Blog

we went out for breakfast this morning to celebrate the girls’ various successes (esther’s report and kezia’s swimming races last weekend).

we went to the takapuna beach cafe which is the place to go for posh people watching.  it was a bit chilly this morning though as it was a little breezy and rainy

then we headed home via a fruit shop so we could try out our new juice extractor (which was a rather generous house warming gifts from some friends).  esther and i tried it out this afternoon and it was jolly good

 

on the way home we popped by the school gym, which is where our church moves to from tomorrow morning, to see how things were going (they were setting things up a day early to see how it’ll all work). 

 

all was good so esther and i walked back home whilst jane and kezia drove back.  the bush pictures below are what esther sees on the way.  she told me this bridge is where she stops and watches fan tails flitting about in the morning.

then there was much tidying because the Dunnings were coming to visit which was really nice.  the girls played charades whilst the grown ups chatted.

then this evening we watched a couple of episodes of Global Radar. 

here’s kezia swimming coat.  the idea is you put it on after swimming rather than getting dressed (most people don’t bother changing before heading home anyway).  it’s got a nice towel inside type thing.

esther got her school report today and she got ‘excellent’ for maths, japanese(!) and homeroom which is the general class.  so that’s all good.

thank goodness it’s the weekend.  we’re planning a day of doing not much tomorrow.  we’ll see how successful that ends up being.

jane had coffee with a friend from work who she might go running with too.  i had lunch with a colleague who was up from wellington and the girls had school

this evening jane’s gone to craft chicks and i had a band practice.

that’s that.

busy days for all today. 

kezia had a very exciting day as she was on a special school trip where she learnt about travelwise which is something to do with environmental travelling to school.   it was in auckland and she got there with her school friends on the bus (jane drove them all to and from the bus station).  she had a good time

she also got her new swimming coat.

jane had teas/coffees and other busyness.

this evening i’ve been out to a work cinema trip to one of our local boutique cinemas.  we hired out a whole 150 seater cinema so we rattled about abit!  about half of the legal team made it which was good for a wednesday night

the film was Win Win which was a nice film about a lawyer!

at work we’ve got a few little black flies.  they are quite slow so easy to splat, but they’ve started travelling across the office to the window where a lady sits who doesn’t like them.  so there’s been all sorts of kerfuffle trying to get them eradicated.  there was a particularly good quote when she exclaimed “we don’t want nature in the office, it’s disgusting”   Anyway, they are going to kill the flies by putting some other insects in the soil of the plants.  i’m slightly worried by this approach which could escalate …

here’s jane’s new shoe rack.  we’re all very pleased with it

jane had a good day though i think, as did the girls.

meanwhile i had one of those days where i wished i’d stayed in bed, but sadly i didn’t.

we’ve all been to school of some sort today.  the girls had their usual school things and i started an 8 week lecture series at auckland university on law and economics.  we don’t have much of a training budget at work so i paid for it myself, but it was quite cheap and gives me more incentive to listen properly!  It good so far and it looks like there’s no homework.

here’s kezia colouring competition winning entry on display at the millennium pool.  the girls went to the pool today to get a new swimming costume for kezia who has worn hers through with all her swimming lessons and races!

i know you are always interested in the weather, but it’s being pretty boring at the moment.  it was gorgeous at the weekend, but mostly cloudy and even a few spots of rain this evening.  rain is forecast for the next week

that said, it definitely feels like spring is on the way and we’re gradually warming up.  just a few more weeks until the clocks change …

hello kezia here, have you worked out the title yet? because you’re sure to find soon

 

this isn’t the finally copy of this masterpiece it will be on tomorrow but Id like to tell you about my painting.

so if you look to the right of the picture you can see a swirl, here its called a Koru, i like drawing them because there easy and look pretty. now if you go to the top, left of the koru you can see a native bird, the kiwi of course, they are a bit tricky but when you’ve got them right they look stunning.

over to the left again, is a sunset ,i absolutely love the colours in it, the pinks oranges yellows and reds, they’re lovely.

the tree, yes the tree, its the great niku palm,they are my fave tree out of  tree world. at the bottom of the niku lyes falx again a native, and last but not least Rangitoto a volcano that we’ve climbed and the water is my fave thing to paint because of all its Greeny ,blue colours.

