Catching up... big time

So I think I must be up to about week 27 or 28!  It's been a pretty busy holiday period for us, we spent lots of time away in Tairua, Coromandel Township and Cambridge, Actually, by the end of it, it was almost a relief to be home! Well, almost....

Anyway, I'm gonna let pictures do most of the talking here and use words to fill in the gaps.

Christmas Day was pretty ace... a slow, leisurely start with brunch up at Ben's parents with my dad in tow.  Then we worked on Christmas dinner and has a few drinks in the sun before everyone, my girls included, turned up for presents, turkey, salmon, Christmas pudding, salads, drinks, pumpkin pie and well, you get the idea.

After that it was down to Tairua where we hung out for a few days, enjoying some epic sunshine and day tripping to Whiti Farmpark (June-bug got bitten by a miniature horse!) We also spent time down on Ocean Beach and had a sandcastle competition.

It was back to Auckland for New Years at Simon and Vivs, which was really cool.  I got to see my cousin Dave and his wife Helen, who I haven't seen in way too long. New Years is also a time for making resolutions, of which I have fricken tonne, but I'll save all those for another post I think.

Next up on the holiday to-do list was a camping trip in Cormandel with Simon, Viv and Luca.  It was pretty cool, but I did kinda struggle.  We were a little ill-prepared, even though we felt like we'd packed everything bar the kitchen sink and we literally could not squeeze another thing in the car. Our air mattress was a deflater too, so that kinda sucked.  But whingeing aside, the holiday was fun.

The kids had a total ball, running around making friends, in and out of the water and in and out of the tent. I really liked the evenings- making dinner and then having a drink as the sun went down, was pretty damn pleasant.

We had a couple of day trips as well- we went to the Coromandel Mussel Kitchen for lunch one day and the next day we headed to Waterworks, a kinda hokey theme park hidden in the bush.

After camping came Cambridge, We spent a weekend here and then left the girls behind for a week of fun with their nana.  While we were in Cambridge Ben and I went to the Hamilton Gardens and tried to not to wilt away in the heat. We also hit the farmer's market and trash-to-treasure, where I scored a new apron (as you do).

So there you have it, my summer holiday done and dusted.  I said i'd let the pictures do the talking, but clearly I lied, because I just wrote a novel!