The Commonwealth Games

Last Sunday we went to Barb and Dick's farewell party. Barb is leaving the MSO to become the Auckland Philharmonia's new CEO so they are moving any minute. Jessye took the opportunity to galvanize the available kids for a couple of short productions during the night.

Luckily, Jessye's birthday was a public holiday so madam was able to sleep in before present opening. Most schools were already on holiday early because of the Commonwealth Games but Jessye was extremely peeved that she had two more days of school to go. She got a phone upgrade (hopefully one that works a bit more reliably), a string of red heart lights for her room and Blokus which had impressed us all so much when Grandad got it for Christmas. Check out the new braces! Her Christchurch gift arrived in the post the next day which spun the birthday out nicely. After going to a sushi train for lunch the girls went to a movie while I went home to get ready for the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony final rehearsal. The MSO had to get on a bus at 4 to appear at 8:20ish - 4 hours in the bowels of the MCG or wandering about aimlessly. Peter and the girls had tickets to the rehearsal which capped off a reasonable day for our new teenager. She will have a party sometime later in the year.

On Tuesday while Jessye went to school I took Rosie and Sophie with their friends Greer and Ella bowling then cruising round town, taking in the famous Commonwealth Games fish on the Yarra. We sought out the NZ fish and read it was a John Dory then checked out the Fiji one for good measure.

Wednesday night was the real opening ceremony and Peter took the girls plus Greer down to the Yarra for the festivities. They managed to wangle a spot in the front row by the river and caught the spectacular light and firework display at close quarters.

On Thursday night we all went to the Telstra Dome for the Rugby 7s which was great fun. The finals were sold out ages ago otherwise we would have gone back for more. Didn't our boys do well?

Today we had tickets for the opening day of athletics at the MCG. We saw mens' 100 metre heats, womens' 400 metre heats and womens'javelin but the most exciting event was the marathon. We arrived too late to see the women start but were there for the start of the mens'. The eventual winner is running 5th around the track and 4th as they leave the stadium. The most amazing experience was when the Australian woman who won came into the stadium with the silver medalist who had run most of the race with her. The roar of the crowd started when they were approaching the stadium and the screen showed the black lady edging in front of the Aussie. It was anybody's race as she in turn started to claw back her lead but then when they came into the stadium the noise was so deafening that it gave her a new lease of life and she opened up with a convincing sprint to the finish. I've never been in a crowd that big (76,000) all on their feet screaming. It was so loud you couldn't really hear yourself scream.

Rosie is fine and her headaches have stopped since I put her back on the low dose of Dexamethasone. We have been reducing the dose further for the last few days and today was the first day of none. We'll alternate day on/day off for a week and then try to stop altogether and hope the headaches don't come back.