He's baaack ...

This week, Husband returns to guest blog due to popular demand ...


So it is time that I do another guest blog for Bron.
The last few weeks and the next eight weeks are going to keep me extremely busy with travel (surprise surprise), with having just been through five time zones (some flying over of course).
I arrived home Monday morning about 2am from the airport to find that Bron is still sick, that both the kids had taken possession of my bed, and that I was missed but only a little. (Bron: Hey, not true!)
It was good to arrive back in Auckland after a week of travel, and it was great to see a few people I had not seen in a while. Paul in Perth, Rowan and Linda in Brisbane as well as Crickie, and of course Mum.
It's amazing though when I go back to Australia or visit family something always happens. When we last went to Oz ,we put our house in Brisbane on the market, and when I went back this time we sold it! (Of course subject to this and that).
Ok as to the trips coming up - I have Adelaide, Sydney, Sydney, and the ACT. In the middle of it, we're going on our family holiday to Samoa. Hopefully that will be about it. Oh and probably a few site inspections here in NZ, though I hope I wont have to fly!
As to other things happening around in Auckland, we have my mum arriving on Friday.
The kids are jumping out of their skins for her to turn up. H. keeps yelling 'Nana Nana only two more sleeps! WOOHOO'. And the little man C. just smiles and does a quiet yay!
Talking about the kids, they are both in trouble at the moment. C. decides every trip I go away on to play up and do things he knows I wouldn’t approve of, and then I get home and get placed in to a situation that I need to lose my cool. Grrrrrr.
As for H., the little minx will dob her brother in for anything, including things she has done.
As you can see, because I have had quiet nights away and busy days working, I came home to a not so stress-free environment. Little buggers!
As for Bron, since she has been sick, I thought I'd do the blog in my lunch hour for her! Hooray for Nana, only one more sleep! (And maybe some assistance with the kids for a week!)

Monkey kids ...

Awake in Auckland (with apologies to Sleepless In Seattle...)

What a week to leave my camera at home!
I took a walk up to SkyCity the other day to meet some peeps from twitter. It was great to meet people I’ve been tweeting with on and off since we moved here.
So there we were enjoying a fairly uninspired coffee, when the fire alarm went off. Everyone ignored it for a while, as you do, but the alarm continued followed by a disembodied voice announcing something indecipherable.
The unconcerned wait staff continued to serve meals and drinks, as the convenience store closed and the entire kitchen staff assembled outside - chef hats and all.
Five fire engines arrived, followed by burly firemen carrying hoses and other gear (give me a minute here ...sigh!)
Finally, we called a waitress over and asked if we were being evacuated.
“No not yet,” she said, before handing us the bill and suggesting we might like to pay it now, just in case we did have to make a run for it.
Er, yes, there might be a fire or bomb in the building; your kitchen staff have been told to leave; but yes, let's just make sure the punters pay for their coffees before they all DIE or something. Service FAIL!
Stupidly, I didn't have my camera, so I missed capturing the whole debacle for your pleasure.
We paid up anyway (humph), and left, and then @wendywings introduced me to another reason to visit Auckland, Giapo.
Giapo is the founder of Giapo Gelati, the yummiest icy treat in Auckland. He’s also a keen twitterer and uses social media in his marketing. You can even twitter in his shop, and of course, wi fi is de rigueur.
Anyway, the occasion was World Chocolate Day with every flavour of gelato involving chocolate of some kind. There was white chocolate and raspberry, strawberry chocolate, orange chocolate, black forest and more.
For $10 one could enjoy as many cups as one’s stomach could handle.I tried the giapo rocher and moccacino before giving up in a nod to my waistline. Mmmm, it was delicious though.
Finally, the kids and I arrived home from school this afternoon, to find a commercial being shot right outside our townhouse. In fact, the model was posing on the window sill outside our home office!
The kids hung around upstairs peering over the balcony with interest and watching the scene unfold, and occasionally calling out to the crew below. The crew were lovely and I even managed to get a quick snap before they left:

In other news, Husband has been away for work again.

I've managed to cope quite well, despite having two little bodies in bed with me most nights. Sadly, C. takes after his Mum, and is a very noisy sleeper, talking, moaning, sighing and generally throwing himself around the bed half the night. The second child spends the night at the bottom of the bed, cuddling ... my foot! (I know...)

For his part, Husband hasn't been sleeping well either, having to cope with a four-hour time difference as well as steamy weather and long hours. Then there was a red-eye flight, crammed into an economy Qantas seat next to a snoring guy who was twice the size of him.

I can't wait until he gets home - Husband, not the snoring guy - and things return to normal. And then maybe, we'll all get some sleep!