Halloween 2010

The boys had a fantastic halloween evening. Our friends have a great system setup where they send out a note and a balloon to a couple of streets, and if they are happy to receive trick or treaters the balloon is put out. The boys had a blast hunting the balloons down and you are all chilled out knowing they will definitely get something. Ken claimed it was a quiet year this year but it still took us nearly two hours to complete all the houses! I even got some oranges and beer!

Love the first picture with Alex (vampire) biting Tom's neck! As the neighbours know you are coming they have a few surprises ready to scare them including a flying ghost! It was a continuous walk and the boys struggled in the end even though they knew more lollies were on the way! There were even children standing around giving out sweets just to be nice. A couple of families just threw lollies from their balconies, the boys were particularly impressed with that. It was an awesome evening and we are looking forward to next year already!

Armageddon 2

There were loads of Star Wars characters and the boys couldn't believe their eyes when R2-D2 was moving around. However, they were terrified of Jango Fett! Outside they had lots of rides and the inflatable obstacle course and a huge slide were the favourites.

Armageddon

I couldn't believe my ears when Fran said we should try Armageddon which is expo for video games, comics and most stuff juvenile. Within minutes of being there Fran was regretting it as she was continuously commenting on how some people were dressed i.e. blue aliens and Little Bo Beep! However, me and the boys loved it, it was hilarious! There was loads of games not released yet including Singstar Dance using the Playstation Move which looked like great fun and the 3D games were awesome too. We had our photos with the Penguins of Madagascar and iCarly which Alex was over the moon about. To see live wrestling was interesting but we didn't last long as it was a little scary for the boys!

Christchurch

I was very fortunate that my school sent me to a conference in Christchurch called ULearn which was about teaching and learning. Christchurch was lovely although I didn't see a great deal but what I did see looked English/Guernsey with the Victorian Gardens and statues. After enjoying many key notes and sessions the conference set up dinner and dance which was a very fancy affair with lots of lights and carnival dancers. Whilst I was there we had two aftershocks at 4.4 and 4.2. The 4.4 really shock my bedroom at 6.20 am and the movement felt like someone was pulling and pushing the bed really hard. Very surreal. My reactions to save myself need serious work though as it lasted about 20-30 seconds and I didn't move a muscle!

Climbing a mountain!

When you are in Tauranga you have to climb the mountain. The boys didn't see bothered initially but after an hour of slowly going up they started to get a little frustrated. We brought popcorn, sweets and lots of enthusiasm but that was not enough for Tom as he wanted to go home, now! We did make it eventually and the views were spectacular and the walk/run down was a lot easier. They actually enjoyed it going down so it wasn't all that bad. I asked them on the way home in the car what was their favourite thing over the weekend. Three quick responses were,"Not climbing the mountain!"

Tauranga

We were invited to a close friend of Fran's who she hasn't heard from in about 20 years! It truly is a small world. They live in Tauranga which is on the east coast about 45 mins drive from Rotorua, 3 hours drive from Auckland. Emma and Scott insisted we stayed in their house and they were extremely accommodating allowing us to take over! Obviously Fran and Emma had lots of catching up to do so Scott and I had to settle for lots of beers! In the morning Emma took us to Mount Maunganui. Scott told Tom to look out for Percy the dragon on the mountain and Tom was constantly on the lookout! The beach was beautiful.

All Whites vs Honduras

The All Whites usually play in Wellington so we snapped up the opportunity to see them play at the North Harbour Stadium in Albany. It's only 10 mins away from our house which was awesome. I was both surprised and excited when Alex said he would love to come.

Alex was fantastic company as he was asking lots of great questions about football which I was more than happy to answer! The funniest being, 'Why do they keep kicking the ball out!' Even at a football match Alex found something to read from cover to cover, I took the programme off him in the end!

It ended 1 - 1 but it was a pretty exciting match with Honduras diving loads and the Kiwi's playing mostly route one football i.e. long balls! An exciting penalty miss and then an open goal miss added to the enjoyment in the final minutes. The doughnuts and chips also helped.

An afternoon in Auckland

Fran had an afternoon tea in the Langham Hotel, which is very posh and in the centre of Auckland, and so I decided to take the boys to the main cinema in the city. At the time when we arrived they had the choice of Beauty and the Beast or Sorcerer's Apprentice. The decision didn't take long. Alex absolutely loved it although Tom and Oli found it a bit too long. We were surprised that the film was so funny, Nicholas Cage was particularly good as the Sorcerer. When we left we noticed the work on the centre of Auckland, which we have never seen, had finished and we were able to have a bit of a runaround! We couldn't hang around too long as mummy needed to be picked up so after another car journey we stopped at Takapuna beach for another brief runaround. They went crazy!