31st August to 6th September – Spring!

It’s officially Spring!  No more Winter blues!  What a terrible Winter it has been, several days I had to go without sun-cream!

Soccer 7’s

Speaking of which, Aidan had his Soccer 7’s and managed to get sun-burn.  Playing in goals for the Year 5 Otumoetai Aces they managed to win the competition allowing them to go through to the next stage – The Western Bay of Plenty Sevens.

(Picture: Aidan’s Certificate next to another certificate for something)

(Picture: Aidan in action)

Breaking News

Breaking News Just In – Tauranga is sinking below sea level.  At the same time Shetland has risen above sea level.  A group of top scientists and geologists have been working around the clock to figure out why.  A quick call from NZ Vanlines informed them about the container of boxes they dropped off in Tauranga.  Yes, our stuff has arrived.  It has possibly shifted the earths natural rotational axis but it has arrived.

You may recall from my last blog post I was contemplating having a night without sleep in an attempt to balance out my nocturnal behaviour.  I did.  Unfortunately for me the bloody artic with our boxes arrived the next morning.  As there was no way the truck could even contemplate getting up the driveway we had to lug the boxes up manually.  Not a very pleasant experience after a night of no sleep.

Anyway, we managed and the boxes were unpacked and we are now surrounded by the same clutter we left over 3 months ago.

Beach Bums

Saturday morning we spent over at the Mount beach, soaking up the rays and generally not doing very much.  While we were there we took a wander around Moturiki Island (attached to the beach via a walk-way).

(Picture: A rather damp Aidan)

(Picture: INCOMING!)

(Picture:  Where we were, from Moturiki Island)

Absolutely Pickled

Yep, got absolutely pickled on Saturday night.  I didn’t, but my eggs did!  The time came where the ceremony of the pickling of the eggs had to take place.  The ingredients were brought together, the eggs came out of their shells and we all had a cracking time.

(Picture: An ‘egg’cited boy ova the moon. Eggstatic)

The Ingredients:

• A couple of dozen unborn Chickens
• A couple of bottles of white vinegar
• A box of pickling spices
• Some mint freshly picked from the garden
• Beetroot Juice

(Part 1: Boil the buggers)

 (Part 2: Remove from the horrible crunchy bits)

(Part 3: Boil up zee ‘erbs and vinegr’e)

 (Part 4: Bung it all in jars)

You will notice from the above picture that there is a distinct difference between the two jars.  This is where the beetroot juice comes in.  One jar of plain pickled eggs and another being pickled eggs in beetroot juice.  Eggsactly as planned.

 (Part 5: Label the Plain Pickled eggs)

(Part 6: Label the Pickled Eggs in Beetroot)

(Part 7: Sit back and admire!)

The finished product, without even having to ‘shell’ out much cash.  Stay tuned for an update in 3 to 4 weeks time as to how the taste-testing of this wonderful creation went.  Sorry about the puns, I was only yolking.

Father’s Day

Sunday brought with it Fathers Day which was a little confusing.  I sent my father a card 2 or 3 months ago.  Turns out that father’s day is wholly dependant on where you might actually be at that time of year.  I did wonder if I could perhaps travel for a while and milk it for all its worth.  Turns out you could have around 24 Fathers Days.

Aidan got me a computer chair (with arms to stop me falling out of it) for a bargain price.  He also presented me with a card.  On the outside it said, “Having a Dad like you has made me what I am today”, followed by, “…part of a very strange family!” on the inside along with a picture of Uncle Glyn.

(Picture: Happy Feider’s Day)

The plan for Sunday was to pick up Caleb and go and take part in the grand opening of the new harbour bridge.  They have been doubling the width of it since last October or so.  Unfortunately the queue was going to be intolerable so we spent the day doing what we had planned for the second part of the day.

The All Black’s Roadshow

The All Blacks were in Tauranga with their roadshow.  First up Aidan had a shot at the ‘Score a try’ run.  This involved being attached to a bungee cord and running as fast as you could to reach the try line.  Aidan achieved 16 points.  5 for each attempt and 1 point for a try.

(Picture: Aidan testing the strength of the bungee cord)

 (Picture: The bungee cord won)

After that we wandered off to hound some All Blacks bloke for his autograph.  Turned out he was Wayne “Buck” Shelford, Captain of the All Blacks between 1987 and 1990, during which time they never lost a game.  Aidan got the poor man to autograph his Shetland shirt as well as a photo.  This more than likely makes Aidan the first person in the world to have a Shetland shirt signed by a former All Black.

(Picture: Aidan with All Blacks bloke)

Once that mission was completed, more signatures were needed.  I am not entirely sure if it was Aidan or Tania that was more interested in getting the signatures but nevertheless off they went.

(Picture: Aidan receiving autographs from some All Blacks blokes)

In addition to the autograph Aidan received from Wayne “Buck” Shelford, he also managed to persuade Richie McCaw (current All Blacks Captain) and Tanerau Latimer to sign their names away.

(Picture: Aidan with former & current All Blacks Captains)

They were handing out free Rugby Balls.  That is free if you were a Mastercard holder.  If you are fortunate enough to have rid yourselves from the shackles of such a firm then you didn’t get one.  Mastercard being one of the major sponsors of the event, you would think that they might like to give a little to those that don’t have.  Whoops, forgot that they are a multinational finance firm.  Little chance of getting a little something for nothing from them.  Another reason not to get a Mastercard then!

That’s pretty much the roundup for this week.  Nothing else to report bar me looking like a lobster after today’s events.

(Picture:  Before the sun-burn set in)

Toodaloo da noo.