Tina, Amber & Scott

Big earth quake here this morning in Christchurch on the south island at 4:30 ish we didn’t feel it but apparently some people in Wellington did. All over the news, roads ripped up and houses ripped to shreds went on for 15 mins the most I have ever felt was a few seconds. only injuries so lets hope all ok.

In other news, Amber is doing really well at day care,we went to the Zoo a few weeks ago and she loved that, growing all the time and is now putting two separate words together to say bye bye daddy as she waves (very cute). She gets very frustrated when she wants something and cant communicate it, and has now staring biting as well as smacking agh! any advice would be great please!

Scott and I are ok just plodding along with work etc, need another holiday now that its officially spring the weather is getting nicer and Amber is going outside more (she has decided that its far to boring inside) so we are generally having to get out the house before 930 every day.

Tomorrow is Fathers day so Scott will get pampered or so he thinks and have a nice relaxing day, as next week is going to be a really busy one.

July has been a cold and frosty month here in Wellington, but we have had a lot of clear and sunny days and not much rain which is good.

Ambers Swimming lessons have come to a term end, but a few of us are continuing to go on a Sunday Morning so it keeps the kids in the water, and its important they are not afraid of the water, kind hard to avoid it here ;o)

We went to see Swan Lake on ice recently and it was fantastic, I was so amazed by the grace and skill of 15 people dancing so beautifully on such a small patch of ice. The lead Swan was so graceful she even swapped her ice-skates for sippers at one point and her balance was perfect. I’d definitely go and see the proper ballet if it ever came to Wellington.

So I also had a big change this month with my hair went from the traditional brown/blonde to very different red/brown, the change made a positive  influence on all. It is really growing on me now, took me a few weeks to get used to it.

The coffee group met up at the Zoo this month, not a huge turnout but it was a good morning very wet though towards the end and all the kids were getting restless. Its nice that the first group outing including all the husbands since blueberry park back in May. Also had a girls night last night, as Scott went out with work, I had a some other mum friends over for a giggle filled night with love actually dvd and wine. good night. Thanks Ladies.

To finish July up I had some rough news this past week with a death in the family, so my love goes out to all, Wescombes, Smalleys, Stiles, Willis, Wrights, Miles, Woodwards and Monks.

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…..

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, from there we Silver Oaks chocolate factory and I had the best chocolate muffin with real cream and chocolate sauce yum, spent some time going round the shop and watching the factory works through the window, Amber was fascinated by a chocolate bunny that was as tall as she was. From there a drive to Ocean Beach as recommended. Lovely beach gorgeous golden sand but the weather wasn’t really up to much so we could sit and play, I should imagine that it gets really packed in summer though. Then a trip to Hastings to have a look around their town centre, and discovered that the fright trains go straight through a lovely garden in the town centre very weird. Then I had the experience of my food shopping life I went to Pak N Save Napier and what a wonderful place to shop much better than ours, I could have stayed longer but I needed to get back and as I had the dinner

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.

Day 2: How different was Tuesday, we had a terrible night sleep with Amber, resulting in both of us being up half the night and Scott sleeping in the other room with Amber from about 4am onwards. Still when we got up at 7am there was a beautiful sunrise and blue skies ahead. We took Amber to the park opposite and let her run wild, I have never seen a park like it no graffiti, no rubbish, what a clean place and so well kept. We also made most of the beach, and Amber loved playing with the pebbles between her fingers. Then Amber slept while we walked along the sea front and up to the Centennial Gardens Waterfall, via the Spa, War Memorial and sunken gardens. I loved the waterfall it was simply beautiful. From there on to town and a walk around the art deco shop fronts popping into the art deco shop and train land home to NZ’s largest model railway and a little ride on track that Amber had great fun on. It turned out the owner was from Somerset . Time to walk back to the apartment via the park and skate park and a afternoon nap for all before a late dinner at a different Breakers Restaurant.

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 mothers day was last weekend, so I let Tina have a lay in bed and made pancakes, which Amber loves to munch on. She is eating well and never seems to refuse anything. We even tried her with a curry last week which she scoffed gleefully.  Al is across at the moment looking for a local job, hopefully we can get him in at work. And we have a week off at the end of the month. Travelling up to Napier for a holiday and see the country. Sam is being looked after by a friend of a friend, and should get a good run around and love for the week freeing us up which is a plus. Looking forward to Napier, and we hope the weather will hold. We might even be able to get out to the beach while were there.  We really need a break as we havnt been anywhere or had time off since last October.