U2 360 Tour

The best concert ever. A combination of an amazing technical show as well as performing superbly. They did a great mix of old and new with Get on your boots and Vertigo as standouts. Funny enough the new album sounds better live so I have gone back to it and enjoying it more now. Bono impressively hardly ever stopped singing and he spoke about the tragic events with the miners thoughtfully. It was so good I went twice, only $40 a ticket and Duncan needed some company so I had to go! They even played different songs on the second one including Thrill me, Kiss me and Hold me which I wasn't expecting.

Kitchen

Our builder is on a mission to finish before the date he originally set which was December 15th which is causing all sorts of headaches for us as he ploughs on. We are having to find different places to sleep and clean in. Our biggest hurdle will be when they sand the floor and varnish which means we wont have access to our bedrooms. It may lead to us sleeping in the dungeon, not looking forward to that!

Summer is not far away

The weather has really improved lately and it is certainly getting a lot warmer particularly when the sun is out, already got burnt! We are starting to have our coffees outside which is a good sign. We have been very fortunate with our friends and Tom and Oli got an invite to Chipmunks so Alex got some mummy and daddy time. He was lucky enough to help us choose the fridge, oven and dishwasher for the new kitchen!

We have our awning now which is fantastic so we can get out on the deck more often. We built Alex's Hogwarts castle which took forever out of lots of cards and it was supposed to be fun. Although Alex was very proud and excited about it. We spent an afternoon at MOTAT as it was free to North Shore residents and there was activity to collect stamps which Alex loves doing. Tom and Oli were happy to run around. Great.

Singstar Dance!

Singstar Dance has arrived! I was really surprised as the boys loved it particularly Alex. A lot of the songs they recognise from movies like 'I like to move it' from Madagascar. It is really sensitive and picks up all your moves so you have to be really good so naturally I am winning all the time!

The boys and I went to see 'Legend of the Guardians' about owls and it was pretty amazing in 3D. It was refreshing to see a film which was not trying to be funny all the time and concentrates on the story. The boys really enjoyed it. The Christmas decorations are up and look impressive. Alex is really looking forward to the next Harry Potter movie as he still reads or listens to the books every other night. The other night is Alex Rider.

Gymnastics Competition

The boys have been training hard for about 8 weeks learning their routine and it paid off as they won the whole competition with Tom receiving a gold medal and Oli getting a bronze for their age group. Tom hated the training but his coach said he is by far the best because he is such a perfectionist and gets every move right, but did he moan! Alex has really improved and he really enjoys it especially as many of his friends do it as well.

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.