The Monday with Carl!

Hi,

Well, lunch was a real treat.  Carl was over for his big birthday bash (he's all grown up now he's hit 40!) so we had a birthday lunch on May 4th.  Fitting really.  But only Celia stepped up.

Hi Carl!

Princess CeLeia - I like that name!

I wanted to catch up with Carl for dinner too - but Toby is still sick and Mike had prior commitments.   Oh well - sometimes these things happen.  Mike volunteered to cancel his thing and Aidan volunteered her services to look after Toby.  So, thank you.  But in the end, it was probably best that Toby had a quiet evening at home.  I made him his second favourite meal - spaghetti Bolognese.  But he still didn't eat very much.

The doctor suspects giardia.  So, we have to collect a sample and take it fresh to the lab for testing.  Oh joy!  Let's see what they say.  Let's see what Mike says if he has to collect the sample this morning.  Poor guy.

Busy day at work.  I need a tea so desperately.

Have a fantastic day, whatever you're doing.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with horse riding for Christine's birthday

Hi,

What a great weekend.  Friday night we watched a parody movie of the Hunger Games called The Starving Games.  It actually had a few laugh out loud moments, so I did manage to make it to the end.

Next morning Mike was up really early to get ready for tramping.  He woke up at 5.30am.  Wow, I thought.  He's really going to do this.  But, he didn't.  He read the entire internet, even that wee bit he usually doesn't bother reading.  Until 9am.  Which is when he had told me he had to leave.  So, he jumped in the shower.  When he was done, he wandered around in my towel for a while, sorting out his life.  I asked why he had my towel and he said he thought it was his.  So, all week he had been wondering why it was wet every morning.

Right.

I always have the left hand side of the towel rail.  Turns out, for 20 years, (or however long we have been sharing a towel rail) Mike reckons he has been using the left hand side towel.  Actually, I don't think so.  I would have noticed in the intervening 20 years.  But, anyway.  He says he has the towel on the left because that's where he sleeps in the bed.  Hahahah!  Weird logic.

I have him sorted now.  His one is beige this week!  We're going to use colour classification from now on.  And the fact my towel is always on the left.  :-p

He left, eventually, and Toby and I got ready for our fun.  Toby seemed to be better after his stomach upset.  Yay!  I dropped him off at the Tabor house with Lex and the boys and collected Aidan.  We drove to Johnsonville, and met Christine after driving around looking for a car park for the day.  Found one up beyond the police station.

Soon we were collecting Celia and people were checking gear.  And off to Beachbrook Stables (Gillian is an ex work colleague) to get our horse riding in.  Aidan had decided (and rightly) that it was a great birthday present for Christine.  Given Christine's birthday is March 7th, it is an indication of the busy lives we lead that this weekend was the first weekend we could book in.

It was great fun!  My horse was called Sara, and had a tendency to lash out at other horses with her back feet.  So I had to make sure other horses kept away.  And she was a little naughty.  But she was well behaved for me this day!

Aidan was on a white horse and Christine was on a huge horse.  Yeah - I know nothing about horses.  But I think Celia was on a pony.  Her horse was small - but went like stink!  Hahah.

Selfie riding a horse

Celia on her pony

Aidan, Christine and me

Iced coffee in Otaki

Me, Aidan and Christine after the riding

We had a great ride up and down the beach.  We got on the horses and walked down the road to the beach (maybe a kilometre).  Great fun!

Everyone that knows about horses and riding (that is, Christine, Gillian and the handlers) all thought Aidan was a great rider.  Said she was a natural.  Had a great stance in the saddle.  Aidan was quite taken with the riding and wants to go out with Christine on Victor now.  Yay!


 Brian took a photo of the three of us after the ride.  Very nice.

I got an iced coffee in Otaki.  Aidan even tried some and quite enjoyed it.  I took a photo of her enjoying my iced coffee, but she said it wasn't allowed on the blog.  Not sure why - I thought her obvious enjoyment of the iced coffee goodness was wonderful.



Back home and Aidan had to take Lex and Jane to the station for their train ride home.  Josh got home just as I was playing with Lulu.

View from Aidan and Josh's house

Toby and I headed home for the night.  Next morning Toby felt a bit worse again.  But we went to see the Avengers movie.  Had a bit of a bother at breakfast at Mama Browns.  We asked if we could eat before our movie.  They said yes.  But we had to leave before we saw any food.  Shame.  I tried to pay but they wouldn't take it.  We'll be back.  They were lovely.

Waiting for breakfast at Mama Browns

 Movie was good - first one was better.  Most one liners were ok.  One bad one made me glad Toby didn't understand it.

Back home and Mike was home soon enough,  I had a mountain of laundry and ironing.  Shudder!  Made it through though.

Toby is sick again today.  Off to see the doctors today.

