Stolen

Yesterday was the last of our birthdays for a while and we were gifted a gorgeous Autumn day. We were at the bach and the beach was almost deserted save for few other families enjoying the last stolen days of summer too. Some who I recognised as regulars from this summer. The waves were non existent due to recent weather activity so there was calm and peace and savouring in the air.

Ben had a lovely day and the children as normal just lived every moment of it and had a ball.

Here is the photo we took of the cousins last year and beneath is this year's. How they have grown physically and in so many other ways. What a difference a year makes, especially for Liv, Nic and Danielle-being school kids now.

Ben loved his birthday because it was about the things he loves...bubbles, balls and food

My new favourite thing

I have fallen in love with Press Display. It is the newspaper online exactly as you wuold see it when you bought it. Every advertisement and classified is there, free! I have been trying to enable you to see it but because it is only available to Christchurch City Library customers with cards I can't but you should ask your library if they have it. It is a special library product and is available all over the world. I usually look up the Chistchurch Press but there are heaps of newspapers from around the world. Talk about a time waster. I am sure it costs the library a bomb so if you have a card, check it out.
I always talk about friends on my blog and this week is no different. On the first day of Autumn we headed to the beach for a cracker of a day. It was like a big sigh of relief to be there after weeks of soggy days and no real sun. Making it special was having my friend Liz and her family there. Our boys had a ball boogie boarding and digging holes together. We realised we had been friends for about 30 years. Yikes, where do the years go?!! Because we live far away from each other and I have a city life and she a country one it is hard to connect so when we do it is great! I wish that happened more often. I have thought twice about sharing this picture because it is not hugely flattering but we are not models and this is what we look like, so what the hell

Labour day

If you are a regular reader of this little blog you will know that all summer I talk about the beach and the great days we have there and I make no apologies for that as it is just the best part of our life. Today was the first day of summer fun this season and we shared it with Ruth and Simon and family as well as Lesley and Julian plus Alex, Pete, Oliver and Joseph. It was a busy day with our neighbours coming and going as well. Perfect

This weekend has been a weekend filled with people and it has been great. Nic has collapsed into bed after playing for hours and hours all weekend. Here are pictures of some of the fun things we got up to...

Jonty's first surf of the season

Hut building with Morgana

Fishing with Alex, Owen and Rachel

Building with Oliver, Joseph and Olivia

Sunday

I have been going to Taylors Mistake for about 45 years and yesterday was just another day at the bach. There was a nippy easterly wind blowing so the beach was quite deserted and I am sure everyone else who did decide to go to the beach was thinking that Saturday would have been the go. It was a perfect beach day. However, I was having a blissful day of another type with the market, delicious food and wine and the company of my oldest friend. Where I am going with rambling is - how refreshing it was to see the beach from a different direction. Walking the cliff path isn't new for me but with the spring flowers and the air cleansing breeze it looked shiny, green and new. By approaching from the cliff top and not the road, Nic and I had a fantastic walk and discovery trek. Gorgeous!! And this is what we saw.

Party season draws to a close

Ben's 3rd birthday party today. A family affair, we gathered at the bach. Usual suspects, cute girls in pink and blue boys. All for the last Davis/Thompson party for a few weeks at least. Next one is mother's 70th in Moeraki. Something to look forward to...I digressBen was very underwhelmed by the gathering and took it in his stride. Not one for a great show of emotion, he looked passively at his orange robot cake as we oohed and aahed. He did make more than one journey to the 'traffic light biscuit' plate though, and I suspect pretty much cleaned them up. Happy Birthday Ben, you gorgeous little boy.
My boy had a less than fantastic day as a week of school obviously took its toll. Jonty and I have lost the plot more than once this weekend and are very much looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Things must get better...surely. I am relieved to see others smiling and nodding when I describe the new and challenging behaviour and live in hope that things will improve in the next 12 years. Having said this, that ratbag boy then goes and gets excited about goggles in the shower and produces a gorgeous moment of swimming practise on the floor afterwards. Little bugger

Bunch of random things

There is so much random stuff roaming around in my head at the moment and a few days ago I composed a really good blog entry in my head as I was biking to work but now it has all disappeared. Such is the nature of my overburdened brain. Anyway, I am going to punctuate my ramblings with some random photos just to make this entry a tiny bit more interesting and to break up the text.

I have been playing around with some of the features available on Blogspot and have managed to add some links to the right of where you are looking. These are some of my favourite places to visit. Mostly Blogs of interest and inspiration and some other work related places that you might find interesting too.

Christmas is looming and presents are starting to arrive from the UK which is fun. We have sent one load off but were not quite finished so others will arrive late. I am finding it really hard to get myself organised for present buying. It is a bit about time but also capacity. However, it might pay to make a last minute dash to the present line because there are more sales appearing before Christmas and you can get great stuff if you are prepared. Nic and granny Rosemary headed to Ballantynes Christmas shop this week to seek out a special decoration for our tree. Nic selected a Santa in a helium balloon...very 'new' Christmas.

I was wandering through Whitcoulls the other day when they announced 'buy one book and get another half price'. Having planned to buy a book for someone anyway, I took the opportunity to get myself Jamie Oliver's 'At home' for $25...a bargain. I have already cooked one of the recipes and unsurprisingly, it was delicious!

If you want to read a really funny, irreverent and smart blog, check out Moata's blog. Cleverly, Moata won NZ Blog Idol on Stuff and every few days posts a very much anticipated entry. I read them and then we chat about them at lunch when our paths cross. That is the really weird thing about 'social networking' on the Internet...reading peoples stuff and then ringing them up or catching them at their desk to talk about their entries. Like texting someone in the room with you.

We are getting another new sofa. Last year we spent a kings ransom on a gorgeous dark coffee colour leather sofa the size of a small African nation. The other day as I was lying on it watching Outrageous Fortune, I noticed some damage to the leather that was natural and not the work of a small boy. We took the cushion back to Hunter Furniture and they are REPLACING THE WHOLE SOFA and the other one to match!!! So shocked am I that I am thinking of writing to FairGo and trumpeting the service. You might think that it should have been perfect to start with...agreed. However, leather is a natural product and is there is always a degree of error in perform ace to be expected. I thought a new cushion would do the trick but no, a new sofa. This could be great, but it might not be because I love the ones we have now and a new one will not be the same.

Later in the day....

Back from Christmas shopping. Did not buy one thing but it was nice to be out and about in a very quiet Christchurch. I guess most people with children were cowering at home waiting to head to the city for the Santa Parade. Alas, our poor son knows nothing of the parade as we didn't tell him about it.

My workmate Simon won 'Best Porn Star Mo' at the Christchurch Movember event the other day. Mild mannered business analyst and accountant by day....

I hate it when I lose people in my life for whatever reason - usually carelessness. Fortunately most of the people I have lost have not disappeared all together, just momentarily out of range. One such person, through no effort on my part, popped up in my life again the other day. I was very excited and continue to be so. Let's hope it is a trend that will continue.

Thought you might like to see the new look bach colour scheme...very Mediterranean