First off, my trusty old Patagonia gilet died. I brought it to twin needle and was quoted > $100 to fix… but.. they said that Patagonia had a lifetime warranty, so, I should check with them. So I did. And they do! That jacket is literally 24+ years old so I was astounded they’re going to fix it. So happy.

My friend Syliva turned 42 and had a HHG themed party. Super fun. Nick coming with a towel wrapped around was well done! Laser tag was great fun, and the cheese selection delicious.

I went for a nice bike ride using up some of my lift passes. We’re very lucky in ChCh to have a mtb park very close by.

I tried making french toast. Don’t really think I did it justice. Even had brioche for the bread (and left it out overnight). Just wasn’t quite as good as I remember it. I suspect I’ll stick to pancakes.

Anna had Sinterklaas. She wanted something we could only get in The Netherlands. Fortunately Sinterklaas got confused and dropped presents to us for Oma and Opa, and presents for Anna he left in NL… so, she can pick it up when we’re next over…

A while ago I had a little extra time and decided to build a basic chess game with Anna. The main thing I wanted to get out of it was Anna understanding that you could create for the Internet (not just consume it). The first game was a maze like game where you got to move a piece around the board. The game I’ve just finished building out is called Radioactive Pooping Knights.

Basically you move a knight around the screen (which makes amazing fart noises) and try not to get trapped (you can’t actually capture the opponent). There are other games on there (just click the logo in the top left), and I’m adding more.

I added a “buy me a coffee” link, so far my friend Tim has contributed which was extremely kind of him. Unfortunately they don’t pay out for < $20 and it’s sitting at 19.85 or something (USD!). Maybe someone else will find it fun :)

Anyway, let me know if you enjoy it. The target audience is 6-7 year olds being introduced to chess ;)

I took Anna off to Lake Daniell’s with friends for the weekend. Maaike had her final noho marae stay of the year. It was a good trip, definitely getting easier as the kids get a bit older/stronger.

Quinn found “gold” in the river. Good effort hauling the rock back to the car though!. Quinn also did some amazing swimming in the (frankly freezing) lake. He’d bought a snorkel and was looking for treasure. Some old lures were found :)

It was great having Ryan and Willow join in the fun :)

Had a nice weekend out at Waikuku with Anna and “the gang”.

It’s always lovely getting away.

Anna’s school put on a production at the Woolston Gala, good times were had, bouncy thingies were bounced on, twas good.

Anna has been doing music “play”, not sure if she’ll go on to try an instrument, but, she already has a better sense of beat & rhythm than I do!

We also had Al drop in as he was down to help cousin Miriam after she got her wisdom teeth taken out..

And finally, I got out climbing for the first time since Anna was born! It was absolutely lovely to be climbing outside again :D

With the evenings getting brighter it’s time for the excellent wicked rogaine series. Maaike was supposed to be doing these, but, it’s a very busy time at work so it means that I get to go.

Super fun with each team I did it with – Thanks to Michelle and Amy for letting me gate-crash their team, and fun to head out with Malc. He “hadn’t done navigation in ages, probably really bad”… but… as with most things with that man, he was excellent. Really fun heading out and about – would very much like to do more now!

I took Anna up to Castle Hill for a weekend with Sylvia and Colin while Maaike had study to catch up on… very nice to be up there. The kids played nicely and it basically all just ran itself. My kind of weekend. I was amazing and made pancakes for everyone ;).