Visiting Family

On the third weekend in September my family went of on a little trip up north to visit my Dad and his lovely wife Lyn in Kawakawa.  Of course we chose a weekend where the weather was not particularly friendly.  We had planned to take our bikes and try one of the cycle tracks but it was so windy and rainy even before we left that we decided to leave the bikes at home. So we left home just after lunch on the Saturday and headed up.

The drive was not too bad.  We had our music on shuffle so we all enjoyed the music in the car.  We also had some nibbles.  I love looking out the window on road trips and just watching the country side change.  Going past farm land, bush, forest, flat land, hills and rocky terrain.  I love how New Zealand just seems to have everything covered landscape wise.

We arrived at my Dad's just after 4pm, so we had quite a good run.  Lyn was already making dinner.  so we had time to unpack and do a small catch up before dinner.  Lyn put on a lovely spread and we all had time to catch up and have a really nice family time.

The following morning we had breakfast and a bit of fun with photos using tablets and then my family and I were off to explore Piha, Opua and Kawakawa.  Here is our family photo using Grace's tablet.

The weather on the Sunday was probably the worst out of the two days.  In Piha we got rained on when trying to look round the shops.  So we headed down to Opua where there was the start of a cycle way for cyclists.  We thought we would check it out ready for our next visit.  It was nice a the rain had stopped and the sun came out while we walked.  Here are my girls enjoying one of the small bridges on the trail.

 Pretty much as soon as we got back to the car the heavens opened at it rained ... again.

On our way back home we stopped off in Kawakawa to check out the Steam Engine and to see where the cycle trail came out at the end.  It was fun to see my family enjoy watching the steam engine. That is another thing we will have to do next time we visit over summer.

The drive home was uneventful but the weather basically rained on and off all the way home.  Once home the cats would not let us out of there sight.  They may have missed only one meal but as far as they were concerned we had been gone a lifetime.

Family time with the extended family is so important.  It is something we do not do enough but I would like to see us do this more often with all our extended family.