Friday 4/1/19 day 8 summer holiday

Today we woke up to a bit of an overcast day but still warm, with slight winds. I found the idea of making breakfast shit, so lazily I conned the kids into going out for breakfast. We drove from Snells to Matakana Country Park where the girls ordered chocolate muffins (bad mom!) and to ensure some balance (pmsl) I ordered a chia seed coconut pudding thing with fruit. I’ve had some amazing chia bowls.. this one sadly was slightly gag worthy towards the end. Anyway, I have just confirmed my relation to Grandma D is indeed by blood (inside joke). There’s a really cute (lame!) mini train there, on which misha the dog (genuinely cute!) is the driver (not really but it’s a good gimmick). The girls love this ride, and could go round and round the pond surrounded by stuffed animals pointed out by the driver with silly inuendos all day. It’s cool for the fact the kids think it’s awesome and therefore gives me “cool mum” kudos. There’s also pony rides… however after visiting the park 5+ times I’ve never seen them running them – today’s reason was however valid and my condolences to the family and friends of whoever’s funeral it was. There’s also a menagerie of petting zoo animals for which you can buy animal food to encourage. There’s donkeys (one seriously lame and uncomfortable which was sad!), goats, alpacas, pigs, sheep and roosters chickens and all other birds that scarily stalk you as you wander round. Jorja made lots of jokes about one being about to bite my butt (oh my gosh look at her butt! – another inside joke) managing to deepen my dislike for all flappy winged sharp beaked bastards that constantly draw me back to my horrific fear of birds established firmly in the 80s with the watching of the Stephen Spielberg(?) movie Birds. (Shuddering at the memory now). We wandered on from there to the awesome playground featuring cleverly built play obstacles like pirate ships, princess castles, fire engines and the sort. The gold coin donation box for upkeep of said playground must however be empty as there’s a bit of wear and tear shining brightly – that said it’s very clever and the kids love it! There’s only so long a middle age frekily white skinned lady with arthritic back and short attention span can bare being at a playground, so with promises of another adventure I loaded the girls into the car and headed off in search of the Leigh Sawmill. I didn’t find it, but found a brewery! Took all my will power and good mothering skills not to pull in lol – so onto Leigh wharf we went. It’s so pretty it is worth a look, although the girls may not yet appreciate that? There’s a little walk round the rocks to the left, and from that we found what looked like a hill climb, presumably to a view point. We climbed up stairs after stairs till we finally reached the top…. and no view at all lol. Jorja apologized profusely and repeatedly for making us go up… but truth is it was nice to be in the shade, and awesome to see both girls climb up without a word of complaint! Ice cream was promised as a reward, so back in the car we got to trundle off to Matakana hoping to catch up with Reece Witherspoon. Typically for this time of year there were 42,624 cars in matakana and only 63 car parks…so sorry Reece, maybe next time. We pushed on to Charlie’s Gelato closer to Snells Beach with plenty of parking. It was here, as I was ordering, that Jorja decided to get up close and personal with the concrete floor – head butting it in spectacular fashion leaving a five head where her forehead had previously been. Luckily they had an ice pack on hand so we sat with that on her head while sampling some of the delicious gelato flavors on offer. A nervous ride back to Snells watching Jorja ensued and after a bit of a rest and some boiled eggs for lunch she bounced back good as gold – she’s one tough cookie that one. We had a bit of a rest for a couple hours, then I caved to the constant demands of a drive to Martins Bay for some boogie boarding “in the waves”. Alexa really impressed here – with her confidence and natural skill she had a ball –  proud mumma moment!! Got some cool snaps of both girls getting stuck in having a go, then jumped in with them – more “cool mum” kudos gained. (For the record – the water was really warm!). Back home to Snells for dinner, then into the caravan for movies on the laptop, some story telling and finally sleepy time (please!!). Great day again, falling more and more in love with this beaut caravan by the day and by god I’m proud of my awesome little girls and their cool attitudes and love of life and all it holds! Goodnight everyone, can’t wait for the adventures of tomorrow!