Good morning on Fri, Feb 26

Hi,

Not too shabby a morning - I think it rained overnight at some stage as the roads were drying out.  But I was on the bus, so I can't be too sure.  my bike affords me a much better look at the roads.   Mike and Toby collected me from town last night after my meeting.  Toby loves picking me up from this venue because of the excellent water feature outside the building.  He wanted to strip off and swim in it last night!  he had to make do with chasing an apple juice bottle (which, in his imagination was a new Pokemon he was training) through the eddies and currents.  There are stepping stones (never designed for stepping, just looking at) and Toby leaps from platform to platform.  He leaned down on a part with water running over it and got quite wet.  Mike and I were enjoying the spectacle.

Mike is off to see a friend recently returned from 6 months in India tonight.  I'm off to take Toby to tennis and make sure he's ready for his sleepover at William's place.  Then, if the Lewises are still keen on a Gilbert/Lewis Friday night takeaway, I'll pop over there to say hello.

This weekend holds lots in store.  Saturday swimming for Toby (with Mike taking him), I have a facial with Ma at the same time, then home to pack for camping Saturday night in Waikanae and the trip out to Kapiti Island on Sunday.  Then, Sunday night we have friends arriving from Melbourne.

So, it's all on this weekend!

Have a great weekend whatever you get up to!

Love,
Angela

Good morning on Thurs, Feb 25

Hi,

Mike and I were rudely awoken at 4.44am by a howling gale driving rain into our wide-open window.  But I must admit, that I just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Mike apparently got up and closed the window but I was back into deep sleep by then!

Mike took the bus in as the wind was driving the rain against our window then too.  But by 8.15am when I left with wee Toby (and his scooter) it was quite nice.  The roads were wet and Toby was moaning (it's cold, it's wet, I'm sick, I want to watch TV all day - the last sentence being the crux of the matter) but it was fining up nicely.  Toby was ok by the time we got to school - speeding there on his scooter.

I rode in tentatively, being the first time riding, with cleats, in the rain!  Oooooo.  But it all went well.  I'm looking forward to the ride home up the hill after my meeting tonight.  I expect the cleats to make it a wee bit easier.

Last night I rode to karate - that route is a lot easier than my usual route so it wasn't a good test of my uphill technique with the new pedals.  And the evening was so warm.  I was melting by the time I sat down at the back of the hall to watch Toby perform.  Mike was there after seeing Toby's teacher for the parent-teacher interview and collecting wee Toby from Skids after tennis.

The interview went well.  Apparently everything is "very nice".  Mike thinks we need to check the curriculum and make sure Toby hits the milestones.  I think we might check into Mathletics - the Sampson children seem to enjoy it.  It costs money - a subscription - but it seems like a good additional homework exercise.

My cup of tea just flew down - it was absolutely scrumptious.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

Good morning on Wed, Feb 24

Hi,

Well, I am writing this from another PC at work of mine (I use Virtual Machines - my powerful host machine has something like 5 different environments for me to develop in - this is just one of them.  But not the usual one...) because I have broken my one true machine.  Stupid webcam.  It won't install on my VM.  So, as usual, a little bit of knowldege is dangerous and I have been fiddling as I suspect my USB port is not working correctly in the VM.

I have since tried to rollback to a previous version of my normal machine and I think it might have worked.  Fingers crossed I have averted disaster.  I will abstain from even touching the webcam from now on.  Someone else more gifted than me can try it out.

We missed the parent teacher interview last night. The car was in town for its WoF and the traffic snarled up and there was no hope of getting there on time.  So Mike has re-arranged the schedule after letting them know.  I think Mike is making sure of it by taking a half day this afternoon.  Mike has karate duty today and I think he will see Toby's teacher as well.

We are gearing up for overseas visitors in March starting on the first weekend.  Toby and I will leave Thursday March 4th with our friends for Napier and Mike will follow on Friday.  We'll hurtle around to Taupo, squash in the Tongariro Crossing (if the weather is good) and back home.  Then, come the weekend aound March 20, we'll do the same again with other friends from Australia.

Inbetween Mike is leading tramps and we have Kea sleepovers and all sorts of excitement.

Mum went for a huge walk yesterday with Dad and I think they'll do the same again today.  Time to get Mum into shape and I think she should look for a job.  They might be staying here a little longer now, so I think a job should keep her out of mischief and out of the house.  Good plan!

Have a marvellous day.  I have to go and see what has happened to my other PC.

Love,
Angela

Good morning on Tues, Feb 23

Hi,

And the month of February ticks away - I swear January and February are the fastest months of the year.  Wasn't it just Christmas a few weeks ago?  My birthday seems to come in a rush after the hectic summer holidays and now I stare at the barren 10 months of the year ahead.  I wonder if I could put about a rumour that I was actually born in May or June?

