Oakura Holiday

We had a typical kiwi holiday at the beach with Paul & Kathy and Aaron & Carolina. This included five toddlers. There was mayhem.

We rented a house at Oakura, at the mouth of Whangaruru harbour. The bay is beautiful and the beach is perfect for kids - dead flat, with no surf to speak of. So for ten days we went swimming, fishing, diving, exploring rock pools, BBQing, etc.

We borrowed John's boat (thanks John!) for the fishing and diving, and took Georgia and Ben out for a whizz in the bay.

Sue and Bruce came up for a couple of days, and Aaron's brother David joined us too.

The kids had a ball, especially the three (Ben, Sofia and Georgia) that we put in the same bedroom. As you could imagine, they partied until they were exhausted.

Susanna and Ryan's wedding

At Waitangi weekend, Andy's cousin Susanna married Ryan. Georgia and Mary were flower girls. Their role was to walk down the aisle and look cute, but not as cute as the bride.

The four cousins: Georgia, Ben, Jade and Mary.

Human shields

Here's Papa using two little girls as shin guards to protect himself from the ducks.

Picnic in the back yard

We've had a run of hot weather. After making muffins, Georgia had a picnic in the back yard with Dolly. And she swept up the porch afterwards too.

New Years at the cottage

We spent New Years at Debbie and Robert's cottage near Te Arai Point, not far from Wellsford.

Christmas 2008

We had Christmas in Melbourne with Liz, Tony, Callum, Fran and Stewart.

Most of the pictures are self-explanatory, but look out for Olly the Lorikeet, Georgia doing her impersonation of Jesus at Christmas, and Andy shortly after Christmas dinner.