The Monday with Keas and good weather - oh, it's so boring having good weather every day

Hi,

Keas went really well - I hit upon a brainwave - a scavenger hunt.  We put them into two teams - Toby was one captain and Chelsea the other (they are the two oldest Keas now).  I was really proud of both of them.  Toby stepped up and his team worked well together - he was organised and thoughtful.  And I noticed he also did it himself if it wasn't getting done.  Team leading quite often comes down to that.  Toby kept a track of the things they had done by ticking them off and motivated his team well.  Good signs.

Wally and I relaxed for a lot of it while the Keas ran around finding stuff.  Great!

Then Toby and I left for the Ethiopian restaurant - that was shut.  So we ate next door and told Ilske how nice the Ethiopian food was...  What a shame.

Then we dropped Ilske off home and dropped Mike at the Wadestown Residents Association meeting.  Home to bed for Toby and I watched some TV and Mike arrived (fortunately he never said yes to anything this time) and bed for all of us.

I had Toby drop-off duty this morning.  We had a good morning but I was late getting away and sat in my 9am meeting in my bike shorts.  Heheheheh.

Have a great day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with glorious weather

Hi,

It's all anyone can talk about at work - how lovely the weather was at the weekend.  Everyone looks healthy for getting a good dose of the UV.  Our Saturday was busy - we took Toby swimming and he swam well (although we could tell he really just wanted to play).

Off to the Backbencher afterwards to spend our Trivia night winnings ($100 voucher at the Backbencher pub) on a lovely lunch with the rest of "Six of the Best" (that was our team name).  We got to meet some friends of Christine's from Canterbury and they told us of the earthquake excitement.  Scary stuff.

Then home to quickly get Toby ready for his swimming with William and sleepover.  Mum rang about then and said it was too hot to walk tot he supermarket so I popped over and took her in the car.  By the time I got back home Toby was gone.  Mike and I had a few hours to relax before we cooked tea and Mike collected Ilske.

Ilske had talked at tramping club about her walk in Ethiopia so I got a private version of that talk.  Lucky me!  It was fascinating.  Dinner was yummy (vege lasagna and salad) and then it was time to take Ilske back home.

A quiet night watching TV before we both realised we were actually asleep on the couch. 

Sunday we decided to launch into some manic gardening.  Mike went and collected Toby from William's house and I set to with the hedge trimmer.  When Mike got back he decided the hedge trimmer was far too slow and not destructive enough.  The bush saws appeared and we cleaved a hole in some trees beside Toby's trampoline.

Then it was time to head to Sally and Andrew's place for lunch with everyone.  My mother had been baking up a storm (Ma - do you want to bake something for Thursday for Toby to take to school - he is having a shared lunch with his house - Tuis) and although I wore a bit of trifle when it oozed out of the container, everything was yummy.  Mum had also made marshmallows squares - I think they are Toby and my favourites.  Homemade Mallowpuffs I call them.  Toby ate three after lunch for dessert.

Andrew got back just as we were finishing lunch.  He'd done the Around Taupo race.  Phew!  He looked pretty pleased with his efforts.  Good on him!

Home for more gardening and tidying.  We have a lot of green waste to chip into the gully now.  And a broken sewer pipe to get sorted.  Mike bought a machete on the way home and hacked through the undergrowth to the sewer pipe and declared it was structural to the concrete slab.  So, the only thing keeping tonnes of concrete up is a sewer pipe.  No wonder it's broken under that strain.

Keas tonight - I haven't organised anything so we'll be winging it again.  Oh dear.  Then off to dinner with Ilske at the Ethiopian restaurant we have found in Brooklyn.  Yum!

Have a great week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with lovely weather but lots of work

Hi,

Yes - it was a lovely day - and another cracker one today too.  The ride in was very pleasant.  Definitely t-shirt weather.  Mike has a migraine though so he is still at home recovering.  He had quick access to his migraine medicine, so it might nip it in the bud and he might be ok to come in later or work from home.  We shall see.

