New Year, more adventures!

As it’s almost two months since my last story and we are now in 2025…we are long overdue for a catchup

Waiwera beach on a summer morning sunrise last week…December/January have been a mixed bag as far as summer goes…plenty of rain, cool evenings, a few runs of sunshine, and the odd gasp of temperatures rising towards late 20’s

My middle son and family moved back to Auckland in mid December so lots of grand baby activities…

Christmas was a family affair

This year with brunch at mine and dinner at the bach …. We were locked and loaded by early evening! (Tucked up in our beds)

The garden bloomed in the lead up, Christmas Lillie’s right on cue…

The sunflowers, regrown from last years seeds harvest towered over the tallest member…(yes even George)

And Mary Rose has been showing off all summer! This head had 30 blooms! While the flower side of things did well, also too did the vege garden, we have been enjoying fresh lettuce, a few feeds of beans as they start to come on, tomatoes coming out our ears, and

Round carrots….. perfect for the Xmas roast!

The holiday period threw us a curve ball…Covid finally came into the camp! Lex and baby Luka were first to get hit! Jax, Steph and the kids left on Boxing Day for a their away holiday so may have dodged the bullet, although baby Henrys first three days away were plagued with the symptoms! Trudi had work, (sometimes this is a good thing) and George and Jess were dog sitting at their house! Dan and I thought we had also dodged the bullet, but on New Year’s Eve I came down with the mild version(still didn’t show positive on those silly tests) and three days later Dan got a nasty dose! Which put him to bed for the last week of his holiday!!

In between it’s been babies…

Babysitting….

Car shows (Kumeū hot rod show)

Orewa Hot Rod…the annual Tyler and Gran’ma take the bus and get an ice cream excursion…..

This was the calm before the weekend storm!!!

Trudi and I took a trip a couple of weeks ago to visit the Wanganui Carters and begin Graeme’s birthday celebrations early!

We visited Bason Botanic Gardens for a picnic and afternoon in the sunshine (temperatures soaring towards 19 degrees)

Picnic by the lake followed by

A meander through the winter gardens

And summer gardens!

Now, all those around me are back at work…and I am picking up the pieces of a busy holiday time…. Cleaning out cottage for my visitors, slapping a weatherworn garden (after the recent storm) back into shape, holding the babies when needed (who needs yoga), housework, homework and the odd but of recreational sewing!!! Looking forward to the next two months of overseas visitors, weddings, and hopefully a more settled summer!