Park, Park, Beach

Brendon has a week leave starting today - so we had a lovely day out together.
He had to get something done in Rangiora - so after that was done we stopped at the park that the children have had quick plays at before. We have always been on our way somewhere, so it was nice today to just take our time.
Hezekiah loved this slide and was up and down so many times - all the time singing away at the top of his voice.
His first try on this little climbing wall almost put him off. He just wanted to give up but I told him it was easy and he could do it. I helped him see how to find holes for his feet and then he had no problem and was up it many times (to enjoy the closed slide that it was next to). Next Friday we have a session booked at Clip n Climb in town - so I was glad he got this little bit of experience today - it will help him "get it" quicker next Friday.
The girls all had a fun time trying different things and just enjoying the sun.
Hannah told us she had "made a new friend" as she spent quite a bit of time playing with two younger girls who were there with their mother. It's lovely to see her chatting away with such confidence.
Then we stopped in at the Wharehouse (while our Pizza order was getting made) so we could get Asher a pair of shoes. Can you believe she doesn't have any shoes. Just one pair of Gumboots which look a bit funny when worn to church. :-) So at least she has a nice pair of purple shoes now.

So after picking up our pizza we started on our way home, going via Woodend so that we could stop at another park - one we have driven past hundreds of times but never stopped at.
It was pizza in the park for lunch and then as soon as the children were done they headed over to the play area. I loved how confident Asher was to head off on her own. She knew were her siblings were and was happy to just head off to join them. :-)
Always fun for little ones to climb through the different things and find little places to play.
The older ones loved the "real train" that they could play on. Hannah was especially impressed with it being "real".

Hezekiah took Dad and Hannah for a "ride" in the toy train.
While Asher enjoyed some time in this park's swing. She had found these pieces of wood that she felt made excellent teething rings and happily chewed on them for a bit.

Such a happy little thing. We thank and praise the Lord that it has now been 6 weeks since her last seizures. So going even longer than the previous 5 weeks. We are so grateful.
Then a play on this before heading off to our next stop - the beach.
I hadn't been to this beach before but Brendon had come with the girls to get sand-pit sand a year ago. It was a longer walk to the water - but worth it.

Always a good opportunity to get a family photo. :-)

So much fun.

And so beautiful.

Asher enjoyed the waves so much and kept heading back, wanting to go further in.
Hezekiah was a bit more nervous but did enjoy throwing stones in (below).
It was beautiful and so much fun. We will try make an effort to get down here more regularly. Hopefully if the weather is good we can get down for another visit next week.

It's crazy that we live so close to the sea and don't get to enjoy the beauty of it more often.
Thank you Lord for the beauty of your wonderful creation.
We eventually headed up to dry sand to allow our feet to warm up although Asher was not happy with leaving the water. She was quickly distracted by the lovely soft sand though - and had so much fun while the older four did some "treasure hunting".

Ruth's special treasure was a starfish. Hannah also found a lovely shell (I forgot to take a photo but we did bring it home).

Asher had seen Hezekiah with a stick in his hand for most of the time - so she decided there must be something fun about it. :-)

This makes me think of "How to Train your Dragon" when the dragon draws in the sand with a big stick. :-)
Below: There was a lot of beautiful driftwood. The girls spotten a really long one that they wanted for a flagpole (and thankfully fitted right down the middle of the van - over the top of the seats). We thought of how we could use a few pieces in the garden too - so the girls collected a few. They diligently carried them for the long walk back to the car. This is one of my favourite photos from the day. Just look at that stunning blue sky and that lovely soft sand. Not to mention those wonderful people. We all had a great day.