Well, goodbye to Andy, Mandy & Jackson and good luck on their new life in Australia.

Let's hope that after five years in NZ, they'll come home again soon.

Great to see them the other day, even if Elise has hidden Andy's camera bag. I'm sure we'll find it as we clean up after Christmas and mail it back to them.

I'll do my best to catch up in the New Year when I go to Sydney to visit the boss (no, not Deb).

All the best to everyone else for the New year and we wish you a successful 2008.

I'll write about Christmas later.

Cheers

Merry Christmas to all.

Carol has arrived safely from London and we are now waiting for Elise to wake up and Mum & Granny to come over.

Santa appears to have found us. So, someone in the house must have been nice for the year.

We hope you have a lovely day.

All the Best.

Happy Birthday to Alan and Dad for today!

We hope you have a great day.

We'll talk to you on Christmas day, I'm sure.

Happy Birthday Carol for yesterday!

We hope you had a great time up there and look forward to seeing you on Christmas day.

Well, Deb isn't so stoked with Elise currently. She has shown the Tigger and Pooh sleigh a little too much loving and Pooh has stopped dancing.

Our little Cherub has figured out how to unbolt the gate at the top of the stairs now. I can see that we have a future of spending our money on trying to outsmart our daughter from now on.

Keep well.

So Deb, Elise and Molly headed down to the Mount from last Tuesday. So I decided that I should get a round a few more remote customers before the end of the year.

So I flew to Wellington on Wednesday morning, collected my rental Mazda 3 and drove all over, meeting with customers. The weather was perfect. I caught up with the Wellington Bimmersport crew around Oriental Bay for a few beers. Kimm was in town and stopped by on his way back to the airport.  We then went out for dinner and a few more beers. I was dropped back at the hotel by Paul. A nice town, but the traffic is shocking and parking is non-existant. The hotel I was staying at (Accor Ibis) had no parking and so I had to park the car at the TSB Arena, 3 blocks away. At $20 per entry into the carpark, it would've been expensive to visit often. After visiting customers the following morning, I shot up Mt Victoria for a look. The view is spectacular and the Ferries look tiny from up there.

I checked in and headed for my Beech 1990 (read, very tiny plane, actually my company car is nearly the same size). Whoever designed the seating pattern was obviously a comedian, as they are 1A & 1F respectively. Why not 1B? The co-pilot advised us to watch our heads as we boarded. So you'd expect it to be a little larger inside. But no. They must fly a lot of Hobbits. We were joined by Prime Minister Helen Clark on the 20 minute flight to Blenheim (which is really Woodburn RNZAF base). I collected the rental Ford Focus, had a meeting and then shot back to the RNZAF base to have a beer with John Hickman before heading over to Nelson for the evening. Another few meetings the following day and back on a Bombadier (Dash 8) to Auckland with a bunch of students and a few teachers from Massey High School after Wider Living Week. Nice weather all round.

It appears that the girls spent 4 days shopping before coming home on Saturday. Elise is now climbing into her cot and has just climbed onto our bed unaided as well. Then decided to leap off. No major injuries, smacked her head on the way down (so Deb tells me).

One more week of work for the year. A golf tournament on Tuesday and BBQ on Friday lunchtime. Then Andy and Mandy's going away drinks as he is being transferred to Sydney. They are leaving on New Years Eve. I guess that's another reason for us to go to Sydney (the other being Ikea).

The new patio furniture is up. Mum spent a fair portion of yesterday with her weed-eater tidying up the property before Christmas. A trip to the dump again today with the Territory (lucky it's so big) to dump all the clippings.

Ciao

Cain

Maybe Genesis could try an advert like this! 

The tree is still standing. Elise loves the Swarovski stars on the tree (takes after her Mum) and has spotted the Angel on the top and points it out as she walks passed.

She and her partner in crime (Molly) are causing havoc in the kitchen now. Not only are the cupboards below the bench fair game, the pantry, fridge and freezer are now able to be opened and emptied at will. Snax biscuits are her current favourite. We came home to Molly carrying a Fudge cottage package. Deb thought it was one we had eaten. Obviously not, when I read the label. Elise must have got it out and given it to Molly. Molly has learned that following Elise around is a great way to get treats. Half a Snax or a Marmite sandwich (or whatever else) is very likely.

Yesterday was spent getting a trailer and dropping all the patio furniture to the tip as Deb has bought a new lot for Summer. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow before we go away. I have my work laptop, but haven't got access via the VPN to email yet.

I finish work (for the year) on the 21st.

Well, a few weeks to go (until Christmas). The good news is that we haven't had a tree disaster yet. Elise has been having a great time looking at the decorations and lights. Wandering around pointing at and saying "star" and "ball". Deb has some presents under the tree that light up and cycle through colours. Elise likes to drag them out from under the tree and take them for a tour of the lounge. Molly has also not banged into it too much either.

Well the first week of the job is going well. The new car is good. Haven't got to take it on a decent drive yet. Molly can jump in and out of the back of the Territory, so at least I don't have to lift her in and out. It needs a good valet as it has been in storage for the last 3 months. Ford were meant to do it on Tuesday while the serviced it. But being the useless tits they are, they didn't.

For those who haven't spotted the new link. I have signed up to a .Mac account. (oops, Deb will soon find out). So as the broadband limit allows, I will link the events from iPhoto. It's heaps easier than using the blog photos from the Mac. Hi-res images so you can download them too, if you'd like.

http://gallery.mac.com/debbielchapman

My first 2 Christmas parties start tomorrow. I believe that Deb and Elise are heading to the Mount next week, so I may shoot off to Wellington, Nelson & Blenheim to visit customers. Fly in a few tiny planes!

Cheers, keep well.

Yesterday was spent down at the Britomart assisting with the Kids Combat Challenge while the big boys (& girls) did the real event.

An absolutely gorgeous day (too hot really). The Fire Service had displays and Motat kindly brought out their old fire appliances for the kids to climb all over. The Kids challenge was a bouncy castle obstacle course, where they dressed up like little firemen and ran the course.

Mat, Paula, Alissa & Aliyah stayed in the Granny flat. Bob & Angela came up for the week-end too.

The youtube link was a demonstration of why not to put water onto an oil fire. Pretty impressive. They also had a little room with a smoke alarm and were teaching children how to safely evacuate the house and assemble at the letterbox.

This an extremely hard event. A few celebrities showed up. Marc Ellis vs. Steve Gurney, Anna Scarlett vs Haley Holt and Mark Richardson vs Angela Munro (Best NZ Woman Firefighter at this event). I'll try to youtube the Ellis vs Gurney video. Steve ran away with it in the end.

As they say, "The toughest 2 minutes in Sport". So, I doubt you'll ever see me doing it.
  


Also, as it was December 1st. Deb put her Christmas tree up. Much to the amusement of Mat, Paula, Bob, Angela and myself. I'm pretty sure that none of our suggestions were very helpful. There will be plenty of photos of it to come.

Elise thought it was pretty cool this morning though. And it got even better tonight when it got lit with her in the room. The Tigger and Pooh sleigh has been a huge hit too. Nothing broken from the tree yet. Deb is watching like a hawk!