its all Greek to me...(and Paris)

Man it is so hard to navigate around the blogger website when its in greek..I hope this works.
We arrived in Athens today, and im making the most of the free internet at the hostel we're staying at. In saying that, im insanely tired from sleeping - or trying to - at the airport last night so much of this may not make sense.
So..I've just spent the weekend in Paris with Soph. And what a weekend!
The number one highlight was spending time with mon bein amie Sophie, but other notable highlights were:
- The people watching....skinny french boys with perfect coifs, old ladies with that classic impecable french sense of style, neuilly boys, girls with loooong legs and gorgeous shoes, beautiful african people.. so much to look at!
-Witnessing the beginning of a dance craze which is taking the parisian youth by storm - Tecktoniks - look it up on youtube, its hilarious, think lanky white boys throwing thier limbs around interspersed with old 80's moves. And so much fun to do - ask me or Soph for a demonstration any time!
- The food - pastries, cheeses, bread, salads, gelato. and the phenomenon of eating dinner at 9pm was surprisingly satisfying.
- Partying at a 'select entry' club on the Champs which has only been open a week. Beautiful interior decorating and atmosphere. (not to mention trying out our Tecktoniks moves..)
And so so much more, but im afraid im in desparate need of a siesta. Hopefully photos to follow another day. Meanwhile we have 10days in Greece to look forward to now.
Au revior xxx

London

St Pauls

Cute Squirell

Celias bump trying on its new bodysuit

Ale

Having Lunch

Tower Bridge

We've had 3 full days in London now and feel like we've seen a bit of it. Im pretty tired so here's a quick overview of what we've been doing..


Day 1 (Tues) - arrived at Heathrow at 8am and tried to stay awake all day. Celia met us at the airport and escorted us on the tube/bus to thier flat. Went to Battersea park which was really nice, and saw squirrels for the first time.





Day 2 (Wed) - Navigated the London transport system and made our way to Oxford Street where I went nuts in all the shops. LOVED Top Shop, tried on heaps of fabulous stuff but didn't buy anything cos its pretty expensive. If we have $$ left when we come back ill def get some stuff though! picked up a few cheaps dresses (2 for 12 pounds) from a trashy shop. Walked around Soho, just generally taking in the atmosphere etc. Phil got a bit sick of all the shopping but when he found it unbearable I sent him off to Borders to read a National Geographic. Loved looking in the supermarkets, esp Marks & Spencers - every kind of pre-packaged meals/sammies/salads you could imagine.





Day 3 (Thurs - today) - Met up with Rob (my Uncle) and looked at heaps of sights. Walked along the Thames and saw the Parliament buildings, Tate Museum, London Eye etc, had lunch in a pub, fish n chips n mushy peas! Walked along the Tower Bridge, looked at the Tower of London. Went to St Pauls Cathedral which was BEAUTIFUL.





So all in all having a fantastic time! I'm off to Paris to see Sophie tomorrow, and Phil is staying here and going to lots of Museums.

We're arrived at the mother-land.

Well after 36 hours of travel we are finally safely here in London, at Tim and Celias flat. It nearly lunchtime and having had very little sleep in the last 2 days I'm finding the prospect of staying awake til nighttime quite difficult to manage, but im sure after a shower and some coffee it'll all be ok! (Phils in the shower right now). The trip went pretty well, no major troubles. I got pretty airsick during the first leg but was fine after that. It was awesome to arrive in London, and its a beautiful day here so the tube (well the above-ground bits) and the bus trip to the flat was really nice. Walked along the Thames a bit, and saw lots of cliche London things.
The next few days will be spent exploring London. More to follow....

Bye!

Oh my poor forgotten blog, I'm sorry!
As most of you will know, we are off on our adventure to see what all the fuss is about over in Europe. This time tomorrow we will be ON THE PLANE.
Our basic itinerary is as follows: London-Athens(Jenn via Paris)-Venice-Rome-Florence-Nice-Lauterbrunnen-Munich-Paris-London-Singapore-Home. The whole thing will take 2 months, and I'm proud to say I've got my pack weight down to just under 12kgs. All the more room for shopping I say!
I may try and use this as a travel blog but my general philosophy is I want to be out doing the stuff, not in an internet cafe blogging about it, so no apologies for infrequent updates. Its quite likely we might put lots of photos on facebook so check there as well.
Love from Me.

Gracie comes for the weekend

Port Hills

We live in a beautiful country! The other day I took my breakfast for a walk in the hills. This was just a short drive from my house, and a shortish walk. Magic!

Knocked Up

No, not me! The movie. We went to see it the other day, a real good laugh and great dialogue, almost seemed unscripted a lot of the time. Check it out!

Recent happenings in pictorial form

These first five pics are from homegroup camp at Hanmer, this is Phil and I after hoofing it up conical hill.

Formal dinner. Phil was the one who pushed the self timer button and didn't plan it very well (hidden behind Laura)

The homegroup baby (AKA Maggie Robinson) asleep after an exhausting "walk". Do these things
come in adult sizes??

Hamish holding a child. Such a rare sight it had to be captured. Note the worried look on Maggies face!

