Lily's Latest

Here is Lily's latest poem from school:

Summers Here

Summer seems to have arrived in Rolleston and we connected up the hose to the climbing frame to cool the kids off at the weekend. We usually get a few weeks of nice weather before the sun becomes so hot it peels the skin from your face within minutes of going outside. It's raining now mind, so I might have spoken too soon!

Halloween Hell and Cricket Heaven

We had eight groups of trick or treaters today which equates to about 30 kids. That's a ridiculous amount of trick or treaters and very annoying when you have to keep answering the door all the time. We ran out of sweets in the end and had to hide in the bedroom.

Better news however is that Toby is now old enough for backyard cricket and can chuck a ball at least 2m for me to whack into the shrubs with my tennis raquet. Happy days are here!

Victory for the All Blacks. Hooray!

Yesterday was a great day for NZ with the rugby world cup victory, the first for 24 years. It was a tense and nervy final which could have gone wrong any minute and I can't say I enjoyed it. But the country has apparently gone mad for it today, with thousands of people dressed in black lining the streets in Auckland to see the team parade past on the back of utes, with bagpipes, dancing and the like.

Rolleston on the other hand has remained quiet.

Tupperware Madness hits Rolleston

Tonight Jo is at a Tupperware party. She has been to four tupperware parties in the last ten days. That's crazy! But there's more. This is the second Tupperware party she has been to today. What kind of mad person goes to two Tupperware parties in one day? Jo. That's who. But it gets worse. She is going to another next week. That's five in all. Is there no end to this Tupperware insanity?

Lily's Latest pics

Here are some pictures by Lily. She and Toby went to Orana Park Wildlife Park today. Jo says they didn't really bother looking at any animals but spent most of the time playing on a rock.

Lost In Torchwood

We have started to to watch a series called Torchwood Miracle day. It is a science fiction series with an interesting plot where people stop dying, even if badly injured or blown to pieces. There is some conspiracy going on but we don't know what it is yet.

I am a bit nervous about the whole thing though. I am not sure how long it is going to go on for or whether it will have a satisfactory conclusion. I remember when Lost was on. It was quite intriguing for the first 10 episodes but then, after another 14, it imploded with a lame and preposterous end to the first series, from which it never recovered despite going on and on for another 120 episodes over five long years. By the time they revealed the big secret, everyone had given up on it.

I don't want to go through that again.

Wild West Minigolf

We have been to a new minigolf this weekend, this one with a wild west theme. Toby was very excited about the whole thing shouting "minigolf" a lot which is good use of a three syllable word and good progress with his talking. He doesn't really play but he does enjoy walking around with his ball and generally getting in the way and distracting people. Lily sort of plays. She stands with her feet either side of the ball and hits it backwards. As always, Jo and I took the whole thing appropriately seriously. The scores on the doors were 56-63, a resounding victory for me!

Filling a Heart-Shaped Hole in My Life

For the last two years there has been something missing from my life. A sugar bowl. When we have visitors, I have had to give them the paper bag of sugar, or pour it into a cup. Today I saw a heart shaped bowl in the Warehouse for $1.99 and I excitedly bought it, to put the sugar in.

A year or two ago, I bought a tupperware box for the butter and I felt a similar level of satisfaction as I do now, for a problem solved.

TV Choice

Tonights TV choice is as follows. On TV1 we can have Road Cops, followed by Dog Patrol. On TV3 we have The Force, followed by Dog Squad. That's exactly the same pragrams on both channels at the same time, again!

Whats the point in having a choice of TV channels?

Toby's Two

It is Toby's birthday on Wednesday but we thought we would do his birthday today, at the weekend, so that I could spend the day playng with his toys. He has some amazing stuff, likie this car racing track:

Jo has been practising her cake decorating for the party which is next weekend, with 17 children expected. Here is Toby with the first attempt:

In The Olden Days

Lily has been learning about the first Maori settlers of New Zealand and the giant moa birds they ate. She's obviously been taking it in because she has written a book about it. Those who are interested in history could do a lot worse than checking this out: In the Olden Days

Pictures of Aliens

Lily has been drawing lots of pictures of aliens. She is making a space ship with her friend Jensen so they can going to the moon to meet them!

The alien monster catcher

Boy alien thinking about girl alien

Soccer 4 Tots

We have started taking Toby to Soccer for Tots. He wasn't keen on the first session, where he clung to Jo throughout, mostly crying at the same time, but he was much better the second time. They have to do particular things, like get a beanbag and put it in the right hoop, or, of course, kick the ball.

Anyway, he won player of the week this time. Presumably he was the most improved player!

