AUCKLAND TODAY

Well... we longed to leave it.  We dreamed of leaving it.  We despaired we ever would leave it.

And then we did.

And today... we are going back as VISITORS.  *huge smiles* 

We are going to visit Steve, Bex and the boys, and just 'do' the mall.
I love Auckland's shopping malls and fabric shops, so plan on going back up on a regular basis.

It will be our first venture away from our new home since we moved in 3 weeks ago.  It actually feels like longer than just 3 weeks!

We need to take a break from the endless jobs that are still to be done around the house and yard, so leaving town is a good way to do that.

I will now show you how the lounge looks with it's new curtains.  I'm thrilled to bits with them.
OK... they are the same as what I hung in the Family room, but they make such a difference!...

BEFORE

AFTER

Now you don't notice the curtains FIRST, you see the painting and pretty cushions.

And now... we are getting ready to go north.

ONWARD...

Well... we left here at about 10 am, and it was a frosty, foggy morning.  The fog was so thick in places you couldn't see 50 metres in front of the car.
We drove through fog all the way to the Bombay hills!  

I heard on the news tonight that the fog didn't lift until 1 pm!  That's the Waikato for ya... and now we live here and have to get used to frost and FOG again.

Once we got to Auckland we picked up some lunch and went and visited with Steve and family.
We had a really lovely visit for a couple of hours, then we went to the mall.

It was packed.  After walking the mall for a while we went over to Botany to look for a door guard.  

I want to keep the dogs inside at night, instead of in the garage.  It's just too cold in the garage for them I think.
So, the door guard will go in our bedroom doorway, so they don't keep us awake at night.  They can sleep with the kids!

Oh we also bought a basketball hoop for the kids.  Griffin is thrilled to bits.  It will be good for them to get outside and play instead of staring at screens all the time.

Over summer I'm going to set up a net across the back yard so we can play volleyball and so on.

Now, as you can imagine, I took heaps of family photos... but will leave them till tomorrow.

For now, how about the view as we left Auckland and entered the Waikato again:

ABOVE:  Yep... FOG again!  By the time we got to Huntly is was back into thick fog, and the temperature dropped markedly.

It's so thick now I can't see my own letterbox.

Just as well this is a lovely warm house or I'd be crying like a baby now!  lol

Looking forward to a quiet, warm evening.