Sunny beaches, scenic features, Christmas cheer, too much beer, Xmas socks, and Chicken Pox!

Well this is an update for Xmas and New Year with all our visitors so get comfy!

We had a wonderful time with Micky and Tori and they had a great time in NZ including heading off to the south island to do the fabulous Trans-alpine Express train journey and they loved it. We had some great nights out with them and even more once the Arnolds arrived and had a good build-up to Xmas. Xmas day was brilliant with the children so excited that Santa had visited and eaten and drunk all the treats they had left, they did their stockings early and we managed to get some breakfast into them before Micky arrived to join us in the morning for all the other presents, everyone spoilt us rotten especially the children . We had bbq lunch after church for those who wanted and lots of champagne, food and pavlova, some of us managed a nap (including me) while others headed to the beach for champagne on the beachfront at Macra. We had a lovely quiet night eating leftovers and Micky headed off back to the UK.

We headed off on our holidays after Xmas with the Arnolds and the first stop was Napier, we arrived in the afternoon and headed off to Splash Planet to cool off and the children all braved the slide that terrified all the adults. We managed a quick night out with friends and a morning in Napier for Kaz and Paul to do some sightseeing before heading off to Athenree (near KatiKati) and our Bach (holiday home) to meeting up with the Wares from Auckland who had thankfully already arrived and cooled the beers and got the bbq on as we'd had a long hot drive and were really exhausted. The Bach was fantastic and we all loved it, it was big enough for everyone and had everything you could possibly need and more, it had beautiful views of the ocean, trampoline, tree house, games and more....We had a fabulous time during our stay there with temperamental weather but managed some days at the beach and the boys did some fishing (well feeding the fish and came back empty handed).

New Years eve was lovely with all the children allowed to stay up late to see the fireworks, Tom unfortunately was a bit frightened so maybe next year will be braver with them, but the children all had a great evening watching movies and playing while the adults managed a lovely at bbq, some of us drank too much champagne and we all managed to stay up till midnight to see the fireworks over Mt Manganui before heading to bed at 12:10!!

Our last day at the Bach and I noticed a large spot on Jack which by the time we arrived at our friends in Taupo had developed into a number of spots which overnight turned into lots of spots and yes Jack has chicken-pox, it did mean we had to leave Taupo a day earlier and a faster drive back than we thought but we had a nice evening on the deck and Jack has been remarkably happy considering how miserable he must be feeling. Adrian who has not had chicken pox has been ill also so waiting to see if any spots appear on him this week!

Today we had to say a very sad goodbye to the Arnolds and it's a sad, quite house without them, we had such a wonderful time with them and know we had a great holiday as we're so tired (that could be due to the big night out last night though!). Thanks to the Ware's and O'Sullivans for your great hospitality and good times and wishing the Arnolds a great time in LaLa land we love you lots XX