Happy New Year

Hello my lovely readers :)

Well it's 31 December here, New Year's Eve.  What a crazy year we've had and it doesn't look as if the crazy is going to stop any time soon with the omicron variant running rampant around the world.  The hope is that it will not make so many sick but clearly the sheer number will cause problems.  Anyway, enough of covid.

We had a wonderful Christmas with my family and then had a few days at home by ourselves.  We are now staying over at Stu's fathers house for a few nights.  I personally don't enjoy staying with people, I never have.  It's a combination of feeling like I'm intruding and losing my freedom.  I feel that we can't go off and do our own thing because it's rude etc.  Never mind, home tomorrow and today we are taking his Dad out for a drive so that will be nice.

My daughter and family are up at their holiday place and she is dreadfully frustrated by her husband who has a new large jet ski and has been out fishing most of the time.  She understands that he wants to do it but that leaves her with the boys all day long alone and lonely.  When he got back yesterday he couldn't understand why she was upset.  Men huh?  I hope they sort it.  We will be up there in a few days so that will help her enormously.  She's counting the days until we arrive I think!

Well I've had my coffee and am still in bed so best make a move before my father-in-law realises how lazy I really am :) He loves having us here but he can talk the hind leg off a donkey so I find myself retreating to the bedroom from time to time. 

Oh one more thing I just remembered.  He is 85 years old.  He had a sales person from Vodafone call him up the other week and sold him this 'great new deal'.   He told he was getting sent a new "5G" internet system.  We'll poor FIL had no idea what he was on about so agreed thinking it was necessary only for us to tell him that he is already on fast fibre internet which is way better than the 5G they had sold him.  We have been trying to sort this out now for two days!  Hopefully they don't cut off his fibre in the meantime.  

He also had trouble with Booking.com.  He used to run a B&B but clearly didn't close the booking site properly over a year ago.  (We think he just blocked out booking for a time.) Anyway loads of people have booked at his B&B which is now non-existent!!!  We have now closed that site and contacted all the people but there are going to be some angry, disappointed people out there because there is no other accommodation available over this way at the moment.  

Time to get on with my day, Happy New Year to you all, I hope it's a good one.

ps. I'm not yelling at Stu so much and he is listening better.  Baby steps... we had a bit of a blow up the other day and I think something finally registered in his brain that we needed to work on ourselves. 

~ Lynda

Christmas Day

Christmas morning, no makeup present time.  F must be growing up, he lets us take his photo again!!!

Our haul of presents for the new motorhome. T shirt for Stu, tea towels, head lamp, Aperol Spritz and a motorhome diary.  Happy days.

Cole showing off his new watch, gaming keyboard and mouse.

Yummy lunch cooked in the outdoor pizza oven

My girl crying when she realised how grown up F is now.  

Out for the day at Hanua Falls

Merry Christmas to you all xx

Hello my lovely readers/friends throughout the year.  This is just a very quick update to wish you all a very happy Christmas.  I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends and stay safe.  

We are off to my daughter's place soon where we will spend the night so we can wake up early to the boys discovering yet again that Santa has been.  Yes, the younger ones STILL believe so who am I to not sprinkle bits of carrot around and leave out some food.

It is also my daughter's birthday on Christmas day so I've got her a lovely gift and made her a personalised card.  It's pretty soppy but I know she will appreciate it.  

I'll catch you all after the celebrations!!

~ Lynda

The front of the card I made for my daughter. 

Home but not alone

We are home after our very full on weekend but still have the two younger boys until tomorrow.  My daughter is away until tomorrow... we didn't realise that but we can do one more night, just.  Cole went very feral earlier today but seems to be OK again now.  F has gone to stay with his girlfriend. 

We had a lovely weekend but the weather was much winder than forecast so it meant no beach time -- instead Stu took the boys to mini-golf which broke up the day.  

The Christmas party was good and lovely to see everyone again.  The boys made friends with the other cousins and there was much screaming and running around seeing ghosts in the dark.  They also got lots of wonderful gifts and so much fun seeing all the kids ripping off paper and the surprise of the new presents.  Then after dinner it was time for the adults and we did quite well with our secret Santa gifts.

The motel was pretty basic but I knew that when I booked.  It's tricky getting accommodation for five people without paying a fortune!  While basic, it did the trick and the bedding and sheets were super fresh and clean so that made up for the dated decor.  Normally when we go over it will just be me and Stu and we'd be staying with his father.

