This month we’ve had very good weather for the annual ‘Balloons over Waikato’ event. Although we didn’t go to the actual event we saw the balloons lifting off whilst driving to work. Kyle and Toby who work with Peter both went and some of their fantastic photos can be found here.
Peter’s drive in to the city became more interesting with the building of the track for the V8 Supercar racing around the city. The city centre was closed off for four days whilst the racing was on, forcing Peter to work from home on the Thursday and Friday. We didn’t go to the races as we were on holiday in Napier.
Jaz found that one of Ann’s old slippers was full of stuffing and had a great time getting it all out.
Ann had one of her ‘call back’ days this month meaning she had to work on a Saturday (teacher training day). In NZ schools are not closed for training days, or voting etc.
We had a lovely time in Napier (on the east coast) – lots of walking, eating and wine tasting. Mind you Peter’s glad to be back in his own bed as it means the dogs are back sleeping in their own bed and not ours. It was only a queen size bed and with all four of us it was a squash! We took the dogs’ beds and made them lie on them at bed time but as soon as we went to sleep they both crept up on our bed and made themselves very comfortable! Ann was worried about leaving Jaz and Maxie to sleep in the lounge in case of an accident – and she was right – on our last night Jaz wee’d all over the floor – luckily she did it in the bathroom on the tiles so it was easy to clean up.
We brought back some cheeses, sweeties (found a couple of old fashioned sweet shops) and 14 bottles of wine. That should keep Ann happy for a week or two!
We went for some long walks along the seafront, up the hill in Dolbel Reserve, all round the park at The Bluff and up and down Te Mata Peak.
The Lodge where we were staying had some agility equipment and Jaz and Maxie soon got the hang of the jumps, although the zigzag poles took a little more effort.
The weather has been warm and settled all month – until we arrived in Napier! Then it turned cold and miserable dropping 10 degrees C (18 degrees F). This meant we had to go shopping for some warm clothing – before we froze. We found a great Oppossum clothing store and bought possum and merino wool clothes – jumper for Peter, a poncho, gloves and insoles for Ann.
We had picnics each day whilst in Napier, and had taken some porky chew treats for the dogs too. But Maxie decided (whilst we were wine tasting one afternoon) that she wanted to eat all the treats in one go – and did. Despite being harnessed in the car she managed to climb over the seat into the boot and snaffle 4 large treats! needless to say she was on half rations at dinner time.
We finish the month with Peter in Auckland for the last week – on ANOTHER course!!!
News from home
Alex has had another painting published. She’s becoming an awesome artist!
Allison and John sent us some photos of shearing day at Falkor, where their alpaca’s live. This is their six month old called Peterborough. He looks like a totally different alpaca after shearing.
For the last day of spring break John and Allison went skiing (it was Michael’s second time and Alex’s 1st) and it was a great day, although Alex had had enough by lunch time. Michael on the other hand was a demon on the slopes!
