It's been a long time coming: Part 2 - Our English Adventures

So, we staggered off the train weary and travelworn and explored our new house. We are quite fond of it. Some nice plasterwork, stained glass doors etc. The day after we arrived we found out where the Tesco was, and the town centre. The following day, I enrolled the boys at St James, the school 8 doors down from us. They were thrilled to hear that they would start school on the Monday. We were also struck by the fact that the streetlight outside the bedroom shone through our uncurtained bedroom window like a police searchlight! The house has been set up cosily, like the most spartan of camping sites as we are living out of our suitcases. Dad and Cheryl came down the weekend after we arrived and were very generous in kitting us out with various bits and pieces - especially some curtains for the poxy windows!!
Jetlag finally passed completely after 2 weeks. The Glossop library is beautiful, tiny and totally under-resourced :) ,My cries of horror at finding out that reserving a book costs 80p was matched by Chris's when he realised that, at my normal rate of library book reservations, my reading habits would cost us 50 pounds a year haha. He began muttering about me getting a job! The town centre is also lovely, and the train station has a stone lion scowling over the entrance of what used to be the Duke of Norfolk's private entrance. There are two lovely parks/playgrounds - Manor Park and Howard Park. The boys liked both of them and Manor Park has a miniature train that can be ridden through the park. The weather was lovely - dry and sunny for the most part so everyday, after I dropped Cameron into kindy (he does 5 afternoons a week), I would explore Glossop. I met a lovely woman who lives across the road from us and she owns the Whistlestop cafe - the soft play centre. Kieran was also taken by her little boy, Joe. Naturally, we had to take a look so we took the boys up. The boys loved it!!

It's been a long time coming...part 1: fleeing the country

So here's the jist of the things we've done since Halloween.
After the pumpkin carving and trick and tricking I settled down for a panicked flurry of assignment work and revision for my exam. I continued to do the drive from Te Atatu to Glen Eden each day, hanging out at the library every morning for internet access (ie facebook Chris) and to research bits and pieces for the final 40% assignment. Around 12 I would pack up each day,and head over to Visionwest kindy where I would collect Cam and pop over to the visionwest cafe where they gave me free coffee. Cam would get a ham and cheese toastie and then I would either head off to Parrs Park or Ceramco Park or send him back to kindy until 4pm and hightail it back to the library and collect Kieran at 3, let him play with Alex in the school grounds until 3:30, collect Cam then drive to Te Atatu, stopping in at a playground, the beach etc on the way. In the last few weeks the glorious weather, and the lack of aircon (coupled with non-functioning windows) made me positively avoid the car :P We did have some fun with the Te Atatu Treasure Hunt, sleepovers, Kieran doing some Judo lessons-  and doing very well at them! - and going on some lovely nature walks. The last day before Chris came back was stunning-  lovely blue skies and warm. After kindy Cam and I headed to Ceramco we we climbed around on some falled trees, ran around the skate park fixtures, mucked around on the playground and rolled down the grassy banks. In short, exactly the sort of behaviour you expect from a 3 year old and a 30 year old :P
Finally Chris arrived back in the country and the boys cries of joys were delightful to hear. Oddly, Chris who had mocked my description of driving the car in the afternoon as a 'sweatbath' and told me to 'harden up' waxed lyrical over the lack of aircon when we headed off to Hamilton for Jen's wedding. Lol. I admit my early morning drives in the cool air, with a duration of 20 minutes, hardly stacked up to several hours in the heat of the day - even so...The wedding was lovely, the venue was stunning and Jen was a beautiful bride. The boys prowled around Te Awamutu aka Rose town. It was very pretty and abounded with roses. Abandoning my husband and children I headed home with Mary and Katherine while they remained to have some family time with the whanau. Once home on Sunday I studied like a fiend for the Monday morning exam. Thanks to some wonderful friends Kieran had spent Sunday night at their house and was going to school with them so we didn't need to drive all the way into Oratia only to turn around and drive all the way back to get on the motorway :) The exam went reasonably well, and I came home and gave away vast amounts of my belongings :) I do miss my Edmond's flour tin, but we could not fit in the suitcases :) Our last night in NZ was spent having dinner at Colin and Ros's. It was a lovely night :) Shortly thereafter, we headed into hell, otherwise known as three long plane rides, 2 train rides and a taxi ride. Helloooo England!

Natal Day Hijinks

Today my precious first born, or 'primus' as we call him in the Chez turned 6. I can't believe it has been 6 years since I was pounding on the dash of the car demanding drugs as we turned into the gates of Waitakere Hospital. Kieran has grown from a sweet happy baby, to an adorable cuddly toddler to a loving intelligent little boy - and I can't wait to see what the next 6 six years are like! I love you so much keeker squeaker!
Kieran's first birthday in England started early, as he and Cam came and gave us cuddles....on the floor. Yes, Chris's mighty frame had defeated both our inflatable mattresses and we were learning the 'joys' of sleeping on lightly carpeted floors. After the cuddle we headed downstairs we Kieran gazed in awe at the cards and presents. He ripped then cards open and read the messages. Bless him. Then he ripped open the presents. He loved all his presents! Moments later the heavy rain turned to...snow. Kieran was thrilled. I was slightly less so as we had a fifteen minute uphill walk to get to the softplay place. However the snow didn't last long and we set out after Kieran's latest girlfriend arrived. Charis was the one chosen to accompany us to Whistlestop cafe and they had a blast. The place rang with the three of them yelling each other's name. Other schoolfriends turned up and Kieran's cup of happiness was full :) We headed off home, had bacon rolls for lunch then did the birthday cake. Kieran enticed Charis to his side by telling her of his awesome christmas present - the Brainbox and they happily built circuits together until she was retrieved by her father. Kieran then asked for fish and chips as his birthday dinner and snuggled into bed at 7 in his Doctor Who pyjamas. Someone had a great day. I must add that Chris staggered upstairs at 7:45 and collapsed into Morpheus's arms, overcome by the effort of childminding teehee.