Father's day 2014

Not sure about the apostrophe, sure someone will correct me.

I was lucky to be treated to a special father's day this year.

I was woken up by Theo wishing me happy father's day and giving me cards and gifts.

I was allowed to go for a jog which I haven't had time to do for a while.

Then home to a delicious home made breakfast.

We then packed up the car and headed off to Pukemiro Junction. Jackie had sussed out a day at Pukemiro junction which is an old train station, they have restored steam and diesel engines, a quaint old station and some picnic areas.

The train runs once an hour and just runs along about 5km of line. It's pretty old and rickety and so takes a while.

The train tickets are valid all day.

The first time we went on the train Theo was quite scared. He sat quietly and held Jackie and my hand. He sat up to the window a couple of times but mainly just sat on his seat and held our hands, it was quite cute.

After our first ride we went and had a picnic which Jackie had prepared the day before. Theo and I also had a sausage in bread from the sausage sizzle.

After lunch Theo and I went for another ride on the train. Theo was much more comfortable this time, chatting away to other passengers, leaning up on the window and moving from one carriage to another.

As well as the train they had a 'jigger', we didn't go for  ride.

On the drive home Theo crashed out

Settling in

We've had a busy month settling in to our new home and exploring our new country

Theo continues to develop his domestic skills, he's probably due for a haircut soon though, don't you think?

As with last year, Theo and I made hot cross buns for Easter. They weren't that flash this year, flavour was a bit bland and they were a bit solid. Apricot jam glaze made them yummy though. 

For Easter we rented a bach in Pauanui, it was a last minute decision and thankfully the flooding had subsided by the time we left on Saturday

The bach was really nice, it looked out on to the golf course. There were rabbits runnin around, which tied in nicely with the Easter theme. 

We didn't get a chance to use the bbq. We did play a bit of table tennis though. 

Theo loved running around on the sand dunes and particularly enjoyed picking flowers for mummy. 

Theo's bedroom had a cool door which you could open half of. 

Back in Hamilton, I had Tuesday off work but Theo's pre-school was open so I did the drop off and then walked down the road for brunch with Jackie. As I walked a bus with my work's advertising drove past, underneath one of our street banners, next to one of our street flags, I took a photo and the dude on the bike got a great photo bomb. 

For ANZAC weekend we went to Taupo with mum and dad. Dad and I played golf at Wairakei, it was a great day. The swim in the hot pool at the end of the day was another highlight. 

Before leaving Taupo we stopped in for a nice coffee

Back home for some painting...

... and gardening

Today, Theo and I went to the Waikato University community day, even though I studied there and work there we went on a campus tour which included a tour of the secret tunnel that goes underneath a couple of buildings, there was also horses, science stuff, music, theatre and other fun stuff.

Theo rode his bike all the way to the uni and most of the way home, he didn't have a nap today so went to sleep pretty easily even without his mummy

I'm drinking my coffee nicely

A couple of weeks ago Jackie went to London to become a British citizen.

Theo and I held the fort here in Hamilton New Zealand. In the mornings Theo went to preschool while I went to work. In the afternoons we had fun.

Something we did quite a bit of was visiting cafes. Theo enjoyed this and was very good at drinking his coffee nicely...

Some other stuff we did included...

Saying goodbye to mum at the airport

Doing the vacuuming, dishes and cooking dinner

Having coffees with marshmallows

Falling asleep at lunch

Cycling around the lake

Having a well earned smoothie after some off road biking

Running around the wide open spaces of Hamilton Gardens with bike helmet

Playing in the Hamilton Gardens playground with bike helmet

Crashing out yoga styles

Eating home made chicken and chips

Drinking my coffee nicely

Watching uncle Zane play hockey... while eating a sausage roll

Eating daddy's ice cream to celebrate being a good boy all week.

The weekend after mum got home we went to the Balloons Over Waikato nightglow

Back on the blog wagon

It's been a long time between blogs, we keep meaning to get back in to it to tidy up a few stories from London and to document our transition to Hamilton but we've been so busy it just hasn't happened.

So today Jackie flew back to London to pick up her British Citizenship. It was a big decision to go through the process of applying for citizenship for Jackie and to fly her back to do the ceremony but it give us so many more options for our future.

Of course, with Jackie being away for ten days I'm a solo dad. Day one has gone well, Theo seemed to understand that mummy has gone away but will be back soon. This afternoon, after we'd got back to Hamilton Theo would point at planes that flew past as say that mummy is in there. He's also been saying that mummy is going to visit Jo and Marsh and Fi and Baby Ally.

We had home made fish and chips for dinner and Theo went through his normal routine of bath, teeth, books and bed, he was asleep before 8.30 and is still asleep a couple of hours later. Let's hope he has a good night sleep because I'm under the weather and could do with a rest.