There was way too much food (of the wrong kind) and I'm feeling as big as a whale.  I didn't actually eat much but when it's the wrong kind of food, even a little makes you feel fatter!  Oh well, Christmas will be over soon and we'll be back to salads.   

~~~~~~~~

Change of subject but I have to say this, it's so damn unbelievable.  

Most of you know that my daughter's in-laws don't 'recognise" F as being part of the family.  For those who don't know my daughter had him before meeting her husband but F has taken on the family surname.  So the in-laws never buy F a present at Christmas but send them for the two younger boys.  Mean does not even begin to describe that behaviour.  

Now wait for it......  my daughter and her family have a new dog called Duke and yes, you guessed it.  DUKE  IS GETTING A BLOODY PRESENT but F still misses out.  How sick is that???  My son-in-law is extremely embarrassed by this but it's clearly just not worth him doing anything about it because seriously, who wants a present because you told someone to give it?  F realises the situation and tries not to let it get to him.

Anyway that's my rant for now... photo time.

~ Lynda

Lunch on our way on Friday... finally escaping 4 months of lockdown!

Playing football with my boys, it doesn't happen often!

A little house built into a tree along the waterfront, so cute!

The view from our motel

Stu giving Cole a ride on Granddad's new mobility scooter.

The traditional lolly scramble where all the kids get way too many sweets and we have to 'hide' most of them once collected.

Opening presents.

Another cute tradition started this year -- everyone got personalised tree decorations and put them on the tree.  There were even decorations for those no longer with us.  All the boys got one too and my daughter and her husband.  Very nice.

Off for the weekend!

Tomorrow we will leave Auckland for the first time in over 4 months!  We are taking all three boys with us which will be wonderful... yes, the oldest decided he's like to come along :) We are staying at a motel in Whitianga which is directly across the road from the beach so hopefully there will some sunbathing and swimming as well as family get togethers and the Christmas party.  The weather forecast is looking AMAZING.

Tomorrow we are all meeting up at a local pub/restaurant at 1.30 pm to make plans for Saturday's party (who brings what food etc).  It will be first time the family has been together for ages so I know Stu's Dad is pretty excited!!!

The motel we are staying at has two bedrooms and also a bed in the lounge so great sleeping arrangements for all five of us.  I'm taking basic breakfast food but we'll eat out the rest of the time I think.  There is a great fish and chip shop just around the corner so perhaps that might be dinner.

We have the two youngest boys today but they won't be staying the night, it's much easier for me to get organised in the morning if they are just dropped off by the mother.

All of our covid tests came back negative thank goodness - I'm so glad I had a test too because I didn't feel too great earlier in the week and it's good to know we are all 'safe' to go away.  We don't have the new variant (Omicron) in New Zealand yet but there is no doubt it will get here before too long.  I'm due for my booster shot in early January.  

I've been a right moody cow the last few days and gave myself a headache from being so crazy.  I've been snapping at Stu (sometimes with really good reason) and just generally really feeling off.  Time of year?  Covid?  Who knows but hopefully I'll be happy and normal for our time away.  I'm feeling a bit better today already.

I hope you are all doing well, it's a stressful time of year for many people.

~ Lynda :) 

A fun day

Well I pulled myself together and went off to the Christmas lunch and boat trip.  It was hard to know what to wear but I decided on some nautical colours and as it was a rainy, overcast day I wore 3/4 pants but changed into shorts onboard later on.  We didn't go swimming, I probably would have if it was a hot sunny day but we both didn't take our swimsuits.  I did think Stu would go swimming but he forgot to take his even though I 'nagged' him to remember to pack them.  Typical of him these days... take from that comment what you will.

Lunch was good -- kind of strange to be with a group at a restaurant again after so long but it was good to know that the entire place was full of vaccinated people.  

We then walked a short way to the boat and went aboard for a four hour party!  The boat was lovely and sailed to a beautiful cove off an island called Motutapu Island.  There were loads of other boats there doing the exact same thing so it was a real fun atmosphere!  There everyone did standup paddle boarding, swimming and diving/jumping off the top of the boat.  I got wet just with the splashes but it was all good fun.  We had music blearing out and there was lots of singing... so much from me that I've lost my voice a bit today.

Sadly there was too much alcohol drunk by a couple of people and it didn't end so well.  I absolutely hate this and one guy had to get picked up by his wife because he couldn't even remember where he lived!  Thankfully we had her phone number. Why of why do people ruin days like this?  I love a drink but have never had that need to drink more and more.  My brain knows it's had enough but it seems so many people don't have that 'off switch'. 

