Christmas parties

It's that time of year again and the boys have lots of parties to go to. Last night was the Diabetes Youth party and a couple of weekends ago was the @Heart charity Christmas party. And this weekend we went to the Santa Parade.
Ewan lines up for the egg and spoon race

Plenty of relaxing in the sun

and playing on the trains

Santa Parade

Bob takes some time out from rebuilding the city

Well...it is NewZealand!

Even in the sun we can make it snow

And the airport fire brigade help us cool down

And the man himself

Auckland

Last weekend I took myself off to Auckland to run a marathon. Despite the 3.30 alarm call to catch the ferry to the 6am start in Devonport it was a really good event. The course runs round the North Shore then across the Harbour Bridge into downtown Auckland then along Tamaki Drive through the bays before turning back into the finish near the centre of town. It's easily the biggest race in NZ and they put on a really good event.
Sadly, thanks to a month long cold I couldn't shift, my performance was a bit rubbish but I got round to collect my T-shirt and medal.

 Wynyard Quarter

 Devonport

And a few photos for Mum from the wharf

Changing Seasons

The boys were a bit disappointed to have missed a snowfall in Christchurch while we were in the UK. It rarely snows much in the city so it was a shame we missed it.
So they were delighted a couple of weeks later when we were hit with one of the heaviest snowfalls in decades. The schools were shut for three days leaving the boys plenty of time to play in the snow

 Finlay gets his first taste of snow

 Cameron takes aim

Back inside for cookies by the fire



 Fast forward a few weeks and Spring is well and truly here. Yesterday we spent the afternoon in town at the botanic gardens before catching some of the rugby at the fanzone in the park.

Amongst the spring flowers

 Getting close to the World Cup

 The Fanzone just after the All Blacks match

 Cameron enjoys the bouncy castle

 Tell Andy Robinson we've found someone who can get across the line between the posts.

Even Further North

As we were having a month of summer in the middle of the NZ winter it was the perfect opportunity for me to take asdvantage of the warm conditions, do lots of training and return to NZ a finely tuned athlete in peak condition. For this reason my running shoes travelled up and down the length of the UK in the boot of the car. Comrie was the only time they saw daylight. A run up Glen Lednock to the reservoir was stunning but sadly I had no pockets so couldn't take the camera.

Once I got back we jumped in the cars and drove to Loch Morlich for a few days playing amongst the mountains. In the three days we were there we never got to see the mountains but they were there somewhere in the clouds. But a little cloud and rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits or stop us enjoying what Loch Morlich has to offer.


Ewan at Loch an Eilean

 Campbell, Callum and Ewan take a leap

 The boys and Lorna

 Strangely nobody offered to join Callum

Further North

OK, time for some more photos from our trip.
After leaving Edinburgh we headed north again to see Flea, Bobby and the boys in Comrie. Once there we headed out for a walk round the shaky bridge, which really isn't shaky at all, much to our disappointment.

Finlay persuades his cousins to do the hard work

Livingston

After a morning of retail therapy we took the boys to Almond Valley Heritage Centre to see the animals and have a play. It was fantastic, well worth going and we could easily have spent the whole day there. The boys got to play on a bouncy castle, mess about with some cool toys in the adventure zone, see lots of animals and drive some karts.
Ewan and Finlay enjoy the interactive toys

Cameron enjoys a bounce

Ewan and Grandma look at one of the bigger residents....

 ...while Finlay gets close up with something a little smaller.

 Then the boys went karting

Edinburgh

So finally into Scotland.

After staying with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ken we jumped on the bus, threaded our way through the tramlines and roadworks up to Edinburgh Castle.

It was a typical Scottish summer day, clear blue skies and a scorching sun and the boys loved looking round the castle.

Finlay inspects the cannon

King of the Castle

Cameron and Finlay look around the castle

View from the top

                                                          Castle Count: 2