The Reynoldz

Today is my Dad's Birthday. Well, in New Zealand it is. So here is wishing you a Happy Birthday and a couple pictures to remind you of why you are "Papa".

Cheers!

We are in dinner payback mode.
Since we have been in NZ we have been to many fabulous dinners at friend's houses, but have been really terrible about hosting our own dinner parties.

Poor Haidyn...
Today was her second day at her new school. She woke up excited to go and actually skipped into the classroom.

But at about 11:00am she became sick with a sore throat, tummy ache and fever.

Her nice teacher brought her to the school sick room and the office staff called around to find her parents. Well it turned out that they could not read my writing and were dialing the wrong cell phone. They eventually called our neighbor Kirsten (she has 2 kids at the school) and Kirsten who has our correct cell number phoned me to give me the news about my sick Haidyn.

I made an appointment with the doctor and he told us that she has strep throat and prescribed amoxicillian, plenty of fluids and REST!!

What a week!

Hey! So today was Haidyn's First Day of school at the new school. Seatoun School. It is just over the hill from our house. When summer gets here we can walk her to school. Let's just say the first day went off just fine. Haidyn still misses her friends from Worser Bay School, but she seemed to fit right in at the new school and there was no drama. Other than Anna worrying all day about it. Here she is after class. I (Eric) took off from work to help Mom and Athea pick her up. We already have homework.

Her teacher is really sweet. (We think her name is Mrs Nelson, but in true Reynoldz form none of us can recall it for sure. We will figure it out tomorrow)
Anyway, her nice teacher made sure Haidyn sat by two buddies to help her feel comfortable in her new classroom.






Here she is showing me one of the puppets in her classroom. They used the puppets today in Math.

When we first got to school we were worried that she was going to want to see the school dog and be bummed about the day if she couldn't find him. (as this was her highlight when we visited the place a couple weeks ago.) Well, there the dog was, waiting for her to show up on her first day of school. (I don't have a picture of the dog. He/She looks like one of those sheep dogs in "Babe".) The dog belongs to the custodian and is allowed to hang out at the school and is considered one of the "staff".

This morning we had 2 sick girls. They both stayed home from school.

Do a dance!! Smile a mile!! Strike a pose and wish her a Happy Birthday!

This is a picture of the I-35W Exit that I saw on CBSnews today. It is the exit the goes to my parents house in Minneapolis.

I have been on the bridge that collasped yesterday evening many many many times...
When I lived in Minnesota, it was part of my daily commute to work and school. It was also the main route to my favorite shopping spots and to the homes of many friends.

We are constantly saying these days...
"Athea put the kitty down!" "He needs his space" "Do not squeeze him" "Pet him gently"

But amazingly enough, it is the kitty who actually keeps going right back to Athea for more "LOVE"...