Today my daughter informed me that Charlie is not well so they went off for a covid test.  Stu and I also got one done to be on the safe side as we've been looking after the boys.  We also want to be sure that we are OK before going over to see his Dad on Friday.  Better to be safe.

EDIT:  Our covid tests were negative, thank goodness!

That's my lot, photos of the fun yesterday :)

~ Lynda

The guys all wore a Hawaiian shirt theme

Me and my girl (I changed into shorts later)

Mother and daughter :)

Stu and the son-in-law.  He takes 'dressing up' to a new level :) He looks hilarious and creepy all at the same time. He had beard which he shaved off to leave the moustache.  

A nice one of my Stu :)

In the water where they spent hours!

Jumping from the top deck

Lacking confidence

I'm not sure if it's age, weight or something else but I'm lacking 'going out' confidence.  It's been so long since we've engaged in social circles or had to get dressed up.  There is a new acronym going around which is "HOGO"... meaning "hassle of going out".  I sure am suffering from that!

Today we have lunch out in the city and then a four hour harbour cruise.  Sounds great right? Not so quick... the weather report is rubbish so being stuck in a boat (mind you it's a luxury boat) on the harbour doesn't thrill me. What to wear?  Will people notice how much I've aged?  etc etc.  Insecurities abound.

This week Stu got a bunch of old tapes transferred to a digital format and the one a really wanted to be OK was my old wedding in 1990 (don't ask, didn't work out, left him two years later).  Thankfully it was all preserved and I edited it down to 15 minutes, cut out the dork I married and called it just a family gathering.  I sent the link to all of my family and everyone LOVED it and it was a great way to connect with family as I ended up having an online chat to nearly all of them, even my estranged brother in Australia.  In the video I was only 34 and looked so young.  My son commented on how young I looked and my grandsons refused to even recognise me.

We had the boys again this week and will have then this coming week while my daughter works but not overnight... we are saving that for the weekend when we are taking them away.  

Life here feels back to normal almost.  We can go anywhere we want and do anything (within the boundary) and on 15th that opens up and we will have our complete freedom once more.  This depends on using our vaccine pass but nearly 90% of eligible people are now fully vaccinated so that's freedom for many.  Those who are unvaccinated can still travel but must get a test prior.  

There are many people protesting about lost freedom and mandates etc and while I recognise their side, there is no doubt that the vaccination here is keeping us all safe for now.  Our cases are dropping and hospitalisations are very low.

OK, I'd better get a move on and make myself presentable for this day's outing!

Lynda

A screenshot of my Dad and me at my 1990 wedding.  The video is precious because it was soon after this that he suffered his stroke and was paralysed.  He suffered a few more and finally died in 1995.

Fun week, lots of news

So what have we been up to for the last week?  We met up with other motorhome owners who have the same type we are buying.  It was great to chat and there is just such a lovely bunch of people who we will be joining when we finally get our motorhome.  Bad news... we got a call from the company we are buying it from and it is delayed another two months so probably won't arrive in NZ until around March.  This is due to Fiat being unable to build the chassis as parts are unavailable.  We already knew this and just have to accept the delay, not much more we can do.

On a positive note though, if we were to order one now it would be $20,000 more expensive!  Crazy.

So our beach house is officially sold and we are not sad.  It's kind of freeing as we can spend our summer going to other places -- of course we'll go over and stay with Stu's Dad but we've also booked a little holiday up north where my daughter holidays.  It will be great to have time with the boys up there.  All we could book was two nights in a little chalet and two nights on a camp site so we'll be borrowing my daughter's tent for those nights.  It should be fun!!!

Best news of all?  I got a haircut!  I was never happy with my hairdresser and was not due for a haircut with her until this week coming up so I managed to get an appointment with another hairdresser (who I used to go to many years ago).  She did a nice cut and I'm just going to continue to colour it myself.  That will save me loads of money and with it being so light now (white/grey) it's not difficult to colour.

My daughter had another consultation with her doctor who recommended an amazing counsellor for her ADHD.  She was absolutely buzzing after her online appointment with her and then managed to get a cancellation appointment with the counsellor.  It was brilliant and really, really helped her!  She's also got some new medication which will hopefully help her.  All very positive from her this week which is wonderful.

We had the boys again for Thurs/Fri/Sat and had a lovely time.  They love their time here too which helps.  

Yesterday we had Becca and Billy (US friends) around for lunch to discuss their upcoming South Island holiday.  They are so excited and I know they will have a fantastic time.  They are flying to Christchurch and hiring a campervan.  They didn't need our help really because Becca is very clever at researching everything but we could at least give them some good tips for freedom camping and motor homing in general. 

