Oh it's starting to fell a lot like Christmas......NOT!

It's almost the longest day and summer seems to be making itself at home here in New Zealand (with the odd cold Southerly blowing in just to keep you on your toes!)
I've spotted Santa wandering around Merivale Mall a few times when I've popped in to Fresh Choice for some more Salmon Keebabs for the BBQ! I'm sure he's sweating buckets under that outfit and his nylon beard.

Brendan, Steffi and Olivia arrived safely last weekend after their long journey from Germany. They seemed to have prepared fantastically for the time difference as they showed no signs of jet lag - lucky devils. So we got straight onto city tours and meanders around the botanical gardens - Brendan had to climb a few trees!


They appeared to have brought some Northern Hemisphere weather with them on the Monday as the clouds and rain rolled in - spoiling our planned afternoon on Sumner beach. Bren and Steffi braved a rainy walk in the Port Hills, nonetheless before we gathered along with Matt and Lou for a great family nosh up at Desmond Street.


The tourists have now headed off on a grand south island tour - planning on visits to Tekapo, Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford before heading back up the West Coast and joining us near to Nelson on Boxing Day for some beach-side camping in the sun.

The previous weekend, Maria, Sarah and I had spent a great day in Christchurch city centre watching the Festival of Cycling plus the Santa Parade. The former was a series of criteriums staged around a circuit along "the strip" in the heart of downtown Christchurch.
It was a really good event with some great cycling on show. The Parade was an annual feature that has been happening for years....a Christmas Carnival parade along Colombo street which seemed to attract even more crowds that the cycling!


We also went along to the Solid Energy (one of Maria's employers) family Christmas Party at Ferrymead Heritage Park last Sunday - before Bren arrived. Sarah had invited her friend Taylor along. It was an interesting few hours - riding vintage trams and trains and waiting for Santa to arrive on one of the aforementioned trams!

Sarah finished school on Tuesday - that's her done with Heaton Intermediate School - next February she starts at the Girls High School here in Christchurch. It's about 400 metres away from where we are living - so very handy and no need for a school run any more! The previous week, Sarah had attended the Heaton Leavers Party at the Chateau on the Park and she had a really good time. She looked very grown up in her little black number!


I went out for a bike ride last weekend with a small group of cyclist - we did the Short Bays circuit "in reverse" - which involves cycling up Evans Pass and then up from Governors Bay to the Sign of the Kiwi. This probably means nothing to most of you, but to those who know, it's a tough ride - particularly when you are on a heavy bike with high gearing, ie ME! All the others were riding with compact gears and left me standing on the hills....it was a real case of mind over matter just to not get off the bike at times! I think it almost compared to my cycle up Llanberis Pass with Painey a few years ago.

Maria and I have enjoyed a couple of more sedate cycles out to Sumner, the last one on Wednesday just gone after Maria had finished work. Sarah was away at a friends having a sleep over so we had the opportunity to get out for an evening ride.

Not much mention of Chris so far......well he's still working a few nights a week at MacDonalds and spending most days in bed.....great life!! He disappears off to his mates on his days off and we hear him clattering about on his return. His car is still broke and he's now starting to mumble that it was probably a mistake buying it because it's going to cost him money to fix.... Let's hope that he is taking all these learning experiences in!

We've had a nice relaxing day today - chilling out at home, in the garden and in the pool. The sun has been shining and the wind has been light (no nor'wester today). We have been trying out the "endless pool" - the switches were fixed this week - so we put the wetsuits on and did some swimming - though not for long - mainly floated about on inflatables. BBQ in the evening and Maria and Sarah have pitched a tent for a camp-out this evening - getting some practice in for next weekend at Nelson.