Sleepover!

Friday

Ro got a chance to show off his rugby skills yesterday when he, Mark, Craig, and Barnaby all went to Coronation Park for a little footy practice. We only paid passing notice to the rules, and despite a few tear-inducing minor injuries (mostly to Barnaby), everyone had a good time. After we were all sufficiently puffed from running around, we walked across the street to the cinema to see what movies were playing this weekend. A 30-second errand became 15 minutes, as the boys hopped on the racing video game in the small arcade in the lobby, and seemed content to race along with the title credits until dinner time.

Ro trying to elude Craig's tackle

Sherry walked with Ro's class to the beach this afternoon, taking the responsibility for watching Ro and his Maori classmate Deisha as they hunted for shells to place around the class garden. Since Tay Street Beach is only a block away from the school, Ro's class will be going to the beach to swim and boogie board every Friday following his next holiday.

Craig was gracious (or brave) enough to take the boys out by himself this evening, giving Mark and Sherry a rare dinner alone. While the boys went to Burger King, and then down the block to see Up, we took advantage of the reprieve and headed for the Bluebiyou restaurant, a nice oceanfront place in Papamoa that we had spotted the last time we were at the beach there. Although it was pretty deserted when we got there around 6:15, it filled up quickly. They have a romantic Friday night special that worked out great for us: two complimentary glasses of champagne and a box of chocolates and biscotti to take home. Our antipasto was delicious, although Sherry steered away from the mussels and chicken liver pate. Our mains were excellent as well; Mark had the roasted pork rack while Sherry enjoyed her roast pumpkin and pine nut risotto, and we split a chocolate plate for dessert. We lingered over the first civilized meal we've had in a while, but it was soon back to reality.

http://www.bluebiyou.co.nz/

Cheers, baby!

We got home just before Craig and the boys; they had wanted to have a sleepover last night (which naturally got vetoed because it was a school night), so we told them they could have one tonight. This was Ro's first sleepover with a friend, so we elected to host this one. We invited Craig to stick around for drinks and we ended up talking around the kitchen table until 10:30. He's a local cop and works with Search & Rescue, so he has no shortage of interesting anecdotes, which become even funnier after a few margaritas. Eventually, we had to call a halt to the boys' fort-building antics before it got obscenely late. Getting Barnaby to go to bed was no problem, but Ro was so excited he kept keeping Barnaby awake...poor kid. Barnaby would come out of the bedroom bleary-eyed and looking pitiful, telling us that Ro wouldn't stop talking...lol. After a few failed efforts at settling Ro down, we finally just let Ro fall asleep in our bed and transferred him back to his room after he passed out.

Quit talking and go to sleep!