I think that's all for now, life is getting back to normal here.  We have a Christmas party/Yacht trip on Sunday to look forward to and then the family party the following week so it really feels like normal life is resuming!

Oh one more thing... we bought a Tesla this week and it we get it in February.  Stu's dream car so who am I to stand in his way :). The government has $8,000 off the price until March so it makes sense to get it now. 

~ Lynda

A screenshot from Becca's Instagram showing our lunch yesterday :) Thankfully they eat eggs so I made a vegetable frittata and salad and Billy made a delicious focaccia bread.  They were vegan but since being in New Zealand they've expanded their diet to include eggs and some dairy.  They said the NZ free range eggs are amazing. 

Our new Tesla will be similar to this one -- we got the white after looking at all the options.

SOLD :)

A little 'goodbye' photo montage I made for the local Facebook page to say thank you to the community for our time there.  The photos go from our first time at the beach (top left) to our last time (bottom right).

Long Bay... out with the boys

I don't think I'd ever been over to Long Bay but it was beautiful!  It has a fantastic kids playground and masses of picnic areas.  We'll be back in the summer for sure!

The boys piled into bed with to play Minecraft with Poppa - they were all playing in the same 'world' so I left them to it. Cute that they still are like this, they'll be grown before we know it so we enjoy these moments.

My haircut, I'm happy with it.  It had been nearly 6 months since I'd been to a salon!

Moving levels soon

On Friday we move to our 'traffic light' system which means much more freedom as long as you have been vaccinated.  I know this will cause problems for those unvaccinated but that is for them to worry about.  I'm sure the restrictions will ease as and when the threat of covid eases.  With this new variant out now I don't know what will happen but I hope that while it seems more transmissible, it might be less harmful.

My only concern is that Stu's digital vaccination passport shows a different middle name!  Derek for God's sake.  The date of birth and everything else is correct so I'm sure it would only be a problem if trying to fly or something.  He's getting it fixed hopefully -- it has to be done through his doctor.  

Auckland will be in the red traffic light zone so all freedoms except limits on crowd sizes.  Our border to the rest of NZ opens on 15 December.  The rest of the country is free to move around.

I read the most crazy conspiracy rubbish every day (mainly from Stu's niece and my ex brother-in-law.  Utter crap.  The niece even had the nerve to say she is a critical thinker while spewing out stuff that can be fact checked almost instantly with real statistics!  It does my head in but somehow I keep reading... much to Stu's annoyance.  

We had an email from our lawyer yesterday saying that there'd been a minor problem with the beach house building report.  Apparently the ceiling insulation is covering the light fittings which could cause them to overheat.  We have LED light fittings but to be safe, there needs to be ventilation above them.  As luck would have it, the guy who delivered all of our stuff from the beach house the other day is an insulator by profession! I contacted him and he is going to sort the job out in the next few days.  Brilliant!!!

We had a little covid scare -- F's girlfriend stayed with her Auntie last week and it turns out the auntie then tests positive for covid.  Thankfully her and her mother's tests have come back negative so F should be OK.  My only concern is that we look after the two younger boys on Thursday and Friday but that should be OK now.

I've been in spring cleaning mode all week... sorting stuff and getting rid of loads.  All that's left now are the clothing drawers, sorting out what's for the motorhome etc.  It feels so great to have all the beach house cleared out and also sorted here.  There are no piles of stuff hanging around to annoy me.   It also feels so good to sell the beach house, very freeing to move forward.  I thought I'd feel more sad but I'm happy about our decision.

I hope your week is going well and as usual, thank you for your comments, I appreciate them.

Lynda :)

Sold... almost

The finance has been approved for the buyer of the beach house so all that is left if for her to confirm that the LIM (land information memorandum) is OK and she can go unconditional.  That is a formality but we won't count on it until it happens -- the date for this is 3 December but could happen sooner.  

Here is the real estate video of our place, not sure how long this will stay online for now with it being sold.

Yesterday we had a guy bring all the rest of the our stuff from the beach house which was being stored at Stu's father's house.  We paid him to do this and it was money well spent because it completely solved the problem of how to get the bulky items back home.  

We started sorting through it last night and a lot has gone in the bin, some to the charity shops, some for the motorhome and some assimilated into my stuff at home (mostly cleaning products etc).   Hopefully we'll take care of the rest over the next day or two because I hate clutter in the garage. 