Anyhow - one of my most excellent birthday presents from Mike was a set of shoes, cleats and new pedals for my bike.  Last night Mike put on my new tyres (they have tread unlike the old tyres Mike took off), and my new pedals.  He held the bike while I climbed on and practised trying to put my feet on the pedals.  It wasn't very successful.  I think I scared myself now that I was facing the prospect of using the cleats the very next morning on the ride in.

So, this morning, I had to prepare myself mentally for the new pedal system and face the fact that I was unable to clip in easily.  Toby slept in until 7.45am and then scoffed 3 Weetbix and we hurtled out the door with scooter and bike.  It all went very well.  We were early for school - the scooter makes Toby very fast.  I got a kiss (well, sort of - Toby licked me as I leaned in to get the schmoochy kiss) and I waved goodbye to him.  Then I tentatively wheeled my bike to the road, and clipped in (eventually) my right foot.

Then I was off, and oddly, my left foot clipped in almost immediately.  I kept it in all the way to the lights at Tinakori Road and managed to clip it back in again.  I did it quite a few times on the way in.  It took a few goes once or twice but overall I was happy.  I was pulling my foot out very early on approaches to intersections and lights.  And I was a bit chicken-like about it all.  Booock, booock, boooock. (That's a chicken noise).

By the way, Toby's anal control-freak mother made his entire lunch today.  As Roz pointed out, I saved at least $2 worth of Gladwrap with that move.  But Toby slept in and I thought it was better he get a little lie in than make his lunch.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Tuesdays are now homework night.  It's one of our free nights and Toby has three days to do his Monday homework this year.  So, a slightly new routine.  Makes it easier as Monday nights are Kea nights.

Which, by the way, went rather well.  I rushed home with the car after work and collected Toby and his bike.  We picked up Chelsea and her bike and drove to the Scout Hall.  Wally was delayed at work so we got stuck into riding around.  Good fun.  Ryan turned up and we all had a ball.  We drew pictures of the bike of our dreams.  Wally and I reminesced about chopper bikes (with yellow, sparkly banana seat, flag, t-bar gear shifter and expensive price tag that meant Wally and I never owned one) while Toby's bike seemed to have many missiles and lasers.  Chelsea's bike was a meticulous drawing where a bike builder could have used it as a plan.  And Ryan's bike was cool!

That's about it.  Busy.  But all good.
Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

Making lunches

I've put my foot down and said that both Toby and I will make our own lunches. Angela has very kindly been making our lunches for us, but I don't think it's good for me, and I don't think it's good for Toby. It's taken a while, because Toby has been going in with his Granddad for most of the last week, and Angela hasn't quite believed me so I've ended up with two lunches on more than one day. But today was the first day where I've been taking Toby to school, and have had control over his lunch.

Toby really enjoyed it. I really only meant that he'd make his sandwiches, but Angela left everything out for his morning and afternoon snacks too. So we started with sandwiches, and after mulling it over and thinking about marmite, no, honey, no, a huge 4-slice club sandwich with OODLES of honey - Toby decided to make himself a ham and cheese sandwich, which he hasn't had for ages. So he filled his sandwich and then got the gladwrap and cut a generous piece of clingfilm to wrap it in.

Now it was time for sorting snacks, and the first I knew about this was when Toby found the mallowpuffs ('Royales' in Australian English) and promptly stuffed one in his mouth. Why were these out, I wondered? Aha, Toby's lunch box was completely empty. So we got a mallowpuff and again, Toby cut a generous piece of gladwrap for it. Then he got a yakult and insisted on wrapping it with the mallowpuff - 'to keep it cool', you see. Then we found an apricot - and wrapped it in Gladwrap - and some apple - and wrapped it in gladwrap - and some mango slices - wrapped up in gladwrap. I think we weren't supposed to take everything that was on offer, but oh well.

Just as we were just about to go, Toby found another apple and I found him attempting to crush it and make apple juice. So I chopped it up for him and told him he'd need to eat it on the way. But we decided it may's well go into his lunch box as well. I put it into a ziplock bag, but guess what? Toby got another bit of gladwrap and wrapped up the plastic bag. 'Now we know it's sealed', he said.

So lunch prep is definitely going to be a highlight of our mornings from now on. I'm going to have to be organised enough to get us off on time!!

Mike and Toby on Saturday

Toby and I have had a good time over the last 3 days. What with one thing or another, we ended up spending a lot of time together.

It all started on Saturday when as Angela said, the Corolla refused to start, even after we shoved it out of the garage and ran it down the hill. You might remember that this is not too unusual that our car refuses to start! Someone in our family likes to be able to see as they're getting out of the car, and forgets about this after they're out. So the interior light and one of the map lights had been on for two days. Thank goodness for the Automobile Association.

But this meant that we had to go to plan B, which was the MX-5, and that meant that somebody had to stay at home and watch winter Olympics (say). I put my hand up and told Angela to go back down and relax. There was an action packed day planned, all out in the Hutt, so we wouldn't be back for hours.

