September 2009 Archives

My dad was awesome enough to plan a three week trip down to this hemisphere and visit us. When he was originally planning the trip he told me he thought he'd be here for two weeks. Now I know that may sound like a lot of time to some but it's just not enough time for an honest to goodness visit. So I twisted his arm and he came down for three weeks. We did loads of fun stuff with him.

The highlight was a trip up to Taupo where we did some hot springs swimming, fishing and lots and lots of laughing. It was so nice getting up early and hitting the river with my dad and Sophie. It felt epic to have my dad there with Sophie and Josie, teaching them how to fish. The man has a bottomless well of patience.

Here is a limited run down of the trip:

• Chaperoning 42 kids to a gymnastics field trip
• Hiking Red Rocks and testing the waterproof abilities of the camera
• Road trip to Carterton and seeing our first of many pair undies in the road
• Morning walks up the hill
• Dinner at the White House
• Rock Band!
• Watching The Big Lebowski and crying with laughter
• Swimming at Spray
• Walks along Lyall Bay
• Scavenging for materials at the Tip Shop and building a play kitchen for the girls
• Stocking our garage with tools
  
• Weather proofing the chimney and front door
• Fixing various cabinets in the kitchen
• Showing us he's still got it on the trampoline and amazing the girls with his flips
• Scouting oh so many cafés and bakeries while the girls were at kindy
• Meeting and eating Shawn the Prawn (he was deeelish!)
• Visiting Staglands
• Horsey rides first thing in the morning
• Epic wrestling matches with the wee Stephens' girls
• Watching the Avatar trailer in 3D with Jake
• Daisuke's stag night
  
• Oh, and don't think we let him get out of here without making omelettes for a brunch with our friends
  

Jake and I also have these selfish highlights:

• Sleeping in till at least 7 every morning because the girls would run to wake Grandpa up.
• Waking up to the smell of coffee, the girls already fed.
• Not washing dishes once the entire time he was here.
• Taking walks alone in the morning while Grandpa did the entertaining and feeding.
• Enjoying several nights out with our free babysitter who staged camp outs in the living room.
• The invaluable extra set of hands that I got every day.

Better than all of these things put together was the time spent just talking, goofing and laughing. I love my dad and definitely appreciate him more now that I'm older. He's the best grandad around and we miss him very much. Thanks for the memories mate. Oh yuh!