We've had the two boys here for the last couple of days and Cole has been playing Minecraft on the computer linked to other players and on "Twitch" which is live gaming.  He is doing amazingly well but if only he could apply the same skill and intelligence to his school work!  

We went for a lovely walk yesterday to get them out of the house and will take them home today.  Two nights is generally my lot with them :) 

It's a beautiful day so I'd best get out there.

~ Lynda

Earlier in the week I met up with my US friend Becca and we watched her husband practicing with his fellow orchestra members up at Cornwall Park in the Band Rotunda.  These guys had not played together for over three months and had a blast!  They are all members of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.  It was so cool as people were having picnics all around and enjoying their free concert.

Becca and her boy William

Yesterday's walk with the boys

Live screenshot of Cole doing his gaming

Moving forward...

We have a date for our 'traffic light' system going forward for covid restriction.  From 3 December everything will open with use of the vaccine passport.  Auckland will be Red which means there will still be limited numbers on certain venues and social distancing but other than that we will be able to eat out or go to a bar etc.  Those who are unvaccinated will still be able to shop but that's about it.  Most things will be restricted.  Auckland has an extremely high vaccination rate so it will be life back to normal, almost.

We got some of the goods from our beach house bought here last week and have the rest being delivered at the end of the week.  A lovely guy who travels there and back frequently put the offer out on a local Facebook page so I took him up on it.  We will pay him for his trouble but it's just great to get all of our stuff back here.  

I spent the weekend sorting kitchen goods (the ones we didn't want to leave in the beach house), clothes and makeup etc.  I packed up a heap for the charity shops and some gets put away for the motorhome.  I hate clutter with a passion so sorting this was important rather than just storing stuff we don't want.  

Today was the funeral for Stu's Auntie who died suddenly last week -- 8 weeks to the day since her husband's funeral.  It was in the same church with the same pall bearers and people present.  We watched it online.  So dreadfully sad because his Auntie was great company for Stu's father and they'd been going to the movies, church and the shops together.  She would come for dinner every Sunday night too.  

Stu and I have been going for big walks lately and my knees have been really good, no problem at all as long as I don't do too many stairs.  

We will have the boys again at the end of the week because they only have school for two days a week and my daughter is working Thursday and Friday.  Stu is back off to Hamilton again tomorrow to continue the work he did last week.  Not long now until the border is open to everyone on 15th December.  

One more thing that is most important, I have a hair appointment on 8 December!  Two weeks away, I will cope but OMG I am looking forward to a decent cut.  I'm not sure I will stay with the hairdresser who I'm booked with but I'll see how she goes this time.  

~ Lynda

Freedom Day

Freedom is near... not freedom from covid but freedom to eat in a restaurant, get a haircut and best of all... travel across the Auckland border!  We will be moving to a different system soon which uses the covid vaccine passport -- this is on our phones and is a QR code so will be easy to use.  The date for the new 'traffic light' system will most probably be 1 December but I'm hoping they relax the current rules before that to allow hairdressers to open.  The date for the opening of the border from Auckland is 15 December.

I've been out and about most days this week doing my Christmas shopping.  One day was with my daughter which was lovely.  It's been so long since we have shopped together!  I've been to both of the big malls and while we are wearing masks, it's just like old times.  I still need to get more stuff but I'm a lot more organised than I was this time last week.

The boys went back to school yesterday (just for one day this week) and while Charlie had a lovely day, Cole hated it.  He had to wear a mask but it wasn't a comfortable one for him.  He doesn't like his teacher and hated that all the play equipment was out of bounds.  They have only have two days of schooling next week. It's all pretty hard for kids.

I have completed ALL of the photo albums and they are on their way by courier... tick.  Another job done.

Best of all today our beach house is getting cleaned out, packed up and ready for the new owner!  All of the stuff is going to Stu's father's place to be stored until we can get it.  I will be Facetiming the person doing this all day to let them know what stays and what to pack.  It's such a relief to get this done because the Auckland border does not open until 15 December so this means the new buyer can start enjoying the beach house as soon as she gets out of the city!

We have a motel booked for 17-20 December in Whitianga for Stu's family Christmas party on 18 Dec.  We are taking the two younger boys with us (my daughter and her husband have commitments elsewhere).  We decided to go on the Friday and have a little holiday over there so should be fun.  The motel has two bedrooms and a kitchen etc so room to relax.  

