Great start

It is always a good start to a holiday when your taxi arrives at your doorstep on the dot. We've been telling Kien all week that we are going on an airplane to prepare him for this adventure, and it was a fun ride to the airport as we chatted about going to America.

We said to him, "Kien, we are going on an airplane and flying to America", and he says, "we are flying to a-mea-ca". He pointed at all the airplane signs he saw telling the direction of the airport, and said "airplane!" every time he spotted one.

Mum, Rod and Karen met us at the airport to see us off. After checking in we had a drink at Macs Down Under where Jef, Rod and I all took turns at abandoning our beer to run after Kien who just loves ride escalators.

Once we went through customs to "the other side" we made our way toward the gate whilst stopping and admiring the many lanterns celebrating the Lunar New Year.

I love airports! I love planes! Especially 747-400.

For all you plane spotters here is the tail number.

The sun came out

Finally! Sunshine! Us Aucklanders sure have missed that giant nuclear reaction in the sky. Ordinarily when the sun comes out whilst I'm at work it is too tempting not to be outside basking in all its glory, but today (this week, actually) I've been flat out busy. So when I picked Kien up from daycare I decided we were definately spending the evening outside. I promptly threw together a quick meal on the stove, made a salad, packed some wine, texted a couple of neighbours to join us, poured some juice and off we went.

A neighbour downstairs saw Kien running around the lawn and came out bearing a gift for him. His last organ has only recently been retired to the rubbish bin so he was pleased to score another one.

Rie came down with her son Noah, who is two months older than Kien. They've hung out before, so there was no shyness with either boys when and they decided it would be fun to play with the catfood that another neighbour from downstairs had just put out.

The camera didn't pick it up, but there were black ears and some sad eyes peering from behind the building, watching the kids intently.

Jef went to the yacht to clean off barnacles later this evening while I bathed the child and put him to bed. Everything turned out dandy, except for the fact that I spent one and a half hours trying to break out of my son's bedroom after he was fast asleep! The door handle on the other side (the one I couldn't get to) had fallen off, and the door handle on the side of the door I was on - which was obviously not the right side - would not do a damn thing when I turned it. I pulled wall hanging contraptions off walls to use as tools, but to no avail. I could hear my phone dinging constantly from the lounge telling me there were new messages, and I felt helpless. I ran through different worst case scenarios in my head, and the thought of having to relieve myself into Kien's nappies certainly did not appeal! Not to mention the fact that Jef went to the boat all by himself, and I'm the only one who knows. Anyway, when Jef FINALLY came home I frantically knocked on the door for him to let me out. It was such a relief! All I can say is I am so glad I am not residing at a penitentiary somewhere. Freedom is so under-rated!

Keen to be a rock 'n roller

Kien has shown a lot of interest in my guitar in the past 6 months, and since we have been intending to get him something for both his birthday and Christmas present (he's only two so it's OK to do that NOW) we decided it was time he got his own guitar. We went to the Rockshop to scope out what was available, and came home with a cute little half sized beauty.

Kien looks so keen to be a rock 'n roller! Here he is jamming with his dad.

The girl at the shop was like "Oh, you are starting him young", and I was like "well he gets my guitar out and starts strumming and singing so we need to get one he can actually hold properly". For the record we are NOT expecting him to play like Andres Segovia (my favourite guitar hero) by the time he is five, or actually take up playing the guitar for that matter. It's just that when I'm playing mine he tends to want to imitate, and now he can. That's all.

Here is a little clip of Kien singing his favourite song back at the beginning of December.

If you are receiving this blog post via e-mail you'll be able to see the clip directly on my blog at http://allnewadventures.com. Or if there are any issues with viewing it here is the youtube link - http://youtu.be/5lB_2XYJxP8.

Whangarei roadtrip in motion

A couple of nights ago I sat down to finish editing the movie - after this scenario played out multiple times prior:

[small human] "Mummy, mummy, mummy, MUMMY!"
Walk-in
[me] "Kien, lie down!"
[small human] "I lie down. Mummy lie down?"
[me] "I've already laid down with you. You're a good boy. I'll be back soon."
Walk-out

9pm, and finally there is silence. I looked out the window to witness one of the most amazing sunsets.

The only words that springs to mind are that of U2's - under a blood red sky.

I've finally finished editing the movie, and I have really enjoyed putting it together.

If you are receiving this post via e-mail or cannot view the movie here is a link to it on youtube: http://youtu.be/2BHlI_Y2TMQ

Our jaunt north

It was brief, and it was fun.
It was picturesque, and there was sun.

Do I need to copyright that? For some reason I wanted to write some rhyming poetry, and that's the best I can do right now. Perhaps if I claim Kien said it then you wouldn't be sniggering. But wait, if a two year old is talking in prose then you definitely would not be hearing this news from a blog post.

Right, enough of the chit-chat. You may recall we've been wanting to go north during the holiday period, but with the weather being atrocious plus Kien being contagious with chicken pox we couldn't get away until Thursday last week. Once we were up in Whangarei it really did feel like we were on holiday.

Despite the metservice informing us of cloud with afternoon showers on Friday we headed to the beach anyway.

We ended up at Urquharts Bay just in time for a spot of lunch.

Jef's aunt Megan and uncle Alan also joined us.

Kien amused himself for a bit with his bucket and spade; dug a hole, covered his feet, admired his handiwork.

We also braved the cool wind for a dip in the sea. The tide was on its way in, and I could feel the captured warm bay water being invaded by the cold ocean.

It was a fabulous day, and a great spot for a picnic - nestled under old pohutukawa trees.

On our drive home we admired Mt Manaia from various angles and distances.

Jef has climbed it, I have yet to.

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Initially we had planned to go to a beach ocean side, but for various reasons we decided it wasn't right for us that day. When we were at Pataua South there was this awesome caravan parked on the side of the road.

It's an Airstream, and man is it cool looking. I want one!

Backyard bliss

I watched my son enjoy the giant backyard when we were up in Whangarei at his Granddad and Margaret's place.

We took the paddling pool up, and he helped Jef with filling it yesterday morning to leave out in the sun to warm up for an afternoon splash-around.

Wednesday at the Quarter

It didn't rain when Kien and I walked down to the viaduct, which was lucky because all Wednesday morning resembled an on/off/on sky sprinkling system.

We had a date with family; met up at Portside Brassarie on Halsey St, enjoyed some very thin crust pizzas accompanied by a drop or two of Pinot Gris, and watched the kids run around the joint. Luckily the friendly waitress was accommodating, and didn't mind that Kien was climbing onto booths and rolling on the floor.

We then headed down to Wynyard Quarter, and chose The Conservatory for our next stop - mainly because of the hanging wicker swings.

Kien did his usual - running and jumping all over the place.

It was a pleasantly enjoyable Wednesday afternoon at the newest of Auckland's tourist destinations, which happens to be (almost) my back yard.

I'm glad I got us a backpack. Our "first use" outing was a success!