First up was swimming, and because of our fun and games with the cars, we were late. But we got there right on time, in spite of the blustery conditions on the way that left Toby huddling on the seat with his hands over his eyes, and even if I did have to park on some yellow lines and come back and move the car again once Toby was settled.

We like Toby's new swimming class. He's just up to a new class this term. He gets a good 10 metre or so length to swim, instead of a weirdly shaped area that didn't really let him get more than 2-3 strokes in. He has to learn to breathe. And he's got a Dragon Lady teacher who doesn't take any rubbish from anyone. All good stuff.

Toby did pretty well. He got told off a couple of times - all about how he goofs off and doesn't concentrate when the teacher's explaining what to do. And he finds the breathing thing hard - it's the first time he's had to learn new swimming stuff for ages. But he did very well and he enjoys it too I think. I told him that his teacher this term is like a sensei, not a swimming teacher. And we'll practice the breathing thing on the sofa this week.

Next on our busy itinerary was present buying. Toby had two birthday parties in the weekend, and now was the time to stock up on loot for them.

Usually this means that one us parents goes and buys a gift and Toby wraps it and writes a card. But not this time. Toby knew what he wanted and where he wanted to go. No Warehouse trip for him. Off we went to Farmers, where the best Gogo's Crazy Bones are. And I didn't get much of a say in the present buying. Charlie got a soft-toy R2D2 and a Gogo's Crazy Bones collectors bag. Ryan got a set of little Transformers toys. Neither present was what I would have picked - but Toby was not to be dissuaded. He knew what they would want. And then he picked out the cards and the wrapping paper - again, nothing like what I would have chosen - and we were done.

By this time it was lunchtime, and if Toby and his Dad are out together, then that means McDonalds. Queensgate has two food courts - the nice one, with Nando's, Gloria Jeans and suchlike - and the pleb one. Guess where McDonalds was. I took the opportunity to have something not-McDonalds, and that was a mistake. The best I can say about my soggy noodles and chewy sweet-n-sour was that I didn't get sick. But Toby was very happy, and I even remembered to order his cheeseburger with no onions (but he still had to pick out the Gherkins).

Now we had just enough time to hit the Warehouse for sellotape and scissors, and wrap up Charlie's present in the car. Then off to the Lower Hutt laser strike we hurtled. We got there right on time, I dropped off Toby, and then headed back to Sally and Andrew's for coffee.

All too soon it was time to get Toby again, and back to laser strike I went. Toby had had a ball - right up til the end when he'd got into fisticuffs with another boy who was defending his base very enthusiastically. He came right pretty soon though, and I think we'll be going back to laser strike.

Finally it was time to head home - with the roof up this time, in spite of the heat - and to get the Corolla running again and Toby off for yet another appointment - a sleep-over with the Sampsons. Whew! What an action packed day. Toby has more on than we do!

Good morning on Mon, Feb 22 (this time)

Hi,

Sorry - the website did its own thing this morning.  Not sure why.

But - the weekend was good fun.  Friday night was so lovely we went to tennis and ended up looking after William and Edwin while Louise went out for work.  Toby was happy to have the two boys come home with us afterwards and luckily Vivienne and Benjamin weren't put off by the sudden influx of boys and still came around to kick off the inaugural Gilbert/Lewis Friday night takeaway extravaganza.  Yummy fish 'n' chips from our local chippy.

Saturday morning was time for swimming and Mike got into the Corolla and...  Nothing.  Battery flat as a tack.  We tried to crash start it down the hill, but nothing happened.  So Mike bundled Toby into the MX-5 and headed off for quite a few hours.  Swimming, followed by present shopping and lunch, then Laser Strike for a birthday party at 1.30pm.  I did some laundry and watched lots of Winter Olympics.

When Mike and Toby got home around 4pm, we got the car fixed and dropped Toby off at the Sampsons for a sleepover and went to dinner with Mum and Dad.  We tried Kosmos - a Greek Taverna in Mt Vic.  It was good, but average in the food department.  Melbourne does Greek way better than Wellington.  We gate crashed a wedding party on there, so we listened to details of this couple's life all evening.  Mum loved it!

Home to bed (well, we watched a bit of TV) and we slept in without Toby to wake us early.  We leapt out of bed and rushed to collect Toby from the Sampsons as he had an early birthday party to attend (Ryan's one at Junglerama).  Toby loved it!  He has never got tired of Junglerama.  Ryan had a great lamington train cake.  Toby stayed after everyone left and ate lunch and played.

We then went home to get bikes and picked up some younger Sampsons and went bike riding around Karori Park.  Mum came and enjoyed the cafe there too.  It was a lot of fun.  Mike rode Wally's bike there and back so we had an adult on a bike.  But it wasn't needed really.  The kids were all good.

Then home to make tea and crash into bed. Another week begins.

Have a great week.
Love,
Angela