Snow in Rolleston

It snowed today. Quite a lot, but not loads. The whole country shut down though. No shops or schools were open and there was no-one at work.

It's the first time Lily has really seen the snow and she was very excited. She had a lovely time playing in it for about ten minutes - then everyone was too cold and we had to go inside. Then I went to work, leaving Jo stuck in the house with two over-excited children!

A Bomb Waiting to Go Off

I have just been to ther shop to buy some stamps. The man behond the counter gave Toby a lolly. I wish people wouldn't do that. An almost two year old is like a bomb waiting to go off and that man has just lit the fuse!

Self Inflicted Injuries

I cut myself shaving today. I accidentally inflicted upon myself an inch long horizontal cut just below my lower lip. It bled like you wouldn't believe - I had a red stripe running down my chin. Jo said it looked like I had just bitten the head off a bat.

Toby the Surf Boy

Here is a video of Toby the surfer boy in action:

Some Pictures from the Sunshine Coast

We arrived home from the Sunshine Coast yesterday morning at 5am so we are all quite tired. Toby threatened to wake up at 7 but Jo managed to passify him. Today we have been to 2 kids parties which has meant that they have been busy!

Here are some pictures from our holiday!

The pool at the Apartment

Kids on the Beach

Barbeque on the Beach

Surfer Boy

Kalgoorlie Cops

There seem to be two types of TV program at the moment: reality cop shows or reality fat people shows.

I've grown sick of the second category. When you've seen one fat person doco you've seen them all. I also thought I'd had enough of the first category until two weeks ago, when Kalgoorlie Cops hit the screens.

Kalgoorlie is a mining town in the Australian desert and the home of the superpit, the worlds largest goldmine. Aussie men fly in for a weeks shiftwork and then fly out again. When they are not driving heavy machinery they are drinking heavily and causing chaos in the town centre.

Incidents covered so far include the lady who bashed in the heads of four men in a crowded pub with her shoes. There were no witnesses; everyone was too drunk to give evidence.

I feel for the officers charged with keeping the peace in this city. But they all seem to love it. They get plenty of action, apparently.

Airbourne

At the weekend we caught the bus to Lincoln for the opening of the new Lincoln Events Centre. Toby loves the bus. He is excited to see one and he was delighted to get on one. He sat at the back, in the centre, looking pleased and cackling to himself.

That's where things started to go wrong though. Some idiot in a blue Honda pulled out in front of the bus and the driver did an emergency stop, skidding to an abrupt halt. Poor Toby was flung into the air, out of his seat and landed face first on the floor. He has mat marks on his cheek and a black eye. He was quite distraught really, unsurprisingly, and we hope Leopard Urban Cat buses haven't spoiled his appreciation of buses. He seems fine now.

A Choice of Sauces

I was round a friends house the other week. It was an older place and quite large. One thing I did like is that it had a huge walk in pantry, the size of a small room. It was a cupboard large enough for all the pots and pans and packets of stuff. He had so much space that he had room for the full range of masterfoods mustard. American, French, Dijon, Dijon with Mayonaise, and more. And a choice of tomato sauces. That's what a want in my next house: enough space for a choice of sauces.

Speaking of Sauce, we have all become obsessed with Newmans Ceasar Salad dressing. It is quite cheesy and you can put it on almost anything. It comes out with a rush as well so we are going through a bottle a week at least.

Toby the ice-cream Eater

Like any small child given the chance, Toby loves ice cream. Cream! Cream! he shouts when he suspects that ice cream is a possibility. Here he is in action:

The Amazing Pirate Island Minigolf

Christchurch takes minigolf seriously. There are at least four amazing minigolf courses and today we went to Pirate Island, where the course is set around a galleon and an artificial waterfall. It looks amazing. And there is a cave which talks to you when you go inside. Lily had a great time, and so did Toby, who likes to run up to the hole and put the ball in.

As for me and Jo, minigolf is the only game which we get competative at, probably because Jo usually wins. We were neck and neck for the first half but then Jo went to pieces a bit, not helped by Lily following her around saying "Mummy's gone to pieces!". Jo claims she was distracted by having to talk like a pirate to amuse Lily, but I think you can't argue with the facts, in this case the scores on the doors (48 shots to 49 to me, for those who are interested!).

Here is a video of Lily.

Value deal or no value deal?

In Rolleston New World supermarket today, you could buy a three pack of Up and Go chocolate milkshake for $4.75. Or you could get a value deal on a six pack, for $9.49. That's a saving of 1c, (half a pee) , or just over 0.1%.

