It's the first week of school holidays and I'm on leave so I can help look after the grizzlers. Monday was mostly a day at home, I setup a hammock that Mary gave me a few years ago for my birthday (or maybe Christmas) out the back and the kids had a great time playing in it. I left it out overnight though and of course f**king Reggie has decided he'll have a go at it and has chewed a few, thankfully tiny, holes in it. I was so angry with him though, brand new lovely hammock already f**ked. Grrrrr. This is the only rescue puppy we're getting, the "novelty" of having him has definitely worn off everyone.
Anyway we had a good day on Monday, we went for a bike ride, I stacked some more wood. Or was that Sunday? Maybe that was Sunday, all the days have already blended into one and it's only Wednesday. Yesterday was an exciting day, first of all Grandma came and took them for the morning, I went for a 5k run in what was the windiest day I've ever been running in. It was crazy, no matter what direction I went in I was running into a headwind! Once I got back home, Grandma arrived to drop the kids off and we got ready and went to see the Dinosaurs!
The Dinosaurs were amazing - big animatronic creatures that moved, blinked, could be see to be breathing and of course made a lot of noise. The queue to get in was the biggest queue I've ever seen in Napier, but it moved pretty quickly. It was outside on Marine Parade, which meant that the massive wind that was blowing was felt quite badly! Once we got in though that was forgotten mostly, the huge crowds moved around and looked at all the various dinosaurs and listened to their roaring etc. It was one of those things were it's quite cramped and everyone wants a photo of just them in front of the dinosaurs so there's a lot of trying to move the kids out of the way while other people getting photos and the kids getting annoyed because I'm man handling them around out of the way etc. Once we'd finished looking at the dinosaurs there was the big circus tent in the middle. What delights would it hold?
I thought more dinosaurs, but no. It was just a huge playground of cool things to do - 3 big bouncy castles (Beth in tears because one was for 5yos and under only) which the kids LOVED. Outside you could dig for fossils in the sandpit, or ride a dinosaur (1 token required) and inside you could also go into the "Dino Lab" where new dinosaurs were being raised (2 tokens required). The Dino lab was super cute though, I couldn't not let the kids do that activity. So we went to get some tokens, and some tatty toys (Theo's is called "Sucky" because he has a sucker on him to stick to windows, Beth's is called "Shoeby") and went back to the Dino lab. They got there coats on ready to go into the lab and just before it was our turn... Theo needed to urgently go to the toilet. That kid has the most impeccible "I need to go to the toilet" timing of anyone. Anyway we quickly rushed over to the toilet and back and we didn't miss our turn so that was good. I watched them from outside (they were inside a plastic bubble much like ET) as they picked up the "Dino Eggs" and carried them around, then watched as "Dusty" the tiny animatronic dinosaur was woken up and handed around the kids, all of them handling him with the utmost caution and wonder. It was pretty damn cool I have to say, easily the highlight of the day. Once done we went and rode on the dinosaurs outside.
By this stage we'd been there for an hour and a half (it was a 2 hour event) so we went back outside to where all the dinosaurs and crowds were and... there was not really a single person there. A few families were still looking and taking photos, so we did the same. It was so much easier this time to stand in front of them and have a good look, though by this stage the kids were mostly over it. But yea, got some photos of them in front of the Dinosaurs and had a good time right up until it was time to leave at 2pm.
So the whole experience was great, apart from how windy it was which meant I had to yell at the kids most of the time so they could hear me. Here's all the photos/videos I took, I haven't sorted them properly or anything yet.
Once we'd finished at the Dino's we went into town, I ducked into work to grab a few things and then we got a couple of slices from Vinci's and headed home.
So that brings us to today, and now. We're just about to head off to Mitre10 to get some things (Mouse/Rat traps, damn there's HEAPS this time of year, Sarah saw one run up our bedroom curtain) and then I'm not 100% sure what we'll do today, probably just play outside while I do some yard work.
Tim
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