........having picked up the cup for St Georges X-country and finished his first season of tackle rugby for Wanganui Pirates Alex broke his leg again!! Playing back yard rugby with Olie, Goose and Dr John last Saturday Alex landed heavily on the leg he broke earlier this year and it went again. Same leg and same site! He was due to represent St Georges this week in the inter school x-country and I was due to take the kids up the mountain these holidays for four days skiing. That is now all on hold. Alex is in a lightweight cast and should have it on for about four weeks and then we will see where we are at.

I'm away on a course in Rotorua this weekend and Jax has a full set of shifts to complicate things!

Jenny did her first weekend of performances as Tallulah in Bugsy Malone to rave reviews, described as "slinky" in the local paper! She also sang a duet with Rosie in musical soiree at High School which was fantastic and made us both incredibly proud.

Oliver plays his last 1st VI soccer match this weekend after an unbeaten season and has already started cricket academy ready for next term.

For Keith and Cynth, pictures will follow soon, honest! sorry you struggle with the words!!

Thanks for letting me have my wife back, we survived (just) without her but not too keen to let her go again! Full steam ahead now getting the house straight for Nain and Pops visit in November and Rich and Fran in December/Jan.

Spring is pretty much on us though we still get the odd polar blast to keep us cool, no sign of replicating the English summer(!), have to make do with hot sun and barbies every day.

More soon...................

Cross country races today, Alex creams the field and takes the cup!! That's my boy!! Well done Alex, his name now goes onto the cup with some rather esteemed old boys, a sign of things to come?

...my daughter!...

Mick and Donna Freeman dropped in to see us. We grabbed a meal and the kids showed them the local highlights!

Alex grabs three brace of tries yesterday playing for Wanganui Pirates against a local Maori immersion school

to end a great day the mountain shrouded itself in soft cloud and a rainbow! sweet!

end of the day group photo of us with Jenny Brown and son Finn

just after the last lift the snow kicked in again freshening it up again for next weekend.

Me!..................

Ollie braved the cold wind to prove that it was him underneath the layers!

Alex, yes that is him was totally chuffed to be back upon the mountain, broad smile for most of the day, only waned as fatigue set in!

at last, camera fixed and good weather over Ruapehu at a weekend. Did the saturday sports thing and sunday came, 10cms of fresh powder on Whakapapa so where did we go?..... Jenny had to stay home alone as she had rehearsals all afternoon but the boys had a day trip to the snow..........

no didn't work, try something else!!

...............Jax away, the mice are playing! and I'm the taxi and ATM!! hope this clip of alex picking up a few scores on the rugby pitch works...

.........ok so a short, perhaps pregnant, pause since the last post. The camera is on the blink so no piccies just yet and busy, Hah, moved in to unfinished house at the beginning of July just as the cold weather really kicked in so firewood collecting took priority over most things. Just starting to settle now, carpet went down last week and wardroibes are fitted. Amazing how these little things make a huge difference.
Jax heads back to the UK for three weeks next Thursday and she is not convinced that we have it in us to survive without her! I'm sure Fran would prime me with the appropriate thing to say to Jax on that one, doh! Lucky I've not planned to do anything rash like head off to see Bob Dylan in Wellington and leave the kids to their own devices! As if!!
Personally I have a sneaking suspicion that the kids and I might manage to scrabble together the odd bowl of half cooked food and work out where the washing machine is and what we do with it!
Anyway, snow on the mountains and we still haven't been up yet for obvious reasons, will try to remedy that soon and update the blog as soon as the camera is working again.
Til then TTFN and love to all

.......so jenny had an awesome time in Christchurch, she raced in the secondary schools cross country and finished 119th out of a field of 190. She was a little disappointed but considering she was in the bottom of the age range and she didn't train i think she did pretty well and it helps her to get her head round what is necessary for next year.

We move into the new house this coming weekend at last, it won't be completely finished but we can't wait for the carpets etc. Winter is here so we need to get out of our cold little rental and into our own space.

ski fields open so the boys are going mad in anticipation of the first trip up the mountain.....

TTFN J3OA

........so, Jenny auditioned for the local Amdram production of Bugsy Malone and was cast as the lead Tallulah, she is pretty chuffed and if you want tickets you'd better hurry. Showing in August September time so check your plane times! She also performed rather well in the recent interschools cross country coming 2nd in the under 16's and 9th in the under 18's. As a result she represented her school at a sports exchange with a school over in Hastings(Hawkes Bay) and this weekend she is being flown down to Christchurch for a race meeting!

Ollie has made it back to full fitness after his knee episode and there has been no need for any further stitches. Playing regular 1st XI soccer and yet to be defeated. Selected to take some Australasian exams and one or two other papers he takes it all in his stride!

Alex managed to talk the school into letting him play both soccer and hockey and is thoroughly enjoying both and performing well. School still lacks a great appeal for Alex but he is still going in the right direction whilst we wait for something other than sport to fire him up!

Jax and I working too hard!! house nearly finished(deja vu!) could be just a few weeks til we move in though carpet won't be in til mid July. Winter has certainly arrived so can't wait to get out of the rental and start enjoying the new space. Snow has appeared on the mountain so ski/boarding pictures shouldn't be far away.

Generally life could be a whole lot worse so we'll take it as it is for the time being.

Drop us a line just to say "Hi" if you're reading this and we should start posting a little more very soon.

TTFN J3OA

Yay the pool is just about done! Alex decides to take a dip before its totally filled. Ice cold bore water at the moment so he was a brave man!

