Mud shower at Demolition Derby

Ben, Zack, and I went out to the Palmerston North Speedway last night around seven for the demolition derby and fireworks show.  Mike wanted some quiet time at home to work on a fictional short story he is creating about dragon gods and an ancient people.

Ben and Zack were super excited to find out that the FMG stadium is right next to the summer soccer fields, just 5-6 mins from home by car. Finding a place to park was tricky, but we found street parking 3 blocks from the stadium.

I am so glad we brought the blanket, which shielded us from a shower of chunks of dirt and mud flung up from race cars on the muddy tracks.

After paying just $25 for 3 people( under 8 is free), we entered the stadium, which was mostly packed. We found seats in the "family section" and found many of the seats covered in chunks of mud and dirt.  We cleared off some seats in the forth row up and got out a beige blanket I had brought to keep the kids warm during the show. Good thinking!

We had been on the track for less than 15 mins when we were showered in chunks of muddy dirty racetrack as the speed carts and race cars passed. 
 The blanket was soon a shield for flying debris. Lovely!

The kids loved the motorcycles, the race cars, and the giant crane that raised a sedan 300 ft in the air and then dropped it onto the tire target. Cool.

Cat Drama

I miss Squeaker and BB, our two lovable ragdoll cats, immensely.  We flew them to Seattle to live on a short-term arrangement with my sister Becky, at her house in Seattle on Sept 9th. 

That was super kind of her, because she already has a cat Kramer that lives in her studio apartment overlooking the Space Needle. 

Three cats, even for a short-time, is approaching Crazy Cat Lady proportions if you live in a studio apartment.

We want to import them to NZ, but it costs about three thousand  US dollars to do the import process, and that is the minimum cost.   They were scheduled to live with her for 150 days, then fly internationally and do a mandatory 30 day quarantine in NZ.  That means we have no cats for 180 days! They have already had numerous doctor visits, bloodwork, a flight across the states to Becky, and it's really racking up cost to us.

I found out that it costs $60/day for the cats to be in the quarantine facility in NZ for 30 days.  Yikes!  The costs of importing pets are way too high.

So, we have regrettably decided to try to rehome them to a family in Seattle who recently lost their two senior regdolls over the past two years.

It's just really hard to admit that the process of importing pets has beat us down.

In the future, pets MUST stay in the country they live in.  Importing is a horrible process that takes 6 months and costs a fortune!

Fireworks for Oct 31st Mardi Gras

Fire dancer at Mardi Gras

Come As U R Mardi Gras

So we didn't celebrate Halloween today, even though it was Oct 31st, 2012.  We did get three trick or treaters at 6pm- they got candy from me, as traditionally they would.

Instead, we went to school, gymnastics with Zack, and summer soccer with Ben.

 Mike came home, and then to Come As U R Mardi Gras at St Albans Church. No costumes. Just "come as you are..."

It was really cool, with bouncy houses, balloon animals made by pro, carnival food, games, and other things.  The kids watched men and women fire dancers and then came the fireworks.

Malcolm, Mike's boss, was part of the home brewed fireworks team that used a car battery to remote detonate 30 mins of fireworks in a back parking lot.  Pretty cool, especially for a DIY project (do it yourself).

Happy Mardi Gras people!

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: