a beautiful day. we took the ferry (12 min) to a "suburb" on an island called Devonport. quite nice. there was a playground within sight of the ferry landing so aidan was happy. the cafe where we had lunch had a child's play area in the rear making isabella's mom happy - it is nice how they have toys or something in many stores and restaurants for the kids. we trundled up most of the way up the little volcanic hill for a great view back toward the city. on the ride over we saw one of the america's cup new zealand boats out for a tour - you can take a sail on one for a reasonable cost and help sail it. it would be fun but no kids under 10 allowed so doubt i'll get the chance as i have only been separated from my 2 for a total of 1/2 hour in the last 3 weeks! i finally did some shopping other than grocery. there looks to be alot of very fine wool products here (as you would imagine with a sheep to person ratio of 50:3). aidan must have collected 15 sticks along the way (i would periodically "lose" some of them). he also noticed a caterpillar that he was lothe to leave. had panini for lunch - they are everywhere - reminds me of our trip to italy - they use the same kind of grill and everything. i finally figured out the difference between mochaccino and mocha latte - size. have i mentioned the umbiquitous marshmallows? white and pink half spheres - about 1" diameter. not super soft so they don't actually dissolve in your drink. aidan is fond of them. kids are served "fluffys" here - foam in a cup often drizzled with chocolate.

lost quincy's hat overboard on return trip. we won't have much left after 3-4 months at this rate! pete lost toy "blue" (dog from blue's clues) a night or 2 ago. aidan has lost "wendy" stamp from bob builder show, a little fireman and something else i can't recall. he takes it really well though - a red pen is doing double duty as both wendy and a fireman! he is very insistant that we take whatever toys he is playing with when it is time to go with us - he doesn't play with them when we are out, just drops them. so far i have suffered least re clothes ruined from the washer (just socks and underwear grayed so far). i did another load yesterday and used cold water - and still a couple of quincy's outfits ended up tinged grey - i have no idea what is running as all these clothes have been washed together at home with no problems. guess we'll be leaving alot of his clothes behind when we return! pete is very cute in pink socks...

tomorrow i think i will attempt the following : grocery store, post office, photo place. aidan loves the white car to ride outside the grocery store. the ferry building on the island had an old fashioned looking car to ride that he shared with isabella. they are everywhere!!