Easter 2007, Neil, Jenny, Tilly and Ieuan visit from old blighty and we head off to do a three day Whanganui river trip. All kitted out with safety equipment and 'pods'to keep our kit dry should we be unfortunate enough to capsize the canoes!! Weather beautiful, river clear, campers happy so off we go. Provisions for the three days courtesy of Neil; 96 Weetbix, 108 muesli bars, 34,962 grains of rice, 864grams sugar.........he was the subject of much ribbing but no-one went hungry!!

All in all a great trip, though the long drop toilets were a little off-putting to some of the group members.

Playtime on the river.

Two little dogs go for a dip at lunch on day one!

Neil and Ieuan(under the hat)

The start of the last day, just managing to raise a smile prior to finding out we had a boat with a hole!! By the end of the day two boats would have tipped over in the rapids and four of the above people would be a little damp!!

Oliver commanding a vantage point to look down upon we lesser mortals.

A great spot to stop and enjoy the serenity of the NZ bush.

Alex does his mountain goat thing again, ankle still stopping him walking great distances and running but slowly improving. As long as it's OK for the start of teh soccer season he will be OK!!

Jax gets a wet foot and blames me! Can't argue really!!

Short tramp up on Ruapehu, cloud a little too low to see the top but worth the trip. Following days gave us classic views of 'our' mountain.

Neil and Jonny caught out!! Just chatting and catching up on all things Leicester, honest!

....she frightens me!!....

Ended up back at the hot spring running into the Waikato River. A great way to end a chilled day just mooching around Taupo.

The final farewell......after a week of fun and frolicks the Paines and Painters parted company at the Rangitikei Ski Hut. Neil and Co headed west towards Taranaki and then Auckland where they are due to fly out on Saturday. For us it was back down to Wangavegas back to the unfinished house, the approaching winter oh and the grindstone!!

A bit of carb loading the day before the race with John and Briar, Rich Wood said it was a good idea, I'm not convinced.

Saturday 10th March, The Motatapu mountain bike race. John Cantillon and I with our respective women flew down to Wanaka to cycle 50kms across some of the most beautiful and remote scenery I've ever been over. Starting at Lake Wanaka in the shadow of Mount Aspiring and ending in Arrowtown having passed round the back of Coronet Peak. Apart from being too busy to train enough everything was set for a great day out...........

Due to being desperately blokey neither John nor I had correctly read the race day information (no rude comments please!) so when we turned up at 11.10 we had already missed the obligatory pre-race briefing at 10am, the elite racers start at 10.30 and our class was already ten minutes into the race which officially started a few Kms up the road! We just crossed the start line before they packed up the electronic timing system and then slowly worked our way upthe field and up the hills! John had said as we approached the start " wouldn't it be funny if we arrived and the only things left in the field were our two bikes leaning against each other?"! At least we didn't have to fight with all the other bikes at the start!

...not one hour earlier there were around 2000 bikes and riders lined up raring to go, only we were never saw them!......for us it was always this peaceful!

Still looking fresh(!) 20 kms into the race. This point was just past the Motatapu Station which Shania Twain bought the other year. She is halfway through building a huge homestead with stunning views of Mount Aspiring but didn't grace us with an appearance on the ride!! ...absentee landowners......shouldn't be allowed!

The last 8Kms were mainly fast downhill with about four big river crossings once at the bottom of the valley. The last crossing was 1km from the finish line and as I ploughed flat out into the river I hit a rock and blew my front tyre out! Too knackered to change the tube I jogged the rest of the way to the finish 4 hours and 12 minutes after the lonely start! The winners managed 2 hours and the slowest 6 hours 30!! So scope for improvement, maybe a little more training for next year!

mmmmm.....funny looking bloke, still standing after 4 hours of mountainbiking and able to raise a smile at the prize giving. No prizes but a fantastic day.

Sunday 11th March, we were meant to be cruising on Milford Sound but the weather on the West coast closed in so we were left in Queenstown. The decision was made to do something different, and something different was certainly what we did.... Canyoning was the activity; four hours (and that excludes the time getting the kit on!!)playing around wearing 7mm of neoprene in glacial rivers. Abseiling, waterfall jumping, waterfall sliding, zip wiring, flying foxes over gorges and the list goes on. We all stepped well outside our comfort zones and had an absolutely awesome time. Milford Sound will have to wait til next time!

Four hours later we emerged from the depths of the canyon, huge grins that lasted for the rest of the day and longer!

Two weeks to go till Alex gets his cast off, how he managed to stay sane is anyones' guess.
Jenny won her year group 800m race and came third in the whole school which we were pretty rapt with. She can't walk today however!
Jax and I are getting ready for our little trip to the South Island, fly out early to Christchurch and then on to Queenstown. Mountain bike race on Saturday then Sunday til monday onboard a steamer on the Milford Sound. Should have a few piccies to bore you all with next week.
Til then the house should continue to be a great cure for all you insomniacs out there!!
TTFN
J3OA

...and so the house saga continues, it now resmbles a house and has rooms, windows and doors but those subtle little touches that make a house a home are still missing: Running water, electricity, bathrooms, a kitchen, furniture and no builders wandering around!

Delightful view of the tidy interior of the living area! ..oh and the tidy approach to the house... and the tidy hole in the ground that will be a pool as seen from our upstairs bedroom!(no bed, or room)

Latest views of the back of the house and the downhill side of the house. Now starting to look like a house though still with plenty to do, started putting plasterboard up on the walls this week at the same time as the pool was started. We may be in the pool before we are in the house!! The pool is the hole in the ground on the third piccie.