Weekend away starts

Friday 14th: Asher got picked up by her teacher aide before 9 so that we could get an early start to our weekend away.
We stopped in at a shopping centre on our way as we needed to get a few pairs of summer shoes. You can see Hannah in her boots, and Hezekiah's jandals are just a pain (he can't run with them on) so we needed to look for summer shoes for the two of them and I needed some jandals too.
Typical rural kids, they wanted to go on the escalator - just for the fun of it.

It was nice to not have any set plans for the day but to just take it easy and enjoy what we could on the trip. We had planned our food for the weekend and it included Pizza for Sunday lunch. So we travelled through Timaru so that we could get pizzas at Pizza Hut. It was nice to have them all ready made so we just need to reheat on Sunday.
Obviously it was a great opportunity to enjoy the beach while we were there. Anastasia's first time on sand. We remember Ruth's first time and she just hated it. So it was fun to see Anastasia not worried at all. We had to tell her a few times to not eat it, and then she just had loads of fun.
BELOW: A friend of Rachel's who lives in Timaru came down to the beach while we were there so that they could catch up.
I love this photo. The two dots close to the Frisbee are Hannah and Hezekiah.

What a beautiful afternoon for it too. I always love the dark blue sky in sea photos.
I'm so thankful for this time away.

It felt very strange to go away as a family and not have Asher with. The reality though is that we just don't go away with her as it's too hard (and tiring). So we were very thankful to be able to have a restful weekend away. And she had a great time with her teacher aide - in a familiar environment with all her familiar things.

The water was surprisingly warm so Hezekiah really enjoyed it.


BELOW: Ruth seeing how far she could go out.

Happily full of sand.
This is the only part I really don't like about the beach. Sand stuck between your toes and it just seems to get everywhere.
Then we headed over to the park for a bit. That helped get most of the sand off everyone's feet. :-)

Hezekiah did manage to get quite high on this too. I just had to pick photos otherwise there would be dozens more on this post.

Something different. Brendon gave them a few fun pushes to make it even more enjoyable.

We got to the house a bit later than planned but it was still light and we quickly got everyone's beds made and bags unpacked.
Anastasia just loved visiting the baby in the oven. :-)


Rachel and Ruth found an amazing chess set, with Lord of the Rings theme. I forgot to take a photo so will have to get one the next time they play.


BELOW: A game of Cluedo happened this evening too. So nice to just sit and relax and enjoy being together.

Beach success

First children's photo for the year.
Brendon has this week off. It's great having the 1st and 2nd as public holidays as it means he only has to take 3 days leave to have a whole week off.
Rachel and Daniel headed down to join his family for a picnic lunch before heading to the beach. We had lunch at home and joined them a bit later.

It gives us the first opportunity to try out Asher's new goggles (with proper polarized lenses - as recommended to try by her neurologist). We were thrilled that they worked and she didn't have a seizure or even any pacing and we were able to stay for hours.

It didn't take them long to get into the water.

Brendon took Asher in deeper. She just loves the sea so much.

I brought this little tent with for Anastasia and I. My parents bought it for us when we lived at the coast in South Africa when Rachel was just a 2 year old. So it's done very well for being 14 years old.

A few of the older children went in deeper. It's not the beast beach for swimming though, so they had to be really careful.
The beach was chosen for sentimental reasons - not swimming, so no one minded. It was still loads of fun.

Eventually Brendon had to bring Asher out as she was so cold. We managed to eave her goggles on for a while as we weren't sure if looking out over the water would affect her. Thankfully she got really into playing with the stones, so we could eventually take them off and her glasses were enough.
We had a bit of a problem with her throwing the stones, so it was good we had her bucket with to give her something specific to do. A bit later Brendon did allow her to throw, when it was a specific game they were playing - with no one in front of them. It looked so special. Brendon, Asher and Philip (who was having great conversation with Brendon) all sat throwing. It would have made a lovely photo - but I missed it.

Hannah, Hezekiah and Jonathan had a great time together. They spent so much time in the water (more than anyone else).
They did come out at one point to warm up, but it wasn't long before they headed back again. Such wonderful memories made today.

The young couples enjoyed the time to just sit and chat.

Asher warm and enjoying sitting in the tent with Anastasia and I. We had to move further up on the beach as the tide started coming in. Katrina (Mrs Sampson) sat with us and we had such a good time chatting.

Then the big spades came out to dig a moat.

It didn't take long to decide to burry Daniel's legs. Brendon enjoyed getting in on that action.

I'm so glad we got to enjoy the day with the Sampson family. It was such a lovely afternoon of fellowship and fun.

This evening the entertainment was a puppet show with some of Hezekiah's teddies. Hannah didn't take long to get into it.

Ruth was sorting the stones she collected on the beach, but enjoyed the show too.

Then more characters were added and Rachel took over from one of the teddies.

Hezekiah enjoyed being his tiger too.
A fun end to a very fun filled day.

Another beach

We needed to get some things at the hardware store and so planned a trip to the beach for afterwards. We had made all these plans but when we arrived at our spot for lunch - it was closed. So we had an adventure trying to find a different spot and we discovered a lovely take away place that had delicious hot chips. We also then decided to try a new beach (that was close to were we had lunch). We were all so pleased we did. There was no long walk to the water and no difficult stony area to cross. And being a week day - we had it all to ourselves.

Above: What a magnificent day.
We brought shorts for Asher this time as we knew she would want to go into the water. She just loved it. She kept walking further and further in.

Lifted over the bigger ones so she didn't get too wet.





The waves were just beautiful to watch. So I had some fun taking a few photos.

Then we headed up to the dry sand to allow our feet to warm up. It only seemed to be Brendon and I that felt the cold.
It wasn't long before Asher was heading back to the water though.

She got delayed here for a bit - picking up the mud and watching it drop off her fingers. SO much fun.

Then more time in the waves. There was a bigger wave which managed to knock both Asher and Hezekiah over. Neither getting their heads wet - but soaking one side. I was close to Hezekiah and quickly ran over to him. He had already gotten himself up so I just steadied him and told him how well he had done (all the while smiling at him and hoping he would not start crying). He did so well and decided he was ok and went back in with Ruth.

Asher wasn't worried by the fall either. She just kept pulling to go further in.

So no longer worrying about keeping her from getting wet. She loved having the waves splash up against her.





Below: It was just beautiful.

The girls tried to use a sled on the sand dunes - but it didn't work. It just helped get everyone totally covered in sand. :-) The taps at the surf club were not working - so we all headed back to the car quite sandy. The car was due for a clean anyway. ;-)