Wellington

Well, life is certainly not predictable, and this last week has certainly shown that to be true.

This time last week I was frantically working away to get a job finished. I was then going to spend the weekend cleaning up the house while Daryl and Kyla were in Wellington for the National Secondary School athletics Championships, to have it all ready for Paul and T to move in while Daryl and I took a few days off to relax in Queenstown.

Friday afternoon it all turned to custard.

I was on my way to Kyla's school to watch her emcee and receive an award at the prizegiving. My cellphone rang, and being the good girl that I am, I pulled over to answer it. It was Daryl, telling me that some V.I.Ds (Very Important Deadlines) had been suddenly changed, and not only was our trip to Queenstown off, but he needed to pull out of going to Wellington with Kyla in order to stand any chance of actually meeting the deadlines.

So, in addition to watching Kyla emcee (very well I might add), I was also texting Daryl, Mum, T and Sandra to cancel arrangements and make new ones. Daryl found me a flight on Air NZ (as Jetstar refused to change the name on the ticket he already had) and the madness began.

Just for the record (in case you didn't already know), Kyla was 1st in Spanish, Graphics, Digital Technology (computer stuff), and 3rd in Social Studies, and received a Dean's Citizenship award. It also happens that on her report it records her as being 4th= in English. She has worked hard and achieved exceptionally well this year!

So, after watching the prizegiving, I raced home to empty Daryl's suitcase and pack mine. Daryl arrived home, and we raced out to the airport with my flight leaving at 5:30, and Kyla's at 5:50. I have to say I was feeling a little shell shocked when I left, and not at all sure that I would enjoy myself.

It turns out that it was a really good weekend.

Kyla was not competing on Saturday, as the 3000m track race she was entered in had been changed to Sunday at 11am, 3 hours after her 3000m road race. This change meant that her coach opted to scratch her from the track race - her preference was always for the road race anyway, and it was not reasonable to compete in two 3km events 3 hours apart.

We spent Saturday watching other team members compete, and it was a good day. We took a break at one point and wandered down the road to check out a french patisserie that we had passed in the van on the way to the Athletics.

It turns out that they did a fantastic raspberry and chocolate tart, and chocolate filled eclair. The coffee was excellent too. We shared them both, and it was the best thing we ate all weekend!

Kyla's race was the 3km year 9 girls road race, and was held at 8am on Sunday at the Westpac Stadium/Cake tin. It was a little odd - they didn't actually run on a road at all, rather the circuit did a loop of a very long carpark, before going into the top tier of the stadium, and around there before emerging back into the carpark.

Kyla started serious training for this about 6 weeks ago, and her time then was around 15mins for the 3km. She completed the run in a very impressive 12:26 which was a personal best for her, and put her in 30th out of 40 girls. I am amazed that any child that has my genes can achieve that - clearly Daryl's genes are dominant. A fine effort and her coach was very pleased, as were we. I tried attaching a video of her finishing, but sorry - no luck!

We returned to Auckland on Sunday afternoon, and now prepare for Christmas. Daryl is working crazy hours to get things done. Our tickets to Queenstown have been transferred to mid January - whether we get to go then or have to rebook again remains to be seen.