Blog

 

not much to report from today in the simpson household.  i felt like i’d be slapped round the face for most of the day and looked like it too thanks to my sunburnt face.  jane was in school on her own again today preparing resources for her team and kezia had a good day at school.  after school jane and kez went for a swim at long bay.

it’s now chucking it down with rain so we hope esther’s keeping dry at her school camp.

and of course the big national news today is the latest earthquake in christchurch.  you can read more about it in the new zealand herald  Very sad. 

we’re far enough north on the north island not to have felt anything (similar to the distance between London and Inverness), but we still feel for them.  And despite the distance, the fact we visited there half a year ago and climbed up to the top of the tower that’s no longer there makes it all seem very close.

via some complicated logistics which i can’t claim to understand esther managed to get to school early to go  on her school camp.  she’ll be there for the next few days.

jane had a day at school making resources for her school chums as everyone else at school (teachers and pupils) are out on school camps.

jane and kezia did a bit of shopping, then homework, music and then had a mud pack !

i had a good day in wellington.  i went down for a meeting with the regulator which was fine

 

i managed to have lunch with eugene which was great

and then this afternoon i had a meeting with another colleague where we ate posh icecream whilst sitting on the water front.  unfortunately i got a very burnt head because i wasn’t wearing my hat (which i normally wear all the time so when i don’t, my head knows about it)

i travelled to wellington on the air newzealand All Blacks black plane this morning which was very exciting. but an ordinary one going home again

despite not getting back late last night from the lantern festival, we were out of the house at 6.30am this morning to drive across town for the weetbix tryathlon

both esther and kezia really enjoyed their races.  there were some celebrities for us to look at including a gold medal shot putter (guess which one she is!) and a world known triathelete and some other athlete !

(i wasn’t taking notes).  there was also one of the silver fern netball team who are national heroes

anyway, here are some photos of the girls doing their thing.  it’s a logistical nightmare with crowds everywhere and more than once i was stuck on the wrong side of the track trying to catch up with them to get a photo.

as a result i’ve got no evidence of them passing the finish line (but they did)

 

 

we spent the rest of the day pootling about at home as it’s been too hot to do anything else.

 

esther’s got school camp tomorrow until wednesday and i’m down to wellington for the day tomorrow.  so more early starts tomorrow

it was a day of admin with me trying to work out international money things (concluding our ‘wealth’ is more dependent on exchange rates than UK or NZ bank interest rates).  meanwhile kezia went to a party and jane helped esther sort out her camp things for monday. 

the rest of the day was spent getting ready for tomorrow’s tryathlon for the girls

then, this evening we went to the chinese lantern festival which provided many great photo opportunities.  most of the sculptures are lanterns but were easier to photo in the daylight rather than the dark.  not least because it got so busy you couldn’t stand still to take photos !

not huge amounts to report today.  everyone is still really tired, so glad of the weekend

jane’s naughty class at  school were ok so that was good.  and she’s been asked to help with a school orchestra one lunchtime a week which is excellent (all the teachers have to do an extra thing and jane was hoping for something she’d enjoy doing and something which was a lunchtime.  result!)

kezia started her swimming club group today and that went well.  it was all a bit short notice so there was rushing around during the day getting flippers and a weight thing (which of course they didn’t need today).  and esther swam 25m underwater in her class which she was pleased with

i ran a brainstorm workshop this afternoon which i was a bit worried about, but was actually really good fun and we got lots of stormed brains.  strict rules were enforced such as ‘no judging when we’re idea-ating’.  somehow we got the words ‘worm farm’ on our list of regulatory risks, so i think the output is going to need some proper sifting.

anyway. busy weekend ahead, so best be away. toodles.

it’s jane and my wedding anniversary today.  we celebrated being married for 15 years (to each other). hoorah.  i’ve only seen her for about 30 minutes all day though as she’s had various meetings

the Cunard Queen Elizabeth made its first ever visit to Auckland today.  so that was pretty impressive.  we’ve just been reading its website.  excellent stuff.

esther found out her trombone lessons are going to be free at school and she may even be able to borrow the school instrument so we might not even have to rent it, so that would be good.

jane’s gone to crafty chicks this evening and jane’s parents are still somewhere in the air as i write this !

big sadnesses as jane’s parents left today.  we’ve just left them at the airport and got back

it’s been raining today so jane’s nice day of supervising sports at school turned in to an impromptu day of lessons which she felt she wasn’t prepared for.  but of course she was as she could use some stuff she’d previously prepared and all was well

jane’s parents did packing and took jane out for lunch which was nice, and i had lunch with buzz

esther had some swimming competition thing at school but i didn’t really understand what it was so you’ll have to ask her yourself.

everyone exhausted now after a month and a half of visitors, so it’s time for bed

 

busy day again today.  all the ladies had various schools.

jane collected pooch and party at lunchtime and they had lunch in devonport

jane then left them to do some wandering round devonport, which they did.  then they caught the boat over to auckland where i met them and we caught my normal bus back home

 

then this evening we had pancakes

there was only one dropping incident (evidence above)

i didn’t have a pancake (egg allergy) but i did give one a chuck

interesting that my tongue is hanging out.  i didn’t know i did that

jane’s dad had a second go and was very successful that time

they fly back to the UK tomorrow night so we thought we’d have a good last evening meal

(and our barby has a gas hob in it so we used that which meant for more elaborate throwing and a less smelly house !)

sweet as !

jane’s parents have been exploring auckland today

they got the bus from the village in to town, had a picnic in a park, went up Sky Tower then went to the maritime museum

then i met them by the bus stop after work and we got the park and ride bus back from town.

meanwhile our car came back from the panel beaters who had painted rather than beated the scratched paintwork from a carpark incident where someone scrapped jane’s car at the end of last year

 

and in girl news,  esther did some tests at school and scored really highly for both maths and english.

 

and kezia has got her space in the swimming squad which she’ll start next week i think.

happy valen-times days !

a day of musical goodness

the day started early for me as i was at church for 7am for sound duties at church.  despite the usual technical strangeness’s, i also kept detecting high pitched feedback which i quickly realised was a cicada chirping merrily outside

for lunch we went to a posh local restaurant we love and had a big feast (thanks to Party for that!)

then we went for a healthy stroll to aid digestion

as you can see it was a gorgeous sunny day with only one small cloud (shown below).

the real treat of the day though was the music alive concert

esther and kezia had organised this fund raising event

both girls played various instruments to entertain the audience

 

kezia was an excellent compere

after the music we went through to the living area for an art show where we could buy paintings.  all proceeds from the paintings and show went to a child the church is supporting.

 

then this evening jane’s dad and me walked over to the bus stop in the village to see where they’ll get their bus from as they are having adventures in downtown auckland tomorrow.

 

busy and very hot day.