The Tuesday with Cubs

Hi,

I rode home via the car parked at the library and the Toby pick-up.  On Tuesday it saves me 5 minutes to have the car parked at the library.  It seems to be working out quite well.  Mike orders dinner from somewhere (pizza, fish n chips, whatever) and Toby and I collect the dinner on the way to the Sampson house.  We all scoff down food before Cubs.  Manic but usually fun!  And it is good to catch up with the Sampsons.

Mike ran the pinhole camera activity and I saw most pinhole cameras were working quite well.  There weren't quite enough tubes to go around each Cub so some of them played up until I growled at them.  Toby got his photo badge and is very pleased.  We'll sew it on tonight together.  I need all the help I can get doing that.

Tonight is karate night.  Mike's turn to do the Toby pickup.  I'll ride straight there to go home with them.  Mike put the slow cooker on this morning so a yummy tea should be waiting for us.

Have a good day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with good riding conditions

Hi,

Mike rode in and home - even with groceries. He may be starting a good habit (as compared to those other habits he has which can tend towards bad - like taking the bus!).  Let's see, eh?

Last night we had tea and relaxed before making a pinhole camera prototype for tonight's Cubs.  I hope it goes well.  We had a bit of fun with it anyway!

Then last night I dreamed of a friend of ours - Mai.  And her family as well.  But Mai figured more.  Well, Mai, and my grandparents (my grandfather and Mike's grandmother).  We all sat on a couch and looked at a photo album with really old photos in it.  Weird.  Dinner also played a part in the dream.  Pot luck?  Don't know - that bit is vague.

Anyhow - that's not really the super freaky part.  The freaky part is I was thinking about Mai as I rode down the hill this morning (and the roads were so dry I was hooning down them) because of the dream when I bumped into her!  Well, perhaps not quite so freaky as it has happened once before.  But he coincidence was freaky.  So I had to tell her.  She might think I am a bit weird now.  Heheheh.  She's flat out at work so I heard a bit about that.

Tonight is Cubs night and should be fun.  Mike knows heaps about pinhole cameras now and cameras in general.  And Toby will be presenting his photo presentation to see if he gets his photo badge.  Woo hoo!

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with a bit of everything

Hi,

Friday night was relaxing - as Toby always wants it.  We watched dinosaur documentaries and fell asleep.  Well, I know Toby and I did.  Mike got up at 4am to watch some Air Crash Investigation episodes.  Heheheh.

Anyhow, swimming went well.  Mike got a new aerial for our car while Toby was swimming and now we have great reception.  I should be able to sing along to the radio tunes all the way out to Waikanae now.  The stubby sawn-off aerial lost reception at Pukerua Bay usually.

After swimming we went to Queensgate shopping centre to buy cardboard for Toby's Photo Badge work.  And pick up a show box for the pinhole camera activity this coming Tuesday.  Then Toby spotted Mr Popper's Penguins at the movies so Toby and I bought tickets and Mike left us to drive into work to start studying.

Mr Popper's Penguins finished (it was quite good) and I texted Sally to see if we should walk around there (we had to get to the train station anyhow to get back to town, so may as well pop in on the way).  She said sure, and if we walked down the riverbank, we might see Mike!  Huh?  Yep - study avoidance.

So we walked to Sally and Andrew's place and I had lunch and we chatted for a while.  Then off to get at least some messages done.  At home we packed Toby's overnight bag and dropped him off at Benjamin's while we took Benjamin's parents out for a nice dinner at Soi in Evan's Bay.  Sally and Andrew met us and we ate yummy food.

Dropped John and Vivienne off home and back to sleep until an early rise for a day at the Zoo.  Aidan texted me as I was gathering picnic provisions to say she couldn't make it.  Oh.  I texted back with some variation on the plan, then she replied saying she could come after all.  Anyhow, I collected Toby who enjoyed his sleepover (ta Benjamin) and we went to McDonalds for breakfast at Newtown.  Then up to the Zoo and in for a quick look around before the Tabors arrived.