To leave Auckland everyone has to be either double vaccinated or have a negative covid test.  Kids under 12 don't need either so leaving will be easy.  Of course, this will spread covid but I think we have all accepted that this will happen now. I am a bit concerned about Stu's father being exposed to not just our kids but all the other people at the Christmas party but he doesn't seem worried at all.  

To put that into perspective I think he is just soaking up the life that he is enjoying at the moment.  His brother-in-law (who was also neighbour) died 8 weeks ago and now his wife is near death in hospital from several severe strokes last week.  I just hope that none of us bring covid with us at Christmas. 

So that's me for today.

~ Lynda

Yesterday while driving back from the mall I spotted this... a diesel train on the back of a truck. It was just such an unusual site and I've never seen a train on a truck in my entire life!

Stu had to go out of town this week on business so got a border exemption.  This meant a negative covid test and a special pass.  I was checking the motorway camera to see if I could see his car and there he was!  He is the red car right in the middle :)

Three months...

That's how long we've been in lockdown.  Three damn months.  Today they announced that the Waikato area could go back to Level 2 which is basically total freedom and I just wanted to cry.  It's been too long now since we've been able to leave Auckland or eat a meal out or whatever else we can't do.  Yes, the shops opened last week which is fantastic but we are still prisoners within the boundary.

I got a covid test last week because I had a sore throat -- it was negative as I thought it would be but it was still good to know.  Stu got a test today because he has a 'border exemption' to leave Auckland to finish setting up a studio in Hamilton.  He still isn't able to go and see his father though, even though he gets out of Auckland.

On other news, we have sold our beach house pending the buyer getting finance.  Fingers crossed for that and if all goes well, the sale will be final on 9 December.  There is a Covid clause in the contract though which means the settlement is delayed until 10 days after we finally get out of Auckland. That is great for us because it means we will be able to go over and sort out stuff and say goodbye.  

It's funny, I'm feeling really sad about finally selling but I'm only sad for the wonderful past memories.  We were not going to have many future memories there because the boys now holiday up north.  We have so many new memories to make now!  Oh and we got a good price for the place (about what we expected).  The lady who has bought it has not seen it yet, only via a video walk around by the agent.  I really want to get the place absolutely lovely for her to take over.

The boys go back to school on Wednesday and then Friday.  They will only be doing two days a week but it's really good for them to get back.  

I have finally FINISHED all the photo albums for everyone for Christmas and ordered them.  It was a really long job, 5 different albums in all.  I hope they look OK printed out.  I also put the Christmas tree up tonight... yes, early but what the heck.  I think a lot of people are decorating and putting up trees early this year.

~ Lynda

We went around to my daughter's for F's birthday, it was lovely to have another family night.  He is such a lovely 'young man' now.

Happy 16th birthday to my baby grandson :)

My tree so far.  It's actually all gold and silver decorations and only looks blue due to the lights (which are white too).  I may add red, not sure yet. 

A brilliant day!

Today was wonderful.  It was Stu's birthday so that was a good start and then our US friends Becca and Billy came back for another visit.  They loved it here so much last week that they asked if they could come back (I'd given them an open invitation as they are such lovely people).  We combined our food for a shared lunch, the sun shone and we all had a lovely time.  Their little boy was pretty happy too because I got out some toys plus made up a water play area.  

After that Stu went for a flight with a friend and did nearly all the flying himself including three landings and takeoffs.  The friend he flew with is a flight instructor and he's been up with him before.  

Then after that my daughter and all her family came for dinner!  We roasted pork on the Weber and had roast potatoes and various salads with it.  It was again, wonderful!  We sat outside until late and then after they went home F stayed on for the night.  We played cards for about an hour and then chatted some more.  It's been such a long time since he's been here to stay so it's just lovely.  

Cole made Stu's birthday cake all by himself and even iced it with a spaceship in it and the moon, planets and stars!  We got lots of hugs and it was all just a perfect time.

~ Lynda

I grabbed these two photos from Becca's Instagram page.

Photo sent to me earlier in the day... Cole busy in the kitchen decorating Stu's birthday cake.  

Flying over Auckland - Stu was in the pilot's seat the entire time and very happy about it too!

F watching Cole play Minecraft.  It was so lovely to watch Cole showing off his skills.

Stu's birthday cake with a rocket, moon and stars.

Happy Birthday to my lovely Stu -- he had the best birthday ever!