New Friends!

Apologies for the lack of a post yesterday!  To start with, something is funny with the date and time that is says my posts were posted!  It says that I did two on Wednesday, when really one was Wednesday and one was Thursday, so don't think you're missing out on 2 days, really just my Friday was skipped!

And that was because....I made friends!! After doing some research into Facebook networking groups and pages I found a few with recent posts of people doing this this weekend!!  I met Jenny and Caitlin, both from California in nearby towns, now nanny neighbors in Waimauku (but did not know each other before coming over!) in Auckland last night to see what the nightlife was like!  We ended up having a great night and making some other friends as well!  They were staying at Nomad Hostel because in the morning were headed off to Coromandel in the monring, so instead of taking the last 1am ferry (which proved to be WAY too early) back across to Devonport, and then having to get a taxi home from there, I just stayed in the hostel with them and took the 8:10 ferry back over....or so I thought....something was a little funny with the scheduling, the ferry was supposed to leave at 8:10 for Bayswater.  Sometimes it's hard to tell which ferry is going where if the departure times are close because they either forget to change the sign, or do it at the last minute and they could leave from either gates 1a, 1b, or 1c.  Being very near to 8:10, I assumed the first ferry to arrive was going to be the bayswater one (let me just say in my experience they leave right on time if not EARLY), and with everyone else waiting I went aboard.  When the clock when past departure time I started to wonder if maybe I was headed to Devonport, but there wasn't another ferry option, then one quickly came in from beside us, must have only had a couple people to drove off, and no one waiting to pick up before it shot back off again (headed to Bayswater I would later see as we veered in the other direction across the bay).  So I ended up taking the Devonport ferry after all, but as it was a more reasonable time of the morning, I was able to call for a lift home fortunately and Julia came to get me.  She said once when they were meeting halfway to pick up one of the kids from Nan she got on the wrong ferry with the kids!  So apparently it's not hard to do.

Also when I called this morning Reuben sounded very confused!  He couldn't understand how it was me on the phone.  Apparently they weren't sure if I had come home last night or not, or just assumed that I had, so they were trying to keep the kids a bit quieter in the morning so that I could sleep.  Julia got on the phone and it took her a minute to realize "Oh! You're not here!"

In the end, the whole adventure was worth it!  I now have a few social connections and hopefully future traveling buddies as well.  I was going attach pictures of the sky tower lit up pink in the night sky for Breast Cancer Awareness and my new friends, and a video of Smudge coming through my window, but unfortunately my camera is not cooperating and won't let me take anything off of it!  So hopefully sometime in the near future it will work!

Me, Caitlin and Jenny

Pink Sky Tower for breast cancer awareness (color changes for different events!)

Ellen in NZ!

I turned on the TV today just browsing to see what was on, and I saw that Ellen was up next on TVone!  Of course I was very excited!  Even more so when I realized it's just a week behind home.  Not bad!  Unfortunately, it's at 3pm so ideal viewing time when I have to do school pickups at 3....oh well, at least I can see it Thursdays and Fridays! 

Not so exciting news...I found a flea in my room today!  Eeek!  We think Smudge needs a new flea collar, she's been scratching an awful lot too...apparently cat fleas don't bit people?  Hopefully that's true! I would not like to be sleeping with fleas!! 

Also not so exciting news...I think I caught some form of the illness Tessa is getting over, just haven't been feeling 100 % the last couple of days so today was spent relaxing and doing a lot of reading and enjoying the quiet house while the kids were out with Mom and Nan doing bungee tramping.  I had planned on going to yoga, but when I walked down to the marina to catch the ferry I decided I didn't really feel up to it so I sat and finished my book getting some fresh air and enjoying the calm, peaceful atmosphere.  So far have finished Eat, Pray, Love and The Lucky One.  Now I'll move on to some New Zealand-centered stories.  First on the list is Isle of Tears by Deborah Challinor.   I also watched people come off the ferry the next few times it came in, most just returning from working in the city...but it's fun to people watch.  I happened to look up right as someone walked passed wearing a University of Maryland jacket!  Unfortunately he was a bit too far away for me to comment without chasing him down and probably coming across a bit strange...maybe I'll get another chance though, the ferry is a pretty regular thing for people who ride, especially at those times of the day! 