It was a great day - I was in a t-shirt.  Well, three quarter sleeves.  But it was just a t-shirt!  It was breezy but warm enough.  Saw the penguin on its last day at the Zoo.  There were tonnes of people there for it.  The boys had loads of fun.

Home to finish the Photo Badge work and relax before the week ahead.

Have a great week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with nothing much on

Hi,

Mike and I rode home together last night at 1700.  He could leave early after putting in loads of hours the day before.  We swapped the lead on the way up the hill.  I think he may be slightly more competitive than me.  Heheheh.

We had tea and Toby finished his homework and we all went to bed.  I fell asleep during Time Team and no one noticed.  The boys were playing or reading or something.

Today is gorgeous here.  The ride down the hill was lovely.  I hope the weekend holds up this well (but I think not looking at the forecast).

Swimming tomorrow, followed by a quick check of the car wreckers to see if they have an aerial for our car (we snipped it off to fit in the garage but now we think we can use a full aerial in the lower garage - yay - reception once more would be nice), and buy some cardboard for Toby's photo badge.  Then Sunday we're off for breakfast (me and Toby) and then collecting Duncan and Emerson for a trip to the Zoo.  Should be good fun!

Have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with no karate - again

Hi,

Toby was feeling fragile and had the evening off karate.  Perhaps he is tired.  He certainly was weird in the evening - just wanting to vege and want cuddles.  Hopefully he comes right over the weekend with lots of sleep.  Tonight Toby has to finish homework so it should be a relaxing night for him again.

Busy at work - and Mike too.  He worked until after 9pm last night.

The weekend is filled up with swimming, possibly dinner out with Vivienne and John (I must organise that - the tramping trip I was taking Toby on this weekend has been cancelled), visits to the Zoo to say goodbye to Happy Feet (the Emperor Penguin washed up on Peka Peka Beach near the Tabors) and lots of studying by Mike.

Have a good day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Cubs

Hi,

Oh - apparently we were covering the coming-in activity as the leader rostered on wasn't attending.  Oops.  Anyhow - a quick game of ice hockey saw the Cubs very happy.

We had a talk from a Cub's father who is a professional photographer (like his father before him) and it was very interesting to see his portfolio photos being passed around.  He has taken photos of some famous NZ historic moments and figures.  Even Sir Ed's funeral - but Toby and I weren't in any photos.

Home to bed.  Phew.  Mike is on karate duty this evening and I will ride there to catch a bit of it.  We'll probably go home and put some tea on and collect Toby at the end.  Seems to work well.

Have a good day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with a good start to the week

Hi,

Not too much happened yesterday.  I caught the bus in having left the bike at work on Friday.  I listened to some music on the way in and got stuck into work.

Monday evening I rode home and collected wee Toby.  I chatted to Del (Toby's carer at Skids) for a while and he is also going to the AUS v USA ruby world cup game.  I told him we'd be supporting the USA (sorry Scotty).  Well, I hardly think Aus is going to lose that one.  Should be a try-fest for the Australians.  But I'm hoping the USA get some points on the board!

Home to cook tea and get some homework out of the way.  Then Mike got home and managed to pick up some lunch provisions and then we went to bed.  Mike had a bit of homework to get done too.

Cubs tonight and it is a session by a photographer - Simon Woolf.  Should be good fun!  The Cubs will work for their photography badge.

Have a good day!
Love,
Angela

Mt Bruce, Aug 6-7

One in each hand and one on the back.

"We'll name it Bigwheels, and it's a he," said Jack, as we set off on our journey.  Our rental van had enough character that we thought we'd better give it - him - a name.  Character isn't usually a great sign in a vehicle, unless maybe it's a Ferrari or a Monster Truck.  This van didn't have 'character' in a good way.  It had aquired its personality by lugging people the equivalent distance of six times around the earth, and had saggy seats, creatively realigned body panels, and a torpid, sluggish diesel engine.  But still, like a slightly stupid but endearing puppy, it gained our appreciation over the weekend.

