Another long overdue update!

Erm, so Josh and I had a very successful trip in Christchurch and got to spend time with Ash doing the tourist things and having a lot of laughs. We arrived at Ash's at sort of 9.45 ish and sat and chatted for a while. Ash's Papillon dogs Guy and Chelsea have had puppies and there are only two left now, Pixie and Gem and they are so cute! They're just little balls of fluff with teeny tiny teeth that nibble on your hands when you stroke them! I wanted to bring one home, but you wouldn't like that would you mum and dad?! :P

After catching up at Ash's we 3 caught the bus into the town centre to be tourists for the day. We checked out the Winter Fest which was pretty uneventful with 2 stalls, but that was probably because it was a week day and probably perked up at the weekend. Then we walked to the Hospital where Nan had had an ultrasound on her shoulder, turns out she has a ripped tendon :( so she's now thinking about the next course of action to get it on the mend. Nan gave us the car because she and Harry were being picked up by Lorraine who they stayed with for the night. So Josh, Ashleigh and I set off for town again and parked in a really cheap car park ($4 for 12 hours!!!) and went to the museum, where the majority of the photos were taken. We spent a lot of time in the Human Body section where they had little activities like how fast you can run, a balancing test etc. and had lots of fun there. We also went to a small section that had a house where the entire living room was covered in Paua shells. The house had been moved from its original place somewhere I can't remember after the owners had died and donated the World Famous in New Zealand house to the museum. All of the Paua shells had been refined by the husband himself and some of them were prize winners, it was amazing.

After the museum, we walked to the arts centre to see the fudge cottage selling some of the yummiest fudge ever and to see if there was anything of major interest at the centre. Then we drove to Sumner and had a walk on the beach as the sun was getting low in the sky. We were around Cave Rock so Josh went inside to check it out. It was quite high and there were a few small exits at the other end going out towards the ocean and Josh was very impressed and wanted to stay in there! We also found a small patch of quicksand which Josh and I were amused with, there was a sign warning of quicksand so we probably only narrowly missed a big patch somewhere!

Once it got a bit dark we went back to Ash's and watched Hot Fuzz in the Man's Lounge with the lazyboy chairs and massive tv screen! :D The next day we just chilled at Ash's til we went to Lorraine's to pick up Nan and Harry to go home.

I went to a couple more dancing lessons at the High School before the big night last night. I got ready at Jaime's and her cousin Heather did our hair and make-up for free which was really cool. We went to the ball in her date's friend's mercedes which had an awesome sound system. Julie Campbell had the befores and most of Jaime's year met up there and we all left at a similar time to get to the High School. My date for the ball, Sol, bought me a really beautiful corsage that matched my dress perfectly which was really sweet! Jaime, her date Matt, Sol and I arrived at the High School at around 7:50 and we arrived to a big crowd watching us walk in. We went in in our pairs along a red carpet up to the entrance which was quite scary!! Felt very unusual. It was really great though because they make so much more of the ball over here than they do at home which was really cool. And I'd helped to put up the decorations on the friday before so I felt really part of it and everyone treated me like an honorary y13!

The night was really great and everyone looked amazing! Scott and I won the Best Waltz award and got a little cup and a certificate type thing which was really cool. The dance teacher and her partner were there to help judge and they were doing some of their ballroom dancing which I really enjoyed watching.

The year 13's had organised a surprise dance which I joined in with. We danced to Shake Your Pom Poms which was really fun. I'd been along to a couple of their rehearsals for it so I picked it up quite quickly!

After it finished at midnight, a lot of us y13s went to Jaime's friend Ally's house for the after party which was cool too. It was fun to just socialise with people in a really relaxed setting after the ball, but everyone still had their hair and make-up done which looked a bit funny! :P

Josh has been working hard on his wood carving and is doing some sessions on wednesday night at the High School which he's excited about. He's been making some good progress practicing at home so we'll put up the pictures with this blog so check them out! He's also been making a hang-about bear with nan which he's enjoying too!

Right, that's pretty much everything updated, so til the next time :D

Love xxx