I'm not sure that really represents a significant increase in value, worthy of being called a value deal.

The Amazing Trains at Halswell

Here's a picture of me and Toby on the model railway at Halswell. It is pretty amazing. It goes on a loop for about 5 minutes, through a forest and over and under bridges and past a lake and back again. They have about 6 different trains, and one leaves every couple of minutes so there is no waiting. There were hundreds of people bustling around. Toby loved it.

In which Lily is awkward and Toby is delightful

Lily is being awkward again. Jo and I thought it might be nice to have a change from the Daisy Meadows books that are all exactly the same. So we borrowed a new book from the library: Butterfly Meadow, also about fairies. She won't let use read it though.

I said to her "I might read Butterfly Meadow myself then." That's OK she said, "Just read it in your head, so that I can't hear it".

It is just like when I bought her Mr Tickle instead of the $20 book she wanted when she was 2. It was almost a year before she let us read that one.

Toby on the other hand continues to be delightful. He was excited today because we let him wear a spiderman T shirt. "Bear, bear" he said, pointing at spiderman.

We made a cake yesterday. When I brought it out this evening he said "MeMeMeMeMe. Mmmmm!".

More Giraffe Action

We have been back to Orana Park to see the giraffes. They have a 2 week old baby. He looks just like an adult but smaller, which is probably not surprising. Toby was just as excited as the last time we were here. "Giraffe! Giraffe!" he said.

Lily's Drawings

Lily is doing lots of drawing these days. Here is an example (click the picture to enlarge it). She has drawn 7 fairies. It is based on the books of Daisy Meadows, of which there are at least 106, all of which have exactly the same plot.

Now Dominos Pizza are Lying to Us

If you order a pizza from Dominos they give you on-line pizza tracking. That sounds amazing. They tell you when your pizza is being started, when it has been put in the oven and when it is ready.

But I can't help but think that they are having us on. Think of the logistical complications. Do the pizza workers really update a computer at the end of every stage to say how things are going? Do they give each pizza a special code? Do they have a bar-code that can be scanned in? Or do they just assume every pizza is made in ten minutes and then divide it into segments to deceive the pizza buying public? I think its the latter.

It's a swizz. They are lying to us!

Lily's Career Choice

Lily said today: "I would like to be some sort of wife when I grow up. But I am not sure whether to be a mid-wife or a house-wife."

Plenty of time to decide yet!

Grumpy Old Man Pets Giraffe

It has been suggested to me that this blog is starting to sound like an episode of Grumpy Old Men and that when I am actually old I will not want to look back and find that all I can remember is that sandwiches from Subway didn't quite meet my expectations, or that cheese was quite expensive, or that the TV was crap. It is a fair point. So today I am making the effort to write about something nice.

Today we have been to Orana Park, a wildlife park in Christchurch which has African animals like lions, tigers and cheetahs. In other words, it's a proper zoo. We had a good time as well. Toby was super-excited about seeing the giraffes. "Giraffe!" he said when he saw them. "Giraffe". In fact, he said "Giraffe" almost constantly for about ten minutes. The giraffes are probably the highlight of the park; you can feed them and pet them.

They have quite a pride of lions, but as in all zoos they just laze around sunning themselves. Toby can say "roar" but he only did it about 5 times before giving up. It was a teeny bit disappointing: I think they should get a keeper with a cattle prod to go into the enclosure and poke them until they roar for us!

Veggie Disappointment

Whats bugging me today? Subway. Specifically the Subway Veggie Delite. They only give you two pieces of cheese in a six inch role. And each piece of cheese is a processed cheese slice cut in half. That's a single piece of processed cheese in a $4 sandwich. I stood behind a man who ordered a ham sub and they layered that on, about 1 slice per inch - that's 6 times as much filling as us vegetarians get.

Veggie Delite? Veggie Disappointment more like. We deserve better.

Easter Day

I like Easter with the kids. They love easter eggs. It isn't as full on as Christmas which is just a bit too exciting for them.

This year, it was the first time that Toby really knew what was going on. "Egg!" he howled at his easter egg. "Egg!". Then he knawed at it like a dog with a bone. Then he wore it like a glove to walk around the house, whilst shouting "egg". He certainly wasn't going to let go of it.

It was a nice day yesterday so we went to the river up at Whitecliffs, which is like New Zealand 50 years ago, with houses that are made of wood and falling down. It has character. Mostly villages like that are being progressively collonised by yuppies for their second homes, which are enormous, made of bricks and definitely not falling to pieces any time soon. It is a shame.

Northlands Shopping Centre Won't Fool Me.

