Sun sun sun

Here is Lockie under the brolly on the corner of Cuba and Manners Malls, downtown Wellington. He and I had just seen 'Chicken Little' at the movies [both loved it], and were heading over to Frank Kitts Park for some Waitangi Day festivities. We were almost there when Lockie spotted some pedal boats for hire in the lagoon next to the park so, after I dragged him over to see one song performed on the stage [huge appreciative crowd], we had to backtrack and indulge the birthday boy with a boat ride - I had to do most of the pedalling though, as Lock's legs were just a midge too short. Then we just had to have a big gorgeous ice cream [yay for Kaffee Eis!!] before heading home. As we drove along the quays towards Central Railway Station I spotted Frazer and Bella at an intersection!! Swerved across two lanes into a handy dandy parking space, yelled out the window to get their attention, and we joined them for a stroll along the wharf. Pretty cool and windy by then [for a change!], so we all trooped home. Shit hit the fan soon after, with Lockie and Frazer's play-fighting taking a turn for the worse - Fraz was bitten very hard on the arm, and he in turn combed Lockie's hair 'too roughly!!' which caused tears and tantrums... OMG, how silly can one family be... Lockie managed to wipe his tears away to eat some birthday cake, but was in a fine grinch of a mood for the rest of the evening. He complained: 'no-one loves me' and 'this is the worst day of my life', to which no response was acceptable to his majesty! Talk about drama queen - definitely from my side of the family, but it must have skipped a generation, because I'm not like that!!!?!?!

Anyway, today he is back at school, after 7 weeks of long, mostly-hot summer, and it feels peaceful yet weird to not have him here. I miss the little blighter! Two big parcels arrived from Australia and England today, so that should help to persuade him to walk home from school - it's such a lovely day I don't want to be stuck in a hot car. He went happily into his new classroom and barely waved goodbye - unlike one kid who ran out of the classroom screaming for his Dad, begging him to take him home! Quite distressing to watch - bit of a lump in the throat for me, but his dad was embarrassed for all the mums to see that performance.