A perfect day.
Yesterday was the best day we have had in ages.
After months of wearing jeans and woolly jumpers it is finally spring and the weather forecast for yesterday was sun, sun, sun!
Byron decided we should have a beach day. He hadn't remembered Gareth was going to a birthday party at midday. Instead of abandoning the beach idea we decided to leave the alarm set for its normal midweek time (6.30am!) and go really, really early....a great idea in theory but when the alarm went off he was less than excited.
An hour later we were in the car driving to Caves beach. We sat on the dappled shade of a gum tree and ate warm ham and cheese croissants and listened to the sound of the waves crashing onto an almost deserted beach. A hot steaming cup of coffee from the flask in our hands, we wandered down onto the warm sand and sat on beach chairs while the kids ran around building sandcastles, ran up and down the sand dunes and paddled in the sea.
The waves were really strong and there were about 30 kids practising for lifesaving club. They were running into the water with surf boards under their arms, paddling way out beyond the breakers and then turning around and racing back in to shore. Byron and myself decided to go swimming. It was FREEZING but exhilarating.
When we finally packed up at 11 and headed for the ice-cream shop we felt we had been at the beach all day. We brushed off the sand, dragged a brush though salt stiffened hair and headed off for the party. We didn't know what to do for the 1 1/2 hours Gareth was going to be racing around getting high on sugar. Our friend John was standing around with Harry having dropped Tom to the same party. He was also at a loose end with his lovely wife Maree having a well deserved weekend away with her sisters. I'm not sure who suggested it but a short while later I was walking around a local pre-school fete with Sian, Rhiannon and Harry while Byron and John were sitting under the dappled shade of yet another gum tree sipping an ice cold beer and putting the world to rights! When I ran out of money at the fete I joined them and we got a few more chairs for the kids and bought them cold cans of fizzy orange and sat and chatted until it was time to collect Gareth and Tom.
Not having quite put the world to rights enough we then decided that poor lonely John should come back to our house for a barbie and a swim. The kids ran around the house playing while John, Byron and myself sat on the swing seat by the pool with a glass of fabulous New Zealand Pinot in our hands (Thank John!) The sun went down, the stars came out, we carried on laughing and telling stories of our pasts until finally the glasses were empty and we had to call it a night.
We went to bed tired, tipsy and smelling of the sea.
Life is good!
