It's been a long time coming: Part 3 - Christmas Revelry

The silly season has arrived! I slashed 2 fingers open to truly bring the season into flower - traditional blood sacrifice and all that :P Sadly I did it at 3pm on a Sunday shortly after the Sunday bus service to Tameside hospital had shut down, and the local emergency rooms are not open on a Sunday. I leaped into a taxi and headed off to Tameside. It was my misfortune that Woolley bridge was closed, meaning a 15 minute trip took and hour and a half. I hopped into hospital, got my hand stitched up and called a local taxi to take me to the train station. It was much faster heading home via train, with a wee walk home at the end of it :) Chris had the delights of cooking and dishes and cleaning while I struggled to dress myself :) Luckily it had healed a bit by the time we headed into the Manchester Christmas markets. The boys were thrilled to see the lego store, but sadly their behaviour deteriorated after hearing we wouldn't buy them half the store. Then we headed into the markets. They were stunning as we strolled through them, first leisurely, then with 'le vigeur'. We eventually gave up and jumped back on the train to get home. The boys had their nativity plays - 2 of them -  and I had to pay to see both!! The unfairness of it still chaps my hide obviously. Post silly season the school shut for a fortnight and the boys and I jumped on a train to London. This was a glorious time as Kieran vomited profusely all over our (scant) bedding at 11pm. Bitter does not even begin to describe my emotions. We rinsed off bedding, and Kieran, and tucked him into bed then cleaned up the bed again and watched him finally sleep. Chris got to take a late night stroll to Tesco to pick up some carpet cleaner as Kieran managed to vomit over the duvet, sheets, library book and carpet. Despite Kirsten's fears that we couldn't travel we managed to make it to Londinium. I got to watch the countryside as we flew through it and saw the Olympic stadium too. Kirsten met us at a coffeeshop and whisked us off the lush surrounds of Fulham. We got to explore Bishops Park and meet Juno which the boys loved, as well as head into the South Bank where we saw Big Ben, the Thames, had a play and rode on a carousel. Sadly, the storms hit that evening and we saw nothing after that :( They were so bad trains leaving London were being cancelled all over the place! Kirsten found bus tickets for us to head out Dad's way, and he collected us and took us to Leominster. Chris travelled by train and missed all the drama!
The coach ride was lovely - we got to see some of the sights of London - Nelson's column, Cleopatra's needle, the outdoors ice rink, Boadica's chariot etc and then see the countryside as we travelled through. It's a lovely country.
Hereford
Leominster
Ludlow
Back to school and birthday

Day One: Summer Holidays

With 8 weeks of hell stretching out before me and very little moola I decided I needed to be organised. I created an excel spreadsheet and threw in as many activities as I could find. After I totalled the cost per week I screamed like a teen at a One Direction concert and slashed two thirds of the activities. I have decided the focus of the holiday is not to have fun and see the sights but to get my children extremely fit by making them walk every, up hill and down dale. They'll be desperate to return to school!!
So today's activity was having a swim at Glossop Pools followed by a picnic at Howard Park. It went swimmingly if I do say so myself :P It was a 'scorcher' of a day so we struck out for the pools, picking raspberries on the way. Once there we had a delightful swim, then followed it up with a cavort at Howard Park and a picnic lunched. We trudged home just before three, Cameron pausing to pick some redcurrants for his Daddy, and I made the boys some pikelets for afternoon tea while they rested in front of the tv. I popped the pork roast on and then we headed off to the fields at the end of Pikes Lane. The boys scampered through the massive hedges of blackberry brambles and I conducted an impromptu nature lesson, noting the deleterious effects of shade on the berry size and ripening rate of the blackberries. The boys were much affected by the brambles afflictions but a good session of chucking the ball around the field soon cheered them up. The plan tomorrow is a saunter to Manor Park, followed by a picnic lunch and a visit to the Library. Should be good!

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.

