Chinese lantern festival and the week so far

On saturday afternoon after Mum and Dad were dropped off Mark and I went for a quick round of golf then that evening we went to the lantern festival in Albert Park. We spent the frst 20-30 minutes trying to find a park then just as we were about to give up we found one right outside the gate! it was amazing. the lanterns were very cool, much different than i thought they were, i had in my mind the typical chinese lantern but these were scenes made up of several large lanterns. Sorry lots of photos.

I couldn't get a good photo of it but the sky tower looks neat behind the lanterns

This was my favourite, loved the dog.

Also loved the chickens

the big dragons were just amazing

On Monday i had work in the morning and was at home in the afternoon. the lady from my nanny agency rang that afternoon and asked if i was free to look after some kids for CYF's. I said i could then got told about the mum being mentally ill and was being kept medicated and cared for in the home and they need someone to look after the kids. was told to take the kids and get out of the house, ring the police if she came running at us with a knife. when i got there she wasn't really that bad, just very spaced out and scared because her house was full of strangers. the children have never really been cared for very well, they just eat out of the fridge and have no routine. It was a very difficult job as the mother didn't trust anyone and the children just did whatever they wanted, It was very sad.

This evening i have watched a true film (A courageous heart) about a Catholic social worker during the WW II in poland .She smuggled more than 2,500 children and babies out of the Warsaw ghetto where they were held with very little to survive on, and placed them with safe families to raise as their own. It is an amazing story but unbearably sad, the mothers who had to give up their children knowing they would never see them again.

Then today hearing about and seeing the pictures of the earthquake in Christchurch, well i think thats enough sadness for now.

This Week

Its been a busy week this week. Started with Amy having her wee stay in hospital so had a few trips in there.

Amy and the longsuffering Matt

Spent the day there on tuesday. Worked on Wednesday then picked Mum and Dad up on wednesday night, lovely to see them again. Spent thursday with them at a skyline lunch and meeting.

Today I had work again and took Marco to the zoo.

Just love the way they drink water!!

scary emu's

Massive turtles

posing monkey

Have been to the golf driving range tonight now my arms feel like lead, looking forward to the weekend. have a good one.

Raglan

As you will all know Mark and I went to Raglan for the weekend. Despite whats published on face book it wasn't a romantic weekend away. We went down on Friday afternoon, getting stuck in traffic on the way out of Auckland. After Mark being excited about going on our first road trip, he then promptly fell asleep and snored for most of the trip. we arrived about 7pm and had a drive around the little town before going out to the accommodation. Amy had suggested an Eco resort where you could either say in a Teepee's or train carriages. It was quite neat, the shared bathroom left a lot to be desired but overall pretty cool. after that we went for another drive into town to get plates and cups which we had forgotten to take, then we booked our surf lesson for Saturday morning and had a look at the beach and then the golf course.

Our Train Carriage

Saturday morning after finding out i had also left my toilet bag at home we went to get toothpaste before going to the beach for our lesson. The guy we had found is a top NZ competitive surfer. He was pretty good, Mark got up straight away and 10 Min's later was out where the guy had just said the big rip was. I took a little longer but after working out that I'm goofy footed, i got up too. It was very overcast and raining all morning but Mark and I managed to get very burnt.

After a few hours we were wasted, so got out and went for a round of golf. I had also left my sneakers at home so had to play in jandles. The course was awesome, the sun had come out by now and it was incredibly hot. The course was full of hills and sheep and what sheep leave behind....

Before...

After....

By Saturday night we were very burnt and tired. we went out for a lovely dinner, I had pork belly and Mark had a very original Cesar salad. Sunday morning we went into town had a coffee and looked at the few shops. Had a walk around then left for home stopping in Hamilton for lunch. We arrived home to a very disappointed Amy because her peaceful weekend was over!!