Last week of July, second week of term

We are all well so far, no sign of swine flu, a couple of sniffle perhaps, but otherwise we are all well. We also survived Zach's birthday party, another climbing wall party, this time at Aoraki Polytechnic. The boys had a wonderful time and didn't want to go home; we took the last of them home just before tea! The soccer game was late, and they lost, but were playing a 12th grade team, so can't feel too upset. (Zach should be playing 10th grade but there weren't enough to make a team.) The cake was an orange space station, pictures later hopefully.

Hannah played at Washdyke this week, and her team won 5-nil. She is growing in confidence and making more impact each game. Katarina also won her netball game; she isn't too proud however, as it was a younger team.

Holidays

Katarina came back to Timaru but forgot where the house key was hidden. Thank goodness for Aunty Tracey who had picked her up from the bus and so she stayed there for the night (which I was Much happier about !) The bach we stayed in at Okarito has no cell phone reception, so we were no help. On top of that, the kids had changed the hiding place, so we didn't know anyway! Katarina texted her brother in the morning who reminded her where they hid it!
Zach and Hannah were caught by the fog at Christchurch airport, so while we were up at six in the morning to be at the airport in time, their flight was cancelled. It was the most bizarre fog as it was pretty much just over the airport; the rest of Christchurch, the Port Hills, the plains were clear and fine. In fact, it was even windy! Go figure. So we went back to Timaru without them, and Zach and Hannah went back to Hamilton for another night with Auntie Kif and Unce Gary - yay for them. They also arranged for the new flights to be from Hamilton rather than flying out of Auckland, which saved them another trip. Chris and I took the service this morning, then headed up to pick them up. Big cousin Anna took extra good care of them, and they even were able to hand out the lollies and came home with one or two extra's - thanks Air New Zealand.
Chris and I have had a lovely time at Okarito, including visits to the glaciers, walks on the beach, and lots of blobbing. Shadow is in the dog house for running away and killing some of the local chickens. Bad Dog!

Holidays

Early post today as we are away 8am tomorrow morning to take Hannah and Zach to the airport, and big cousin Anna who is flying with them to Auckland. They are staying in Hamilton for the week. Shadow the dog is coming with us over to the West Coast.
Today we went to Abby's birthday at Chipmunks. (Abby is my niece and will start Gleniti School on Monday week.) Mum and Dad came up from Oamaru for the party as well, and we are planning on watching the rugby at McLeod's Saturday night.
Janine is having fun in Christchurch as far as we can tell, and Katarina is discovering that Mum and Dad are still not a source of endless funds.

And now for something completely different

With the change to July, we have now started the second half of the year. Eek!

A fellow mum and I have decided that what Timaru needs is a recorder ensemble. Both our children are keen recorder players and two years of lessons have taken them about as far as they can go without heading into exam territory. But playing together or in a larger group offers a much more interesting prospect and best of all, we can also play! There is a keen recorder teacher around who we are going to talk to, and we'll see how we get on. This would involve both Zachary and Hannah.

Zachary is really enjoying his piano lessons, after a tentative start. He is playing all sorts of things by ear, and there is a group of boys around who challenging and inspiring him to do better all the time. His piano teacher is marvellous, very tolerant of all the detours, and manages to get him gently back on track.

A father walked off the street last week and asked if we had a music group, and were we charismatic, and if we weren't charismatic, his 13 year old son would like to join. Funny the things that happen! So I said that the church hadn't been charismatic for as long as I was there - you can interpret that statement in a number of ways! And they turned up to music practise on Thursday and went away with a bunch of music to look at. Cool!

We are off on holidays next week, Zak and Hannah to Hamilton to visit their grandparents, Janine to Christchurch to baby sit for my sister, and Katarina to Dunedin to visit friends. Chris and I are heading to the West Coast for a few days rest and relaxation, with no cell phone coverage and no internet access. So, no blogging next week, dear reader, but don't worry, we'll be back!