 

dave here now (kezia ran out of time as has to get changed for flippa ball!)

church this morning was pretty intellectual and i got confused.  afterwards we had esther’s korean friend Sunny, her brother, her dad and her mum round for morning tea.  that was fun, although a bit tricky as sunny’s mum doesn’t speak much english.  i think she probably can speak quite well, but was just a bit shy.  she tried speaking to me in korean at one point, which was a little surprising!  apparently she was saying she had lots to talk about but her english wasn’t very good!

after they left jane and i had a nana nap (good name) and then lunch.  after that the girls tried out the very cold pool (see videos below)

this afternoon i went to the church prayer meeting and this evening kezia’s flippa ball STARTS at 8pm!

do you want to watch a video of us in the pool?

• here is esther and me getting in to the pool for the first time
• here is esther jumping in
• here is another one of kezia jumping in

 

See ya

people is definitely the word for today

 

our first commitment of the day (other than jane’s date with the supermarket) was morning tea next door as the mother of the family who lives next door invited us round to meet the neighbours on the other side of our house who i hadn’t yet met.  turns out they are brits who have been living in new zealand for 30 years.  they were all really lovely and we were fed many cakes.

straight after that jane and kezia headed over to the millennium swimming pool for kezia’s swimming races.  jane was one of the official scorers which is a high stress job, but she managed admirably.  esther and i followed an hour later once we’d built some sandwiched, moved the sofas to the other end of the house and generally tidied up.

kezia was an absolute star at the swimming, winning both her races.  one of them by 10 seconds.  here’s a video of the second race.

ladies in the kitchen, men in the dinning room

as soon as kezia had done her final race i rushed off to our church centre to spend a good hour reviewing a new sound mixing desk and fiddling with various knobs and sliders.  then it was back home where preparations were in full swing for our ‘dinners at eight’ which was actually ‘dinners for nine’. (plus esther, kezia and amy playing computer/watching a dvd on uncomfortable chairs as we’d moved the sofas).   people arrived at 7pm and we all had an excellent time (i think) with loads of laughing. people didn’t leave until way at 11pm so that was good.

since then jane and i had been re-rearranging the house for morning tea guests after church tomorrow.

this evening we’ve all been doing different things

esther went with the church youthgroup to parakai hot pools for swimming and water sliding.

jane and kezia went to kezia’s swimming lesson then mcdonalds, then ten pin bowling

and i went to collect Warren and then we went to the church men’s event where this evening the speaker was the principal of a school which was the centre of a terrible tragedy a few years ago where 6 school kids and a teacher died whilst on a school outdoor pursuits event.  The event was a national news story at the time (and since), not only for the event, but also for how the parents, teachers and other kids responded.  powerful stuff.  read more here. 

my work day was ok, but the best bit was the walk to work this morning thanks to the amazing blanket of fog which descended on the harbour.  here are a few pictures.

   

it was bizarre how if you looked in one direction it was perfectly clear, but then in the other it was all foggy

the water was so still

 

and the only sound was an occasional deep fog horn from a passing tug boat

spot the hovering sky tower ..

and it’s daffodil day (i think today) which is a collection in aid of a cancer charity, but also a sign that spring is, er, springing

the day started early with a phone call from lloyds bank at 2.45am informing us the money for our house had made it to our bank account!  Very kind of them.  This evening i’ve just placed a market order to transfer half of it to NZ at today’s exchange rate as there’s some big US statement expected over the weekend which may push the kiwi dollar higher or something.  who knows.  anyway…

jane had a good day with coffees and things.  and the girls seem to have had good days at school.  i had lunch with buzz and that was good.