We had a lovely weekend.   Mum, Tyler , Toby, Mike and I left on Friday evening for the River Holiday Park in Taihape (also known as the Abba Motor Camp as this is on the Abattoir Road - we always used to drive past many years ago and say we should stay because of its silly name - and now we do stay here!).   We stayed here this time last year and loved it.   My mother however, thinks this place is modelled on a prison and she can't understand why anyone would any voluntarily stay here.

 

Anyhow, it was late by the time we got there on Friday (maybe 8.45pm of so), and we went straight to bed.   The next morning was a slow start and we drove through ominous drizzle to Whakapapa.   However, we needn't have worried as the mountain was covered in snow and blue skies.

 

Tyler was hilarious to watch clumping around in her ski boots.   She was definitely not enjoying the boots.   But I convinced her that once she had skis on and was on the snow, it'd all be fine.   She spent the weekend emitting squeals - they alternated between delight and sheer panic.

 

The children were also constantly hungry.   Mum must have been on first name basis with the cafe staff by the end of it.

 

So, Saturday around midday the kids had their first lesson.   Tyler got a private lesson as she was the only beginning child there and Toby would have - but someone had taken his skis.   So Mike had to hurtle up to the ski hire place and get another set of skis for him.   By the time Mike got back, Toby was bundled into a beginner ’s class and he was bored out of his tree with clumping up and down the green matting when all he wanted to do was ski.

 

Anyhow, after a break for more food we all went outside and Tyler absolutely had a ball skiing between my legs. As we set off for the first time, she gave a squeal of pleasure and said "This is fun!   We're going fast.   You know how to ski well Aunty Angela ". Toby and Mike skied everywhere with Toby in front holding Mike's poles and Mike skiing behind holding the pole straps (so, nothing from Mike to interfere with Toby's skiing but just giving Toby confidence).   So we did a few runs of races between Toby and Mike, and me and Tyler .   They always ended in a tie.

 

We drove back to Taihape for dinner and Mum and I got some food from the supermarket and we ate at the motor camp.   We slept better this night after the mountain air.   Even Mum got a few hours in!   Tyler woke a couple of times at the start of the night with bad dreams.   They all started with her yelling out "Toby! " so I have no idea what she was dreaming about.   Losing the racing I think.

 

Sunday morning we packed up and drove back to Whakapapa.   It was just as lovely Sunday as it was Saturday. We did more of the same.   Lots of races between us and we slid down a few hills and Tyler, Mike and Toby climbed some rocky hills that overlooked the beginners valley.   I skied down with Toby and because I had no poles he skied on his own and he did it perfectly.   He skis in complete control and with no excessive upper body movement.   He just looks where he wants to go and goes there.   Great!   He said today was even better than yesterday!   He also looked up at the rest of the mountain and wants to ski up there next time.

 

We left at about 2pm as both kids were trembling as they ate lunch - and they weren't cold.   So I think they had reached their energy reserves.   We had a slow drive back to Wellington with stops for roadside pitstops (not the adults!), cafe breaks and a McDonalds stop.   Toby's bottom tooth was quite wobbly and he was playing with it constantly.   At the Brown Sugar Cafe he looked at himself in the mirror and turned to us and stated "Sorry but I can't eat anything again " as he was concerned at this wobbly tooth.   He fiddled with it for ages in the car and after McDonalds it was even wobblier.   After Tyler and Mike had a toilet stop at a petrol station, I said to Toby to pull out the tooth as it was very wobbly.   So he tried - and it came out!   Toby cradled the tooth all the way home and wanted to stare at the gap in his teeth any time he thought his Dad didn't need the rear vision mirror for driving. We dropped off Mum and Tyler and went back home to collapse in bed.   Toby wrote to the Tooth Fairy and found some money from her when he woke up!

 

I think he's going to talk about his tooth for news at school today!

 

So, an action packed weekend.   We need to recover at work this week!   Mum and Tyler leave for Sydney early (too early!) tomorrow morning so they have today to get back their energy levels!

 

Toby will miss Tyler terribly.   He loves having her around.   As Mum, Mike and I sat finishing dinner on Saturday night, Toby was out running around with Tyler and I realised if she wasn ’t there, he'd be inside with us!   So, it has been marvellous seeing them interact.   Lucky we have plans to see them at Christmas.   We'll have to keep Toby busy this week so he doesn't have time to remember his great school holidays with Tyler (and Grandy and Gramps).

 

 

Time to get stuck in.  Have a great week!