Mickey the Island Mouse and the Laundry Meltdown

My Saturday morning began with a 6 am wake up from a startled Ben- "Mom, a mouse!  A mouse in my room." 

I go to find this NZ house mouse, and find none.  Then, a brownish grey creature scurried into the kitchen and ran behind the fridge to hide.  "There!" the kids shout, and I shriek in surprise. 

We have an island mouse, Mickey, which lives in our house. Apparently, he cuddles in the guest bedroom sheets, where I found droppings. Lovely....

Then a plastic burning smell started to grow stronger and stronger in the hall.  We have no dryer, and I had the brilliant idea to dry the laundry next to the heater on the laundry rack.  Well, thirty minutes later, the laundry rack had melted, leaving a sticky plastic goo all over six or so shirts, including Zack's favorite Mickey Mouse shirt that my friend Mari gave him for his birthday.  So, inside the trash can with one Mickey mouse shirt, and behind the trash can to live for the other Mickey mouse.

My failed laundry drying experiment- the BEFORE photo.

So, note to self, no laundry holders near the gas heaters in the house. A total laundry meltdown...

Then, we got up and out of the house to have a picnic with Malcolm's kids and other families from Mike's work. After walking there for 6-8 blocks, we find that the event has been relocated to Malcolm's house due to windy, chilly weather.  However, Malcolm  generously agreed to pick us up from the park after a bit, since we are carless.  NZ has awesome kid parks. 

Tree tire swing at the Esplanade.

Playing at Malcolm's house.

We had a good time hanging out with Malcolm and the other coworkers from Otoy and their families.