Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Quiet Week

Well really the week has been quiet. The weather had been nice & the sun shone on Thursday, so much so that the boys had fun running under the sprinkler.

Scott & I went to Rotherams for dinner on Friday night. The taxi rides both ways were not fantastic. The first taxi was an very old car that rattled along & then the driver seemed to take some chances at the intersections. The taxi ride home was with someone who didn't know the streets of Christchurch very well so we had to give him directions all the way back home. This is from Blue Star taxis one of the more reputable taxi companys in Christchurch. I have to wonder where they find these people from. I suupose it is coming up to party season so everyone is flocking to be a taxi driver to get some extra money for christmas.

The meal at Rotherams was beautiful. It's a sumptuously decorated place with soft lighting & very helpful staff. We both started off having a seafood selection. It came on a large square plate with a round of salmon on bruschetta at the front. To the left there was a tiger prawn sitting on guacamole. Next to that was a basket with clam & mussels in it. Next to that was a seared scallop sitting on a ginger & pineapple coulis. At the top of the plate was a spoon with an oyster on it. We could choose how we wanted our oyster so we both chose to have it raw with a lime & wasabi sauce over it with a little dot of caviar.
For mains I had a beef fillet wrapped in bacon on top of a marrowbone stuffed with couscous. Scott had the lamb duo which is a lamb rack(just 2 chops) & a lamb shank.
Dessert was interesting. I decided to give pineapple infused with red wine & green pepper a try. The pineapple turned red & some of the cloying sweetness of the pineapple was cut by that infusion. It was served with a citrus parfait. Scott had the passionfruit cheesecake. The peice de resistance was the sugarwork that accompanied both desserts. I left mine intact but Scott ate all his. As we were leaving we were presented with a plate that had 2 marshmellows with a candle in each marshmellow. Around the edge of the plate in chocolate was written Happy Birthday Katrina & Scott. There was also biscotti in the middle of the plate sitting on some raspberry couli. What a lovely way to end the dining experience. It was pricy but such a lovely treat & we will be going back again. It is actually our second time going there & yet again it was fantastic so I think we have worked out where our birthday meal is going to be next year.

Mum kept the boys overnight on Friday & then came with them for breakfast at Drexels on Saturday. She asked if she could look after them on Saturday night as well so we immediately said yes.

We have tidied away all the wallpaper stripping gear in preparation for Robin & Phyllis' visit. They will be coming to grandparents day at Medbury on Friday so both boys are highly excited about that.

Hopefully it'll be another quietish week this week. I have to make a birthday card for Danja & I want to keep cracking on at making christmas presents. Luckily some of them involve scrapbooking so I get to do that to make the presents.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Week Ahead

It is shaping up to be a busy week.

Monday Brent has his swimming lesson after school. Last week I sent him into the mens changing rooms by himself & he took a while to get dressed into his swimming gear. I think this week I might pick both boys up from school & have a change of clothes for both boys plus Brent togs. I'll get both boys changed either at school or at the pool & then we might be in the pool on time.

Tuesday Scott is working in the early hours of the morning. I have a layouts class on Tuesday night.

Wednesday Scott is in Wellington. I will be doing my last kindy library duty & showing someone else the ropes.

Thursday Club scrap have an online crop that I am hoping to be part of.

Friday Brent & James have a mufti day at school. I have a kindy committee meeting & mum will be picking the boys up from school & taking them to her place so that Scott & i can go out to dinner at Rotheram's to celebrate our birthdays.

Saturday is Scott's birthday & we'll be having breakfast with mum & the boys at Drexels.

Throughout the weekend there is a ScrapTown crop so I'm really hoping to get some layouts completed & maybe even some Christmas cards. I found out that the first Christmas post to Australia is November 18 so I better start working on the christmas newsletter & making some cards at least for those people in Australia.

Have a great week everyone, I will especially on Thursday. I'm not doing any housework on Thursday & hope to be scrapping most of the day.

Scrapbooking

These are the layouts I have done this week.

Saturday 14 October - Picnic at Orton Bradley Estate

Dad rang through the week wondering if Scott & I wanted to do anything this weekend for our birthdays. We decided that a picnic at Orton Bradley would probably be nice. Dad brought his little BBQ & some sausages & chicken. Jo & I brought some of the non meat picnicy things.



It started off being a lovely warm day. We had lunch & then the children went off to play on the flying fox. Scott got involved & played on it too.




Unfortunately the clouds came over & the wind became quite cool but it was a wonderful day out & the boys fell asleep on the short ride home. We found out that it was 10 minutes faster to go via Gebbies Pass rather than via the Sign of the Kiwi. We have since found out that there are some geocaches over there so we might just have to go back again another time with the co-ordinates on hand.


PS: For those people who want just the photos of Brent & James on the flying fox try this website http://crigsnzphotos.blogspot.com/

School Started Tuesday 10 October

James started school this week. I took some photos of him in his uniform on Monday evening so that we wouldn't be too rushed on Tuesday morning.





