Back to Work
Oh man, where'd those two weeks go? Saturday the 30th Sarah, Dad and I went out to Elephant Hill to take Dad out for Dinner. That was his Christmas present for us, a bit lame I suppose really when you're also taking yourself, but we were pretty sure Dad would love it (he did) and it's a great place.
We were very lucky with the weather, we had an 8pm booking and we got there about 7:30 or so, just in time to sit outside and watch the colours of the sunset (though we were facing the other way to actually see the sunset). We had a lovely 3 course meal, everyone enjoyed their food and the wine/drinks were good too.
Last Thursday night (4th Jan) Sarah and I went to Bistronomy for Dinner while Dad baby sat the kiddies. The kids were great, no issues for Dad which was good. We had a really nice meal, always tasty there. Oh and of course a big thanks to Sallee and Bilby who provided the Gift Voucher for Bistronomy. For Lunch Dad and Peter went out to Clearview for their (not quite) Annual lunch visit and they had a lovely time by all accounts. I drove them out there in the miserable weather.
What else - have been watching The Ashes with Sarah and Dad. The kids moan when it's on: "We don't liiikeeee the Cricket". Well I hope you change your tune soon kiddies, cause we're going to be watching it while you live with your parents!
Dad and I took the kids up to the playground on Friday, got a haircut for Theo. Dad went and played with Beth while I took Theo for his haircut, he really didn't like it very much. Last time I took him he was a champ, not so much this time though. But Neville the Barber is very good at trying to get him to calm down, eventually he just sat there mostly motionless while he cut his hair.
Once the haircut was over we went up to the park and played on the swings etc, then went for a fluffy/coffee before Theo melted down fully and we had to go home. Friday night we all went to Chris Mooney's 70th Birthday Party which was a good night. The kids ran around without a care, even though it started to rain a few times that didn't seem to bother them. Chris had a good party I think, everyone seemed to be having a great time and the food was amazing.
Saturday morning it was sadly time to say goodbye to Dad after his ~2 weeks here. We got all packed up and headed out to the airport, had a few snacked while we waited for his plane. Peter, Mary, Holly and Age and kids all came to wave bye to Pa. Beth burst into tears once he actually got on the plane - Theo just liked waving. Thanks Pa for a great time, thanks also for the Tent which should be arriving sometime soon we hope. You can stay in it on your next visit!
What else? Mary arrived back from the UK, we all went to the Airport to go and collect her. Like Sarah says, not a week seems to go by without a visit to the airport, it's like a regular activity for the kids these days. Sarah and Beth made a big sign for Grandma, one of the other grannies even said "What does one have to do to get a sign that big?". As soon as we got back to her house Theo got the marbles out and demanded Mary make him lunch. He thought it was just a regular Tuesday at Grandma's I think, pretty funny. Silly little Chopper.
Back to work today - argh. At least I got a fair bit done over the Christmas break. Got to hang out with Dad, with the kids too. I bought two new Ubiquiti UniFi AP LR's which have replaced the otherwise shite wireless at home. I have a few more things to replace, I have a new switch coming in the next few days and then I need a new router. But then the home network will be fast and easy to manage and I can run VM's etc. Boring to read about, but it should mean that things work much better for Sarah when she's at home too.
Oh yea and the Meltdown attack. Joy. Wonder how much grief that's going to give us.
Oh yes Di and her kids arrived last night for a couple of days! So it still feels a little bit like Christmas.
Tim