kezia took my mum to the aquarium today. both had a great time i think. kezia did some finding quiz for something related to club penguin and it was very busy.
meanwhile jane and esther did some exploring and they all met up for a picnic up a hill.
this evening there was violin and swimming. i had another stupid busy day at work with various immovable deadlines and things
and in very sad news, our friends shirley passed away today. here’s a little rainbow in her memory.
jane can tell you what she did today as she had much more fun than me.
esther made poached eggs for all for breakfast. Then Esther and I went to the library, while Kezia and Nana stayed at home. Then we all went out to do various errands around and about , ending up with a coffee and ice-cream at Brown’s Bay.
After lunch we went to Muriwai beach to show nana a west coast beach. There were only about 3 gannets left as they have all migrated now, but the sea was very spectacular.
This evening we went to Buzz and Wendy’s for dinner. We had an excellent time there with yummy food and great company.
you can read about this poster (which is near to dave’s office) here
Goodnight
the girls had a very watery day in part thanks to the sideways windy gales on their bike ride, but mainly due to them going swimming.
mum flew back from christchurch this afternoon. she’d been specifically informed she needed a flight after 2pm due to changes in itinerary (because they couldn’t stay in their original hotel in christchurch). so we’d paid to have the flight changed. but in the end they were taken to the airport for 9.30am and had to sit around all day waiting for their flights!
i booked my favourite taxi driver to pick up mum, and the timing worked perfectly to pick me up on the way which saved me standing at a bus stop in the pouring rain. when i got home jane pointed out my car was still at the park and ride bus stop. oops.
and this evening mum kindly took us out to aubergine’s for an evening meal which was great. the girls shared a dessert and we caught up on mum’s trip news.
then it was back here, a belated skype with jane’s parents (oops) and an early night for exhausted travellers and exhausted non-travellers too.
it’s starting to get a bit parky so i’ve swapped the air conditioner in our room for a heater. winter’s coming. we really need to move to a house with some proper heating.
here’s the video evidence of egg fun. notice how many times i’m the target!
the girls went to church this morning but i stayed at home as i was feeling a bit sick.
then this afternoon our friends bruce and fleur and their girls came round for an eggstravangaza
first we decorated some eggs
and then we headed out to a nearby bridge to test our egg dropping devices
bruce and i came up with the best one, but we were a bit too sure of ourselves and threw it down too many times in a showing off kind of way. well, you can guess what happened
after the dropping of raw eggs we moved on to the hitting eggs with sticks whilst running down a hill competition
and then we moved on to the concrete for the distance rolling competition
this evening we skyped my dad and the girl’s cousins (separately) and jane went to visit shirley in hospital
my mum is having her last night of her tiki tour in a bit of a rubbish hotel by the sounds of it, and is going to be dropped off at Christchurch airport, despite us being told just a few weeks ago that all flights had to be booked for after 2pm (and us having to pay to get her flight moved back in the day). otherwise all sounds good.
back to work for me tomorrow whilst everyone else is on holiday. ho hum.
it’s been raining all day. quite big fat wet rain.
so we all got up late and then headed over to altura for our 18 month anniversary brunch.
after much eating we came back and the elderly (jane and me) had a sleep for another hour.
then, because we’re rubbish at staying in we decided we needed to go out and do some geocaching. we went to parry kauri park and museum. the museum closed early just as we got there, but we could still enjoy some of the outdoor exhibits and toilets
the walk was shot but really nice. and i eventually got my technology working enough to find a geocache.
here’s a large kauri tree
you’re meant to give them a hug. so kez did
then we headed in to nearby warkworth for a wander
and it’s a really nice place. feels a bit like henley. we’ll be back on a drier day
my mum had a good day in the south island where the rain has been more patchy.
here’s kezia xray from yesterday. quite amazing isn’t it!
i walked to the park and ride this morning and back again this evening (though i was kindly intercepted by jane near the library). i had a stupidly busy day at work again today. my second 3 hour meeting in two days. so unfair.
here’s the pub they rolled up the hill finally back where it once was.
jane had a frustrating day as she had to hang around for the estate agent to come and take pictures of our house. apparently we’re having our first Open House next saturday so we’ll need to think about where to hide our valuables whilst strangers come wandering round! i think we’re going to have 3 or 4 weekends of that (saturday and sunday, except easter sunday) and then hopefully it’ll go to auction.
the girls had swimming after school and kezia had one of the top teachers teaching them today and they got a proper workout.
my mum texted to say she’d gone up in a gondola to a skyline restaurant for dinner and is off to see a glacier tomorrow. we’re all very jealous, but are going to buy a dvd about the south island so we don’t feel we’re missing out.
rather hectic day at work for me today. i’ll spare you the details. i also caught up with our house buying lawyer so we can start a dialogue via her with the vendors to keep each other informed about possible settlement dates (settlement date being the UK equivalent of completion date)
jane had a good day coffeeing with chums i think
kezia went to the dentist after school and has had various x-rays etc. she had a mould too, but i suspect i’ll spell that the wrong way so won’t mention that. anyway, we’re got to go back as a family in a fortnight’s time to discuss options.
esther had a good day at school too. they had to take in some revolting food in a roald dahl style for a competition. this is esther’s Mr Twit pizza. it wasn’t a winner, but it is excellent!
we’re all rushing about now doing practices/getting ready for bed/maths/dinner/tidying up/writing the blog as jane is out at a choir practice at 7pm and i’m hosting the church prayer meeting at 7.30pm and the girls need to get to bed.
not heard from mum today, but i think she’s been in queenstown this afternoon
here’s the pub that went up the hill gradually coming back down yesterday
here’s my new wall at work next to my desk. it shuts out the light but not the noise which is a bit of a shame
and here’s a man who had caught a big fish as i watched a lunch. it was very big and he was very pleased. he then left it to his daughter to deal with. she wasn’t very good at dealing with fish though, so it flapped about on the quay for a while before she tried to stuff it in a small cool box but it clearly wasn’t going to fit. i left as she got a knife out!
and here’s a fancy boat in the harbour this morning
my mum is in the depth of south island i think and has been warned to wear waterproofs for tomorrow and wrap up warm and the colder weather is moving in.
jane can tell you what she and the girls did today:
Hello. Today the girls went to school and I went to help at Mainly Music, which was great. Then out to coffee with my chums.
Then this afternoon the ladies from our home group and I went to visit Shirley.
After school was a marathon of violin, swimming back to violin back to swimming. Phew. Then Esther had to make some culinary delights for tomorrow, but we’ll share that with you tomorrow. Tune in then folks..
jane had a good day meeting friends and being sociable.
esther had her second and final day at the zoo. i saw her for about 2 minutes this evening and she hadn’t been eaten.
i had a flu jab at work and lived to tell the tale despite someone else fainting all over the chill out observation room and causing general panic. otherwise work was rather manic.
this evening jane took the girls to watch the swimming squad do some competition to see if the girls might like to enter a future one (i think)
and i went to the church men’s group with warren which was good. although quite emotional as our good friend thomas was there (i mentioned his wife shirley yesterday). poor chap.
mum is now down in dunedin. she had her worst hotel last night, but is in a nice one today. lots of the other people on the tour have got colds, but she only had a mild dose so that’s good.
i’ve just got back from the church meeting and everyone seems to be in bed already. my arm is aching from the stabby jabby so i must go to bed too. see ya
