Some Kiwi Chutzpa

I woke up last Saturday morning to the traditional duties of a babysitter....except all the kids had been awake for a good hour at least. I'm so responsible. I 'made' brunch, e.g. poured a bag of chips into a bowl and got the sour cream out of the fridge. I did manage to persuade the kids to tidy up before their parents got home from a night away for an article Sarah is writing. It always helps to use a little bit of bribery, or as teachers and psychologists call it, positive reinforcement :)

Theo, his friend John, Willa, Vince and I piled in their posh 'mini' car that was loaned to them for advertisement purposes over the weekend. We headed up north to the beach to meet Nigel with the boat and went for a nice long trip around some bays, stopped for a swim, and I even tried my hand at water skiing. I only attempted 4 or 5 times and almost made it up, but didn't want everyone to have to wait for me, so I'll have to go again before I leave. We headed to one of the aunt's houses for dinner and some cousins took me horseback riding on the gentle and very trained horse named Storm..kind of a disconcerting name. But i made it through without a scratch and got to see a beautiful NZ sunset over the green hills of the farm. I held Oscar in the convertible all the way home and was fortunate enough not to lose him out the window or get pooped on.
Up at 6:30 am on Sunday, so sore I could barely move. Levi drove me downtown so I could catch a bus to where Lane was starting and finishing an 11 K run around the bay. He finished in exactly an hour and did such a fabulous job! He was even energetic enough to walk back to the city rather than taking a bus which took about an hour and 15 minutes. We ate brunch at Denny's next the the Skytower (funny, eh?) and then went up the tower for a look around. It was so awesome to see all the sparkly bays and get a good look at the outlay of Auckland. We also got to experience the super amazing journey of an old woman who was at least in her 70's. Lane and I saw her suiting up downstairs and just thought "there is no way she is jumping." Sure enough, when we reached the top, we got to see her dropped dangling in front of the observation deck and waving to the crowd as she was dropped the rest of the way down. It must have been on her bucket list to do the Sky jump....I still can't even believe I got to see it though. This little old woman had far more courage than I will ever have!

Lane and I took a bus to Onehunga next and had a sleepy walk around the outlet mall. We walked another 20 minutes to the home of the Sellar family, walked to One Tree hill, and WALKED back. My legs were about the fall off! Luckily, Mr. Sellar drove us across the bay the Mt. Victoria where we ate some delicious burgers and head down to a bunker for a folk concert. Yes, you read that right. An old Maori Pa (or defensive point) was placed inside of Mt. Victoria since it is situated at the mouth of the bay. The bunker has been turned into the meeting place for the Auckland folk club, led by a very cute old man who looks very much like garden gnome. No joke. So we got to experience Fiddlore...an amazing celtic style fiddle ensemble that gave me goosebumps, made me laugh, and even had us sing along during the concert. I just felt like I was part of such a family by the end of the night. 

So though I am not as gutsy as that woman who jumped off a very high tower, Vince still complimented my chutzpa for this very active weekend.

Toby in the Mini

Storm and I

the skytower's official name is Scotty! A shout out to my favorite brudder!