Our house, in the middle of the street

We've met a few more kind Kiwis! This morning after Dugald left for work and while I was in the shower an alarm suddenly went off in the house - very loud, insistent and unremitting. I jumped out and made sure there wasn't a fire, then dressed as quickly as possible and herded the kids outside in their pajamas - and the dog and the cat. For the next ten minutes, which felt like an eternity, I frantically searched for a ladder so I could get up to the alarm and pull out the battery. Sadly the only ladder I could find wasn't tall enough. Not only was the alarm frightfully loud inside the house, there is another speaker outside blasting for all the neighborhood to hear. Soon there were people gathered outside the gate checking to see if we were alright, which we were, but we were feeling a bit stupid. I wasn't sure which alarm was going off - the burglar alarm or fire alarm. I called Dugald, but he could barely hear me over the din, not to mention the fact that he was on a loud bus, so that call didn't help much. My sweet neighbor Bronwyn showed up and we worked out it was the burglar alarm and found the code and finally got it turned off. We hadn't been using the alarm at all since we arrived, so it is a complete mystery to me why it went off. Once it was quiet I stood outside, dripping wet hair, and chatted (as the Kiwis do) for quite awhile with the gathered crew of people. I have to say they were all extremely kind, but as Meggie pointed out, the entire thing was a bit embarassing. Now I have to sort out with our landlord's father why it went off and what we are to do about it . . .but I will say it was not the reaction we would have had to our alarm going off in Texas! Sarah and her brother accidently set of the alarm at our house there once and the neighbors just glanced over, but nobody really bothered about it and it wasn't nearly as loud as what we experienced here.

Katie lost her wiggly tooth last week after having it dangle for ages. Now she's working on the next one.

Last night we had Hamish and his girlfriend Delaney over for dinner and a heated game of Scrabble. They managed to win by using some made-up words, but we're taking them down next time! Hamish is our nephew who is living here in Wellington at the moment. It was really nice to have a catch-up and the girls enjoyed it too.

We had a fun weekend packed with family time! We went to an amazing party at Rob and Liz's on Friday night along with hundreds of their dearest friends:). The house looks fabulous and it was such a treat to have a grown-up night out at such a lovely party. Maddie from next door babysat the girls and that went really well, so Dugald and I are thrilled to now know we can reinstitute date night. The "Beat Girls" played at the party so there was lots of dancing, champagne, mingling and good food catered by one of Wellington's best chefs. I met some really neat people - one of them, the former Ambassador to China and now with the Ministry of Defense, we also saw at church on Sunday.

On Saturday Dugald's cousin Jo and her son Sasha came over for tea. They have just moved to Wellington from Canada so we North Americans compared notes. It was a lovely afternoon and Sasha very kindly played several board games with the girls and watch the beginning of the movie "Snow Buddies" so the adults could have some uninterrupted conversation.

I better post this as I have to walk down to the post office and bakery with the girls and Rico. He and I have been discovering some very fun walks in the mornings now that we have "Fallen Back" for daylight savings time. I was a bit afraid to go off the beaten path when it was still dark in the mornings, but now that we have light we've been exploring and the views can be simply amazing.

Hope all are well - we love to hear from you so email! I know the comments board on blogger can be a bit hard for some to leave messages.