Since the last entry? . We were so conscious of this blog when we first got here, trying to update friends and family about what we were doing, and trying to impart a little of the flavour of life down under to those at home. Three years on, we’ll we have friends here, and family and friends fro the UK and Germany have come over to see us and experience the NZ way, to see that we don’t live off vegemite and have tropical beaches. I guess the imperative to write has left us, so we grudgingly jot down as a chore what has been happening of late. Especially when not much at all has been occurring. Weekly routines of work, rest, and play merge into one, with nothing to raise its head over the parapet of life to be taken a shot at by the blogosphere. Sigh, Oh well, then, what have we been up to of late,. Week days is spend trying to care for a 17 month old little girl and her demands. Not that we begrudge her, but when her highness has been put to bed we generally collapse in a heap and have to be prodded to move and prepare for the next day. Weekends is routine also, I Skype my father Saturdays, and raise early giving Tina a change for a lay in bed, and she returns the favour on Sundays. Saturday afternoon is swimming lessons and perhaps a trip to the park if the weather holds out, and considering its winter now we’ve had some pissy cold weather of late. Sunday morning, DR WHO ! but just for one more week, and we’ll be at a loss
. I try to fit in some home improvement and DIY if I can, recently the bathroom has been finished, although I am eying the floor in there wondering if I can replace a floorboard with something from 60 years ago I found under the house, and with Brian’s help, managed to sort out the coving in the washroom. Just need to strip some skirting boards, sand the walls undercoat it, strip the window, clean the windows, paint it, and put on the skirts and door frames and be done. I hope to finish by Xmas this year, or at least by the spring time, when the garden explodes and needs a twice a month napalming to keep back the onslaught of the grass. Tina is out at the moment at the TSB arena for a parenting expo, aimed I think at mothers, and I have a couple of hours to myself, a rare opportunity indeed. With 35 minutes left before I to have an appointment to attend, so I’m dashing this piece off hoping it will sate the need for blogging for the next few weeks. If there is any news we will of course impart it, but most is done these days via twitter and facebook. Is the day of the blog dead ? Enjoy the video, This is of little Amber and her visit yesterday to the Botanic Gardens, and her insistence of walking the dog, I hope she stays away from the edge though…..
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Days 3: It turned out to be another beautiful sunny morning, so took the opportunity to go to the top of Bluff hill, and look out over Napier, very nice view and very clean, Day 4: Thursday was cloudier but still warm, she we decided to go to the aquarium, Amber wasn’t too impressed with the large tanks, but she loved the underground water walkway thing and we went round it 4 times, still only took us 1 1/2 hours to see the lot though, so from there after we ate lunch we headed off for cape kidnappers and clear view winery. We soon found out that it was actually a 5 hours return walk to cape kidnappers from where you had to dump your car, so we didn’t do it, the winery was nice though did a little bit of tasting and then moved on. I wanted to go and see the honey factory but we didn’t have a leaflet or know where it was only roughly in Havelock North, but as it turns out you really don’t need a map, just head for the general area and then its signposted. Amber and Scott both loved this place, getting to taste all the different honeys and watching live bees do their thing, very cool and we are glad that we went. We finished the day off by having the most delicious steak and a restaurant called steak out yum,. Day 1: So what a start to our holiday rain rain go away… Monday was horrid weather wise, we set off from very damp Wellington at 9:50am and after a very long nearly 5 hour car journey with Amber awake and not enjoying, being strapped into the car seat, we arrived in Napier at about 3 ish. It was pouring down and so we couldn’t see anything. We checked in to our motel room nice clean and tidy, just a shame our ocean view was obscured by the heavy rain. We decided to make the most of it, and took a drive around Napier starting with Bluff Hill, and then around town, Amber was protesting very loudly so we stopped at a burger king just to let her play on the playground and burn off some energy, then back to the room, to gather ideas for the week. Later out for dinner at Breakers restaurant, as they had an indoor play park and vegetables on the menu, so all were happy.
Morning all, here’s a quick update on what we’ve been up to, Amber has started her swimming lessons once more. She hates getting here head wet but we are trying to overcome that by dunking her as often as we can
Scott is after a Google phone or something like it, and is trying to sell some of his discworld figurines to raise the funds, so if your interested look here http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=283484883 Clocks have just sprung forward in the UK, and were now 12 hours distant, just for the week though, 11 next week as ours go back an hour as we fall into Autumn. On the good side we have a four day weekend to look forward to this week, and two four day working weeks, yum. Ok then news, work is getting harder and a pain in the neck, but it pays the mortgage and I’m lucky to have one in the current climate. Last week I managed to get a couple of days leave and painted the bathroom. We were going to have the whole week off and go up North for a relax, but after Amber smashed my front tooth, and Tina had an unexpected Dental appointment, well that blew the holiday reserve money, I can’t wait to win the lottery, must be my turn soon. As I said, the bathroom is finished painting, I just need to fit the window trims and the skirts, then onto the Washroom, sand, paint, and trim, then fix the loose brick over the garage, then lay the path, it never ends. Oh, and we managed to get a heat pump installed into the back room the other week, so we’ll use the four day weekend to move Amber’s nursery into the back. Hopefully she won’t mind the move much, and the temperature is controlled, I just hope I can fit the office desk and a double bed from the back room, into the front room. Thank goodness we didn’t decorate with children’s wallpaper when we did the nursery first time round!
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