Here's whats bugging me at the moment. Northlands Shopping Centre in Papanui. After the earthquake they advertised as follows: "All Northlands shops are open and their thoughts are with all Canterbury residents". Do I really care if a shopping centre is thinking about me? And there are over half a million Canterbury residents are they thinking about them all? I don't think so.

Now they are wishing everyone a Happy Easter. They don't really mean that either. They won't fool me!

Happy Memories of Dominic Foley

Part 1 in an occassional series, possibly, in which I reminisce about obscure Watford players who never quite made it. One of the best things about football is watching a new player establish themselves in the team (or not). It cheers you up as you watch your team slide down the league and gives you something to think about during the stifling mediocrity of another mid-table bore draw.

In his four years at Watford, I can only really remember two things about striker Dominic Foley. A vague feeling of disappointment and a single incident where he scored the most amazing goal. It was against a flourescent green-clad Barnsley in August 2000. The match was grinding to a halt. Both teams were suffocating each other and no result looked possible. The man behind me put it well. "They've just come here to grind out a draw like they do every year," he said, then memorably added in disgust: "green wankers."

I think there was a free kick. It was in front of the home fans in the rookery. I think the ball went out from the goal towards the edge of the box. What I do remember is seeing Foley latch onto it and thinking "that's going no-where". But I was wrong. It rocketed past the keeper and curled into the top corner as if struck by David Beckham himself. It was pure shock and awe. We were shocked and awed.

Dom scored 7 times in 41 appearances which isn't great and is why he never really made it with Watford. Apparently though he is now a great success in Belgium. I am pleased for him. I just wish I seen him make it at Vicarage Road instead.

The Great House Swindle

Apparently TV3 didn't swindle us out of half the series of Glee afterall. It seems we were just unable to follow the plot. We might have missed one episode the week before last. Maybe it was a very eventful epdisode. Or maybe we are just too middle aged to work out whats going on, what with all that unexpected singing all over the place being quite distracting.

However, TV3 have definitely swindled us out of the second half of House this year. They just stopped showing it, after having advertised a particularly dramatic episode that was due to be screened last week. We arranged our evening around it, but no, it was cancelled. Apparently its because TV1 are showing Masterchef and they have decided they just can't compete. Instead, there's a series of rubbish films with Adam Sandler in them.

The Great Glee Swindle

Like most of the rest of the world we love watching US school singalong drama Glee. But this week it was very confusing. Music teacher Will went from being just divorced to just seperated from a subsequent girlfriend without us seeing or hearing about the subsequent girlfriend. The short girl with brown hair had completed a year in the celibacy (for god's sake) club which we hadn't heard about before. How could this be? Was it some sort of timewarp?

Or have TV3 only bought half the series and thought no-one would notice that we haven't seen the middle six months? That makes me angry when they do that.

On the other hand, I have heard that the entire 127 episodes of Lost were reduced to 8 in New Zealand and that that was enough to tell all the parts of the story that made sense.

Second Time Around

One of my favourite bands (Terrorvision) from when I was at university (some time ago now) has reformed. This is exciting enough that I almost wish I was back home, but not quite. It is also a sure sign that I getting middle aged, that music I used to like is coming round a second time. Another is when I turn on the radio and all I can hear is meaningless shouting and random beeping noises. Is this what the kids are calling music these days?

New School Girl

A few weeks ago it was Lily's 5th birthday. This means that she is now at school and seems happy. I was a bit worried on the way in on day 2 when she told me it was boring, but she hasn't said that again. So it is probably OK.

Fancy Dress Seven

Its the NZ Rugby Sevens this weekend in Wellington. In practice this is an enormous fancy dress party where some sport happens to be taking place. As the camera pans around the stadium it is great fun looking at who's dressed at what. People tend to come in groups with a theme. For instance, there were six Captain Americas, a batman/superman/spiderman combo, some people in head-to-toe skin-tight gold outfits, Sesame Street and some Airline pilots, amongst others. This country loves a fancy dress party. At work they throw on fancy dress at the slightest excuse, probably about once a month, with extra at Christmas. I think we had four fancy dress Christmas events last year. I don't really like it. I don't participate. I probably spoil it for everyone.

Terrorized By Ducklings

We went to Hagley Park today, where there is a wonderful paddling pool and playground. We had an ice cream, whereupon Toby was set upon by a gang of unruly ducklings.

It was cute at first but they were very persistant in trying to peck at his ice cream cone and they do have quite hard beaks, so he was a bit frightened. And at one point they did snatch away his cone and run off with it, meaning I had to give chase while he screached in the background. In the end my poor boy was terrified of the baby ducks.