Just Do It

We have been struggling to get back into the school routine completely with homework and stuff.  Of course the boys don't bother to remind us if we forget to ask so things haven't been getting done.  Friday morning I remembered that Tommy had a spelling test and found his notebook. 

I couldn't cope with his "boyishness" trying to go over these so Andy took over.  I have no idea how he managed it but he got Tommy knuckled down and learning his words in the 15minutes we had left before school.  He came home with the news that he scored 7 out of 10 - wahoo, way better than the 3 he got the previous week!.

Today Andy and Tommy hit the spelling again and he is looking pretty good at this stage, plus his confidence has gone through the roof!  Gotta remember to do the homework!!

Well according to the pohutukawas in bloom around here anyway!  These have to be my all time favourite trees and of course they are so spectacular when they are in flower.  I can't recall seeing them out in flower this much halfway through November so I hope the legend of a long hot summer rings true.  At the moment I am wrapped up in jeans and sweater telling myself it must be warm!

Spoke to Mum the other day and she mentioned that I haven't finished off my trip diary yet.  Yeah I know, I really can't motivated to do that but I will do my very best to get something posted after the weekend. 

Hey, it is Thanksgiving today in the States, this was another holiday that I would have loved to celebrate over there.  Hope all our American friends had a wonderful day and ate lots of yummy turkey - love that stuff!

Yay, what a gorgeous weekend that turned out to be.  There were only a few of us at the Lake and the kids had a ball.  We are still working on getting the jump ramp all sorted out but hopefully next time we will finally have everything settled. 

The best thing of the lot about having 2 summers in a row is my tan is looking really good at the moment.  I know I shouldn't be hanging around in the sun down here like I am, but hey!  Oh and to compare things a bit, after 5 hours by the pool in Palm Springs we just went brown, but here after a couple of hours in the sun with 30 block on and you can see the red tinges, and that is with a base tan already.  Scarey Stuff.

Andy went to wake the boys this morning and couldn't resist taking a pic of this delightful child.  He looks so contented and as if he could easily sleep away the day.

I went back to the gym this morning for the first time, I think the spa pool will be getting used tonight, I reckon my muscles will be aching tomorrow.  I weighed myself and I have put on 2kg over the 4months, I was figuring that wasn't too bad until I remembered that muscle weighs more than fat, and I sure don't have any bulging biceps at the moment.  In for assessment on Monday morning so I will find out the damage properly then.  3 more days to try for an improvement before then.

Yeah, I am a day or two late posting this, mainly because I went down and stayed the night with Mum and took her out for dinner.  I know she had a great birthday and we definitely enjoyed our Mum and daughter time alone.  We set a new record for the length of time spent in the spa pool too.  We went out at 8pm and when I checked the time when we came in it was 11.18 - no wonder we were wrinkly!

Side notes, Alistair broke his big toe at school the other day while playing volleyball - so much for a non contact sport.  He is also up at the high school at the moment sitting his entrance tests for next year.  Scary, my oldest is going to be a teenager and go to high school.

Nick and Tom have sports day today and are really keen to see us there, Andy is definitely heading down  and I will go down when I have dropped Ali back at school.  Off to the lakes for the weekend again.  Hope it is fine.

Well we have been home for 5minutes and already I have been out checking out the shops to see what has changed.  I have found this neat new magazine that is only a few months old

http://www.notebookmagazine.com/

So fresh and colourful, lots of great reading and on top of that a decent price too.  Can't believe I am sitting here recommending a magazine but there you go.

But I seem to have way too much to do and very little inclination at the moment.  Got most of the bags unpacked and found homes for everything, but we still have 1 full bag of shoes and the contents of various bags which probably equals 1 full one still hanging round the lounge floor.  I keep saying I will clear this up today but so far it hasn't happened.  Oh well, I guess it will still be there tomorrow too!