Jenn, Ness, Laura, Kathryn up Conical Hill

Looking back towards Lyttelton

The Dewars

We went to Diamond Harbour on the ferry when Phils parents came down from wellington. This is at the Godley Heads Cafe. Check out the flowers Phil grew outta his head!!

Pilates

Have started going to Pilates at the gym. Its so trippy cos afterwards you walk away feeling a few inches taller. Great workout but quite embarrassing when you're as bad at it as I am!
This is what I'll be able to do in just a few more weeks (hardy-ha-ha -its harder than it looks!)




In other news, Phils folks are coming to visit this weekend, and we plan to do some fun stuff like going on the gondola (we drew the line at the antartic centre - its a rip-off). Photos to follow im sure. Also coming up is homegroup camp next weekend. Then once those 2 events are out of the way it'll only be 7 weeks til we head overseas!

Hammy and Ness...

....have just been round to our place for tea. Ness chastised me for not updating my blog, so this post is dedicated to you. And this photo is for Hamish, so he can understand the domestic bliss that is a mother at home with her kids. (subliminal message = hamish - kids are cool, have a couple!)
The pic is of my Mummy, me and Frank. Ain't my mumma a hottie??

Queens Birthday Weekend

Phil with the gorgeous Maisie Mitchell

Me, the Bro and Nearly-Sister-in-Law

Stormy St Clair

this is how much of a geek ive become....ive got some photos from the weekend and I can't decide whether to put them on ringo, flickr, facebook, bebo or my blog. yes, this is what ive been reduced to folks. I seriously need another hobby (and preferably one that doesn't include hairdressers - ask me if you don't know my sorry story).

As you can see, the blog won out!

Happy birthday the queen - to celebrate we went down to dunners to catch up with all our 'couple friends' including my bro Frank who's just moved down there to be closer to his darling Emily. It was a good weekend overall. Was cool to see how much Re and Jase's wee girl Maisie had grown.. and her amazing talent for covering stuff in snot and spit. You didn't hear it from me but babies are so gross!!

no title.

This post goes out to the only 3 people who actually read this blog (if the comments on the posts are anything to go by). Soph, Anna and Celia. I love you guys!!
If I knew I had more readers I'd most definitely update this more. I think.

Anyways, heres a pic of Captain Jack Sparrow for you to show my appreciation. Im off to see Pirates 3 tomorrow night.




Not much else to report here (well nothing im gonna put on a public blog for all to see) except that I spend too much time on Facebook. I don't even know why. its cool and all but when did I turn into such a geek? guess it makes a change from trademe.

kids say the darndest things..

Theo's been coming up with some pearlers lately.
some examples..

• "don't you have 4 arms?" (when I told him I couldn't play a game with him cos my hands were full of poo-ey nappies)

• "boys turn into men, and men turn into old men and old men turn into little babies" (we had to have a discussion about mortality after that!)

• "don't even talk to me" (said repeatedly after I laughed at him for being grouchy - this guy is 2 remember - imagine him as a teenager!)

Orana Park

sometimes I think I have sponge between my ears...

I just checked this blog to see if anyone had posted comments, and I had a fleeting thought of "why is this blog never updated?" well duh. cos its mine.

Work

"take-your-little-sister-to-work day". This is Grace going gaga over Amelie.

The little angels I look after

Jenn, Juliette and Evelyn

Easter

The May kids

Beths B'day Cake

We went to Blenheim for easter, to see the family and attend Beths 3rd Birthday party. Had a great time apart from the random bout of chundering that struck me down on sunday night. Mum and Dad have moved into a rental so it was weird not being at the usual place, but its homely all the same. More photos on flickr of course! We bought Gracie, Ru and Beth back to chch with us so its a full house at the moment!

aaaages ago

So Brown!

Um, I think we were being sofa kings. It was funny at the time.

You have to make your own fun in Roxburgh. Sumo westling seemed like a good way to pass the time.

A Letter from Phil!!

Rumaging thru my old stuff in the garage I found a cd I forgot I had, with pictures of my summer in Roxburgh (Remai I hope you're reading this!) in 03/04. Heres a few but ive put some more up on flickr (follow the link to the right). They're probably only funny if you were actually there.

Europe!

Soon i will be sitting in a cafe in Paris eating one of these.

Or in London eating this.

As previously mentioned we're off for a holiday later this year. Im so excited! Nothing new has happened recently, so im just posting about old stuff. We still haven't thought much about where we're gonna go in Europe, apart from Paris to see Soph. Suggestions/reccommendations anyone?
We're off to blenheim this weekend for our god-daughters 3rd birthday.
Happy Easter everyone!

ib god a cold.

A nasty common-garden-variety cold. Which is unfortunately an occupational hazard for me. The kids, their mum, and I were all a pretty sorry lot this afternoon. On the upside I had a good weekend, lots of people from Dunedin were up for a wedding, so we had Tim staying with us, and caught up with Anna and Matt on Sunday. Its always too long between seeing all our Dunedin friends, so we're thinking of doing a trip down sometime maybe a few weeks after easter.