She's here!

Ija was born at 5.30pm Sunday 24 June weighing in at 7lbs 7ozs- and almost 3 weeks early. So far all is well. Another redhead, the same as her dad Tim (my eldest son) and her big sister Yana.

No baby yet....

Sarah is not established yet in labour, so they are letting her sleep tonight and they will try again tomorrow. So it might be tomorrow, or Monday!

South Island Snow

Snow near Queenstown. It was even too wintry for their annual winter festival which is the best in the country. The roads and airport are closed so no one can get there!

Still waiting

Sarah was induced yesterday afternoon, but they started slowly so by the time evening came nothing much had happened, so they will "restart" labour today. I'm looking after Yana for a few hours today which may be difficult-apart from the fact she's extremely active, my shoulder is going to be a major hindrance. Ah well, we'll see! Maybe by this evening their will be a new granddaughter!

Shortest Day

Shortest day and it's windy and stormy- and in the South Island they're having heavy snow. The ski fields are happy!
Sarah, my daughter in law, is in hospital. She is developing preeclampsia and so baby will be born no later than the 26th and it could be as early as tomorrow. They are keeping a very close eye on her. I'll let you know the news!

Day out with the granddaughters

Here's Kaya sitting on a swing seat

And the girls by the river trying to skip stones

And Anahera posing up a tree!

I had the grandgirls for most of the day yesterday. I took them to a small animal park not far from where I live, where they could feed chickens, guinea fowl, peacocks, ducks and turkeys. They also got to pat and feed miniature horses, deer, a donkey and a goat, and saw an alpaca and other horses. Oh- and rabbits and a kea, one of NZ native parrots. We went down to the river and tried to skip stones and play in all the autumn leaves on the river bank. We went to the cafe there and had a drink and scones with jam and cream- yum! Later on we went to a playground and then to the beach. It got cold pretty quick though (the tempreratures have dropped in the last week) and then went back to their house. A lovely day, they were fun and so well behaved all day!

Quick update

Tim, Sarah and Yana came to visit last weekend, she's 19 moths old now and very cute. Ginger hair, blue eyes, full on active and mostly happy nature- just like her dad!

The seat has been finished and placed outside the rest home where mum was, it will make a lovely place for the residents to sit and watch the sea without having to cross the road. It's known as the "Molly seat" after mum's name.

Andrew has sold his motorbike. I couldn't resist sitting on it before it went and getting Andrew to take a photo of me! And no, I don't know how to ride a motorbike!

Busy at work- I've finished the contract proposal and now am working on a Quality assurance manual. Up to page 30 at the moment and maybe half way through!
I'm still having health niggles- left ear has gone a bit deaf and I have tinnitus in it, blood pressure needs regulating, and I have an injured right shoulder that has now frozen. I did that climbing up on the wing of a small plane to do a preflight.... But apart from that I'm very thankful that everything else seems OK at the moment!

I had a lovley day today- because of my shoulder I can't do any formal lessons, but I did hire the 4 seater plane and with a friend from work we got one of the instructors to take us for a scenic flight. Absolutely great! We flew over to the Hutt valley which is about 1 hrs drive (about 15 mins flight) and we flew over Tim and Sarah's house. Then we came back up, flying along the hills and ridges, flew over my bosses house, then did a landing at a little grass strip in the countryside to say Hi to someone that Josef (the instructor) knew. Then we flew back to the airfield. I did get to do some of the flying myself- yay- first time I've had my hands on the controls for maybe 16 months. I had to do it with one hand though, Josef did the bits I couldn't reach. Really good, and Joy, my friend from work, enjoyed it too. Then we went to the Kapiti club for lunch then back to Joy's for a coffee. Great day!!