Took off to the Lakes over the weekend and had a wonderful time catching up with everyone, nothing has changed at all and we felt so at home again.  If only I could settle down and enjoy being home and not missing everything that we did  for the last 4 months. Blah!

3 kids full of chocolate and Kathryn is taking them to Disneyland – woohoo way to go girl!  Andy and I are supposed to go and enjoy being pampered for a couple of hours.  Andy is not at all keen and bails out when we get there.  I go in and have the most delightful 2hours I have had in a very long time.  It is an absolutely stunning experience and one that I reckon everyone should do at least once.

Andy picks me up afterwards and we head back to Target to grab another couple of bags as the first ones we bought just aren’t cutting the mustard.  Packing is so boring though and we just can’t seem to get really enthusiastic about it.  It also means our time away is almost at an end.

The boys and Kathryn arrive home about 7 and are so full of beans it is not funny.  Turns out it was a great day to be at Disneyland as there were hardly any queues.  They rode on everything at least twice and then complained when they had to wait in a line for 5minutes.  Kathryn laughs and reminds them that usually if you can get 5 or 6 rides done on a normal day then you are doing well.  Disneyland is certainly a highlight of the trip for our little guys.

Drew & Dustin have a teacher only day today so they are hanging with Kathryn.  She is really brave and decides to take our boys out too.  We swap cars and Kathryn takes the mummy wagon while we end up with the merc.  We take off for the beach and end up at San Clemente where it is absolutely beautiful.  A gorgeously sunny day and very warm temperatures.  We enjoy lunch on the pier and a wander along the beach.

The boys have had a huge day with their first stop being the pumpkin patch which featured a maze and humungous pumpkins.  Then they headed to Camelot and played laser tag which was a huge hit and the main topic of conversation when they arrived home.  A quick stop at Burger King for lunch where the playground held a surprise or two.

Back home for a quick recoup before it gets dark and there is more work for the boys to do in collecting candy.  We are having ribs for dinner tonight and Grant is the chef at the barby – awesome job and they smell as divine as they tasted.  It is dark at 5.30 and we get a knock on our door and that is it for the boys waiting any longer – we are out of there.  I persuade Kathryn to come with me just for the first couple of houses.  We have so much fun wandering along that I am sent back to grab our pina coladas and make things way more sociable.  The boys are really enjoying trick or treating and the decorations on the houses are really quite spectacular.  We went up and down Kathryn’s street where we visited approximately 100 houses.  Of those there were only about 10 that weren’t participating.  While we were asking for candy Andy was at home getting up and down every 2 minutes to give out candy.

Another wonderful night that saw the boys come away with 10.5 pounds of candy between them and that was when we got round to weighing it 3days later!!

We wake up very slowly this morning and hear all about the fancy dress party Kathryn & Mike went to as well.  Seems like we all had a wonderful night.  We hit a few shops today to get some of the final bits and pieces that we need before heading home.  Target is where we manage to find another couple of bags to help deplete the mess in Kathryn’s front room.  We also find a huge lump of lamb and decide to have roast for dinner.  We are a bit out of practice at timing with meals and we eat very late.  The gravy was a huge hit though.

We set off to Doug & Jean’s place this morning with a very quiet car.  The boys have all decided they are driving with Grant – suits us fine – we are kind of tempted to run away and leave Grant to it.  It takes about an hour to drive out to this beautiful oasis.  Doug and Jean have an acre of land surrounded by other huge homes all on similar sized lots.  We relax in the sun with a few beers and have lots of laughs with a very fun loving couple who have opened their home to us.

There is a children’s Halloween party happening around the road that we change the party to.  Our boys are really into this and get into their costumes.  A little extra is needed according to them so they line up for some face paint and black hairspray along with Ashlyn.

The party round the road is in full swing with margaritas and kids games galore.  We had a wonderful night which I enjoyed immensely.  Maybe a little too much as the kids have me on about the python that I apparently held!  A huge night with lots of fun and laughter with more fun people.