Sunday, December 26, 2010

A big quake

The girls were excited about wearing their new dresses to church this morning.
















We were not however excited about experiencing a 4.9 quake while at church. It may not sound very big but for many people this has been second in severity only to the first 7.1 in September. There have been many aftershocks since September that have been over 5, but there was something about the way that the ground moved with this one that caused a lot more damage. Some people experienced far more of thing falling off shelves or falling off desks than the original 7.1. We felt a number of aftershocks over the next two hours but it was only when we saw the news this evening that we heard about the damage in town.
As there was no fellowship lunch after church today we took our subway sandwiches to the nearby park. We have often driven past this elephant slide and so it was nice for the girls to finally get to play here.













Hannah saw Ruth go down and so followed her up. When she got to the top however she got a bit nervous and so Dad ended up sliding down with her.
Dad also had a bit of fun with Rachel on the see-saw. We need to come visit the park again sometime in play clothes.
Our friends who stay near the park were there too and so the girls got to enjoy a bit of time together.
By 1pm we were ready to start heading home though. It helps the weekend not feel too busy if we get a few hours at home on Sunday afternoons. Although Monday and Tuesday are public holidays in NZ Brendon will be working both days.












The girls spent hours this afternoon on the trampoline. They played so very nicely together and came up with some wonderful imaginary games. They were not only on the tramp though. I spotted them on the front lawn playing some game. I could see the absolute enjoyment on each of their faces and I thank the Lord for the wonderful friendship the girls have.
A highlight for Rachel today was buying the electric toothbrush she has been saving up for over the last 3 months. Thankfully we stopped by the shops before church (the shops must have been chaos after the quake). She was so pleased to use it tonight. It even has a 2min timer on - so no more quick brushing for her.
We also looked for an ipod while at the shops but they did not have stock of the one we wanted. So I ordered one on-line when I got home (a much easier way to do boxing day shopping). Hopefully it won't take too long to arrive with all the public holidays over the next two weeks. We did buy a docking station this morning and I am excited about setting up our new system when the ipod arrives. It will be lovely to pack all the cd's away and have them all available at the touch of a finger.

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