Bigwheels was taking us to the Otapawa Farmstay in the northern Wairarapa.  We were looking forward to  exploring the Otapawa Farm, meeting some farm animals (for the first time for some of the children with us), and then heading across to Mt Bruce nature reserve on the Sunday.  Would we get to see the white kiwi that had just hatched there?

It was never going to be a rapid, sparkling journey in Bigwheels but that was okay.  We gently dawdled our way over the Rumutakas and into Featherston, where we bought a big pack of fish and chips for the four - yes, four! - 8-year-olds we had in the back seat.  They were very excited to be on their journey, and chatted away for the whole trip.

What our van looked like, 15 years ago when it was new

We got in around 10pm, not too bad a time.  Others had driven themselves up, and had sorted out the accommodation for us.  We finished off the not-quite-cold Featherston fish and chips - very nice they were too!

Off to bed we all went, with the posse of 8 year olds with a room to themselves.  That might not have been so wise in hindsight.  They carried on chatting and chatting - all the way until midnight, and then they cracked on again at 5am!

Saturday morning saw a visit from our hosts, Dara and Douglas.  They brought us yummy fresh baking and made sure we were all settled in.  They gave us a map of tracks we might want to take a look at, around the farm.

In the meantime, the posse, now with Cam in the group too, had headed off to a stream behind the farmstay.  Kelvin the Engineer (and Cam's Dad) had gone with them and built a very impressive bridge across the stream.  The kids had found a collapsing silt bank that was swallowing feet and gumboots!  Sam ended up having to dig his gumboots out, and everyone got fantastically muddy and dirty.  Just what should happen on farm visits.

After studying the map for a bit, we decided to head off to a pleasant sounding waterfall, an hour or two up a farm track.  We found cows and calves that stared obstinately until I shooed them away (some of the kids and, er, adults got a bit nervous).  The posse rambled high and low over the farmland, going no-where near the boring track. When the track crossed a stream, the posse headed into the gully and dashed up the stream, throwing stones to splash each other and chasing each other up and under the bridge.  As the track climbed around a hill, they ran straight up and over.  They certainly had a lot of energy!

After an hour or so, we came to the spot where two streams met in a pleasant water hole, with cute wee bubbling waterfall tipping over a rock face into the hole.  Just in time for lunch!  We munched away on our various lunches, and the posse hurtled around over cliffs and banks.  Kelvin and I started talking... and looking at the topo map... and figuring that it would be much more fun to follow this gully back... and then traverse around that spur... and follow that other stream... and come out on a road... and go home that way.  A shortcut!  Hmm.  The posse were all up for it.  So off we headed.

The first thing we found was a big coil of number 8 wire, partly unrolled and overgrown into the paddock.  "What's that?", asked one of the boys.  "Ah, that's a pig trap!", answered Kelvin, with authority.  "Don't get too close to it!".  The posse thought he was joking, maybe.  But they weren't sure.  Then Alex ran up and kicked it - and dived back.  Nothing.  He stuck a leg in.  "You don't want to lose that leg, do you?", said Kelvin helpfully.  He pulled it out again, fast.  But eventually he crawled partially in... but not all the way.  Kelvin was very, very convincing!

So we continued on our way, leaping from bank to bank of the small stream we were following.  Then we hit our first roadblock - the gully we were meant to be following had been left to regenerate, and was overgrown with bush.  We couldn't go up the gully, we had to go around it.  And that meant, going up and around a ridge.  And that's when our plans started to come unstuck.  It was about then that the sleet started, too.

To cut a long story short, we followed a different route out - Kelvin having a GPS that gave us an exact bearing, distance and estimated time to the farmstay was a big help!  We wandered along through mud, water, hills, more mud, and dead animals.  Lots of dead animals.  Including one that looks like it met quite a grisly end.  We were on the lookout for wild dogs after that!  After a while we emerged in, er, Dara and Douglas's front yard!  A slightly sheepish trot down their driveway and we were back home.

