Tigy’s Blog

So we just got back from a week away in Kuaotunu in the Coromandel. Friends of ours, Dave & Kirsten, very kindly let us use their batch for the week. It was fantastic, so didn’t want to come home!

The weather was pretty good, cold the first few nights but then it warmed up, which is pretty damn lucky for June. I mean who has stolen winter this year? Anyways they can keep it!

Kuaotunu is a pretty small spot about 20km north of Whitianga, about 3hr drive from Auckland. The beach is oh so quiet, with bugger all people there in summer, let alone winter, so we had the place to ourselves. Not a hell of a lot to do there but play outside, go for walks, read books, make sand castles and generally just have a really, really relaxing time.

The kids loved it, being pretty much free to do anything they wanted, except watch TV. Lots of outdoors time and it was really great to see the two of them really start to bond. Their favourite game it dancing to the teletubbies theme song, which if you dont know I could happily give you a quick rendition, as could any of the Hawkes neighbours in Kuaotunu as it tended to get blasted out a few times a day. But as much I would happily drown ‘Tinkywinky’ the kids loved it. Its amazing what a little forced time together can do, plus the absence of other distractions.

As I said, not ready to leave after only 6 days. Maybe it was because I had to drive down to Thames one day to sit an exam, or just that after being so busy for so long it took 5 days to unwind, or maybe its just because it would have been nice to have some more time. I dunno, but I cant wait for a decent holiday now! Beth is still talking about going for tractor rides, and driving the tractor (with a little help from dad). I also think she’d just at the chance to go exploring around the rocks again looking for sea snails and little tiny anemones… although she was a little dissapointed not to see Nemo in any of them… and a little relieved not to see Bruce.

I’ve posted up some holiday snaps if your interested, you can find them by clicking on the picture below:

So today I sat my first exam in about 10 years, and the first non-engineering exam in about 15 years. By non-engineering I mean one where you cant just put numbers in the answers, I actually had to write essays and I tell you my hand hurt!! I mean who actually writes anything of any length with a pen and paper these days, I certainly don’t. So sitting there and writing for nigh on 3 hours solid was a bit of a challenge. Perhaps before my next exam I should practice sticking needles in my hand as part of my preparation!

I didn’t have a hell of a lot of time to prepare so I was a bit stressed anyways, and once I read the exam questions I found I’d managed to study just about everything except what the questions were about, but I gave it my best crack and cant do better than that. I spent the last 10 minutes after I finished quickly marking my own work, gave myself 49%, I just need 40% to pass the course so fingers crossed I wasn’t too easy on myself.

Its had to believe its been four years since our little <ahem> angel was born, but it is!!

On saturday we had a joint party with her friend Ollie who was turning three. Beth had a fantastic time, a little overwhelmed and I’m not sure it really sunk in that it was her birthday, that she was the centre of attention, but she loved it. Lots of pressies and cake and lollies and a fairy!

We organised a fairy, Fairy Floss, to come along and entertain the kids. Not all the kids were into her but our little fairy princess absolutely loved her. The best part was when Floss was leaving Beth was about to start opening all her presents, with her hands on the bootie she stopped, and quietly asked me if the fairy was going to fly? I told her I didnt know but we could go look, Beth immediately left the presents, and all her friends and went up to the fairy to ask her, very politely, if she could watch her fly away. Unfortunately Floss had run out of pixie dust so had to drive, but thems the breaks. 

Our little girl has come a long way in the last four years, its hard to believe the little munchkin that comes in everymorning and wakes me up, who can be an absolute angel one minute and be throwing chairs in a tantrum the next, is the same little babe who so transformed our lives with her arrival four years ago.

This makes today a little sweeter.

Team NZ: FIVE, Luna Rosa: ZERO

Wicked result. Only the second time ever we’ve challenged for the America’s cup (we’ve defended it twice though). So on the 23rd of June the second ever America’s cup will be held in Europe (last was in like 1851 when America won it the first time), and hopefully there wont be another one there for about just as long :-).

So thought I would share with you all the dangers of mixing beer, rum, poker, chilli beans, a stove element and an iron all together.

So some of the guys are coming around for a poker game one night. I know as Im not driving I’ll probably drink a bit and will be running late for work the next morning so iron my shirt when I get home. Have a few beers, maybe a rum or two, then get hungry so go to heat up some chilli beans for dinner (nachos). Now somehow I managed to turn on the wrong element, rather than wonder why dinner was only luke warm I first thought… what is that smell? The Chris asks if all that smoke is meant to be coming from the element… isnt that your iron sitting there?…

"Ceasers Ghost!" as my grandfather would say. Anyways the moral of the story is if your planning on drinking just go to work in a wrinkled shirt, its much cheaper that way.