On Tuesday morning in the car James was saying I'll walk myself in mum. I said no I'll go in today & we'll sort out your locker & get everything to your classroom. His gungho attitude left when we got to the locker room. He stood by his locker & said what do we do now? So we unpacked his bag & he still stayed near me. We dropped Brent off in his classroom & I said to James you show me your room. He stayed right beside me. We got to his classroom & I asked him where his desk was & he still stayed beside me. We said hello to his teacher & he still stayed right beside me. A boy asked him to play with the Lego so he siddled slowly away & kept looking at me. In the end I went over, gave him a kiss & said see you this afternoon & left.

After that I went for a long walk in Hagley Park hardly believing that James was at school & not kindy. 11:30 rolled around & I looked at the clock & thought "no I don't have to pick up James, I can sit in the sun for a bit."

The best part of the day was going to pick him up. He has seen Brent running to me after school & that is what he did, he ran into my arms with a huge smile on his face. He had had a wonderful day at school & even shared some of the same classes as Brent.

He is in the same class as Brent for ICT, music & topic, which at the moment is on dinosaurs.

On Friday James came home with a merit award & a little award for being a busy bee & getting on with his work when asked. I could hardly believe that seen as I have to tell him things at least 3 times to get them done.

Both boys have had a wonderful week at school & I have had a lovely time just pottering around tidying my house.

Geocaching for the week

There is a different type of geocache at the Canterbury University. It is one where you stand in front of a web cam & get your photo taken. We had tried to go a while ago but we got the timing wrong. On Sunday 8 October we decided to give it another go. We got there & waited for quite some time. James was very interested in a birds nest so he missed being in the photo. This is us at a cache called UC IC.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

This week

What have we done this week? That's a good question. We have filled up the days but luckily most of it has been with cheap entertainment.

We start off each morning by taking dad to work. We have had the bikes in the back & we would stop off at Hagley park on the way home & ride (I walk)around the north Hagley Park. This has been a wonderful way to burn off that excess energy that the boys just seem to have in abundance. We had to give a couple of days a miss due to the weather but Thursday brought a smile to my face. It had been pouring with rain on Tuesday & Wednesday but Thursday dawned clear but with a cold wind blowing. We went around the park & the boys had a ton of fun biking through the puddles. They were laughing & so excited to find puddles to go biking through. I had older people just walk past me with smiles on their faces & say how great it is that I'm letting the boys do what boys do "get dirty!" The clothes when they finished had mud splattered up them & they were wet but they had had fun, so much fun that it exhausted James & at 11am he was having a nap in his bed.

Tuesday we went into town to get the last bits of everyone's uniforms from Ballantynes & to have lunch from Scott. It was actually a quick trip that cost us nothing in car parking fees, much to my surprise.

Wednesday James went to the doctor to have his 5 year old well child check & to have his immunisations. For those who want to know, James is now 18kg & 108cm which is average (not a surprise). He was really good for both immunisations & didn't cry or flinch for either of them. He had a huge lump come up on his arm on Thursday & Friday from them but today that has subsided & he's back to his cheerful self.

Thursday's excitement was going biking through the mud puddles & watching a family of duckings come so close to us that we could have reached out & stroked them.

Friday neither boy wanted to go biking so I did housework & gardening & then in the afternoon the boys had a picnic lunch. After lunch we got our cameras & headed back to Hagley Park, this time to the Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately we were too late to get any photos of the daffodils but we saw some very strange sculptures using rubbish. I have to say they didn't do much for me but I think the boys were fascinated that I called it art. We were there for an hour & a half waiting for Scott to finish work. We picked him up & then went up to mum's for dinner. The boys stayed with her overnight so this morning Scott & I got a sleep in.

I had a crop today & completed a layout



Tomorrow I'm not sure what we will do but I would like to try some more caching. Might just have to wait & see how receptive the boys are to that idea.

Next week the term starts. What a week it's going to be. James received a letter today from his teacher so he's all excited about finding his favourite book & a toy beginning with J to take to school on Tuesday (they start back on Tuesday). On Monday Brent has his first swimming lesson in the big pool which he's not so happy about, hopefully when he gets in he'll realise it's not so scary as he thinks it is. I'm going to start hitting the gym routine to work away the tears that seem to fill my eyes at the thought of my baby going to school. I'm going to miss having him around. He's a little character, full of joy, mischief & ingenuity. School is the best place for him & I think he'll thrive there but a part of me is very sad that his little being won't be around as much.

Saturday 30 September

I had seen the signs around the city advertising a Thomas & Friends day at Steam Scene so as it wasn't a rainy day we decided we would take the children & have a look. It is out at McLeans Island & it has it's own miniture railway that runs through the area. For only $1 a ride per person the boys (big & small ones) got to have 2 rides on it.



They also have a big railway that runs through the area as well & there was a little steam driven caboose named George that we took a ride in. Being steam & an enclosed area it was very hot inside but must have been a nice way to travel on a cold day.



There were traction engines & fairground music boxes all running on steam. The boys enjoyed it & absolutely loved going on the miniture railway & didn't want to leave around 3:45 when the miniture trains stopped running. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.