Winning Streak

Parklands Under Six Blacks won again this weekend. A closely fought 9-8. It was a really fast moving game. Ben and I hadn't been for several weeks and I was amazed at the progress that the players had all made! They are starting to pass more effectively, sidestep and plan their routes! Joe was a star once more and scored another 3 tries! He launches himself when he tackles and was yet again the muddiest child on the pitch - gotta love it!
The team probably top their league now so everyone is rightly proud. It is very funny watching the adult supporters on the sidelines! Lots of stress!! Especially when the game is as tightly fought as it was this week. Not that the Dads are at all competitive - but they was some subtle fist punching when the final whistle blew!
Joe is attending a birthday party over the road at the moment and Ben is tucking into a sandwich. It is all very peaceful and lovely! Matt is still out after a night at Chris Ralph's. Probably nursing a hangover!

Part 2

Much, much, much , much better! Boys both feeling perky again, although can't say the same for their mother! Anyway, Joe and Ben had bundles of energy (zapped directly from me) which needed an outlet this week. We packed in the skate park, Orana Wildlife park, the park park, Science Alive, the cinema, botanic gardens (and play park), Rugby and lots more.
Joe continues his winning streak with his rugby team. They played brilliantly and won the match 12-8. Joe scored another 3 tries - seems like his lucky number! He was again the muddiest child on the pitch, thanks to his fearless tackling!
We spent the day with Nana, Kate, Ash and Indy at Orana. It was pretty chilly, but we saw most of the animals. Including some adorable baby cheetahs, that had to be raised by keepers. They are now on display and were just wonderful! Most of the adults are not ever on display as they run a really successful breeding program on a huge acreage behind the park.
Another highlight was the lion feeding, which the kids think is amazing. Luckily none of them are tall enough to experience that one yet - don't fancy being drooled on by an enormous lion!
We also visited the botanic gardens and followed a trail around the glass houses. They had made lots of model 'plants' hidden amongst the displays, and you had to look at them, read the stories and guess what they were called - very clever and Joe loved the puzzles.
Science alive was busy. We went to a talk/show about sound waves and music which Joe enjoyed, especially the practical demonstrations that they were allowed to try out afterwards. He also made the most of the vertical slide! Wheeeeeeeeeeee. (That's Ben in the background yelling 'Joey'). Ben liked the reaction time games best and the 20 metre sprint! He can really move!
Today was back to school, playcentre and swimming lessons. 10 weeks to go!

School Holidays - bleurghhhhh

So far - What a write off! Ben came down with all sorts of lurgies on the last day of term and was dosed up with antibiotics and eye drops. He spent several days lying on the sofa, developing a 'whoopy' cough and experiencing up and down temperatures. We managed to get to see the Scooby Doo Stagefright show but otherwise did very little for the first week. On his 7th day, feeling much brighter we headed off to Carole and Annissa's house to help celebrate Carole's birthday. Happy Birthday Carole! Joe opted on a visit to the museum with Nana instead but went rapidly downhill from there, even falling asleep (NO I DIDN'T) on the bus on the way home. His turn!
We are now into week 2 and hopefully things are coming right.
Despite the poorly boys we have managed to fit a few things in. The week started with the momentous job of moving a 'generous, 10 cubic metres of bark chippings at playcentre. Phew what a job!
We decorated gingerbread people at Louise and Josh's.
We went to the beach at Sumner (in the rain) and dug trenches in the caves.
Hopefully we'll fit in a few more activities this coming week.....watch this space.

Our Starring Role !

The video shows all the variations of the adverts. More of us in some than others!

Update

Update - Joe was thrilled that the All Blacks won 27 -6.
Here is a picture of us Simmersons at Aoraki

Tekapo and Aoraki

Last week was Matt's last in his current job due to redundancy, and we took advantage of his few days off to take a little trip. We packed all our warmest clothes and thermals to spend a couple of days in Tekapo and Mount Cook. We had last been here in the glorious summer so it was wonderful to see everything covered in snow! Nana came with us so it was quite a squeeze in the truck, especially with the 'just in case' sledges!
We spent a day at Mount Cook and it was beautiful, the early morning mist cleared to blue skies and perfect views of Aoraki. We walked to Kea Point after lunch and saw the peaks and the glaciers. Joe loved hearing the rumbles of avalanches although we didn't see any. We also climbed a very steep, boulder covered route up the terminal moraine to see the Tasman Glacier and the glacial lake complete with icebergs. This time the lake was frozen, but at least we were spared the howling wind of our last visit. We did see a beautiful rainbow cloud and the picture just about shows it here.
Our home for the trip was a house with views of Lake Tekapo and we made the most of the wood burning stove. It didn't get above freezing while we were there, but the frost in the morning was beautiful.
The next day we went to the hot pools on the hillside above Tekapo and wallowed in the warm waters for about an hour and a half. I think my feet felt warm for the first time in 3 days! Ben and Joe had lovely time standing under the spouts of warm water and splashing around the pools. Joe kept getting out and counting to see how long he could bear to be out in the open air (quite a long time!), must be mad! We were able to sit in the pools and look out over the lake toward the snow capped mountains - aaahhhhhhh - heaven! Needless to say, once we were all examining the wrinkles on our wrinkles and feeling very relaxed we had to make the mad dash in the cold to the changing rooms - brrrrrrrr. We then watched the school children on the open air ice rink behind the pools - the boys fancy a go on another trip!

Matt did his handover at work on Friday and spent a LONG lunch break at the pub with his friends. The new job at the Council starts on Monday!
Joe and his team won their rugby match today against Belfast 10-7.
The rugby theme continues this evening as Joe, Nana and Matt have gone to watch the All Blacks play Italy at the AMI stadium. Joe and Nana are particularly looking forward to the Haka!

Simon and Garfunkel - Auckland

This weekend Nana and I packed our bags and headed off to Auckland to see Simon and Garfunkel at the Vector arena - first night of their world tour!
The boys headed to Burnside for Joe's rugby (he scored 3 tries again and the team drew 9 all) and we left for the airport. On arriving in Auckland we caught the bus into town and found our hotel. Very poky but it would only be for a night! Then we headed out to the waterfront and had a nice meal before strolling to the arena. As you would expect the crowd was a mixed lot but definitely weighted toward the more mature!
Simon and Garfunkel were brilliant! They played for over 2 hours with no interval and did all the old favourites as well as some of their solo work. They came on for 2 encores and the crowd helped out at one point when the mikes went quiet!

Excellent!
On Sunday we headed up the Sky Tower and watched the idiots jumping off! Very odd watching someone hurtle past the window the first time.
It was pretty cloudy so the views weren't great and off course the sun came out the moment we exited at the bottom of the tower!
Then we took the ferry over to Devonport and had lunch with Sarah Caswell. We had a nice catch up and Nana took the obligatory photo of bump for Bob and Margaret.
We were about to board the plane home that evening when an announcement was made that due to problems at Christchurch our plane would be leaving as scheduled, but may return to Auckland if we couldn't land! Luckily the fog/low cloud cleared enough and we made it back safely!