I had to work late last night.  Got lots to get through today too.  Nice email from Michelle to read though.  Sounds like she's doing well with Tim and her studies.  Good on her!

Swimming tomorrow.  Then dinner with Ilske (she's going to show me her tramping club presentation I missed on a Wednesday a few weeks back - walking in Ethiopia) and I think dinner with Kara tonight.  Busy!

Sunday lunch with Sally (Andrew is away I believe) and that sums up the coming weekend.  Great!  Have a marvellous day wherever you are.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with karate and Mike's return

Hi,

I rode home just in time to join Toby and Gramps at karate.  It's a grading coming up and we have to practise a lot with Toby.  He seems to have forgotten quite a bit since the last time.

We had a great dinner with Mum and Dad after karate.  Mum cooked up delicious macaroni cheese and we all ate heaps of it.  Then Toby and I were off to tramping club to return the billies from last weekend and Mike met us there from his flight.  Toby and I were sitting in the car reading our books.  Toby didn't feel like going to the club night.  Although when we approached the building to return the billies he said he loved the tramping club.  Great people he said.

Anyhow...  It turns out that the reason Mike was so stressed about the conference he was attending up in Auckland was because he was speaking at it!  He never said!  He was muttering about having no time to prepare for it and would need to do it on the plane.  And I was thinking "Ok.  Weird to worry about choosing what talk you'll attend but never mind".  Mike said it went very well.  I hope he cultivates this habit for a lifestyle change in about 15 years where I join him as he swans around the world talking at conferences and I visit the various tourist highlights in the vicinity.  Heheheh.

Busy day today.  Better get stuck in.
Love
Angela

The Tuesday with no Mike

Hi,

Toby and I had a good Tuesday evening - despite the lack of Mike.  We got home and got ready for Burger Wisconsin (a treat for me and Toby - and yes - I had nothing out for dinner) and made sure we had the Paua Hut key to return (it was close to Burger Wisconsin).

We ordered the burgers and then Toby surprised me by asking if we could walk to the house to drop the key off.  Sure we could!  I grabbed the key and the washed tea towels and we walked past Toby's karate (It's not Wednesday Mum!) to the house.  I chatted for a while to the woman on the receiving end of the key and asked if she could pass on the message to the next users to retrieve our safety tape (we left it there by mistake - it protects the cliff from the children getting too close) and look for a jade necklace Jack dropped somewhere near the hut.

Then back to get the burgers and home to munch on them.  Yum.  We chatted to Mike for a while on the phone.  Auckland was going well.  We did ring him in the middle of a conference talk at one stage though.  Oops.

Early to bed although Toby was very chirpy and blethered away merrily for ages.

Our morning was fun - washing got hung out and generally pottered about before walking to school.  All good fun.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with Keas

Hi,

Keas went surprisingly well.  Surprising because I have been so busy at work that preparation consisted of a hard think for about three minutes.  But the kids loved it.  Wally is good at it and can salvage any situation.

We learned about wild animals and tame animals and then the Keas all went and tried being an animal and we had to guess.  Gareth had us all stumped with a tamarin!

Then for dinner at the Sampson establishment and then home to see Mike.  He was busy packing for his two days in Auckland.  Yes, I am a single mother today and tomorrow.  Busy times indeed.

Mike got away early (5.40am) and Toby and I had a leisurely morning.  I packed up the tents so we can actually move in the lounge now.  And some washing wouldn't go astray, so the machine is on timer and should be good to hang out when Toby and I get home.  Marvellous.

Homework night tonight.  Should keep us busy for a while.  Times tables again tonight I think.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with a Paua Hut tramp

Hi,

What a great weekend - Mike led an amazing family tramp to Paua Hut.  The meal was fantastic and we enjoyed the company of other families and their children.