Astonishingly, the others, who went the 'long way' back down the track, were already back!  Who'd have thought it?  (Most of my short cuts end up this way!)

Our numbers had swelled, too, since two more cars had arrived.  Mary, and Colin and Nathaniel, had both opted to come up on Saturday morning.

After cups of tea and farm baking, we split our forces for the rest of the afternoon.

Most of us went up to Douglas's parents' place - they had a collection of usual and not-so-usual farm animals - lambs, chooks, goats, donkeys, tigers, peacocks and elephants*.


*Some of these animals were not there.


Angela, Mary, Yingjie, Kelvin and Simon headed off up the road instead.  The earlier walk to the waterfall had pased by a recent slip of mudstone and the eager fossil hunters among us couldn't resist having a look.  Simon knew the limestone outcrops along the ridges above the farm would prove a better fossil treasure trove. Alas, they came back empty handed, but they had a good time nonetheless - it's the thrill of the chase, not the quarry!   One outcrop caused great excitement, but it turned out to be mudstone and devoid of fossils.  The wind up on the ridges was fierce and the kid in Kelvin made him leap from the car to experience the strength of the wind.  The rest were content to evaluate the wind strength from the safety of Mary's car.

Hamish, Dom and Jack elected to stay put, so Ally and I elected to babysit.  I certainly enjoyed myself drinking coffee and listening to Jack and Dom chatting away to each other - Dom was 4, Jack was 8, but they seemed to be able to find enough in common to talk about!

As we hung about the farmstay, the wind started getting up, to the point where in Wellington terms a stiff breeze was blowing.  Of course, this was not Wellington, so that meant that in Wairarapa terms a gale had whipped up.  Trees were groaning and swaying.  And then - oh dear - the lights flickered and went out.  No power!  Just on dinner time, too!

Soon the others filtered back in and we started figuring out how to get something edible out of what we had.  Spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu, and I didn't fancy cold, dry spaghetti with tomatoes and raw mince!  Luckily we had a wood burner with a flat top, that was put to good use simmering the spaghetti and the sauce.  It was interminable getting things up to temperature, but once they were there the pots simmered away nicely.  And we were able to fire up a barbeque, and fry up the onions and mince straight on the cook top.  After combining it all back together it was as good as if we'd had the oven to cook with!  Yippee.  There was just enough for everyone - no more, no less.  I'd judged it just a little bit finely... and then, a little bit too finely, when the clean-up crew found a plate of food that had been left lying around, and biffed it away - only to find it was poor Simon's dinner, who had been off sorting his kids out.  Argh!  Luckily we'd over-catered on desserts, and Ally had brought yummy banana cake as well - so no-body went hungry.

That evening, Kelvin and Melanie brought out Monopoly - the card game.  It seemed very complicated, and my brain was very tired!  The posse of boys were MUCH quieter than the night before.  They slunk off to bed pretty early, and were completely silent within minutes of going to bed.

During the night, we could hear the wind blowing and the rain lashing.  What would it be like in the morning?!  Still windy, but relatively pleasant, as it turned out.  But Bigwheels the Van, which I'd parked on a patch of grass, was now sitting in a small puddle.  And when I tried to back him out of the puddle - I got about as much traction as you'd expect for soggy grass and mud.  After a bit of progress with bark and wood under the tyres and suchlike, Mary took pity on us and pulled us onto stable ground with her Subaru, using a tow-rope that Kelvin magicked up from his car.

So off we headed to Mt Bruce, to explore and run about.  We got in just in time for the Tuatara feeding, which was a revelation.  I can vouch that Tuatara can go very fast when they actually want to!  The keeper threw in some slaters (wood lice) and the Tuatara rapidly chased them about and devoured them.  She kept up a constant commentary too, and I actually learned things from it.  Did you know that no-one actually knows how long Tuatara live for, because the oldest one in captivity is 120 years old and counting?  When that one dies we might have some idea of their lifespan.