Halloween Hijinks

Halloween has been eagerly anticpated by the boys this year. Our plan of dressing Cameron and myself as Tardis's and Kieran as the Doctor had to be jettisoned. Instead the boys are going as ghosts and I will be wearing a Tigger suit as I creep about the streets. Yesterday we decided to trying carving Jack-o-lanterns. It was a blast! I grabbed some pumpkins from Nola's and got the boys to draw their desired designs. Once I had my 'templates' I went to work, hacking and slashing at the innocent pumpkins while the boys frolicked about me. Some time later 3 beautifully carved pumpkins were produced and the boys are rapt. They have been cunningly arranged on the woodpile by the gate to attract young trick or treaters. Tonight we head out trick and treating and the boys will surf that sugar high. They'd better enjoy it as they won't see that much 'candy' again!
In other, less exciting news, flights have been booked and we fly out on the 12th of November. Sadly, we will not be going via Singapore with its pool and butterfly farm. Nor will we have access to the Koru lounge. Shaping up to be quite the hideous little trip really lol. Might have to see if there's any way we can sort Koru club membership as we will NEED lounge access for the boys :)

Spring sunshine

It has been a busy time for us. Kieran had another sleepover at Alex's on Thursday and had a blast, apart from wanting to come home at 8:30 at night. Poor exhausted boy. I asked him to lie down for 30 minutes with bunny and teddy with his eyes shut and voila, he was asleep. Cameron joined him the next night and it all went splendidly. What didn't go so splendidly on thursday was doing the school and kindy run and parking outside the library to watch dumbfounded as the cars front windows majestically descended of their own volition, and would reascend. This was really stressful as leaving the car with the front windows down would be an open invitation to thieves, and likely void the car insurance as well. Cursing I drove the car to Lance Jennings, our awesome mechanic, who had a look. Sadly it appeared to be the switches or computer thing that controls the windows. I then drove the car to Glen Eden auto electrical who ordered some switches for me at $40 each, and promised to have them for me by 2pm. I then drove to kindy where I sat and roased int he car until Cam needed to be collected. My chances of actually getting my much needed work done absolutely shattered. I could have cried. After collecting Cam I drove back out to auto place where they installed the switches and discovered it was a computer issue. I decided to just get the windows raised, so that was an hours work. By this time it was nearly 3pm and Cam's patience was totally eroded. However, after paying out $73 on the car I was on the road again. Yay. On Saturday we headed to Cornwallis beach for the afternoon. I mourned that I forgot my camera because the boys had a blast. Cam dashed straight into the sea on arrival, shrieking with delight while Kieran delicately paddle at the waters edge. I was forced into my costume and the water by boys wanting to be swooped through the water. Afterwards we feasted on afternoon tea and I left at 4:15. The boys raved on about how much they loved the beach until they fell asleep on Waikumete hill. Sunday began with much excitement for the boys as I cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast. I followed this up by slashing a finger on a sharp piece of plastic lurking int he sink. The cut extends to the first joint, and bled profusely. After I got that cleaned up we discovered that Kieran's scooter had been run over by a car and was a total wreck. He was devastated. I was not particularly happy either, as we were taking it with us to England. Were. Oh well. On Labour Day I dragged the boys out for an adventure. We explored the unknown Peninsula, discovering a giant Impatiens bush that the boys happily circle, finding and popping the seeds, then we found a syringa tree with a swing on it. Much excitement ensued. We then strolled past a series of lakes to admire the Auckland CBD and harbour bridge while the boys had morning tea. After that we set out to find the beach. We met with success and the boys scurried across the muddy sand like chatty little crabs. They discovered a felled tree and clambered all over it. Cameron managed to balance as we walked across it informing me "Mummy, I'm so brave!" as he did so. After that we headed off in the direction of home via a copse, a hills, some unknown streets where we identified flowers and trees and then we sighted the mighty impatiens again. We were rained on three times but it didn't dampen our spirits. Once home I fed the starving children and we washed the dog. No news yet on the house, but we need to get it sorted asap as we can't afford to pay $100 night accommodation for Chris when we still have to pay for flights for me and the boys, that we will be reimbursed for later. The boys are very excited about Halloween and cannot wait, counting down the number of sleeps. I have 4 days to do my last assignment in, then need to study for my exam on the 11th because....2 weeks to go!