Well last post I wrote was when Dad had arrived. But it's actually now been a week since we had to say goodbye to him again. I'm going to try to remember what we did, which wasn't really a lot, but was still good fun.
His arrived a week later turned out well though because Friday was New Zealand's first Martariki Day, celebrated with a public holdiay. We just hung out at home, Theo showed Pa his drone flying skills, Beth played Cluedo with Pa. Friday night Beth had Tumbles and she got to show Pa some of her skills which was nice, the Cheerleading lady let us in special to watch what Beth was doing. That was good.
Saturday I wanted to take the kids to swimming so Dad could come along too to see them learning and their skills. Only Beth went though because Theo had a hacking cough. For Lunch we went to Zeetland Brewery, to their new offshoot pub called the Cone and Flower. It was fantastic, really nice food, some tasty beers to try. There was a playground for the kids to play at, Theo had a great time playing outside even with his hacking ol' cough.
Sunday we went out to Birdwoods for lunch, we booked so we had a nice seat in the warm outside pergola thing. Had a nice lunch, kids went out in the garden and played, then got some lollies from the old time lolly shop. Even Pa got in on the lollyshop action.
Sunday night everyone came over, Peter, Mary, Holly, Adrian, Joseph and Isla. Sarah cooked some lovely food and we had a good night laughing and chatting and just generally catching up and having a good time.
Monday I took the day off from work, Dad and I went into the cafe near Mitre 10 for breakfast, then we went for a walk along the boardwalk thing by Napier Beach, up to the little coffee-shop-in-a-shipping-container, then out on the Jetty thing that hides the sewerage pipe. When it was schools out time Pa and I walked up to the school to pick Beth up. Theo's hacking cough hadn't got much better so he'd had the day off school. That was a shame because it meant that he didn't go to Karate that day, so Pa didn't get a chance to see Theo doing his Karate skills while he was here.
Tuesday was the Martariki Celebration at AMS, so Pa and I drive up in the Tiida. We watched all the songs and performances by the children, it was a shame Theo was still home sick so we didn't get to see him. But we saw Beth singing and doing the dance moves, so that was nice. Though when it came time to leave Beth said she "felt sick" too so we brought her home in the Tiida. I don't think she was sick, but hey her Brother was home and she was only going to miss a couple of hours of school. So it didn't really matter.
The rest of the week was just work work work. Dad came into work a few times, we meet up for lunch which was nice.
Thursday night was the People of NOW awards, where I had been asked to be the MC. I'd spent the week before coming up with my little speech and things to say etc, I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't really be well received but so many came up to me afterwards and said what a great job I'd done, so that was nice. It was actually quite fun once I got into it, so I'm glad other people enjoyed it too. I mean I didn't have to do much. I cleaned the room out at the end of the night by putting up the Network Map and pretending to talk through what the various links etc did and how MPLS works. That's how you clear out a room of drunk people, start talking MPLS.
Friday we were all a bit tired at work, so I think we all took it pretty easy. It was Levi's last day with the company though, so we still went out for Pub Lunch. It's a hard life sometimes.
Friday Night Pa looked after the kids for Sarah and I and we went out to Hunger Monger. I'm not a seafood fan as anyone that knows me knows, but it was actually REALLY REALLY enjoyable. The food was amazing. Super delicious. If all fish tasted that good, I might be so anti-fish. Oh yes that Friday the kids bought home school reports, both of them are doing really really well. All straight A's pretty much. We're so proud of them, they're such good kids.
Saturday we went to swimming again, this time though Theo was there too which was good. Then Origin cafe for snacks and a little lunch thing. Then we went into town to "That Sandwich Shop" for a lovely little extra lunch, then went for a walk down along the waterfront, saw a Scottish Pipe/Drum band, did a bit of wood hunting along the rocks etc. Then we walked the kids back to Timezone, the had a good time though Beth didn't like the VR machine, Theo LOVED it. Then Pa and I went up to Rouge Hop and had a couple of pints.
Sunday we went out to the Farmers Market - we got there quite late so it was pretty quiet, which wasn't that bad actually. We had a nice time, just took it easy, looked around the Market etc. Sunday night we went around to Peter and Mary's for a lovely dinner that they'd cooked. Then back home.
I said goodbye to Dad on Monday morning before I had to hop on my bike and head off to work. Poor Dad I didn't even take him to the airport, but just too much work on, planning for my trip to Auckland. Monday night was Theo's grading for his Blue Belt. It was really hard, he especially struggled with the situps and even Sensai noticed how hard he was struggling, but he didn't give up and Sensai noticed that too and was quite impressed I think. Theo didn't really struggle with any of the other tasks though. And so he was very proud when he was presented with his Blue belt. Well done Theo!
Sadly that Auckland work trip never happened because I got a damn annoying cold. I still did a shitload of network config work from under my blanket in bed, helping Grant and Greg, Greg had gone in my place instead. I've never had to build two BNGs and migrate a service router and build interfaces in a frenzy before, but hey. That's what Wedesday, Thursday and Friday were all about. Only one minor fuckup where I caused a loss of service for 6 customers for an hour. DOH.
Then this weekend just took it easy, kids to swimming, Sarah did some shopping on Saturday to prepare for Theo's birthday on Wednesday. Sunday I had a big clean up around the yard, lots of rubbish and shit that's been collecting while the pool build work has been going on. And here we are today, Monday, sitting on the couch about to go to bed.
It was lovely to see Dad, I think he had a great time here. Pretty sure he's going to come back for Christmas too so that'll be nice. Good to see him after ~3 years!
Tim
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