Coromandel, Lonely Bay

ok - i went off the deep end and just saw that there was really nothing written about this day. gasp! so here is a quick recap. 

we stopped at a great cafe - Hot Waves Cafe in Hot Water Beach and had a late breakfast. Here is our crazy crew. 

Ellie and Claire (who looks REALLY old in this pic) playing at the cafe in the kids' section. 

We then headed off to Lonely Bay for the day. It was amazing!

Bill and Charlie took off on an adventure. That sailboat looked incredible!

They had quite the adventure!

these two were playing so well in the sand together.

Reynt relaxing.

Lonneke & Neils

I love days like these...

the Agar fam.

we had Lonneke snap a few shots of us. I have claire and bill has eleanore.

this is when charlie started throwing a fit and hurt his foot so that was the end of the snapshots.

the boys headed off on an adventure around the corner.

before we left – Nick wanted to swim out and jump off the big rock.

check.

Em playing with the girls.

ellie.

we decided to head to this Purangi Winery for some wood fired pizza. The place was random, but worked for what we wanted. Claire wanted to bring her ‘lulu bag’ in. ha!

totally random inside with a bohemian feel.

millie giving claire a ‘cuddle’ (aussie word for hug). so sweet!

our attempt at a group shot (charlie lost it and wouldn’t look at the camera – tell me it’s a phase!)

what an amazing weekend. it was JUST what we needed and such a blessing to be able to experience day after day of mind blowing scenery. God’s creation is truly incredible!

Coromandel, Cathedral Cove

Sunday, day 2 of vacation, started EARLY (for our kids) with the kids getting up at 6am because of the massive undraped window. The kids were exhausted from the start, but there was no hope in getting them to go back to sleep. Bill laid in the loft with them until about 7 when they all got up.

claire.

We had breakfast then drove to Cathedral Cove 10 minutes away – we had plans to hike the 40 minutes to the cove and stay at the beach for the day. We arrived at the parking lot and it was full. Our only other option was to walk from town, which was really far with the kids. So we asked at the general store what our options were if the lot was full – taxi or something? The owner offered to drive us up to the top and take our car back down to the town. Only in NZ! Here is the owner driving our car away from us!

ready to take off.

Charlie was so sad during most of this hike – he was really tired and just could not get a grip. We finally stopped for a sandwich and he pulled it together after that. phew!

we had someone take a family shot – always interesting with the girls in ergos.

we arrived!

the scenery is incredible!

claire doing a BIG jump.

happy to be sitting and watching the kids.

we had set out earlier than the Agars and DeBours because our kids were losing it. so when we couldn’t just park and hike it messed up our plans. we were hoping we would still meet up, but weren’t sure. then millie came running down the beach! we were so excited – they had taken a water taxi there instead! wahoo – for more friends on the beach!

dads building awesome things on the beach.

the cathedral cove…

at this point in the day – claire was pulling her doggie ‘ellie’. it was hysterical!

ellie was totally being a dog here.

Millie & Charlie. waiting for the water taxi.

Challa

oh chatci.

we decided to water taxi back instead of walking back for 2.5 hours it took us 3 minutes by boat!

where we hung out for the day. unbelievable!

the moms/mums/mamas

celebrating a fabulous day with ice cream and a meal at a café while the kids played.

that night we took it easy and did an quick dinner with earlier bedtimes for the kids (tried for 7:30, but it was too light so they were really just in their beds). before bed the dads rented these little go cart/bike things for the kids to play on. just to quiet them down…

Ellie busting out some wiggie wiggie.

another amazing day in the books. day 3 coming up…