Bugs!

What a fun weekend after a strange week!

This week has proven to be a test for Sweet Caroline. First, on Wednesday, while we were helping at kindy I discovered NITS on Caroline! I had just cut up the fruit and laid out the "biscuits" (crackers) for morning tea when I noticed red scratches on the back of her neck. Slowly, I lifted up her hair to find 15 or so nits (eggs). Oh the horror! :) Well, not really, I feel like an ol' nit pro by now, with Mary Katherine's frequent visits from the boogers this winter. But, Caroline never got them so to see her little head with these nasty little things was just surprising. I quickly carried her back home to pull out the nits and treat her hair. She's good as gold now and I pray we don't get another epidemic!

Now, on Thursday, I noticed a spider-like bite on little CB's leg and didn't think too much of it. Until I noticed the swelling in her calf that night did I begin to worry and ask Ben if I should take her to the doc the next morning. Friday morning we go to the GP (everyone sees a general practitioner here) and in one look at her sore spot (by now it had opened) and diagnosed it as impetigo or also known as a school sore or scold. She prescribes an oral antibiotic and antibiotic cream of which I take to have filled at the village "chemist" (pharmacy).

Oh, poor little Caroline...she's had such a rough week but is doing much better, aside from her little cold on Saturday. She's a tough ol' bird. :) Along with her sufferings this week, we also heard of a case of giardia and scabies around. It really makes you think twice about not washing your hands. :)

After our buggy week, we had a wonderful weekend with the whole family.

The Petone Fair put on by the Rotary Club. It was great fun with lots of food booths, vendors and rides. The stores were also out front displaying their goods. A great way to check out all the stores at one time. Neat people-watching too!

View of Jackson Street, Petone from the Circus Fun House

The kids enjoyed the $4 per person trip through the 5-minute fun house. :)

Dad and Caroline waiting patiently amongst the crowds.

Lucky us! I found 3 runaway balloons as the kids sat and had "American" hot dogs for lunch. If you order a "hot dog" you get a sausage covered with corn dog. The kids don't like them at all, which I don't blame, so we only get the "American" ones...dog and bun.

Showing a bit of cold ("full of cold" as they say here)...bless her little heart.

After the Petone fair, we headed over to the Lower Hutt library and then to the adjacent playground.

Party of 5 - it was a fun, fab day!

It's a bird...it's a plane...

It's Superman! Even the dads like to have a bit of fun!

Like father, like son.

Too cool for school

I think Calvin took this photo of MaeMae...great shot.

3 Little Monkeys in a bubble bath!

The Queen Elizabeth

"The Queen Elizabeth, one of the world's newest cruise ships, made an early entrance to Wellington this morning when it arrived an hour ahead of schedule.

It glided into Wellington harbour as the sun was rising about 6.45am, catching those who were planning to greet it at 7.45am by surprise. It is due to depart tonight at 6pm. Carrying more than 2000 passengers on its maiden trip to the Pacific, it will bring an expected cash injection to the city's economy of $1 million during its few hours here.

The new Queen Elizabeth is the second-largest ship to be built by Cunard, the company that built the Titanic.

The largest was the Queen Mary 2, launched in 2004, which held the record for the world's largest passenger ship for several years. At 294 metres long, the Queen Elizabeth is 50 metres shorter than the Queen Mary 2.

It would arrive and depart from Wellington at high tide, though regional harbourmaster Mike Pryce said that was coincidence.

The maximum draught - the depth of a ship below water - for entering Wellington Harbour was 9.8 metres, plus the height of the tide. "The draught of Queen Elizabeth is only 7.9 metres ... so she could arrive and sail at low tide if she had to."

Displacing, that is, weighing 90,900 tonnes, the ship cost more than US$360 million to build. As tall as a 21-storey building, its 12 passenger decks feature nearly a dozen restaurants and cafes, two outdoor swimming pools, an 800-seat theatre and a two-storey library with about 6000 books.

Passengers drink a thousand bottles of wine a day and eat 55,000kg of scrambled eggs a year.

When it leaves Wellington tonight, the Queen Elizabeth will head to Sydney to meet up with the Queen Mary 2. It will then cruise around Asia before returning home to Southampton.

Tourism New Zealand spokeswoman Anna Fennessy said cruises could boost New Zealand's economy by $305m this year." www.stuff.co.nz

A beautiful full moon on Saturday evening. Ben and I watched the moon from our sofa in the living room. It started peeking behind the trees on the hill up the street and ascended into the sky in a matter of minutes. What a delight to watch this wondrous site, in silence...the kids were sleeping soundly in bed. :)

Random thought:

In the Eastbourne village, and throughout NZ, you will find little shops for all your needs. You won't find a Super Walmart or Target here loaded with all the one-stop shopping goodies you could imagine. Nope...you need vitamins or medicine you go to the chemist, you need fresh fruit and veg you go to the local market, you want a coffee you go to the small locally owned coffee shop - not Starbucks, you want fresh chicken for the barbie, hit the butcher. It's not the most convenient thing and if we were in the States, it'd be, honestly, a nuisance. But because the way of life is so laid-back and people aren't in such a hurry, you seem to have the time to go to all the different shops in order to get all the things you need. It's refreshing to be able to slow life down and really focus on the things that matter the most - which is totally the NZ lifestyle. Enjoy time with your family, friends and nature. Isn't that the way life is supposed to be???