As well as organising some special presents, I'd also arranged a weekend away for the whole whanau* to celebrate with him - 16 Downings from Auckland, Wellington and Morrinsville.
We all took a day off work/school, and travelled to a roughly half-way point at Ohakune. In a couple of months Ohakune will be covered in snow and full of skiiers, but right now it's too early in the season so things were pretty quiet, still and beautiful, with snow-capped mountains all around. Lovely.
With ages ranging from 3 to 52 yrs, we found it surprisingly easy to occupy everyone and keep things happy for the whole weekend (the only exception to this was tears from Alfie on two occasions, once because of a fat ear received during some rough play, and secondly because of a broken toy).
We found a gorgeous wooden ski lodge to stay in with a couple of roaring fires and plenty of space. We consumed a fair amount of booze in this space - although not with our breakfast despite what the picture of Sam looks like?!
We managed a great tramp through Tongariro National Park - and not a single child complained about the walking! They were full of loud chatter all day, and demonstrated some "interesting" imaginations with excited talk about how they were travelling through the Australian Outback and China!
The kids drank water from the stream (can you spot Molly & Amelia?)...
And then they all played in the water for a while and got wet.....
Most people know the way to Jake's heart, and Sam didn't disappoint him, with a fabulous cake absolutely fit for a 40 year old cake lover - and definitely fit for 7 children!
A great weekend, and Jake was so pleased that everyone could join us. Happy Birthday JD!
*For non-Kiwis, Whanau (pronounced faa-now) is a Maori word for extended family, and is commonly used in everyday New Zealand English.
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