Sunday, June 29, 2008
From Somewhere in Middle America
I am writing this blog from a motel on the western edge of Minneapolis. My collegue Chris and I drove 450 miles today from Chicago. This week we had been at the Hawker Beechcraft factory in Wichita to complete the inspection of a new aircraft type that is coming to New Zealand. In the picture above we are standing next to the company's demonstrator model after we had been shown over it by the chief engineer. The HBC Model 4000 is one of the first midsize business jets to have an all composite honeycomb fuselage. The composite construction permits the aerodynamic shape to be optimised and as you can see it's a beautiful ship.
As we were leaving Wichita I spotted this huge steam locomotive undergoing restoration. As it happens I have a model of the same type at home. (Atcheson Topeka & Sante Fe class 3800, these locomotives took trains from Wichita west to Los Angeles acorss the desert hence the huge tender). Unfortunatley the museum was closed, but Chris took a photo of me on Thursday morning. On Saturday morning he transferred it to my memory stick as we blasted up Interstate 94 through the green wooded hills off Wisconsin. When we got to the motel I emailed it to Katrina. She showed it to Guy on her laptop, on a rainy Sunday lunchtime in Wellington,(while I was having diner in Wisconsin) and took this photo and emailed it back to me, and now I'm posting it on the web! How digital is that! As you can see Guy was delighted.
After Wichita we flew to Chicago to pick up a rental car for the trip up country to Fargo North Dakota where we are to meet an electronics manufacturer interested in supplying instruments to New Zealand. We spent a day in Chicago, where it was so hot (96 F/35 C ) that we took a boat trip out on lake Michigan to keep cool. The other photo is taken near our hotel on a brideg in the lower 'canyon' of the Chicago river, which flows out of the lake.
On to Fargo today, thence to San Franscisco and back across the Pacific.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
And here's what happens when the novelty wears off...
As mentioned below, Guy's interest in the game doesn't last long, that's when other activities become much more interesting.....
A pep talk with Daddy didn't help much.... hiding behind him is more preferrable to playing with the other kids.
So Mummy got out on the field and holding Guy by the hand ran up and down with him shouting encouragement, but he still wasn't all that thrilled...
So the last part of the game was spent having having helicopter rides with Daddy, and when that got too much he said "let's go the cafe now". Ah kids, gotta love em!
A pep talk with Daddy didn't help much.... hiding behind him is more preferrable to playing with the other kids.
So Mummy got out on the field and holding Guy by the hand ran up and down with him shouting encouragement, but he still wasn't all that thrilled...
So the last part of the game was spent having having helicopter rides with Daddy, and when that got too much he said "let's go the cafe now". Ah kids, gotta love em!Little soccer player!
This (cold) winter season Guy is playing soccer! He is playing in the Little Dribblers soccer league and is in the Little AC Milan team. The Little grade is the 2 - 3 year olds. The fields are about 30m long and you can see the tiny goals in these photos. Each half is 12 min long which is actually a long time for little people. Unfortunately with the weather being what winter weather is, we've only had 3 games so far.
The first game Guy loved, he kicked the first goal and ran around shrieking with laughter. The second game Guy refused to go near the ball, and the third game he loved the pre-match kick around he had with some other kids and the first 5 minutes of the game, but the novelty soon wore off and the cold kicked in. Luckily we managed to get some photos (the new camera is great for action shots!)
Here he is kicking the ball and chasing after it....
He's a natural! What can we say?!
The first game Guy loved, he kicked the first goal and ran around shrieking with laughter. The second game Guy refused to go near the ball, and the third game he loved the pre-match kick around he had with some other kids and the first 5 minutes of the game, but the novelty soon wore off and the cold kicked in. Luckily we managed to get some photos (the new camera is great for action shots!)
Here he is kicking the ball and chasing after it....
He's a natural! What can we say?!
Random Guy Photos
Our camera packed a major and fatal sad so we had to quickly buy another one. It's taken a while to come to grips with the new camera and software but I think we're there! Here are some photos of the small boy..
Just for a change, Guy's playing with trains.... Freaky eyes little G!
For some reason Guy has lately gone into "photo mode" when we ask him to smile for the camera. He flattens his mouth out, thrusts his jaw forward and makes a "mmmm" sound. Here are a few examples of the results. I recall a certain uncle who behaved in a similar but less photogenic manner...
Just for a change, Guy's playing with trains.... Freaky eyes little G!
