How long will this last?

Another gorgeous day – I could get used to this. Knowing this is probably as warm as it's going to get here, I made myself get in the water again. It was torture for Steve to watch. First my ankles (5 mins); then my knees (another 5 mins); groin (at least 10 mins); kidneys and armpits (10 mins); and finally under! Mission accomplished, I stayed in for less than 10 mins.

We found a shady spot on a shelly beach with lots of exploring to be done.


Steve decides to swim around the island in the distance, returning 50 minutes later.


Exploring.



Eadie's shell sketchings.

Summer arrived today

What a gorgeous day. It's predicted to be raining on Friday which possibly means cold and windy too. But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the weather, we are making the most of it.

You call this summer?

We are at Mt Maunganui, affectionately know as The Mount. Our first afternoon at the beach. It is quite late so the sun has lost it's heat (warmth). Steve and Ruby get in the water and catch a few waves on the boogie board. After getting my feet wet and a long pep talk to self, I don Steve's winter rashie (the one he uses in Australian waters) and decide to take the plunge. However, the process was not so much a plunge but more like a long drawn out wade. Everyone knows I am a complete wimp when it comes to getting into anything cooler than bath water.

So here is a picture (geez, I look old), taken by Eadie, just to prove I did it. Don't ask me if I enjoyed it, I think I would need a full wetsuit for that.

And here is a cute picture drawn by Eadie:

Resolutions

I just love my Frankie calendar. I got one last year and fell instantly in love with the pretty pictures. So much so that I couldn't bear to write on it, opting to photocopy it and use that instead. I then framed some of the pictures. Is that a bit anal? I still haven't written on my 2010 calendar. What do you think? Should I deface it and use it as was intended, or treasure it?

New year's resolutions? I wasn't going to mention it but seeing as you asked, I'll share. You see, I don't normally 'do' them. It's not that I don't have anything that needs improvement. It's just that minor renovations can quickly turn into major reworks at which point you have to ask yourself would it be quicker to just knock it down and rebuild? And then there's the landscaping, but we won't go there.

Here are the big 3 (no surprises here):
Exercise. Usually at the top of everyone's list. It's at the top of mine too. There is sooo much room for improvement here all I have to do is put my walking shoes on and I've made progress. Of course, it's a good idea to start now whilst I can still bend over to do up my laces–unassisted.
Drinking. If it's your shout, I like G+T in summer; red wine in winter, thanks very much. Seriously though, I aim to reduce my intake. Enough said.
Passion. I am going to find a passion. Over the past couple of years I have surprised myself to find there are things that I'm good at. Some of them like Clean Up Australia Day, are worthwhile. So this year I am going in search of more passion. God knows I could use it.

Last year (or was it the year before), I started my own reward chart. I put little stars on the calendar when I did exercise or if I had an alcohol-free day. I figured if it was good for changing the undesirable behaviour of kids, then it should work for adults too. And it did! So that's where I will start this time around and maybe I'll write on the pretty calendar after all.

Twenty ten

We say good-bye to yet another decade, how quickly they fly by! It seems like just yesterday we were preparing to see in the new millennium. Many of us didn't have kids back then which meant that we usually partied in a completely different way (sigh).

To be honest, I forgot it was NYE and only just managed to pick up a few sausages from the butchers as they were cleaning up. Still, what started out as bangers and bread turned into a pretty good feast of bangers, grilled eggplant, baked potatoes and salad. This was accompanied by a bottle of Pol Rogers champagne (thanks Scotty and Sandy) and followed by a nice almond and polenta cake with cream.


Earlier in the day Steve and Ruby did some skating - all good fun, but unfortunately it ended in tears later in the day after Ruby had a stack. You should have heard the cries. Actually, you're lucky you didn't. I have no doubt it hurt but Ruby has a very low pain threshold. Sorry Ruby, you know it's true.



Before the skate stack, we had some fun at One Tree Hill. Here are some pics...

Me and Ava on the flying fox:


Cool big tree:


On the tree:


Best wishes to all my dear friends and family. Thanks for being so wonderful and supportive and willing to create so many memories together. May 2010 be happy and rewarding one.

Love m, xox

Why men are like buses

Phew! Finished at last. I've been reading Just in Time to be Too Late - Why men are like buses. It's not that it was hard book to read, quite the opposite really. It's just that I had Steve breathing down my back as I read it. Each time I put it down he would pick it up so we were reading it simultaneously. Many of you will know that I am a S-L-O-W reader - it can take me months to get through a book. Steve is, well, the opposite, yet I was determined to finish this book before him which, despite having a head-start, I only just managed to do.

It's a good read if you want to know what it's really like to be a man in the 21st century. Written with humour and wit. If you don't really care about the male perspective then you may prefer Can We Help it if We're Fabulous? And other thoughts on being a woman which is about being a female. I haven't started this one yet as I am saving it for our week holiday at Mt Maunganui.

Steve has declared that he probably won't bother reading the latter. I guess he thinks he knows all he needs to know about women. Maybe we'll still be needing the relationship counselling afterall...

Getting to know you

For the Stevens family, the past few days have meant sleeping in, eating, reading, playing, skate boarding and blogging. With the occasional trip to the beach.

And now Steve can say that he has actually read my blog. Of course I had to prompt and prod him for feedback. I think generally he thinks it's 'good'. Why use ten words when one will do? He also said that he's learnt more about me from reading my blog. I quickly suggested that he write a blog so we can really get to know each other. Think of the money we could save on relationship counselling.


A few days ago I confessed to using the DVD player in the car to keep the kids quiet. Of course this has come full circle and they now want to turn it on when we've got a five minute journey to the next suburb. We, being good parents, laid down the law and told them that wasn't going to happen. After some vocal protesting which we firmly ignored, they got the message. Today, after a trip to the library, Steve and I thought it would be nice to stop for a coffee on the way home. More protesting ensued. Again, being the good parents that we are, we let them sit in the car across the road, windows down, looking at books. We enjoyed a quiet coffee.


Note: It wasn't a hot day, the windows were open, and we had a good view of the car across the road from the cafe :)