and we are off...

We have been celebrating around here this week - Grace had a very successful dance with her schoolmates - they came in second for this region with their dance to the wiz (some of us remember that one).

 I had a birthday - thanks so much for a great two day celebration - the family treated me to snuggles and coffee in bed, then the sweet girls at work surprised me with gorgeous orchids, a sweet card, and lunch at a neat cafe called The Bee's Knees.  We had dinner out and I am the proud new owner of a gas-powered blower!  I have used it and love it!  I should get lots of use out of it as the wind blows what I blow right back where it started - it will be an ongoing battle - I don't have a chance of winning but I do love using my new blower!  I have lots of cards on the mantle and loved getting a package from Mom and Dad.  A great birthday - thanks!!

We continue celebrating - we are leaving in a day or two for our much anticipated trip to Valencia, Spain for Adrian's conference and France for holiday.  We will see family!! Guy and Tessa will be coming and the girls and I will see Kelsie in Alicante!  When we leave Spain we head to Domme, France.  Adrian's sister Janet and her husband Paul will join us there.  We are so happy to see family!!  It is what we miss being here.

Of course I cannot sleep as I am so excited so I spend time in the night looking on the internet at all the places we will be.  Not a great idea really because I get more excited and sleep is virtually impossible.  The travel time is around 36 hours for this journey.  We fly from Wellington to Auckland to Melbourne to Dubai to Barcelona - we will be shattered I am sure.  Luckily we will recover as we are still young!  Yes we are!  We are still young.  If I keep saying it...

We will be in touch during our time away but will fill you in on all the details when we return.

Did I mention that it has been sunny for five days in a row?!?!  We can walk in the back garden without our gum boots!  We do not sink in the mud - yahoo!!  Spring is indeed coming and should be in full swing when we come back.  There are gorgeous flowers blooming -

Victoria Esplanade lane

The girls are both riding bicycles like pros!  It is a gorgeous time to do that now so we have been outside a lot lately with the great weather and practicing our biking - we will have bikes in France and plan on using them.

The girls are sleeping, Adrian is at his journal club meeting with his peers to review articles of interest  and have food and a bit of wine.  They are good about getting together regularly.  Adrian is enjoying his work and is learning new things.  He is involved in the interviewing of consultant radiologists.  He is enjoying that and is getting a handle on the time differences around the world.  There was that one South African interview that may have happened at 3 am but never mind...  I better get the last of the packing done.  Until next time. xoxo

a little more of the weekend

We had our first ballet recital yesterday - It was a great success.  Here are some photos in our other blog, just click on the link... Photos  Each class did a ballet performance which was followed by a great performance of Peter Pan.  There will be another performance today and we will be able to purchase the video so that will be fun. Abigail really loves her class and said, "I hope ballet never ends!" - wonderful to love what you are doing, right?!?

We have had wild weather - high winds, rain hissing down with a few rounds of hail mixed in to make it all a bit more spicy!  We are warm and dry so all is good.  We love to see a storm and we are having lots of opportunities to do that.

We have only a few more basketball games - both teams have made it to the semi-finals!  I hear through the grapevine that there are children at the school who are imitating the American hollering at the games (Dad, you would be proud and Wubus, you would cringe remembering how Dad cheered you on!). As we say, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.  The girls have come such a long way in basketball so maybe we will do it again next winter.  Summer sports are on the horizon, field hockey, touch rugby, and others, we will soon sign up...

Apparently the kids at school are begging for Grace to talk "hillbilly".  She does a really nice job!  When working in the library she has kids put away books and rewards them with some hillbilly talk.  Again that saying about the nut comes to mind.  They call me cowgirl - I like that!!!  If only I could find the boots - I came up empty in Australia as the pointy toe kind do not help a rancher much.  I am hoping to find a fancy, very pointed-toe pair in Spain - what do you think?  Matadors must need pointy toed boots, right?

I heard from some sweet girls in the States - thanks for calling!  What a treat!!!  We had a mexican feast that night to celebrate hearing from San Antonio - nachos with jalapenos, a $5 can of beans, chips, salsa, guacamole and Corona!  De-lish!!!

Now that our friends have gone to the UK our phone rarely rings - thankfully Adrian's sister Janet calls!  My dad calls too but we are not supposed to let Mama know that...  Just kidding mama, you know he would never do that!  He knows which side of the bread the butter is on...  We also hear from Adrian's sweet friend Harry - he does love those calls.

Off we go to the next performance, no pre-performance jitters here! just some urgency about getting the makeup applied - cute!  As our weekend comes to an end, I hope y'all enjoy the rest of yours. CHEERS!

saturday in palmy

windy and warm, sunny and nice, laundry is hanging out, children have ridden bikes without event! all the work is done.  Adrian has been watching the golf and a bit of tennis although with less enthusiasm than if the great Federer were still involved.  Abigail has her dance recital today, Peter Pan, at The Globe Theatre.  We are all very excited...

Last weekend we went to a gorgeous spot - Jan and Jim were right - Castle Point.  Here are some shots.