Sometimes time seems to crawl by and sometimes it flies, but here is another post. Finally...

So what have we been up to? The weekend with the cousins was really nice. We went for a hike and a play at Totora Park.

After that Liam was absolutely wasted and he had to go and nap. Christiaan did not want to come with us, he really prefered to stay with his cousins. They had lunch and a play in the spa pool and it was all good. Especially Hazel was very much loved. After Liams sleep we went over too and we all had a lovely dinner together. More playing afterwards ofcourse and the boys were real troopers. They really did not want to go home even though the older kids were going to bed.

The next morning we all went for a swim. Then to Oma Ann's house for lunch (pumpkin soup and buns, outside in the garden) and Ann, Michele, Olaf and Jolyon sorted out Bill's things. Meanwhile the kids played and watched Cars. After that unfortunately, Michele, Simon, Jason and Hazel had to go and pack for the trip back home to Wellington. (On Saturdaynight Michele actually got a text saying it snowed in Upper Hutt and that their friends were making a snow man on the deck!) No snow in Auckland though! Only some frost on the lawn in the mornings.

The rest of the week was mostly spend checking out houses and Inge actually had an interview at a recruitment agency. Between us we have already filled out quite a few online application forms and most of them are not really userfriendly I must say...

But, on Friday we say two really nice houses. We applied for both and spend the whole weekend praying ;-)

On Saturday we had a real New Zealand morning. We went out to watch Marnie and Isaak play soccer and got rained on big time! Fortunately, Inge had managed to pick up a new raincoat the day before and it proved to be a good buy. Afterwards we all went to Olaf's place for coffee and then home for lunch. When Liam was in bed, Jolyon and Inge drove to the Henderson pool together to check out the Schools Championships, so Inge could write a piece on it which could also serve as proof of her (my) ability to write in English.

Sunday we went to the Zoo and that was really nice. More than just nice actually and so we decided to splash out on season tickets. So tigers, beware ... we will be back!

This morning (Monday) we experienced a bit of stress because we were supposed to sign the lease on a house on the Great South Road, but we preferred the two we saw on Friday. Time was ticking away and we still hadn't heard. Just before it was time to leave we received the call saying we can rent one of the two preferred properties, a town house on Dell Ave! Yippie! We can move in on the 23rd. This is one week after the container is due to arrive, so that is alright. Hopefully Ann can stand our noise and mess for a little while longer...

En voor wie dat liever heeft, nog een stukske in het Nederlands. Ja, dat moeten we ook een beetje bijhouden natuurlijk. Nou, het grootste nieuws voor de kindjes was dat we met alle neefjes en nichtjes bij elkaar zijn geweest, omdat Michele, Jolyons zus, uit Wellington was over gekomen voor het weekend. Michele en Simon hebben twee kinderen, Jason en Hazel. Op de foto's dus alle neefjes en nichtjes en ook de hele Nieuw-Zeelandse familie.

Verder hebben we vandaag gehoord dat we een huis wat we wilden hebben ook daadwerkelijk kunnen gaan betrekken en wel op de 23ste. Dat is wel een lekker gevoel, al is het hier (bij oma Ann) ook erg goed toeven.

Maar inmiddels hebben we dus de meeste zaken van ons lijstje af kunnen vinken: auto, check, bankrekening, check, NZ rijbewijs, check, huis, check. Maar bovenaan het lijstje staan dus nog de banen. Maar elke week lijkt er toch iets te gebeuren, dus wie weet, volgende week?

We zullen het zien!