to a french restaurant for drinks and fries overlooking an old volcano hole

i spend most of the day having meetings in cafe.  my first meeting was at 9am with ken from church and the people we’re going to buy some sound equipment from.  The elders said we could buy the equipment we recommended, so it made sense to crack on with things.

then at 10am i went over to pick esther up from school to take her for some exams at her new school.  whilst she exam-ing i had another meeting in another cafe with a colleague who works nearby which was really good.

 

after dropping esther back at school i did a quick bit of videoing at home for some work interview thing about our friends and family products, and then drove in to work for my final cafe meeting with an industry lobby group.  lots of drinks, lots of wees and lots of parking meter fees.

 

jane had a busy day at school which included her kids doing a play to a load of parents in french.  it was a triumph according to the reviews. 

 

this evening kezia has had a 2.5 hours swimming lesson which was a partly a party and contained watery fun

i took pearl (a dog) for a walk this evening and we tired each other out.

the pictures at the top are of a very strange nativity scene at the side of one of the cafes i visited today.  i particularly enjoyed the worrying beard and the jandals

A busy day for all today.  i had lots of meetings and manicness at work.  then this evening jane and i were interviewed in front of the church youths who i think probably thought we were boring old people.

jane was in the church office again and at school. 

i sold some cookies at work for movember

 

esther got a fantastic school report and has grading tests for her new school tomorrow morning