The fact that it has taken me until February to write about, gives an indication of the madness that was December.
Pre-Christmas activities included our now annual tradition of a trip to Smith and Caughey's in town to visit Santas
Grotto and meet Santa (Isla wanted to know what he was doing there
instead of making toys with the elves). The kids were so well behaved,
it's such a long wait for them. I was hoping for no tears and that I
wouldn't have to be in the photo and they were both really good. Isla is
such a sweetie, when Santa asked her what she wanted she said a Furby
and a big bone for Max. So cute she thought of him!
One day I asked Isla what she would like to get Daddy for Christmas.
Her reply was considered and relatively instantaneous so she must have
given it a bit of thought! "a pair of shoes, a pair of stripy pants with
dragons on them, a book and a tee shirt with two lizards fighting and a
baddy chopping down trees. Maybe they have them at K Mart".
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| Uncle
Bert's reappearance bought much fun and hilarity, if a little
exhaustion for mum and dad in trying to think of things for him to do
each night. Thank you pinterest! |
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| Isla took him to bed every night for the first few two weeks, and to kindy for news several times. |
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| Christmas Stories with Nana Verna and "Ranrad" (Lachys's version) Tom. |
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| Pirate parties to attend amidst all the Christmas celebrations. Phew, 5 in one 4-day period. |
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| Christmas decoration craft day. |
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| Not going quite as planned for some. |
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| Isla's fabulous kindy put on the best Christmas show/party ever. Lachy was enthralled at the appearance of Santa (after much communication and guidance from airline pilots and the local police) on the roof of Green Bay High School. |
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| Norman prepping the kids for the arrival of Santa |
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| Meeting Santa, this astute Miss wanted to know why Santa had to ask her name again given she had already told him at Smith & Caughey's. How long will we have til she figures it out?! |
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| The amazing show, clever teachers, clever kids. Great fun. |
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| This creature was most unimpressed to be dressed as Rudolf for the annual Franklin Road procession. Oh the indignity, he suffers it well. The kids, although extremely tired, loved Franklin Rd. They were especially entranced by two young girls playing fiddles. |
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| Soooo excited to be sprinkling the reindeer food we made on Christmas Eve. Just to be sure Santa didn't miss us, Reindeer food also had to be distributed at Nana Verna and Grandad Toms, and also at Whitianga. |
Christmas
was a blast. It was always kind of a big deal in our household, but it
taken on a whole new meaning with our own kids now that they are both
old enough to get excited. Well, Isla was so excited and given Lachy
copies everything she does, so was he. So much fun to see them
experience the magic, the surprises, the fun and sheer joy and we have
enjoyed creating our own traditions. Long may the belief in Santa last!
We
spent the morning at home and the rest of the day with Francis' parents
basically just relaxing and eating, then headed down to Whitianga to
see my family on Boxing Day. It's great to share ourselves around but we
are looking forward to a Christmas day at home down the line. It feels
so rushed sometimes it is really hard to relax and wind down after the
build up and that ridiculousness that is usually December.
Then three
weeks at Whitianga, the photos will speak for themselves! Our little
guy has grown up so much in that short space of time, he is talking like
his chatterbox sister now. Among the first words he strung together were
"more beer" when asking for another sip of daddy's (non-alcoholic)
bottled drink. Now there is no stopping him and he gets thoroughly sick
of us saying "can you say this, can you say that".
It
felt like a great long summer, fresh salads from the garden, fish
freshly caught, kayaking, lots of sandcastles, netting tiny
fish at the estuary, swimming at the waterhole, early morning walks, bike rides, horse riding, mini golf,
food, more food... we are so very fortunate and grateful to have a
place to holiday, where we can come and go as we please, as often and
for as long as we please.
The
new year dawned with a teensy bit of sadness for me as I contemplated
the fact that this is the year (albeit not til August) that our eldest
starts school and our youngest starts kindy. My stay at home mum days
are numbered! How is it the years have passed by so fast?
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| Santa knew just what Miss Isla needed. Given she has grown 10cm in the last 6 months a new big girls bike was just the ticket. And she has almost progressed to no training wheels already. |
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| Thanks Bex and Mike, much fun to be had for this hard-wired man child. |
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| Playing with amazing gifts, lucky, lucky things. |
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| Dessert, best part of every meal! |
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| Lucky, lucky children to be the recipients of this amazing tree house from Nana and Grandad. Built by Grandad and complete with trapeze, rings, climbing footholds, telescope, steering wheel and pirate flag! |
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| Add a pool and you get one of my all time favorite photos! |
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| Not at all afraid, just wanted to go faster and faster. |
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| This guy loved it too. No fear. |
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| There was A LOT of sandpit play. And diggers. And shell collecting. |
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| Sibling love (rare moment), lunching at Jandals Cafe. |
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| Little swinging monkeys hardly needed the playground this year thanks to the treehouse! |
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| Bless. The little guy at one of my most favorite places in this beautiful country, Opito Bay. |
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Sleep out in the new tent with Daddy. Wanted to sleep out there all by herself!
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| Hot water beach kinda day. |
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| This guy was fascinated at the Warbirds and Wheels show... |
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| ...although not too captivated to miss out on a few roly polys instead of watching the speedway. |
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| Love the flying hair shot. |
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| No summer holiday is complete without a pirate treasure hunt, thanks Aunty Kim! The Jake and the Neverland Pirates obsession has waned a little, but this was still a major hit. Lachy didn't quite get it but still had a ball thundering after Isla and eating the gold dubloons. |
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Driving creek railway. Few tears at first from Lachy as he'd just woken up but loved it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been on it...
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| ...but here he is in there. Can't believe how young Isla looks and how large i am! |
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| This beauty hates to have her photo taken, but when she does smile she just blows me away. |
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| Such a lovely little rider, on her firm fave Shiloh.So proud of her learning to canter. |
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First ever mini golf experience. Now if we could just get Isla to wait til the ball stops before hitting it, and Lachy to stop picking up the ball and throwing it. Fun anyway!
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First time on "Ranrad's boat". Again he cried at first, then he was like a seasoned sailor and even fell asleep after his stint on the tyre. He was right into his rod, and caught his first fish, some teeny tiny snapper but also between us all some lovely keepers. Swimming around at 4pm, pan-fried in butter with lemon, salt and pepper on our plates at 6.30.
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| That's happiness right there. |
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Day out at Whiti Farm Park and an absolutely delicious lunch at Hot Water Beach Brewing Co. A rare moment when these two sit still together, and happily for long enough to take a photo. Isla wanted to know if this cart thing was "from the olden days". She also asked on another occasion if the "olden days" was when i was little. Ha, gold.
So that's it, our Christmas and Summer holidays in a nutshell (albeit an enormous, photo filled one). Phew! |
