'Twas The Day Before Christmas

The weather was a bit unpredictable so we decided to go across the ferry together and have a bit of indoor fun on Christmas Eve.

 The ferry ride from Cook's Beach to Whitianga cost $5 round trip per adult and our kids were maybe half that or free... which is all pretty reasonable except when you consider that the trip from one side to the other only took 2 minutes! I'm not joking! I timed it on my watch... from the moment we slipped away from one wharf til we 'docked' at the other it was about 2.05!!! How wild! But, it was two minutes of fun on the high seas!

 When we got across to the Whitianga side,  Tony went one way to find a cafe to study at, dad hit the shops to just have a nosey- and actually went up and down the main strip at least twice! While they were doing their thing, mom and I took the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked at the same little theatre Tony and I had been at the night before. There was only one other family watching with us so I didn't mind that the kids chatted, crawled around and asked lots of questions. My  mom loves taking the grandkids to see movies so this was kind of her special thing to do. We had popcorn, lollipops and water in our bags and of course she got them some other treats while we were there. It was a fun morning, though the sun was shining and it hadn't rained at all. Hmmm, oh well, we still enjoyed our time together. 

Once the movie was over, we met up with Dad at his favorite shop - Sunny's - the parallel import shop where "We don't sell cheap stuff, we sell good stuff cheap"! Then we headed over to Taste - the cafe that Tony had turned into an office and had a nice lunch. Mom and Dad played their daily game of cribbage then Tony and I did something else that we always do when we're around our parents - we went shopping! They must think that all we ever do is shop because whenever we're back in the US we go on shopping expeditions (things are much cheaper there than in NZ so we always wait til we're home). But really, the best time to go shopping is when somebody else is looking after our kids so this made sense... The kids had fun at the playground with their grandparents (who undoubtedly got them an ice block) and we had fun (if you can call trying on clothes fun) trying to track down something nice to wear to my friend's wedding in three weeks time. 

 Whitianga is a cute township and we'd be keen to come back for a holiday in the future...

 Once we got back to our house we realised just what a lovely evening it was becoming so the guys packed up the fishing gear and headed out with the kids for a bit of evening sunshine.

 While Dad and Tony were out there fishin' I was at the community barbeque cooking up a Christmas Eve feast!!! 

 I love picnic dinners! 

 So does Hunter!

 Tony was more focused on his twitching fishing poles than his dinner... Hunter may have taken advantage of that by eating an extra sausage or two! 

After the kids were asleep, the pre-Christmas grooming began... Santa has to look good, right!?!