18 February 2008

Hello everyone out there in tv land. We have been in the land of the long white cloud now for three weeks. It should be the land of the sometimes white most of the time gray clouds. Auckland weather is very strange. One minute it is sunny and beautiful and the next it is pouring down with rain. I always judge a good day by weather I can get the laundry dry. Some days have been a bit iffy.

So the boys have settled into school pretty good. They are starting to meet people which is very good. Thomas loves going to preschool, and frankly I love him going. He likes it there because they have a turtle and some fish and even a pet bird. All good fun.

We have been spending many long hours trying to find a car. I want something that can fit 7, he wants a truck. We'll see. We like to go on long drives but petrol is a killer. 1.70 a litre. Crazy.

We took a drive up the Coramandel Peninsula yesterday. It is so beautiful up there. The road is very narrow and windy but you drive right along the coast and the veiw is spectacular. We are going to drive up the other coast next time. There are all these little coves to explore. You just have to be careful of crazy truck drivers driving to fast and old people driving really slow.

Well I hope everyone is happy and doing well.

Love

Helene

7 February 2008

Well we finally made it, the first day of school. The boys were so excited they were ready an hour early and in hindsight we should have left then. Traffic was terrible. We know for tomorrow. I will leave early this afternoon to pick them up. Well public school is an eye opener. We were very surprised with the variations of the uniform. Well the shirts were the same but there were varying shades of navy shorts and the shoes (if the children were wearing them) were anyhting from thongs to sandles and of course my children. Yes I bought them what I would consider proper school shoes. They got new sneakers before we left Sydney. I could have saved some money and just sent them barefoot. David and I had a good chuckle.

Of course I cried. They have been driving me crazy for weeks now but I think they were very nervouse being the new kids. I felt for them.

Thomas will start preschool next week. We called in there today to sign him up and he seemed to love it. I have to go a couple of mornings next week to just see how he goes. I am looking forward to having a few days off. He will go Wednesday and Thursday. I think I may take myself to the movies or something. Well that is all for today.

Helene