Wandering about, we found a Kokako that countless tourists had taught how to speak.  It was very proud of itself, and came down to chat to us.  And another slightly unexpected sight at Mt Bruce is their stand of Redwoods, which tower over their surrounds.  Planted as a forestry experiment in the 1930's, they are a little slice of California right in the middle of native NZ bush.

As luck would have it we'd also arrived at just the right time to see Manukura, the famous white kiwi.  Once a week they get her out to meet the tourists.  She is not an albino; it seems that a few white kiwi are born to the Brown Kiwi at Little Barrier Island, and 30 or so Little Barrier Island kiwi were relocated to Mt Bruce a year or two ago.  Very special!

But soon it was time to head home.  Looking at the storm clouds over the Tararuas and battling through the hail on the Rumutakas made us realise we'd got the best of the weather on our side of the mountains!

This was one of those weekends that seems much longer than just two days.  We crammed so many different activities into it!  Thanks to Dara and Douglas at Otapawa Farmstay for your great hospitality; and now you know where to stay if you want a few days of peace and quiet on the Northern Wairarapa.  Just don't pick the same weekend that 20 adults and kids from the WTMC invade the place!

The weekend with various things on

Hi,

Toby is now officially swimming.  He used arms and breathing the whole lesson.  I was very proud of him.  Now a bit of refinement and I think we can move onto other things if he wants to.

Saturday after swimming we went to Yum Cha.  As we were walking there we bumped into John and Christine so they came along too.  It was a big table - Charm, Rex, Tim, Matt, Aidan, Josh, Duncan, Emerson, John, Christine, Tom and us!  Good fun!

Then we all went home to our place for a nice cup of tea.

Eventually it was just us (and some random clothes left behind - how do 8 year old boys leave somewhere with just one sock?  Don't they notice?) and we had tea and relaxed.

We set the alarm for the 3am rugby game in South Africa.  When the alarm went off I was ruing staying up till 11pm reading.  But then Mike told me he had kept reading all the way through and hadn't slept yet!  Wow!

The game was a good one I thought, despite the All Black losing.  It's hard to win in SA.

Sunday we got ready for a big family lunch at Sally and Andrew's place.  Caught up with most people - apart from the family members caught up in a broken collar bone incident!  Ouch!

Home to put up Toby's window curtain (looks great - thanks to Mike's mother) and have tea.

Another week starts!  Have a good one.
Love,
Angela

The morning with a ride in

Hi,

I stopped being soft this morning and rode in.  The rain eased off slightly during my ride in, but the drops that did land were big and icy cold. 

The weekend is for swimming, followed by Yum Cha and house tidying.  The main object being to get the study (our old bedroom) into shape for Mike's studying over the next two months.  Sunday is a lunch at Sally and Andrew's I think.  It might be to celebrate Ron's birthday if I'm not mistaken.

The weather is set to improve over the next few days.  But that is bound to change.  This cold weather has been a long time coming this winter but it is making up for lost time.

Have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with no karate

...meets the Thursday with no user group.

Heheheheh.  The weather is back to normal cold freezing windy rainy Wellington weather. But chaos is still around and things are still getting cancelled.

Karate had no instructors turn up yesterday evening so we had tea at John and Christine's house.  Christine had cooked but was off checking her horse.  So we had John's company and good food to warm us up.

And tonight's user group meeting has been cancelled as well.  Fits in better as Mike has a meeting tonight from one that was postponed on Monday night.

Phew!

I took the bus in today too.  That soft attitude can't continue - but when I am lying in bed listening to hail and wind, it is hard to change into bike shorts!

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with ice

Hi,

So Toby and I had a day at home yesterday.  I was working and had various internet disruptions but my new job is well set up for working remotely.  Marvellous.

Cubs was cancelled as Karori was experiencing snow flurries in the afternoon and evening and then hail made everything slippery.

Back to normal today though - much to Toby's disappointment.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with more snow

Hi,

My ride home to collect Toby at 1:30pm was through snow flurries.  How cool.  I worked from home in the afternoon and it all went very well.

