Fences and Pools

This weekend was warm on the Saturday. The girls chilled out in the pool in the back lawn. Amelia taught Lucy the rules of the game when playing in the water.

There we more progress made on the growing fence line. On Saturday the fence post was dug and cemented in. On Sunday managed to get railings over the last two concrete posts. On the home straight and its starting to take form.

Went out with the Cakebreads for a night out away from the kids. Ended up in a bar called 'Alice' that served cocktails out of teapots. Themed on Alice in Wonderland. Good fun.

Lucy Crawling; The Incumbent and the Intruder.

Lucy is now almost 9 months and has taken to crawling with now some speed. She can navigate her way anywhere throughout the house, and picks up a particular burst of speed down the hallway.

She in her travels she has now encountered the cat. They are engaged in some sort of cold war where each is acutely aware of one another but are careful of entering each other's space. This picture pretty much tells the tale of the incumbent and the intruder.

Today she has taken to pulling herself up on her knees. Teeth are developing. Someone is going to get knocked off their perch, its just a matter of time.

Windy Weekend

A windy weekend at home in Wellington.

While it was windy at least the sun was out.

Amelia got some good air time on her trampoline in the back garden,

while Lucy practiced her air time on the jolly jumper.

Sunday saw another day of fence building, then we had the Cakebreads over for a BBQ.

Fat Cat and a Concrete Bird

Overfed Finn being stalked by the resident concrete Pukeko. Even when awake the cat's bird catching ability fails to improve by any margin.

Bob and Lucy

Great grandfather and great granddaughter, checking each other out.

Milestone

This weekend saw a milestone birthday. Manner's prevent me from mentioning anything so crass as a number. Despite another birthday under the belt it was a very good weekend. Friday saw me catching a flight up to Auckland to meet the family who had already flown up there earlier in the week. We drove up to Leigh to spend a few days at the beach.

Got out for a fish on Saturday to catch a small Snapper and a Leather Jacket. I'd never caught a Leather Jacket before so it proved and interesting surprise. The weather had cleared nicely on the Saturday so we also went down the beach for several swims and I got an hour paddling around the coast on the kayak in the afternoon. Padding on a clear, calm and sunny sea proved to be a nice way to contemplate milestones.

Saturday night is a bit fuzzy but we ate and drank some things.

Sunday was low key, but another cold swim was in order. Amelia was the only other that was keen enough.

Monday was the big day. I was no secret that I'd long be interesting in taking better pictures so an investment in a beginners DSLR good camera was how I was going to mark, tangibly, this milestone with a Canon 500D.

A fair bit of experimentation yielded this shot, which is overexposed but I still like it.

Xmas Fly By

Well Xmas is over again and its back to work. As always happens on summer holidays the days starting ticking luxuriously by, slow folding into one another. Hot sunny weather saw us fishing and swimming at the beach. Then, as we unwound they days speed up. By the end they were flicking by in a blur. I guess the speed that the days of summer flick by is a measure of how relaxed and unwound you've become.


The fishing was pretty patchy this year. However Grant and I did get one good catch early one morning off the coast of Leigh. An hour and a half saw us pull in 11 perfect pan sized snapper before we decided it was enough fish.


This summer also saw us out on a kayak a number of times off the beach. A great way to explore the rocky coast line and take advantage of the clear water this year.


This year Amelia got a fishing rod. Had fun teaching her to fish off Little Omaha wharf. When the tide was high enough an it was late afternoon the sprats and bait fish would come into the waters around the wharf. It's fair to say that she managed to clean up. She's good at catching bait for dad.

After a few more days at work I'm heading back north again to pick up the family who are still on holiday at the beach.

Looking forwards to more summer by the beach in a few days or two. Then the Xmas migration pattern will see us all drive south to wintry, wet, windy Wellington. Imagine the attraction.