It's Christmas eve and I'm sitting on the deck at Lake Tarawera. Holly, Adrian, Jojo and Isla are out on their new boat again, Beth's on her bunk watching the iPad, Sarah's fast asleep on the couch and Theo is watching Netflix in the other room. The weather has sadly been a bit of a pain in the butt since we arrived yesterday. It'll be cloudly and start raining, then that'll clear up for 30 minutes and the sun comes screaming out, so you start to plan to do something and a huge black cloud will come back over and it'll piss with rain again. Hopefully Christmas Day tomorrow will be much better, it's due to be sunny all day with no rain. Not that the rain has really stopped us that much, we went out on the boat early this morning even though it was miserable for the first proper run since its sea trial. Went very well, it's missing its canopy but that doesn't matter. It handles very well, goes very fast. The guy who saw us when we put it back on the trailer said that it looked like a drug running boat. I think that's a compliment, but I'm not sure that Holly and Adrian thought the same thing.
We arrived yesterday after driving to Taupo and meeting Peter and Mary (Who are also here) there for lunch. That was nice, then it was another hour and a half drive to get to the lake. Beth did a great job this time, didn't even say that she felt sick (though we did give her a pill to counter the driving) and Theo was Theo, just talked the whole way.
The place we're staying at is amazing, it won "Bach of the Year" this year on Book-A-Bach. There's no cell reception, but they have a decent ADSL connection so we can stay connected. Mostly I want Internet in case the alarm at home goes off, I can control the house from here as long as I have Internet. The bach has 3 bedrooms with double beds and a room with 4 bunks in it. Trying to get the kids to sleep last night was a mission, they were so excited and of course Theo just can't go to sleep without singing/laaaing away to himself. Which upsets all the other children. Somewhere around 9:30pm I think we got them all to sleep, and then of course someone set of a massive load of fireworks right next to us. Amazingly it didn't wake up the kids.
There's a Spa here, it's a 1 minute walk down a path on the property to the lake, there's a good kitchen, a massive TV and even a Playstation 4. All the games are Sports games though, no driving games which is a shame, that would be great for the kids. Trying to explain to them how to play Rugby on a PS4 controller with all its buttons is impossible. A simple driving game is what they need! Anyway, they're having fun mostly. Beth has hurt herself about 5 times already, we think it's just part of growing in that she seems extra prone at the moment to falling over and hurting herself. She moaned a a few times she's not enjoying this holiday at all, but we haven't even been here for 24 hours yet so I think it's a bit early to moan too much. We took them down to the lake before and they went for a swim, they seemed to enjoy that though of course the grass has prickles in it, so that's a horrid nightmare and we're terrible parents for bringing them here.
So yea we're having a great time here, looking forward to tomorrow for Christmas Day. I hope the kids enjoy it and all the presents that we've (Well, Sarah) has got for them.
What else? Oh the Jelly 2 phone I backed on Kickstarter arrived unexpectedly last week. It's very cool. I love tiny phones that have all the functionality of a full sized phone and this little gizmo is no exception. Totally unnecessary, but great for running in case I fall into a ditch or something and need saving., My Fenix 6 is amazing, but it doesn't have a phone built in. Also with 1 day to go Sarah's Elton John Jewel Box Dexlue Edition that I ordered back in September arrived. I couldn't believe it, I'd given up on it arriving before Christmas but no it turned up. And the NZPost driver, who must have been busting balls with all the packages he had, still gave me a cheery hello and a chat and was glad to see it arrive in time for Christmas too. What a nice guy.
Was the Prophecy Christmas party last Friday, it was actually really well done. I thought it was going to be totally shit like the last 4 have been, but since we have setup a social fund and are putting money aside, we actually had budget to make it good. I'd have put a bit more effort into caring about it if I'd known, but oh well. It was nice everyone else made an effort.
Theo recovered really well from his operation. We had a followup appointment on Monday and I took him and Beth out to the hospital. They tried to take his bandages off and he SCREAMED bloody murder at them, so they left them on after examining the wound to ensure it was healing up fine. In the end as far as Theo was concerned two Dr's looked at him, said he was fine and gave him chocolates and candy canes. It was a great visit for him. Two of his plasters have since fallen off as he's been in the Spa here at the bach about 5 times already, there's only one left and it'll come off with time. Glad he's healed up all fine though, he's happy as.
That's probably enough, everyone now seems to be up and about. I think Holly and Age are back from sea trial number two, Peter Chats is awake and Theo's moaning that he wants to play the Playstation again. So time to go diary.
Tim
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