However, Mike caught one of the last buses in Wellington last night before they shut the bus system down.  Things were grinding to a halt in the traffic.

Anyhow, thought I'd ride in this morning.  Got to the garage, turned on all my bike lights, thought I could push it through the icy snow up to the bigger road above us before trying to ride when the neighbour asked if I had heard the school was cancelled. 

She had got a text.  I went back inside and Mike and I attempted to confirm this.  Spoke to a parent more hooked in than us (she was on holiday in Fiji - oops) and even she had got a text this morning to say school was closed.  What??

Spoke to Christine.  She was also unaware of any closure but as I talked to her, her husband rang and said school was closed.  An email apparently.  An email we have not received on any of our emails.



Anyhow, I am working from home.  Snow flurries expected this afternoon but it is the ice that looks bad this morning.  Toby has a clam sandpit and the lid has come off in the last week or so and filled with water.  That water is completely frozen.  Weird.

Mike is off to work now by bus (hopefully) and wearing his tramping boots for better purchase on the ice.

Have a great day.
Love,
Angela

The weekend with snow!

Hi,

Well, after the excitement of snow on Sunday afternoon at our house, I can hardly recall the rest of the weekend.  Let me see.  Our team came second in the work quiz on Friday night ($40 prizemoney).  Then swimming went well on Saturday morning.  I think if Toby had another 5 minutes in the lesson he would have been swimming with breathing and everything!

Saturday lunch with Sally and Andrew because we thought we'd need to wait for the new battery in the Corolla!  But no - we didn't, but lunch seemed a good idea anyway!

Home to tidy up the house.  And we need get quite a bit tidied away.  The study (where Mike will be spending quite a bit of time over the next two months) is relatively clear, the garage had some book boxes cleared out and Toby's room is almost done.

We watched a movie on Saturday night - Independence Day.  But when the red shirt helicopter pilots get show out of the sky by the aliens, Toby ducked under the duvet and started crying.  So we turned it off and watched Man v Wild!

Sunday morning I put lunch on and went to watch Christine ride her horse.  The rain stopped for about 40 minutes so she hopped on Victor and rode in the sunshine. 

When I got home it was lunchtime and we all ate lunch.  Sally and Andrew stayed to watch Doctor Who episodes but they had seen them all.  Sally helped us put Toby's curtains up over his door (Mike and Sally's mother made them from Toby's nursery curtains in Brixton) and his room looks great!  We need to buy a curtain rail for his window and we can out up his last curtain.

Sally and Andrew left (and we gave them our old snow chains for their old Galant) and about 30 minutes later we had the heaviest snow I have seen in Wellington.  Huge flakes coming down vertically.  And it snowed so hard it settled on the concrete and street.  Toby went out to play with the neighbourhood children and throw snowballs.  It was beautiful.

The snow stopped on dusk but it was still lying around this morning.  It was a cold ride in (but I have been colder) and I did dodgy some slushy bits of snow on the hill.  But down in town it was fine!

The forecast is for heavier snowfalls this afternoon!  Choice!  Check out Mike's Facebook photos for some pics of the snow!

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with nothing on in the evening

Hi,

Phew - thank goodness for Thursday evenings.  We all ate tea and watched TV and went to bed.  Nice!  Tonight Benjamin is looking after Toby for us as we attend a work function.  I think Toby is quite excited about that!

Tomorrow is swimming followed by some car maintenance (Mike is taking the car in for something at the garage) so I think that means Toby and I walk to Aunty Sally and Uncle Andrew's place from swimming.  Sounds like a good way to spend my lunchtime!

Other than that, we're getting the house in order after the renovations.  This is our first weekend at home since the holidays so we need to sort it all out.

Mike will be studying for exams over the next few months so weekends have become booked for study.  We say no to everything else as a first stance.  Especially if it involves going away (prebooked weekends are ok).