Tennis Outing

This evening I went down to one of the two local tennis clubs for club night to meet some of the members.  Little did I know that on the first Wednesday of every month they have what they call a Yankee tournament where you draw a number out of hat (1-20) that determines which court (1-5) you will playing on.  You set up in doubles pairs and each person gets 5 serves and the score is like table tennis, each point is counted and you just keep playing until Luigi (the kitchen timer) goes off.  The score you had with your partner goes up on the board next to your name and then everyone picks a new number and Luigi starts again.  In between rounds, however, everyone goes to the clubhouse for wine and snacks.  Tonight we played 3 rounds and your scores from each are added up and there is an overall men's and women's winner for the night.  As well as the wooden racket award (person with the lowest number of points).  Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, however the majority of the people were at least 15 years older than me...so still no friends my age yet.  Some of them actually have kids my age so maybe that's how I'll network!  Anyway, not all club nights are like this, just the first Wednesday of every month.  The rest the club nights they do get some real matches going.  I've also been invited to Trivial Pursuit night coming up this month!

Digger Noise

Started out with Libby and Reuben today, then Nan came and made the swap, Tessa for Libby.  Reuben had a play date with a friend so it was just Tessa and I this afternoon.  She was upset that Nan wasn't here when she woke up, but was also upset when Mom came home and wasn't Nan and even when Dad came home and wasn't Nan.  Nan's a pretty popular family member!  Tessa and I took a walk to the park, well she was in her pram, and played on the slide and the swings.  She also at her lunch there at the picnic table enjoying the sunshine.  Tessa LOVES the park, even though this small one near the house is only a slide and swings. 

Each time we went outside we stopped to observe all the action in the driveway.  There was a huge truck blocking the way and we were almost trapped in!  We could barely fit by walking by it.  Also there was a big blue digger moving the dirt around today, almost twice the size of the yellow one that was here before.  We no longer have to cross some wooden planks to get in across the ditch that was in the middle of the driveway either.  They're making good progress, and Tessa loves to watch what's going on and listen to all the noise it makes.  She was a bit upset when we came back from the park and everyone had gone.  "Noise gone" she said.  And just kept saying "watch, watch" when we went out to go somewhere.  We also found out that when we came back, we didn't have water for awhile as they had hit the water line while working...luckily that was fixed pretty quickly!!

Park Exploration

It was just Libby and I for the day today.  It really is amazing how easy it is with only one child demanding your attention verses 2 or 3 cause problems with one-another.  We spent the morning doing paper crafts like fortune tellers and hats and drawings, then after making mini fans Libby got the idea that she wanted to use them as wings and a tale and make a bird and attach googly eyes to it.  They actually turned out pretty cute.  She knew mom was coming home early today, after lunch though, but she asked quite a bit in the morning.  After lunch we went on a bike ride to Bayswater park down the street, and invited the neighbor Nelly to come along.  The girls played there for awhile, but when Libby heard the other group of children get asked if they wanted to go to ANOTHER park, she too wanted to change parks.  So we got back on our bikes and followed the bike trail this time to see what we could find.  Nelly led us to this park hidden on the trail that was enclosed within a pirate ship wooden structure in the ground.  There was a huge rope structure for climbing and and a round woven rope swing thing, and even a sand pit with pully systems and ways for funneling sand through pipes to get it back to the ground, and most importantly, a long, enclosed, tube slide.  We managed to stay at this park close to 2 hours!  And it was EXTREMELY populated with tons of other kids coming and going, especially for being quite a small park.  I scouted for other potential nannies, but I'm pretty sure all the other kids were accompanied by parents.  There were one or two questionable ones, girls with itty bitty babies, but then again they could have just been young parents, and didn't want to randomly ask them if they were just au pairs. 

The tide was right and the weather was perfect tonight for a little sail, think it first of the spring season!  John came home early from work too, rigged up the boat, and he and Julia took the kids out sailing.  Unfortunately, I was headed to yoga so did not get a chance to go.  However, the weather is supposed to be the same tomorrow, and the tide even a bit better, so I think sailing is in my near future!  This is just in their little boat that they sail from their boat shed right at the house. 

Tonight was the first yoga class I attended taught by Mike, Sharon's husband, and although we did most of the same positions, it was a completely different style.  He encouraged the pain of stretching much much more!  At the end when we were doing bridges (and I thought I was doing alright...) he came and told me to put my feet closer together (hard enough) but then twisted my arms in the actually lifted and pulled my back and chest toward the way my head was facing!  I definitely am not quite loosened enough to perfect that move yet!