Have a great week.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with a wonderful lunch

Hi,

Well, my day was so hectic, it wasn't funny.  But lunch - lunch was the highlight of the day by far.  And dare I say, possibly even the week.  A client took me to this French cafe a few weeks back and I said to Aidan that when she got back from her trip and manic work life, we should go there for lunch.

So Aidan met me for lunch on Lambton Quay and we walked over to Featherston St to Louis Sergeant and we ordered some lunch.  Aidan was funny - she decided we should eat decadent stuff so we needed a salad to start.  And what's more - we should share a salad.  We chose the salad Nicoise and I don't think I have ever had a better salad Nicoise.  The tuna wasn't just canned tuna which is often the case.  It was thick seared slabs of tuna.  Perfectly done.  I was in heaven.

Aidan got to practise her French too.  We ate the cheese platter afterwards and it was pretty good too.  Then, foolishly, I listened to Aidan and we got a dessert each.  I should have stood my ground and said we only needed one to share.  They both defeated us.  Aidan's was a lovely pink creation, but I didn't enjoy it that much.  Mine was the chocolate mousse things again.  It's called l'intense.  And it lives up to that name.  It nearly killed us and we only ate a third between us.

Mike got the rest!

Aidan posing in front of Marie Antionette

Aidan prepares to taste her dessert

After that I managed to get through my crazy afternoon by having two meetings cancelled.  Yay!  Got some work done.

I drove the car home and made some dinner for Toby and me.  Mike was working late but I was trying to lure him home.  I sent a photo of the meal I made along with the salad.

Come and get it, Mike!

But that wasn't enough.  So I thought I'd send him a photo of me to lure him home.  I knew Aidan had taken one of me at lunch so I asked her to send it to him, saying this is what he was missing at home.

So, she did.  She sent him this:

Dynamic Angela at lunch

I asked if he got it, and she replied that he said "kbro" and she thinks he might be drunk.  I was so confused.  I went to collect Mike from town as he decided he needed to come home.  And when I found him, I asked if he got the message with my photo from Aidan.  He said no.  But when he looked, he saw the message and saw it had been read.  And then figured out that Toby's iPad also receives the text messages.  So Toby had got the one of me with Aidan's message saying "Come home to your beautiful wife" so Toby had replied "kbro".  Poor Aidan.  No wonder she thought Mike was not himself.  He wasn't!   Hahahah.


 Mike got home in time to eat some too.  Well, I watched him eat.  He was in a good mood and laughed lots as we chatted away.

This morning is lovely here.  The harbour looked beautiful in the early morning orange sunlight.  The view from my desk isn't too bad either.

View from my desk this morning

Some of us are going horse riding this weekend for Christine's birthday (that was in March).  The weather looks good.  I want to take Toby (if he is well enough) to see the new Avengers movie.  Sally - you want to join us Sunday morning?


Have a great weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a busy evening

Hi,

Toby was off school yesterday and his sulphorous burps have turned more insidious, meaning he can't be far from a toilet.  Rather unpleasant.  Hopefully his body is getting rid of whatever has caused it to get so upset.

Despite my frantic day, I did get out to catch up with Celia.  We went to Home at MBIE and I had an iced coffee there.  They got full marks for presentation.  And it wasn't too sweet.  But I discovered why.  They used honey to sweeten it.  And of course, the coldness means the honey solidifies and doesn't spread out into the drink.  But at the bottom, it was undrinkable in its sweetness.  What marks overall?  A 7.

Iced coffee @ Home.  With honey!

I rode home after work and got some toast for Toby.  Trying to keep his diet simple.  Then I was off to the Nepal information evening.  Bharat gave a slide show and Mike featured a lot in his photos from his trip last year.  And he had a special mention for Mike's Dad and the memorial that was built for him.  We saw a few slides and Bharat mentioned that it was a special thing that happened while they were there, and that they will trek past it again this time.

I went home and collected Toby and his homework assignment due on Friday and we went into work.  We spread the work out over the floor next to my desk and Toby got the hang of printing and using my swipe card to get it off the printer.  Then he cut things out and stuck them on.  It looks ok.

Almost done

Mike flew back into Wellington from his day in Chch and dropped in briefly to work to see us.  He then called in to see Josh for a chat before heading home.  I was almost asleep by the time he came to bed.

This morning is cold here.  And windy.  My ride in was a bit tricky.  Damp roads and cold, strong winds.

But, nothing that can't be fixed by a nice cup of tea.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday that felt like a Monday

Hi,

Well, I kept making appointment for tasks for myself on Monday and wondering why I never got a reminder.  Hahah.  And one reminder I did get said I was a day late for a meeting I just made.  Oops.  And today doesn't really feel like a Wednesday either.  So my confusion continues.

It is beautiful here today and no mistake.

