The Annual Grandparents Visit

Well, that was quite frankly the wettest April EVER!

Did my parents actually, literally, bring the weather from the UK with them?? Because the rain started on the day they arrived and carried on for most of the month, and then stopped pretty much on the day they left.

I've never known such relentless wet weather here!

But life goes on. So we put them to work on the garden, took them for gentle walks, made them put up with a great deal of moaning from Alfie (who never does well on an indoors day) and forced them to help with kids arts and crafts sessions.

(But secretly I think they were mostly just happy with the excuse to sit around on a couch as much as possible, rest and relax!)

While they were here, we also took them up to Himatangi Beach for a few days, so they could see where we hang out so often at weekends.

The kids had a ball on the bike tracks but Granny wouldn't (or couldn't?) watch!

Instead they did both seem to enjoy sitting on logs on the beach for hours on end! Happy Grandparents!

Meanwhile Jake took time to read the newspaper and think of things other than the NZ film industry.

His new job for Weta Workshop has been pretty full on and the first 2 weeks have completely taken over his brain to the extent that when he comes home at night you might say "would you like a glass of wine?" and he will answer "the workshop tour was full again today"; and then you'll say "lovely darling, that's great news, have you had enough to eat?" and he will answer "the Spiderman 2 movie was amazing and we all stayed to watch the credits"...etc etc.

Help! Weta Workshop has taken over Jake's brain!!!!

The kids don't seem to care that Dad's mind has been taken over by film graphics and hobbits, and have coped admirably with being cooped up so much. On the rare occasions that the sun's come out, they've made the most of it.

Himatangi's sand dunes are amazing!

So while the kids played, the grandparents sat on logs, and Jake thought about hobbits, I managed to find time for an afternoon walk up the beach.

I love walking along Himatangi Beach on a clear day - it's just so stunning.

 And for our last day at the beach, a perfect sunset from the top of the sand dunes.....