Wonderful chaos and now such a quiet house

The sun is now back out and I have washed countless towels and all the sheets in preparation for my next set of visitors. It was a very busy week, but not stressful, and wonderful to be able to have the Godfrey grandchildren up here at the new house and visiting Magical Mangawhai. The weather didnt totally co-operate and it was very windy but it wasnt cold and we still managed to do lots of stuff.
The first day we picked up grandad and had a walk around my coastal walk

Then we headed up to Mangawhai. We got there early enough to take a long walk with the dogs and come back and have a bit of a swim. The next day we got the sit on kayak and the boogie boards out but it had already started to get windy so we had to ensure the kayak had a rope on it!  but they had fun playing around in the water and building sand castles, caverns and tunnels in the sand. Didnt get any photos as I didnt have enough hands!

Our first outdoor dinner - Gil cooking

Dorothy cooked dinner so the Godfreys did the dishes. everyone wanted to do the washing!

Our first Mangawhai geocache - hidden in a fencepost.

The second Mangawhai geocache - well done Callum!

Monopoly - 1 game each to callum and Annabelle

 Over the next couple of days we had several walks, found two geo caches, went to the big play area and went back to the ocean beach for a big walk ( by then the wind was very strong - ugh I hate sand in the eyes), made muffins, and the girls had huge fun playing with all the new toys in the playroom. Jonathan spent a fair bit of time practising on his guitar - sounding good. My brother Gil and his wife Dot were fantastic with the kids - I guess they have had a fair bit of practice with their own grandies...
The wind ( and then rain ) wasnt cold but it definitely limited some of our options - next time...  We are so lucky we are able to go up and enjoy all that Mangawhai has to offer.

Ocean beach Mangawhai heads- big walk and lots of wave jumping

Annabelle up a very big sandhill.

And yes, I did get to do lots of reading!

Then home again to rain - so outdoor activities were postponed but we had a very energetic morning in the local swimming pool, then a visit to Grandad a visit to the local library and then home to Lego and Callum at last got to give me instruction in Minecraft! I can see why it fascinates him and others - and there does appear to be quite a bit of interesting learning goes on.

Annabelle was very proud of her lego train

Annabelle reading to Grandad.

 And then we were up early and got them all to the airport on time. Oh my goodness the house was quiet and in slight ( well not so slight) disarray when i got back. 

Thank goodness the sun came out today and i have washed lots and lots of towels, sheets etc - and I am almost ready for the arrival of Samantha ( my other grand daughter) and her other Nana tomorrow!