Helicopter Day / Elton John x2 / Firestation / Sarah's Birthday / Waitangi Day

I tell you, one of the great things about having a camera that you take everywhere, is that it helps you to remember everything you've done over the last couple of weeks.  It's a great digital diary really, though it's the sort of thing that with age won't really age that well.  Like a random photo you don't quite remember why you took it, or where you where.  Actually where you were isn't a problem because all my photos have GPS points embedded in them, but anyway that's not really my point.  So anyway since the last update diary, we've been busy as usual.  Thursday the 6th was Waitangi Day which was of course a day off.  We took it pretty easy and didn't do a real lot, because that night Sarah went to Elton John! Yes she'd secured a ticket off Facebook at ticket value, not some scalper value.  So she went along to enjoy the show, it was a perfect hot night in the sun, and by all accounts she had a great time.  The kids had a swim in Peter and Mary's pool for a bit, then I drove us home while Sarah boogied the night away with Elton.

Friday was a normal day, but I'd taken Annual Leave because I'm not silly and wanted a 4 day weekend.  We dropped Beth off at school though, then Theo and I hung out for the morning together.  I don't get to hang out with him heaps, so it was nice to spend the morning together.  We went into town and he zoomed around the bike park for an hour, then we went and got a Gingerbread man from Angkor Wat. Once home we chilled out for a bit, then walked up (well, Theo scootered up) to pickup Beth from School.  I took her scooter up too, so they both scootered back home with a small detour for an icecream from the dairy. 

Saturday was swimming, Beth accidentally left her googles behind, so Theo and I raced down on my bike (Theo on the little kiddy seat) to drop them off.  Turns out we didn't need to, because she'd borrowed some, but it was still a great ride down there.  More for Theo than me, peddling madly.  But we just took it slow and steady and it was much more enjoyable for us riding back, we got to have a good chat and point out all the things we saw.

Then it was time for Theo to go to Nathan's Birthday Party.  It's one of the first birthday parties he's been invited too in ages, so he was really looking forward to it.  He told us a bunch of times that we were just to drop him off (like a big boy) and he'd be fine on his own, however it didn't quite turn out like that, he was in fact very upset when I said we were leaving, so I stayed behind with him so he had a parent to hang out with.  He had a great time, they had a Piñata which was a hit, cake, a bouncy castle etc.  It was a great little birthday party.

Saturday night we dropped the kids off at Holly and Adrians, a little bit worried when we did because Rusty their dog was very sad and sick.  In fact when I dropped them off he was missing, but they found him down the bottom of the garden all curled, vomiting and sad.  Poor fella.

We had a great night at The Firestation in town though, a new restaurant that's opened up.  We had a big beef brisket/rib thing, it was massive, for two people.  Very delicious.  Then we walked down to Moncia Loves and waited for our taxi who promised to be there on time, then texted to say 5 minutes late, 10 minutes, 30 minutes.  We gave up and got in another cab.  Still, great evening, had such a nice meal and good company!

Went and picked the kids up on Sunday morning and took them out to Hastings for the Rescue Helicopter Open Day.  Theo took his toy Helicopter he got for Christmas out, and they loved it!  They took a photo of him special, holding it while he sat in the cockpit and they even got the pilot to come and talk to him about it and Helicopters (he wasn't really sure about this, but still, it was nice)  Beth got her face painted (a really awesome snake) and they got to go up/down in the practise winch in the shed.  So they had a pretty great time really.  We arrived just as it opened which was the way to go, because and hour and a half later it was PACKED with people.

Then we went out to Birdwoods for some lunch which was nice, though it was packed too.

Then it was just a normal week, except of course for Tuesday which was Sarah's Birthday!  We had a nice meal out at The Boardwalk, I'd baked the usual Guiness Cake and we all sung happy birthday.  Then I have to admit we all watched as the kids played outside, but mostly Beth.  She wanted to chase seagulls, but she was also BUSTING for a wee.  We could tell because she was holding herself as she ran, then she'd stop and look confused for a second, then keep chasing the birds, then hold herself and wiggle and look worried AND THEN CHASE THE BIRDS AGAIN instead of just GOING TO THE TOILET.  Silly girl, it was so funny to watch.  I'd have filmed it, but we were too far away and I was just too busy laughing at her to be bothered filming.

During the week Sarah got sicker and sicker, not terrible but quite bad with a nasty cough.  The kids coughs, which I was sure must be leaving by now, got worse again.  Argh!  So Saturday night was Elton John concert MkII, which we had tickets for.  So off we went to Peter and Mary's, dropped the kids off and all headed over.  It was a really great night, Elton played all his classics, Sarah said she thought something about him was a bit off vs when she'd seen him a week ago and sure enough it turns out today the poor bloke has walking pneumonia! He had to call his show in Auckland off last night two thirds of the way in.  Gutting.  Anyway we weren't so unlucky, he played all his bangers and everyone had a good night. Though we lost Adrian two thirds of the way in, but found him at Peter and Mary's asleep on the outside couch.

Sunday was a recovery day.  Sorry it was boring for you, kiddies.  We still love you!

And that's that!  Monday is done and dusted, I finally made myself SIT DOWN and write this entry out because it's been bugging me more and more that I hadn't.  As always, I'll try and update you way more often diary, but I'm pretty sure I won't.  I've been doing a lot of running again, trying to get fit.  Hopefully it's working.  My resting heartrate when I sleep is back down to ~40bpm, which is pretty good, so something's working!

Tim