usual busyness. i had a work seminar thing so didn’t get home until 7pm, just as jane was leaving for band practice. i was skyping when she came home and then she was skyping and now it’s now so i don’t know what they go up to today.
breakfast with the PM tomorrow am, so best get some beauty sleep.
jane did mainly music, but no school today. she did some good gardening though
both girls seem to have had good days at school. I’ve been ridiculously tired. and kezia had swimming.
This is a metal sculpture.
School for the girls today. I had no school, so was able to have an uninterrupted day doing the church job – and I even managed to get slightly more organised for the weeks ahead.
Much business after school as many activities had to be done. kezia and I wandered round the shops while esther had tennis. Then we had dinner in McDonald’s which K and I counterbalanced by swimming – her and gymming – me.
Dave went to work and then to a seminar with Warren.
the regulator published a draft report on something i’ve been working on for the last year today and it was pretty positive, so that’s good. most of my day was spent reading and summarising that.
i also had the men’s prayer breakfast thing
this evening we had our church life group. only 3 people this evening due to sickness, a trip to korea and an unknown third reason.
jane did amazing cleanings round the house both inside and outside and had a school lesson this afternoon.
everyone is exhausted. and the week gets busier from here on…
Dave got up early as he was in the band. The girl and I got up early to skype and prep.are for visitors.
Then we all went to church. Afterwards we had invited Simon drummer and his wife Danielle to lunch. It was great to get to know them a bit better. Here is Simon!
Dave wrestled with the church podcast, I prepared a lesson, the girls did some music practice and then Kezia went to Flippa ball, where her team won. Usually Dave does the Flippa ball run, but I did it today, so that he could go to the church AGM.
We had Heinz Tomato Soup for dinner, which I found in the new English Aisle in Pack and Save. Yum
More skyping to finish the day and now it’s time for bed
i was at my semi-permanent conference all day which was excellent but rather tiring
that machine above is creating art and is controlled by twitter. the man below is world famous artist ron english
This evening we were treated to a cinema outing by Debbie and Warren, who even supplied Laura as the babysitter. We saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was great.
Good night
above is what i spent some of my time doing today
the day started for me with breakfast with my english friend neil in albany. we did some good catching up, put life to right, then he dropped me off at the bus station around 9am.
i got the bus in to town and spent the rest of the day at the semi permanent conference which was excellent. it was lots of creative types talking passionately about adverts and things.
jane had her prayer group then went to the gym before doing some teaching.
kezia went to her friend Emma’s after school for some playing, then their swimming lessons followed by school disco. she finally arrived home around 9.15pm
esther went out with her church group earlier in the evening and is due back any moment
jane drove in to town to meet me after the conference and we went to a chinese restaurant to take advantage of our few child free hours. we don’t really know chinese food, but it was nice.
we had some vegetabilities, but nothing from the chef’s magic pot (just in case)
that’s all.
i had a very long meeting today. it was 9am to 3.30pm. and quite tedious
jane went to the gym and has been given a routine to do which is a lot more punishing than her previous workout, so she’ll be worn out from that.
she also met with her friend fleur
the girls had school and this evening esther played netball against kristin (including two girls who jane teachers). Esther’s team won. yay!
whilst esther was doing her warm ups jane met with debbie
this evening i had band practice. that’s that.
i went to the auckland library at lunch today (following a tip off from Buzz) to listen to a talk on archiving family history through sound. it was very interesting and made me think i should really work out a way of printing out this family blog and keeping it safe somewhere. a job for a rainy weekend perhaps.
jane was at school today i think. esther had before school netball practice
both girls had their after school violin lessons and then kezia had swimming and jane gym. meanwhile esther and i came home and made pizzas.
this evening kezia’s teacher phoned up to arrange for me to go in and do a morning with her class teaching them about photography. i’m going to do that a week on monday so still a bit of time to prepare
here’s a short burst of rain out my office window
more big wet rain today. you’ve not lived (or drowned) until you’ve felt the wetness of big blobby new zealand rain. quite remarkable.
my colleague Simon brought some charity chocolate bars in to work to sell and when he opened the box he found a live weta inside. It was quite a small one (by weta sizes) and let it go outside.
otherwise, wet and sunny day. jane did some kristin work and her church music stuff
esther had tennis after school so i picked her up from there and jane took kezia to swimming and herself to the gym this evening
it’s getting a bit parky out in the evenings now.