Blog

my brief uni lecture course thing finished today.  and of course everyone finally started talking to each other!  typical.  i think it was worth doing though.  and if nothing else i got to see a bit more of the university!

the girls had good days at school i think.

and jane was busy with various domestic things, and celebrating a friend’s birthday and having lunch with Alex

the girls had a swim after school and have left the cover off for me later.  it’s right chilly out though so i’m not convinced i’ll go in.  we’ll see.

church this morning – jane was on sunday club duty.  we invited a couple back for morning tea after church which was nice.

then this afternoon it’s been domestic doing.  i went to a church prayer meeting this afternoon then popped over to the shops for some paper for the printer (i spare you no detail).

kezia had flippa ball this afternoon and won 4-2 which was good. 

last night i went in to the pool to watch the fireworks whilst bobbing about.  i thought this would be quite a cool thing to do, but it was really very cold (both in the water, and especially outside as an Antarctic blast is passing across the country).  and i couldn’t really see any fireworks because the house was in the way!

we were all up and at ‘em early this morning as Esther had tennis at 8am, and kezia had swimming at 8am.

i took kez, but unfortunately we got lost (i only realised when the road i was following popped out near a bus station i knew was know where near where we were going).  we were only a few minutes late though.  oops.  (the pool on a saturday is in a school.  it’s an outdoor pool, but sort of in a tent to keep the wind out.

the rest of the day has been spent pootling about at home.  kezia went to a friend’s house for a few hours, but the rest of us have been doing domesticity.

this evening jane’s colleague alex came round.  she’s a spanish teacher from chile, so she knew all the countries on the great mammoth hunt in that part of the world.

fireworks are now going off and it’s quite chill-some out.

here’s what’s left of the end of the plastic waka now it’s nearly been deconstructed after the rugby.  and they are digging dirt out of the bottle of the harbour too.

the girls sounds like they had busy days at school.  esther’s been having various tests at school.  and kezia’s had athletics, but i think it’s just practicing

this evening they had swimming.

and here are some loons shouting bout something political with a megaphone, a ukulele and an out of tune tin whistle.  we can expect more of this as the election gets very closer

it’s been a bit showery today but i managed to walk to work during a fairly dry bit.

the highlight of the day was when someone looked out the window of our tower down to the level below in the next tower at work and spotted the Webb Ellis cup was down there.  (that’s the world rugby cup that New Zealand won just over a week ago in case you were wondering)

we’re not entirely sure why it was there as it wasn’t advertised, but it was funny when our entire floor rushed off to get a photo.  this is some of my colleagues.  i had some photos taken with another colleague by the official photographer so hopefully they’ll be posted somewhere soon and i can grab a copy

i’ve no idea who the chap below is

jane had a busy day with coffee and chums.  she’s busy writing reports.

the girls went in the pool (in the sun) after school then they went to esther’s tennis lesson

i said i’d go in the pool with them if there was time after they’d done their home work and music practice.  there was time, but it was rainy and really cold, so i stood outside in my swimming shorts and shivered a bit instead whilst they swam in the cold water and cold rain and chillyish wind.  the pool temperature has dropped due to the amount of rain i suspect

jane’s out at crafty chicks this evening.

less busy day at work for me so that was good.  and i had lunch with Buzz so that was good too

i met the ladies at the swimming poo(l) just after 6pm for kezia handover.  and then i took kez home at 7.30pm.  these ‘l’s are missing each week so i thought they were long overdue a photoing.

jane had a good day too.  and the girls both had violin lessons

 

busy day at work again – highlight was popping out for a sandwich with Sasha.  we were heading to a cafe when we walked past a pub which had $10 pizza so he suggested we went it.  so we did.  good plan

jane and the girls had a busy after school time buying pencil cases and other necessities.

and this evening i went out with Warren to a tea bar where we sat and drank strange drinks.  mine was some kind of yoghurt which had the consistency of coke and tasted like blueberries.

we’re due rain this week, so i decided to take advantage of the sunny morning and walked to my monday morning lecture at the university

and it was big fun.  and the lecture was ok

the rest of the working day was a bit of a nightmare to be honest.  people are in a flat spin about the amount of things to do before Telecom splits in two at the end of November.  and there’s lots to do as a whole new regulatory regime kicks off.

i spent most of my day donkey deep (a good phrase) in data and was last in the office to leave.

meanwhile the girls have just got back from their light party.  esther was in charge of tattoos and general beautification and the youngsters loved it apparently.

there were loads of gangs of small kids working their way round houses trick or treating as i came home, but because i didn’t get home until after 7pm only three knocked on the door so that was handy

jane was helping out with one of the kid’s groups at church this morning.  the talk in the main church covered issues like not knocking a wall down in case there’s a snake on the other side, and dead flies making perfume smell yucky.  The first isn’t relevant for new zealand being a snake-free country (not even in zoos).

esther’s friend Sunny came back after church and the girls spent hours playing in the pool.

jane put some apples in some jelly to make a game for the church ‘light party’ tomorrow.  that’s ‘light’, not ‘lite’.  that wouldn’t be very attractive as an alternative to trick or treating for primary schoolers. 

flippa ball was good.  kezia’s team won 6-1.  a great start to the new season

when we got home jane and i went in the pool whilst esther did her homework and kezia got changed from flippa ball.

then we went for an evening stroll round our local graveyard.  quite a few of the deceased were being patriotic.

 

i got a paper cut putting out the paper recycling which is not fair

 

and i made the mistake of reading some work emails today.  looks like i’ve got a busy day tomorrow doing more of the work i did last friday.  ho hum.

esther had her first tennis tournament at 8am this morning and did really well.  they were back by 10.30 and the rest of the morning was spent doing chores and wotnot. 

 

kezia then had a party all afternoon at the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT – pronounced ‘mo-tet’ by kiwis), so jane, esther and me drove in to town

we ate a korean place for lunch

then went over to the new auckland art gallery (via a couple of shops)

one of the highlights in the gallery was this little room where the floor and ceiling were made of mirrors so it seemed to go on forever upwards and downwards

they only let a few people in at a time so it was just us and another chap

all very good fun

this was good too.  three bits of actual streets stuck on the wall!

and on the roof of the gallery they’d made an excellent seating area with some excellent seats

 

we then drove over to Motat to pick up kezia and a friend.  we arrived a bit early so sat in the sun in a cafe which the lady at the main entrance had told us would be closed (ha)

we looked at a couple of exhibits as we walked back

then the girls threw themselves in the pool.  according to esther it was a bit colder today because the sun hasn’t been out and there was a slight breeze.

i was pleased with the timing of the photo above as esther’s hands have just entered the water.

then this evening we played the Amazing Mammoth Hunt game