For some reason Guy has lately gone into "photo mode" when we ask him to smile for the camera. He flattens his mouth out, thrusts his jaw forward and makes a "mmmm" sound. Here are a few examples of the results. I recall a certain uncle who behaved in a similar but less photogenic manner...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Another one of Guy's little girlfriends
Guy's favourite girlfriend Apolline came to visit a few weeks ago and Guy was very keen on getting her attention. He gave her a hug and then settled down to read her a little story
It must have worked because in this last photo she is gazing at Guy with clearly nothing but admiration and probably babbling "oh Guy, you are my hero, taking me for spin in your, er, imaginary car"
It must have worked because in this last photo she is gazing at Guy with clearly nothing but admiration and probably babbling "oh Guy, you are my hero, taking me for spin in your, er, imaginary car"
Helping Mummy to Cook Dinner
Guy likes to help in the kitchen whether it is something basic like making porridge or expanding his repertoire to include sweet chilli chicken as was the case a few weeks ago, it's all good fun.
Here are Guy and Mummy (with long hair!)
While Guy was stirring he was sniggering away and saying "Mud spies... I am making mud spies" which is from his Fifi and the Flowertots DVD
Then came the serious business of measuring out the rice
Ahh, Mr Silly....
Monday, June 09, 2008
Home From America
So much has been happening these last few months that the Blogs are not quite in order. Here are a few taken on the way back from Kansas. The welcome sight of the mighty 747 of Air New Zealand flight NZ 1 arriving in Los Angeles ready to take me home across the Pacific. When we got home, the first snow of the winter had fallen on the Orongorongo ranges and Guy had a new trainset from the toy library (just for a change). Also in this photograph is Katrina with lovely long hair, since this photo she had a style crisis and has cut it much shorter, ahh sigh.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Uncle Rob comes to town
Uncle Rob was down for a course out at the Police college so we sprung him out on Saturday and he came to stay with us. It was great to see Uncle Rob and he told us the happy news that he and Krista are expecting their first bebe in November! We are very pleased that Guy will have a little cousin. Here is Rob getting in some practice...
Guy has a passion for chocolate eclairs and we took Rob to Katrina's friend Agnes' cafe called Simply
Paris where he got down to the serious business of eclair eating...
Paris where he got down to the serious business of eclair eating...
Guy and Elizabeth
Our friends Margaret and Johan had a lovely little girl called Elizabeth recently. Guy is very keen on babies, so he was very pleased to meet Elizabeth and gave he some loves.
Easter time and Granny comes to visit
Granny came to visit us at Easter and she looked after me while Mummy and Daddy got busy and finished off lots of jobs they have wanted to do for ages. They did lots of painting, mostly covering the last of the nice 1980s pink in our hallway (Mummy spent most of the weekend up the fully extended ladder doing the church window sill), the double doors at the bottom of the stairs and the stair handrail, put new gib in the enormous hole in our dining room ceiling that has been there for months, plastered and painted it, and finally finished off the sanding and painting of the rangehood (only took them 4 years!). Then Daddy finally got his wish of big globe lights in the hallway (but we won't mention how he smashed the last one putting it up in the semi-dark and how he had to buy a whole replacement light and fitting!!). They were very pleased that Granny did such a good job of looking after me so they could get this work done.
This year Mummy was going to let me eat more than just one marshmallow Easter egg and I got this big one and loved it! Mind you, Daddy was quite keen on my Easter eggs too and in the end I only got this one, he ate the rest (the fatty boom-boom!)
On Sunday I decided that Mummy and Daddy had done enough hard work so we went for a lovely picnic at the beach at Pukerua Bay, I found this great burnt stump and crawled all over it while Mummy and Granny chowed down.
The came the best bit, we went to the minature railway at Raumati! I was so excited I could barely talk and went on so many train rides, I went on every single one!
This year Mummy was going to let me eat more than just one marshmallow Easter egg and I got this big one and loved it! Mind you, Daddy was quite keen on my Easter eggs too and in the end I only got this one, he ate the rest (the fatty boom-boom!)
On Sunday I decided that Mummy and Daddy had done enough hard work so we went for a lovely picnic at the beach at Pukerua Bay, I found this great burnt stump and crawled all over it while Mummy and Granny chowed down.
The came the best bit, we went to the minature railway at Raumati! I was so excited I could barely talk and went on so many train rides, I went on every single one!
Long time no blog!
We're back! Life has been particularly frantic for us the last three months with Jack being away for extended periods both overseas and in NZ, leaving Katrina being a solo parent, as well as the usual madness. We're so far behind with our blog updates that I thought I'd post 'the best of' for the last few months....
Guy loves to ride his platic motor bike (and more recently the toy library tricycle that he can pedal himself!) and here he is ready to ride
Guess he's having pleasant dreams...
Hello Mummy! Guy giving Katrina some loves, then "I feed you Mummy" during one of our dinnertime picnics out on the deck (now a distant memory in these cold wintry days)
