Quality time with the whanau

The trip down to Hawkes Bay was really important to make sure that the girls had a chance to hang out with their cousins and especially Gran and Pop before relocating to Ireland for the next couple of years while I saw out the rest of my time in Saudi. We certainly hit the ground running and the next morning after we arrived we headed off to the National Aquarium with Gran, Pop and Audrey with us. The girls had an amazing time and really enjoyed being the big cousins with Audrey, which is a change for them as they are normally the young ones at all the meet ups. It was so cute watching the girls hold Audrey’s hand and explain everything they were seeing to her as we made our way around the aquarium. It was also awesome just seeing them tearing around the place and being amazed by the underwater tunnel and all the big rays and fish in the displays. A great morning out.

No trip to Hawkes Bay is complete without a marathon playground session at Cornwall Park in Hastings and this trip certainly didn’t disappoint – Liz bought Amber, Briar and Hazel and Scarlett and Frankie had the time of their lives running around the place, flying down the zip line, climbing up and over everything and being so brave and adventurous – I was blown away with how much more grown up Frankie is on this trip and she was flying around the playground, following her big sister and cousins and going everywhere they went, I was so proud of her and how much she is developing and maturing since starting at kindy full time, she is certainly not a baby any more and is blossoming into a super confident wee girl.

We also managed another epic playground session at Anderson Park with Uncle Hud, Carys and Oti where the ziplines got a hammering and everyone had an absolute blast. Scarlett’s gymnastics and tumbling are certainly making her stronger and more capable around the playground and her skills even impressed her big cuzzie Carys which Scarlett was absolutely chuffed about.

A big highlight of the trip was getting everyone together for dinner at the Puketapu Hotel, all the kids had a blast hanging out, drinking juice and causing chaos and it was awesome to get a chance to hang out with Claire, Philip, Mike, Hudd, Taz, Mum and Dad. Was a shame Liz and Hazel and Chris Michelle and Dom couldn’t make it but we are getting so big as a group its hard to find a time that works for everyone and no one is sick.

We rounded out a brilliant trip home to the Bay with a morning at Pop’s museum, The Faraday Centre on our way out of town. Pop gave us the VIP guided tour and we got to see so many cool things like the Tesla Coil, the voice activated colour room, the mind bending mirrored tardis and all the cool old machinery including the printing press that Pop was working on at the time. Frankie was obsessed with the old washing mangle and just stood for ages winding bits of material through and back. We all had a blast and really enjoyed seeing Pops Museum.

This trip was really important to me as I wanted to make sure that the girls had a chance to spend quality time with Gran and Pop especially but also all their aunties, uncles and cousins before they headed across to Ireland for a while. This past year has reinforced to me that time spent with the people you love the most is absolutely priceless and I was so thankful we got to do this little mini break with the whanau.Read more