Heheheheh.  Ok - time for tea!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with karate

Hi,

Mike collected Toby and got him to karate easily (with a cheese toastie to keep him going through the lesson) and then I rode there at about 6:10pm and both of us left Toby there to head to the supermarket and put tea on.  We left Toby with his karate book, his water and his socks and shoes.

By the time I got back at the end of the class, it had finished and Toby was just coming out as I walked in.  He had everything and said so "Mum - I have all my things".  His socks and shoes were on and he was clutching his book and water.  Well done! 

Home for tea and then a quick brazier night.

Collapse into bed ready for another day!  Managed to watch one episode of Time Team (at least three quarters more than Mike managed to see - but that makes up for his 4 hours sleep the night before when he was surfing the Internet to the wee hours) before sleep caught up with me.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Cubs

Hi,

Well, it turns out if you ever get me started talking about astronomy, I won't stop.  I was worried I would not have enough material to talk for 5 minutes and jotted down some notes to try and keep me on track to pad it out to 10 minutes (15 would have been even better).  But by the time I noticed the Cubs getting restless, and wound up my talk, I had talked for over thirty minutes.  And all the Cubs were enthralled with my talk.  So I did something right.

Well, I also did something wrong.  I was so absorbed in talking to the Cubs I never saw Mike in the background making winding up signals as I kept on talking, and talking, and talking.  But Mike saved the day and came in and split the groups up into two, and I took one lot viewing at the telescope and Mike took the others to an activity to make them realise how big the solar system was.

The Cubs all absolutely loved the moon through the telescope.  Nearly all of them went oooh and ahhh as they saw the craters.  We had a lovely night - perhaps the moon was a little too bright.

So I am pleased to get that over with for the week.  I was a bit worried about talking - but had no problems in the end.  And they all liked it.  Four Cubs said they wanted to be an astronomer by the end.

Tonight is karate night.  And choir during lunchtime.  Mike is on karate collection duty and I will ride directly there and get a lift home (via the supermarket).  Then we can go back and get Toby at the end of karate.  It seems to be working well.

I think I rode beside Andrew this morning on the way in - around 8:30am through the back of the Beehive.  I shouted his name but he didn't turn around and then turned left so I thought I was mistaken.  But then he rode into the basement of his building - so maybe I was right!  Helmet looked familiar at any rate.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with a dash to Waikanae

Hi,

When I left work I drove up to Waikanae to collect my telescope from the Tabor household.  I made good time and there were none of the usual holdups in traffic.  Weird.  Anyhow I caught up on their news from Hawaii (they just got back on Sunday) and got some goodies (ssshhhh - Mike's Father's Day present is in there).  And got the telescope ready for tonight's sky session with the Cubs.

The ride in was great this morning - another gorgeous day!  Cool!  Bit nippy on the fingertips but not too bad.

So - a night sky session tonight.  I hope the sky stays as clear as it is now.  I'll talk for about ten minutes, and break them into 4 activities with one being star gazing using the telescope.  The moon should be good viewing tonight.

So - that's about it.  Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with family tramping

Hi,

What a marvellous weekend Mike organised at Otapawa Farmstay in the northern Wairarapa.  We had a van load of punters as well as others getting there by themselves.  I think Mike is going to write all about it so I will just wave my literal hands around and waffle a bit.

The drive up on Friday night seemed to take ages.  Having 4 8-10 year old boys in the back was not conducive to "inner peace" which is what Yingjie had them practising by the end of the drive.  Good on her!  She was the closest to them so I guess she was desperate.

Straight to bed and Toby left the boys room almost immediately for the sanctuary of his parents room and got a good sleep.  Unlike those other boys that stayed up until midnight and then got up at 5:30-am!

The day was superb - we walked to a wee waterfall and enjoyed passing sun showers.  So it was not too horrible.

Sunday morning we had to free the bogged van - it had rained heavily all night.  But it was bright and sunny in the Wairarapa.  Mt Bruce was fun and we saw their new white kiwi.

The drive back over the hill was entertaining with sleety rain and hail.  Wellington weather was pants.  We dropped punters off amidst snowy rain.

