A mixed month . . .

Another month has flown by. It's only 10 days until we fly out to the Gold Coast for our family holiday. I have to say I'm starting to get a wee bit excited about it, and I know the boys are too. It's the first time flying for Liam and Josh. First time overseas for L, J and Karl, so lots of new experiences to be had.

The budget has flown out the window this past month. When the holiday is over I'm really going to knuckle down and get some savings made. The groceries mainly - need to go back to using cash and not spending more than I've allowed. Also need to get more on the mortgage. Had a call from the bank yesterday regarding fixing our mortgage - Dallas wants to wait a bit longer. He has plans to make a ridiculously low offer for a piece of land when we come home and doesn't want to do any fixing before that - which does make sense!

Poor Jessie has had an exciting time since moving in with us. First he was in the local Rockquest concert/competition and won the best male musician award. Here they are warming up for the concert . . .

Then the following week he was mugged while getting some money out of an ATM! Newspaper article here . . .
We spent most of that evening first at the Police Station, then at A&E at the Hospital getting his face patched up.

Both boys have left NZ for the school holidays - Jessie has gone home to Thailand and Alan has gone to his grandparents home in the Gold Coast . . . and he'll still be there when we go over, so we will meet up with him there and meet his family.

Sadness has come in the form of losing Cleo. She didn't come for breakfast one morning - after phoning around local vets a few days later we discovered that she had been hit by a car. I went into the vet to check that it was her - and it was. Stood stroking her for a while, then said goodbye. She had passed quickly after the accident and thankfully she did look peaceful.