Mike and Gail arrived here yesterday.
Andrea has come down with her traditional end of term illness early this time around but is slowly recovering after two days of rest.
We were at Mary and Daves tonight for tea with Lynne and Grandma making guest appearances. Pudding was good.
We have lots of places and things to show the whanau over the next 11 days…
Update: Photographs from Saturdays trip to Newcastle start here.
Pics from this years Mouth of the Tyne festival start here. There aren’t very many but it gave me a chance to try out our new telephoto lens for the camera 
We went down both days and met up with Jen and Ryan today. It was a good showcase of street theater and music, we didn’t see anything to top last years caravan of desires though…
We have been cleaning for the rest of the weekend… Mike and Gail arrive on Wednesday and we’re excited to see then and show them the area. Hopefully they will have shaken off the bugs they have had since their arrival.
It was Jen’s 30th birthday yesterday, with a surfing lesson and a BBQ to mark the occasion. Predictably, with outside events organised, the weather was terrible but it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit.
Pictures start here with with one of Jen’s new kittens and go on to show some of the surfing action. I didn’t take part but instead got the chance to try out a telezoom lens borrowed from Jen to record the extreme wave riding (!) going on.
After the action (and a quick shower…) we headed round to their place for a birthday barby. It was great to meet Jen and Ryan’s friends that had traveled from far and wide. The food was good too. We brought along a pass the parcel present that contained enough party products to sink a small ship … and that was great fun.
We met up again today on the beach with the people who had traveled up here for the birthday and Ryan broke out his extreme kites. The large kite proved to be a little too extreme in the strong winds and dragged Ryan a good few feet. Haha!
Andrea is busy writing her end of year reports, thanks to those who have sponsored her so far for the run!
Andrea is running in this years Great North Run! The chosen sponsors pack arrived last week, Marie Curie as can be seen above.
I have set up a just giving website where you can sponsor her…
http://www.justgiving.com/greatnorthkiwi
Even very small amounts help so please put those pledges in
The race isn’t until October but Andrea may need that long to prepare…
Shona and Simon are coming up and running in the race too so it should be a good weekend. I have already planned the menu for the pasta party the night before.
We have been away to Powburn this weekend, pictures start here.
It was an impromtu camp as no-one remembered booking Powburn, but it would have been a shame to miss the opportunity!
Friday night the younger members of the group went on a night hike while we had a camp fire and prepared a hot dog supper for their return.
We went on a hike yesterday in the blazing sunshine. We headed off for Chesters, a Winter camp venue, loaded with water, chocolate and other snacks. It was a pretty long way away.
The weather was glorious and the scenery fantastic, the sun… hot.