Oh no! Here they come! Nerf guns in hand, four little boys chase me around the house. What is wrong with me? I have been reduced to playing with little boys! Four of them!!!!! On Friday night we visited Dan and Nicole’s house for dinner. They are Mum and Dads friends from when they had a life before kids. They have two little boys my brothers age, they all get along very well. Unfortunately for me, it was pure torture!

We had a great weekend, sunny on Saturday and a bit cloudy on Sunday. Everything went smoothly. We watched the B.F.G on Saturday night, projected onto the stage outdoors, it was awesome!

Monday morning and yet again we forgot about Monday grumpy’s. But you can’t be grumpy for long when you go shopping for toys! It was another shopping Monday though this one was a lot more enjoyable. We went to the Warehouse for toys, Warehouse stationary for school equipment and Farmers for three new scooters! Best of all was the Book Barn in Chertsey. An entire barn full of books! Row upon row tempting me, teasing me! So when I came out I was laden with books of every kind. It was book heaven! After that we moved on to a park over property with two strangely friendly sheep. They even tried to get into our truck.

We stayed a night there then sped to Peel forest campground to school, play and relax. I even got to bake my first ever carrot cake. It was (as usual) delicious! The next morning was spent preparing for our walk. The plan was to climb “Little” Mt Peel / Huatekerekere(1311m). At one o’clock we started walking , our dogs being baby-sat by a gypsy (thanks Yani). From the car-park we looked up and saw the most massive mountain. That could not possibly be our destination!…But it was (Dad knew it, but he kept it to himself). After an agonizing FOUR hours we made it to the top! It was definitely worth it!

The view was so incredible, I can’t find the words to describe it.

Looking out over the world makes your soul soar and your mind clear. Usually I would fly up a track like that, but I was just recovering from a nasty cough and we hadn’t done many missions over winter, so it was a bit more challenging for me than it might have been. I was really proud of my brothers, they flew up the track making it look easy.

After a beautiful sunset, darkness fell and with it came the lights of every town from Christchurch to Timaru. You would expect dark patches between the bright lights of the towns, in their place was the flashing strobe lights of hundreds of irrigation machines working until dawn, A man made wonder.  The shelter was in the perfect position to get the best out of the sunrise. Light flooded over the land, one by one extinguishing the lights of the night.

The walk down was a breeze. Literally! A hint of summer haunted the cool spring air. Summer is coming! Back at the truck we unpacked and drove to the new grounds in Timaru. Getting there on Thursday night made for an easy setup on Friday.

Bye!