July doings......

July.......

July is all about birthdays in this house, Mr Fox and I, my mum, Mr Fox's sister and so on.  It is usually cold and wet so all these birthdays bring about some cheer in the middle of winter.

• We celebrated Mr Fox's birthday at Satya with friends.  A truly scrumptious cake was made by two sweet friends. Yum.
•  Our friends' beautiful baby girl turned one and we headed out to the Waiwera Hot Pools for the afternoon.  I can't believe that delightful wee girl is already a year old.  Gosh time really does fly. 
• My lovely friend Sammy and her husband welcomed a gorgeous little girl into the world in early July. It was so very special to hold darling baby in my arms later in the month. 
• We celebrated my birthday at my favorite Thai resturant. 
•  Megan and Matt were up from Wellington that month too and so a midwinter Christmas celebration was had at Sulin and Greg's.  The house was decorated with festive ornaments, I loved the snowflakes that had been handmade and had hidden shapes in them...hehe robots.  It was so fantastic to have a room full of friends and a cosy fire in the corner.
• Much of our spare time was spent at the banks or lawyers trying to sort out everything for the purchase of our new wee home. 
• Die Die Die came to town and it was such a fun gig. 
• I spent two weeks down south.  Finally did the train from  Christchurch to Greymouth.  Amazing.  My parents and I had such a great trip.  I do love me a good train ride!  It always nice to spend to time at home too, even in the winter.  We managed a trip to beach, a few walks and lots of catching up.  It went so very fast.

Oh those mountains!

Over the viaduct

A beautiful day for a train trip

After the train trip we met up with my sweet sister in Dunedin.   We popped into to see my grandparents as my Pop had just had major hip surgery.  He looked very tired but was happy to see us.  Now he is able to go outside using a couple of sticks and no longer has to put up with agonising pain. 

Although the weather was pretty awful but we made the most of all being together, we had a walk at Bluff (very brief as we got a bit wet except Sister Fox who stayed in the car..sensibly!).  Drove to Colac Bay where there was a small crowd...we didn't know what the fuss was about but later learnt there was a baby Southern Right Whale and mother just off shore...oops!  We did see a pod of whales from further round the coast which was soo exciting!

The fire was stoked at our little place in Riverton to chase away the winter coldness.  It was a cosy afternoon inside.  Spider webs on the deck were sparkling in the sunshine.  So gorgeous but tricky to photograph.  Later in the week the weather improved enough for an afternoon at Frasers Beach. Got a crash course in Thermette lighting.  We trawled the beach for rubbish, Mum and Dad do this every time we go to the beach; it is both surprising and sad to gather so much plastic from a small stretch of beach.  The moon was soo big that afternoon.

Spider diamonds

Thermette 101

Ready for tea/coffee

Cuppa time

Bliss at the beach

Rubbish from the beach