Friday, March 27, 2009

Oh, Happy Days!!

Last night we won our first game of netball!! Oh you can imagine our delight. Even the ref said she was so proud of us. It was a momentous occasion for all concerned.
We started our Winter season last night - and have been moved to Division 4 which is much better for us.
Final score was 17-14.
I feel a high-five coming on.

Monday, March 23, 2009

All Things Cute And Beautiful


The most exciting thing that has happened lately is that the Queenstown Bartlett Family came to stay on Friday night.... which means Claire and I got maximum Annabelle cuddling time! They arrived just past midnight after a long, slow trip up with a massive trailer on the back to pick up the car and motorbike from the garage (which, can I just say, looks rather bare now!)

Claire and Catkin went out and 'ran some errands' (shopped) on Saturday morning and Gavin and I were in charge of Annabelle. Gavin's job was to get the car and motorbike sorted so they would be all ready to leave early afternoon and head to Ohau for a night of camping. I managed to keep him talking so said job never got done and they ended up staying Saturday night as well! Mwha ha ha - my plan worked!!

It was so lovely to see them and Annabelle is nearly twice her birth weight now. Still as cute as a button and plenty of smiles. Only 3 weeks and we will be seeing them again in Queenstown.



The Fowlers had their Wine Fest/Housewarming on Saturday night which was really good. G,C & A came along as well. There was blind wine tasting that Catkin and I won! Whoop whoop. It wasn't a late night but it was very enjoyable.

We had a afternoon play date with the Metcalfe's yesterday which was nice. Tahlia was keen to come around and play on the Dance UK Playstation mat again so while her and her friend were having a dance off, Sandra, Claire and I discussed netball tactics and drank tea. It was nice to see them. Asha was also there and was practising his ABC with a game of Claire's by matching the shapes to the letters. I was very impressed he was very good. He told me he loved the letter J. ** Too cute.

And I got given this mini wheeley bin from a guy at work which I love (the bin, not the guy). You know my love of all things mini!!!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Och Aye Nae Noo!

Things are ticking along nicely at Roxy Inn. Claire and I have both been relatively busy and almost have to book in to see each other!! I've been a bit slack with walking with Lynnie and Courtney due to one thing or another but have been walking during my lunch time with Val so at least that's something. Although I do feel that I haven't seen L&C for AGES. Must remedy that as I've heard that Courtney has new 'Mike' stories.

Dad turned the grand old age of 60 on the 24th - Phew! Who even knew people got that old?! I talked to him on Tuesday and he said he had talked to all his kids which made him happy. Mum surprised him with dinner out in Warkworth with some friends the following night. Sounds like they had a really nice time.
Alex has started at Uni now. Exciting for him. Apparently he hates Thursdays as he doesn't have time for lunch. Let the hardships begin!

So last week I had the week off work. Jenni and I managed to paint the town tartan on Saturday night - not getting home until after 5am!!! It was messy. There were quite a few vodka & redbulls consumed along with a few shooters - never a good idea! It had to be done though.

Sunday was the Waipara Wine Fest and after a few days of rain Sunday was beautiful. Just as well as the wine fest is all outside so rain wouldn't make it very pleasant. Lance drove me, Jenni and Megan out to Waipara and I had managed to score 4 free tickets from work. Result!! I was still a bit drunk on the way out so was glad I wasn't supposed to be the driver. After getting there and setting up a possie in the sun, the hang over kicked in. What I SHOULD have done is have a wine - hair of the dog and all that - but, alas, I didn't and ended up having to go and sleep it off in the back of the car. Sad days for me. Anyway, the others had a great day and Megan and Jenni were quite tiddley when they all arrived back to the car. Jenni even got to see the phenomenon which is Stove Pipes. She liked. The Black Velvet Band were playing there.
On Monday Jenni and I set off on another whirlwind adventure - this time to the West Coast. We stopped at Shanty Town for a looksie. We even got to pan for gold... and got some. Exciting. Although I think they rig it so you are guaranteed to get some. Not enough to leave work and retire though. Ho hum. We both loved Shanty Town.

Then onwards to Punakaiki to look at the pancake rocks. Very cool and well set out. The weather had been pretty wet but every time we stopped for something the rain stopped so that made it nicer. From there we went to Westport... hmmmm... not the nicest place I've ever been. We had trouble finding accommodation that night due to a bowling convention being held in Westport.. ha! Managed to get a really nice room at a back packers though so that was nice.


We headed home on Tuesday and cooked a nice Kiwi dinner of roast lamb for Jenni. On Wednesday we went to the 20/20 cricket which was brilliant. The Black Caps won. Hurrah! Another perk from work. Thanks CHH!!

On Thursday afternoon I had to say goodbye to Jenni as she headed back to Scotland and I departed for Auckland.

Thursday nights netball went well apparently. Roving sports reporter Claire filled me in as I wasn't there. The score was neck and neck and our team was actually ahead at the start.... giving the team a burst of confidence that we might ACTUALLY have a chance of winning. Everyone played very well but they other team got a good lead in the second half with the end score being 20-37.