Update time from a slack blogger

Well it has been a while.

NAPIER:
Had a good time away although it was a bit hairy for the first couple of days as there were strong winds which are NOT conducive to an enjoyable camping experience. Gary was just about ready to pack up & go home again. Having said that, he was in a crap mood for a large part of the time anyway.

Highlights:
- the audio self tour of the old prison, it is a fascinating place with a really interesting history
- Ocean beach. The beaches in Napier themselves are rubbish but about 5-10 mins out of Havelock North you go on this windy road & come around a bend at the top of the hill & voila a beautiful beach.
- Vineyards (of course), that was the one thing I insisted that I wanted to do while I was in the Hawkes Bay, spend a day visiting wineries. I loved Moana Park, talking to the winemaker, his knowledge & enthusiasm was awesome. The same with Church Road, the guy there was great. Mission Estate is a stunning place, I could have stayed there for hours (in actual fact we didn't taste any wine there as it was busy).
- Splash Planet, what a way to spend a day. I put my Big Girl Undies on & went on the hydroslides, something I have not done since I was a kid. I even went in the covered one (not a wise idea for someone who is claustraphobic. The kids had a ball & we got to act like big kids.

We have Gary's brother Paul & his 2 kids visiting for a week. The kids get to hang out & I will try to get some time off work or at least leave early so we can go & do some stuff as the Dads will be working on the stock car most of the time.

In other news I joined Weight Watchers on line & in 2 & 1/2 weeks I have lost a grand total of .... 800g, yes that is it. I suspect my portion sizes may still be an issue & I am also sure that although I am counting my wine, my glass is a little (lot) bigger than 150ml. This week I am going to have a couple of days with no alcohol to see if that will kick start things. I only joined for 3 months at this stage so it would be nice to see results. I thought I would struggle with accountability but I have a 13 year old who keeps me on track & won't let me cheat when I log my daily food. Both kids are good at reminding me to go online & fill in my tracker.

Finally, the last 2 weeks Samyson was at Summer School, he got a partial scholarship to CCMT Emerging Talent school. It is a week of intense workshops then a mock audition on the Saturday. The next week is preparing for a show which they performed twice at the Bruce Mason on Saturday. A really good show & Samyson got great feedback from all his tutors, they told him he had talent & he grew so much during the course.  He got so much out of it and is already talking about doing it again next year.