Sunshine at the Esplanade Splash Park

Just as my friends and family are boarding up windows and sticking up on batteries, bread, and milk in preparation for the FrankenStorm Hurricane Sandy, Zack and I were enjoying 21 degree C weather here at the Esplanade. We met up with Esther and Cayla and Zack had an impromptu picnic of animal crackers.

A world away from the Atlantic storm, we enjoyed a super sunny and not very breezy day at the park. Even wearing 85 SPF lotion, I got a bit sunburned.  Nice day for the splash park, though.

Are those capsicums in your trundler?

New Kiwi words include capsicums, which are bell peppers, and trundler, which is a shopping cart.

Well, I am always learning something new...

Shopping at Pak N Save saves cash, since you pack your own groceries and the plastic bags are an extra charge per bag.  Many people bring their own reusable bags.

Zack has been going through a bit of separation anxiety at school and with our nanny.  Usually he is OK after a few minutes.  However, he insisted on walking with me to Countdown grocery to get rice this afternoon instead of staying with Ameera and Ben.  Sigh...

Mike is home everyday by 6pm , which is pretty cool.

My dinner creation tonight was a beef curry with capsicums (bell peppers) , mushrooms, onions, garlic, and curry powder.  I am trying to get used to using a crock pot slow cooker, and I have made 3 meals so far that have been edible. 
Progress, not perfection. I am not cut out to be this domestic!

Here are some more crazy park pictures:

Pumpkin Party a Smashing Hit!

Kids came dressed as superheroes, zombies, fairies, dragons, and skeletons to experience a Halloween party for the first time ever.

The pumpkin pinata took about twenty hits before it came down.  I spilled the contents onto the grass and the kids ran to collect toys and candies.

Then we feasted on pizza, chips, veggies, fruit, and juice boxes to get some actual food into the kids before all the sugar.  We had paraded around the block and my two neighbors passed out lollies and jaffas (chocolate sweets) to the kids, which they loved doing. I had preplanned this route and planted sweets at their house on hand, since there is no guarantee that houses will be stocked with sweets and trick or treaters are super rare.


We played some games like relay race and "Collect Skeleton fingers" from the yard, in which I used my clothespins scattered on the grass.

Then we went inside and had cupcakes made by Mark's family as well as the ones I made with Esther and Raeleen. Sugared up to the max.  "Lollied out!" as someone proclaimed.

The kids and adults enjoyed the novelty of the experience and I was glad that the kids could celebrate Halloween in a far off land.

Prepped for Pumpkin Party

All the preparations for our American Kiwi Halloween Costume Party Spectacular are in full effect. Raeleen and Esther came over last night to help decorate cupcakes and make icing from scratch . Very helpful!

 I set out treat bags on the mantle and brought out the stuffed pumpkin jack o lantern piñata, so all I need to do today is hang it on the tree outside. I am hoping that the Kmart will have rope, otherwise I will have to drive across town to our Home Depot equivalent, Mitre 10 Mega.

We have about two dozen kids RSVPed to attend. I have convinced two of my neighbors to pass out candy and lollies to the kids as a part of the Halloween parade. That's about as close as we can get to successful trick or treating here in Palmerston North.

Bringing a bit of American culture and tradition to the North Island of NZ today.  I hope the party is a hit!

Very exciting! Just have to order pizzas from Domino's and were all set.

Driving past Buck Bucket and Naked Bus

Everyday there are places in NZ that make me laugh.  One of which is a store called, "Butt Bucket" which is bright yellow and sells tobacco and cigarettes. 


The other notable one is the "Naked Bus" which has ad slogans, "Why not go?" and " Stripping the cost of travel" Yes, indeed...


Why not go on the Naked Bus?  It is naked because of the "No frills or extras" cost, not because it is a party bus with naked people. 

Got to love NZ signage and sense of humor.

Hail and Vermin

My 3 am wake up was brought on by a bizarre mid of the night hail storm that brought down ice balls and they cascaded off my glassed in patio with a loud pitter patter sound.









The living room also was abuzz with activity. Behind the TV there was a chewing sound in the drywall. The vermin that live in this house are expanding their inter- wall empire to make room for their spring offspring.

The likely suspect- NZ house mouse

I love nature, but am not a fan of mice and rats living in my house. I got some rat poison at the store today. Hopefully the creatures will eat it and my nighttime rest will not be interrupted by the infernal nocturnal invaders.

The saddle ride through Wangunui

Breakfast at the Tuapo McDonald's came with a playtime on board the on site McDonalds airplane and play area.  This was awesome for the kids, and I had a much needed cappuchino.

The return home from Tuapo was a different route, through the "saddle" of the land and then through the riverlands of the Wangunui River. We were hoping it would be less curvy and topsy turvy of a ride, but this was only mildly true. 

The NZ Army builds roads that wind around mountains and curve around obstacles, so the road is constantly shifting in its guidelines of speed, from 100 km/hr to 45 km/hr to 25 km/hr around a sharp turn and then back to 75 km/hr in a five minute time interval.

The roads are more narrow than roads in the USA and one side may even have falling rock from a rock wall.  In short, you want to stay alert and drive slowly.  I did better and felt less queasy on the road if I was driving, so I drove about 4 of the 6 hours home.  The rest of the time I tried to close my eyes and relax around the hairpin turns.

Horse or unicorn crossing ahead!

Horses indeed!

The signs were also amusing.  We saw a kiwi bird crossing sign, and some horse signs, followed by horses.

I bet nighttime drivers need to look out for kiwis, but they were all asleep when we drove past.