View of Mt Kau Kau this moning

Mike has his Chch day today so Mike and Toby were frantic to make an early getaway.  Not sure they did it.  Haven't heard.

Toby is a bit sick.  Not sure why.  His burps are constant and full of sulphorous odour.  Really quite yucky.

He has a big assignment due at the end of this week.  We are working on it every night this week.  We might come into work tonight with it so we can print out until we get it right for his display stand.  Our printer at home is a little temperamental.

My ride in was lovely - the roads were mostly dry.  Yay for dry roads.  But I am already looking forward to the end of the day so I can help Toby get this assignment done and dusted.

Have a wonderful day.

Love,
Angela

The long weekend with the best fun!

Hi,

Wow - I don't think I can do justice to the awesome weekend we had.  We left Wellington in stunning weather on Friday night.

Oriental beach on Friday night

Flew into Auckland without any hassles and collected the car from Apex.  Drove out to the Sampson house at Whenuapai.  What an awesome house.  Huge backyard.  Great location.  Yep - they'll be happy there for quite a while.

Hannah moved out for the weekend so we could have her room.  She's so sweet.  I was very proud (although I think they know that Mike and I would have slept anywhere) - and my body was also pleased to have a bed.  We did see her as she came back on Saturday night and cooked tea for us.  Lucky!  Scrumptious jambalaya.  Mmmmm.

But we were up early (4am!) and away for the dawn service.  Wally came too and found us a great car park about 1.5 km from the Auckland Museum.  We were there by 5.15am and it was definitely already packed.  I couldn't see very much.

ANZAC dawn service

Me, Wally and Mike

Auckland museum looked good

The boys after the service

ANZAC service programme

It was a great service. They did very well.  I thought it was the right amount of sombre ceremony.  Nothing flash - just more people than the usual one.

Back home via Maccas - but the queue was coming out the door.  So Wally fried up a huge breakfast at home.  Great!  I was full!

To walk it all off, we walked to Herald Island.  It must have been about 8 km all up.  It was lovely.

Herald Island walk

Looking out from Herald Island

Dinghies on Herald Island

Feet on Herald Island

Back home for fish n chips in the backyard and an early night.

Brennan and Toby enjoying the trampoline

I got an iced coffee from Wally and it was superb!

Next morning we had a lazy start then drove to the Waitakere Ranges for a wonderful walk to Fairy Falls.

Off to visit Fairy Falls in the Waitakere Ranges

Selfie with Mike

Selfie with Lesley

The kids climbed up the falls a wee way

Then from there we went to Bethell's Beach for a picnic.  Mmmmm.  Foooooood!

Sensation!

Picnic at Bethell Beach

Mike checks out the black sands of Bethell's Beach

Selfie in front of sea cave at Bethell's Beach

Walking back to the car

Awesome foot shot

I convinced everyone (even Brennan and Toby - twice!) that we really needed to do SingStar.  The Sampsons love it.  This was just the excuse they needed.  Hahahah.  We sang non stop for 6 hours!

We were all hoarse the next morning.

Karaoke!

It's a group effort!

But the next morning we had to leave.  We dropped Toby off at Jack's place and then Mike and I collected Roz and we went to Columbus in Onehunga for brunch.  I had a great eggs benedict.

Brunch with Roz

I get a hug from Roz

We caught up with Roz and then went shopping.  Well, Mike did.  All of Auckland was there due to the poor weather.  So Roz and I sat in the car and Mike dashed in to get the present for Jack.

Dropped Roz off home then caught up briefly with John and Mai (collected Elma, John's mother for the party too).  Toby didn't want to leave.  Poor kid.

Off to the airport for our bumpy flight home.  It was ok.  Had far worse landings.

This morning was pelting down rain here.  I never went for my run as I would have been soaked in 2 minutes.  But I rode in.  It was ok.  A wee break in the weather.

Have a wonderful week.  Thanks to everyone for a great weekend!  Can't wait to go back there now.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with nothing much

Hi,

What a weird day at work.  It isn't often I am in an all day workshop (and again today).  So it is weird to be at work, but not doing my usual workload.  But it was fairly full on, so I was a bit grateful to finally see the end of the day.

Another stunning day here

Mike got to work from his Lower Hutt client just as I was finishing up.  So he took me home and we packed for our weekend up in Auckland.  Woot!  Can't wait.  Toby will get off in town this afternoon and he and I will find some yummy dinner while we wait for Mike to get done and head to the airport after that.

It is a long weekend here for ANZAC Day.  It was Mondayised last year but this is the first year it actually works in practise.  We're flying back at 5pm on Monday (arriving at 6pm).

Right.  Time to get stuck in before my workshop.  Have a lovely long weekend.  Enjoy the special ANZAC celebrations.  100 years.  Wow.

Love,
Angela