My ride down the hill this morning was in brilliant sunshine though.  Wonderful day here.  Bring this on!

Have a great week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with packing for the weekend

Hi,

Mike beat me home.  He took the 14 bus and I rode home.  I left 15 minutes before him too.  Pants!  I will have to get much faster!

Anyhow, we both collected Toby and walked.  Mike cooked tea while I went and started the packing.  Mike then had to pop out to buy the dessert for the weekend.  We forgot that on Wednesday night.  Oops.

I fell asleep pretty fast again - bit tuckered out.  Maybe it's the ski week (up early to hear the forecast every day) followed by work and riding every day.  Got to get back into the routine.

We're off to Otepawa Farmstay tonight for the weekend.  The same place we went to at Easter.  Should be a lot of fun.  Toby will be happy as Jack and Alex are both coming.  I probably won't see much of him.

What else?  Must remember to tell swimming that Toby is away tomorrow.

Have a marvellous weekend!
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with karate

Hi,

Oh - I never asked Toby if choir has started up yet for term 3 at lunchtimes.  I never had any choral music sweetly sung to me as I drove Toby to karate.  No - hold on.  He did sing something at dinner and said it was from choir.  So many he did have a choir session.

Anyhow, karate went well.  I caught up with John, John and even Marcus (another parent at Wadestown with a daughter in Toby's class - but he works with Christine and hence the connection with karate).  Then I left before Toby's lesson even really started and went home to collect Mike and go grocery shopping for the tramping this weekend.

Home to cook tea and collect Toby.  It made for a late tea but Toby loved it.  Mashed potatoes (groan), family pie (yum) and buckets of broccoli (it's ok in small amounts but Mike's idea of vegetables is far more abundant than any definition I could invent).  He even wanted to eat my leftover mash (I had a mountain to get through) and the leftover pie.  But he was full by the time he finished his.

The ride in was good - dry roads every day this week so far.  Great!

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Cubs - first one for the term

Hi,

After a furious ride home to collect the car, pick up Toby and buy the pizzas for tea, we got to Cubs easily.  We made pumice boats (with sticks for wooden masts and leaves for sails) and had races in a large flat tub with a fan providing wind.  Great fun!

It does make for a late night for us on Tuesday.  Well, for Toby (but me too).  I was asleep by the time Mike came to bed (and I don't imagine he was up late either).  Dead to the world I was.

Toby has school swimming tomorrow - at the Kilbirnie swimming centre.  Seems weird they have this and yet don't have swimming lessons as I remember them when I was a kid.  Wonder why they have done away with swimming lessons?  It used to be such fun, getting in a bus, singing all the way to Forbury School, sloshing through the cold, white disinfectant before you get in the pool.  I remember seeing a school teacher (Mrs McFarlane) leap into the pool fully clothed at one stage to help a pupil.  No idea what was happening to the girl - but it must have scared the teacher!  Maybe that's what did it?

Anyhow - time for a cup of tea.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with a new job

Hi,

It seemed to go very well for Mike in his new job.  I know this mainly because he sits two rows behind me!  And he is still coughing from the cold he picked up while skiing so I can hear him often!  Heheheh.

We had a quiet night yesterday - Toby had a teacher-only day and spent it in the company of Tom (thanks John) and William (thanks Louise).  I think Toby could get used to that arrangement.

Tonight is Cubs night and we're making pumice boats and racing them.  I think.  Sounds cool!

We're getting into a new routine with the new jobs.  Let's see how we go over the next few weeks.

We have a Tramping Club weekend this weekend - the Farmstay in the Wairarapa that we did over Easter is on the cards again.  Should be very pleasant.

I need a nice cup of tea about now!

Love,
Angela

The weekend where we came home

Hi,

Not a lot to say - except happy birthday Karen!  Today is my wee sister's birthday.  Yay!

What else?  Oh yeah - Mike starts his new job today!  Yay - again!

70 emails to read.  Better get started.

Love,
Angela