Friday night I went out with Toby to Christine and Tom's place for dinner and left Mike to sort out packing for the weekend.  Toby was a bit put out by this as he was looking forward to a quiet Friday night at home doing nothing but watching a movie.  He pouted all the way to their house and then climbed into the boot to delay going in.  Christine spotted us as she popped out to put something in the rubbish.  I mentioned Toby's reluctance to visit and she immediately turned him around and before I knew it, they were racing each other up the stairs into her house.  Toby was hooked - and he tucked into a fabulous dinner and watched Kung Fu Panda with Tom.  It was a great evening.

Home and to bed for an early rise for the start of tramping.  Toby got a lift there with Jack and John (they were on their first overnight tramp to a hut with us - Toby was so pleased to have Jack along) and Mike and I drove in to get a new bite valve for his camelbak (shops were still shut in town so we dropped into Kathmandu in Petone) and picked up Claire and her two daughters - Auriel and Saren.

We were a little late getting to the road end.  But Constanze and Christian were there with Gustav and Moritz.  And Daniel was there with his two girls - Charlotte and Alice.  It was a good walk in.  The weekend was threatening storms and it was very humid and mild on Saturday.  Definitely t-shirt and shorts weather.  We had lunch at Midway Bridge (a fantastic swing bridge halfway along the track).  Christian and Moritz left at the river and headed back.

We made Paua Hut with only a few drops of rain falling every now and then.  They have hardly had any rain in the last month here and the river was as low as I have ever seen it.  The side streams were dry and there was only one braid in the river - a single channel.  Usually there are channels you have to cross quite regularly.

The children played and had fun.  We put the tape on the trees to remind the kids to avoid playing near the eroding cliff.  Oh - did we remember to pick it up again?

Then Mike got dinner started and he cooked up a storm.  We now recommend the beef stroganoff in the Tramping Club recipe book.  It was great!  Mike made a vege one (we had a vegetarian on the trip) and a beef one.  It was perfect catering - hardly anything leftover and people ate heaps.  Well done, Mike.

When it got darker, we had a campfire outside and Daniel let off fireworks and the kids toasted marshmallows.  Great fun.  The funniest thing I saw?  Charlotte asking John to help her light her sparkler because it wasn't lighting.  John asked her to pass it to him.  Next thing he handed it back saying "It's a twig".  I laughed quite hard at that.   It was quite dark by then.  I am sure Charlotte had no idea about it being a twig.  One firework shot off right past me and Toby and fizzled loudly in the tree behind us.  Constanze had been there up until a minute beforehand.  Lucky for her.  Mind you, in my experience the Germans can handle fireworks with nonchalance.

Mike and I slept in our Macpac tent and Toby and Jack slept in the new Beyond tent.  As we drifted off, a slow patter of rain started.  Never heard anything else till the morning.  The rain had been quite steady all night though judging by the dampness.

We had breakfast - John cooked up bacon and asparagus.  It was scrumptious.  I am adding that to my brekkie list from now on.  Then we tidied and left.  The walk back was dry - the rain had stopped at about 7.30am.  The river was hardly any different (maybe slightly deeper and faster in places - but scarcely noticeable).  Toby had a misadventure on the way back.  He jumped off a 2m high bank and landed great, but bit down on his mouth with the impact.  He had a nip out of his lower inside lip and said he had 4 wobbly teeth.  We told him to be careful eating and not to wiggle them.  He calmed down and they came right.  I will keep an eye on them though.  His two top teeth and his two bottom teeth (front ones).  Poor boy.  it did upset him.

We got out to the car park by 1pm and all climbed wearily into cars and headed home.  It was a great weekend.  I love the tramp out there.  So easy and yet it feels isolated.

I had to get into work after that though for a few hours.  But it went ok.  Last night was a fantastic sleep - although the cat was making choking sounds and may have puked up at some stage.  Mike will know more. 

Time to start the week!  Have a great day.
Love,
Angela