Hi,
Friday night we caught up with Vivienne and John and Benjamin so they could say goodbye to Mum and Dad. We got Thai takeaway from Miramar and it was yummy! A highlight of our visits to Dunedin is the local Thai takeaway down there... and they've opened a Miramar shop now, which has us overjoyed. It had a really nice restaurant too, we may have to eat in next time.
Saturday morning saw us away early to collect Mike's mother from the airport. The airport was manic because of the Christchurch earthquake. Absolutely rammed full of people meeting passengers off planes. Consular officials from Australia and other countries standing around in day-glo jackets ready to help. Shocked, tired and bruised passengers disembarking. Polly transited through Christchurch, and reported that it was totally chaotic at the airport there. And this is after they've been flying 747's on shuttle runs to Auckland for days. There are a LOT of people leaving.
Off quickly to Toby's swimming. Toby swam well again and even did a perfect breath stroke on one of his efforts. Mike's mother ventured forth into Lower Hutt to look at houses for sale and we returned to Wellington to collect my parents and meet Sally for lunch. Mike got a haircut and we enjoyed lunch with Sally at the Occidental. The food was average though. Company was great! Heheheh. my parents appreciated the symmetry as they went to that pub on their first visit to Wellington many years ago, and now they visited it on their last weekend.
We dropped Mum and Dad back home and went out to Percy's Reserve for a walk with Jack and his parents. They also brought their dog along for a romp and we had a ball getting lost amongst the suburban streets we accidentally came across. Even ended up in someone's backyard at one point! At least it looked like someone's back yard. We were a bit suspicious that their back yard had encroached into the reserve...
Back home for a relaxing evening. Sort of. Mike took the gib off around Toby's window so the builder could assess it for a French door. Toby helped out, and loved the idea of smashing holes in his wall with a hammer, of course! After dinner I was so tired I went to bed quite early.
Sunday we were up and tackling the day. Mike took Toby and Jack to Waikanae for a party and judging from the excited way Mike filled us in when he got back, Mike loved it! It was Nerf war and Mike and Josh were the enemy against 12 8-year old boys. Wow!
I stayed home with Mum and Dad and we got ready for the airport. We tidied up as we had an afternoon tea planned for the family tramping club. Then Vivienne arrived to drive us to the airport. So glad she did as I think if I was by myself I would have been crying after leaving them. Vivienne was a perfect distraction as we took the long way home in the gorgeous weather.
Home for the afternoon tea to start. We managed to clear some storage boxes into the newly reconstructed garages and make a space for Mike (and his mother) to tackle the gib around the window in the green room. We also want a French door there too.
Mike had borrowed Sally's Mighty Red Galant because we needed two full-size cars to deliver people to Waikanae and to the airport. So he returned it and collected Andrew from Kaitoke as well. Andrew's running the Southern Crossing in two weeks. A three day tramp that he's going to run in under 8 hours. Whew! He'd done most of the southern crossing in 7:30, and could hardly walk at the end of it. Mad!
After that Mike came back with the MX5 at long last - it had been in Sally's garage. A bit of cleaning up and it went into our shiny, new, finished garage! It's all done except for some 'other people's work' - garage doors and spouting. But it's full of the builders' rubbish. Mike got one side cleaned up and he'll tackle the other side sometime this week. Then at least both cars are under cover and off the street.
I'm still watching the stories unfold in Christchurch, along with everyone else. It has affected loads of people all around the country. Hopefully the rescuers find someone alive to buoy their spirits.
I have Keas tonight and Cubs tomorrow. It is also Cub camp this weekend so we'll be busy once more. Phew! Best to keep busy and not dwell on my parents departure, eh? Good plan.
Have a great week.
Love,
Angela
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