We had a lovely weekend up to Castle Hill with Sylvia and Colin. It’s such a nice spot up there. Close enough to be easy to get to; surrounded by hills, and the whole “alpine village” thing going on. Lovely.
Lots of walking, playing games, slip’n’slide for the kids (and Colin who doesn’t mind the bruises/rocks). Roller-basketball, a game invited by Lara and Anna. In fact basically roller everything. They were ball girls when Colin and I were playing tennis, and of course everything had to be done on roller skates. Still, the skills are definitely improving as a result!
I got a lap in up Leith Hill which was great. With a bunch of adults and only a couple of kids there was plenty of time to get some exercise in.
All in all a very fun weekend!
Well, I guess I’ve already talked about it, but, it was a momentous occasion for me finishing up at salt works my beloved co-working space and moving into the TradeMe (myRent) offices. I made some caramel squares as a token of my appreciation. They were well received.
The new office does have a decent coffee machine too (hurrah!) and snacks! (also hurrah, though I’ve been trying to steer clear of anything too sugary)
Glynn was down and we had a lovely lunch.
We also had term break. Honestly, it’s just not that easy being parents and having to juggle pick ups & drop offs & term breaks & school holidays, especially without grandparent support. Yes, it’s our choice to be here (and happy to be here!), but, NZ society just isn’t designed around two parents working jobs. Luckily for us we’re both in .8 roles so it’s more manageable.
Anna is definitely getting more and more into reading which is lovely to see. We’re currently making our way through Swallows and Amazons (on Swallowdale at the moment) and very much enjoying them.
It’s quite fun doing bike trips together. We all get exercise and it’s a nice way to get around. It was totally worth getting the follow me tandem (we got ours second hand on TradeMe). That said, we’re now looking to use a bungee going forward. Well, at least have the option of it.
Anyway, drove to Kaiapoi, parked up and biked to Waikuku beach to camp for the night. I needed to fix our air-matress before we could go though.
Actually a very simple fix once I’d found it (you just have some glue basically and that’s it, doesn’t even require a patch). Not sure how quickly the glue will expire now (the rest of the tube). Thank to Steve & Michelle for the loan of their bath.
All in all it’s a pretty cruisey ride through to Waikuku from Kaiapoi. Almost entirely on bike track and flat. Can definitely recommend the trip.
I was struck by just how much faster the kids were with walking into woolshed creek than the first time we went. It felt like it took no time to get to the hut this go around.
It was warm enough on the way in, so, we went for a dip at the the pools by the swingbridge. Even I got in (briefly). I’m getting very very slightly better with cold water.
The kids were running around for hours, made a “light puppet show”, and generally had a great time. I didn’t bother trying to get Anna to bed at a reasonable hour, it’d have been totally unfair to try to get her to sleep while the rest were up. There weren’t quite enough beds in the main room, so, Anna banished me to the second room to sleep in. She’s quite fiercely independent that one – something we’re keen to foster of course.
On the walk out I was banished again as Anna wanted to go out by the 4wd track and I wanted to go over the hill. Paddy and Ian were willing to take Anna back by the road so I had a lovely stretch of the legs for half an hour or so before we all caught up together again. Anna had the sweets to share so she was happy as :)
Ice-creams on the way home & a very tired daughter. Perfect weekend.
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