Kiwi Holiday Part Two

We said good-bye to rainy Whitianga on Friday 28 December and basically headed straight across the country from the East to the West coast to our second destination - Port Waikato!!! We booked a 3 bedroom bach on a grassy section and spent the following seven days enjoying more sunshine, more Famous Five and more of a wide range of activities. The only down side was Tony's ear infection which knocked him for a loop... but thankfully, when the meds kicked in he was good to go!!!

The beauty of this place was the playground right across the street from our little bach. Here's Helena practising looking both ways before crossing the quiet cul-de-sac... what a gem of a place!!!

And once in the playground there was a fun flying fox and plenty of grass, plus a tennis court which Hunter took advantage of one day when some kids were out playing with their grandma!!! We ate a meal or two here as well... the beauty of proximity!!!

This was the 'back' yard... we'd park our car back here and from the kitchen I could look out and see hills and horses... oh and my hungry family!!!

We took all of our bikes on this family holiday... we'd tried to get Helena to ride on just 2 wheels but she wasn't quite ready just yet... so tired from the 'practise' we put the new training wheels back on so we could get out on the road!!!

Here we are cruising the mellow streets just before the New Year!!! Notice the wet street - it did rain quite a bit but not as much as our previous week... actually, the rain this time was welcomed so Tony was able to rest and let that ear heal without feeling like he was missing anything like beach/ice cream/park/hot chips...

Spending time inside was actually very fun too... there were all sorts of things to keep us occupied -  colouring...

puzzles...

Lego...

cribbage...

(yes, I taught Hunter how to play cribbage - we did play open-handed but still - he's not yet 6 and he was loving it!!! Look out Grandpa!!!)

and time to play with the ponies!!! See plenty for everyone!!!

Tony's ear infection subsided enough on New Year's Eve for us to play a round of Mexican Train with the family who lived next door to the bach! That turned out to be a later night than expected, but lots of fun. And to start the year out right, Tony took us out to breakfast!!! YAHOO!!! We managed to find a few edibles to suit our 'intolerances' and had fun on this beautiful morning eating outside at the wharf!

Tony's feeling much perkier after some friends in Auckland prayed for him... should've sent the message out sooner... why do we wait so long to engage others in our spiritual battles?!? Anyway - it was perfect timing because we were having visitors this day!

Oh... lucky Hunter got a hot chocolate and Helena got a peppermint tea to start their new year out with a treat!!!

After breakfast we played in a little playground while waiting for our friends Dave and Kim and Co to arrive. This tree was absolutely magnificent! Look at these colours!!!

After re-introductions and lunch, we packed up and headed over to the dunes so we could get some fun in the sun and sea - actually, it wasn't the sea, it was the river side on it's way to the sea, but that doesn't matter to children who want to get sandy and wet!!!

Dave and Jonathan were having a bit of fun on the water's edge. Now the last time we saw these guys was when we returned from Taiwan in August 2011!!! This guy was just in the front-pack and now he was all over following the other kids!!

Kim and I are both home-schooling mums right now... and taking a few moments off duty to catch up and compare notes in the shade while the dads played with the kids in the sun and sand! Thanks guys...

Hannah is just about two months older than Hunter. We've got all sorts of fun photos of them from the times we've been able to meet since they were born... this time they had a blast just playing and splashing, though Helena was always wanting to be in on the action.

They came up for the day on 1 January expecting to stay one night, but we managed to persuade them to spend two nights!!! And it really was so much fun catching up and hearing plans and praying for each other and making new memories.

On the 2nd day, we went over to the Port Waikato Bush Party and oh what a cultural experience that was! I kinda felt like I was back in Kentucky with all the greenery and horses! Thankfully Unfortunately, Tony went back home to rest (smart cuz you don't get much rest in a bach with 5 children playing) and 'missed out' on the experience, but we all thought it was... well... the kids had fun!

The highlight was the wagon pulling competition which the three oldest participated in... the first couple of times they ran along side the wagon but when they called "adults" onto the playing field the kids decided to weigh it down for the fire-fighters and got the ride of their lives!

My kids' other highlight was the shaved ice that they were treated to!!! Oh the simple joys of summer!!!

Funnily enough... at one stage it was either raining or others napping so we had four kids gathered around our mini-dvd player!!! Hilarious!!!

Before they'd been convinced to spend the second night, we'd gone back to the beach for a bit of sandy fun again. While we were there the men decided we'd all get fish and chips for dinner (since we didn't really have  enough food to feed both families dinner again). Tony ordered extra chips to share - 5 scoops - but when he opened the pack it looked a bit light. He took this photo of it and went back to the shop to let them know - they agreed it wasn't enough so they gave us even more... you should've seen the size of the children's eyes when Uncle Tony came back with more chippies!!!! It was a great night for all!!

Thanks guys for making our holiday extra special!!!

Since we're pretty much family we decided to try to get the stairstep photo from oldest to youngest - Andrew didn't want to be counted in... but here's a general idea of the crew... Hannah, Hunter, Helena, Andrew, Jonathan and they've got #4 coming in March/April. Though Hannah is very tall for her age, I'm pretty sure she was on her toes here because they were a bit closer in height than this shows!

When the Coss family left, we still had a couple of days so we tried to get in as much activity as possible... too bad it rained again! Tony took Hunter for a bike ride once but it started raining... good thing I was driving by to meet them at the shop anyway...

Hunter and I had had an incredible wilderness adventure through the dunes early on in our stay... for 40 minutes we wandered round and round looking for Tony & Helena... I told him we'd get an ice cream after that!!! Unfortunately, the two kids were disobedient and ice cream privileges were revoked on the day... so when we finally got our treat - I for sure was pretty excited!!!

Speaking of ice cream... when we'd packed up on Friday 4 January, we had to pass through Pokeno - famous for it's big ice cream scoops... so we stopped!!! Spot the happiest camper... Helena's options are very limited right now so a sorbet goes a really long way!!!

And I think two ice creams in one week is a pretty good summer holiday!!!