The Baynhams

Today was a calm day. We vegged in the house for the morning and went to meet Byron for lunch. We grabbed some Subway rolls and a coffee and sat outside the cafe near his work where he joined us for a quick 30mins. It is always great getting to see him with the kids as it breaks their day and his too. After lunch we pottered around buying a few bits and pieces for our holiday (11 DAYS AND COUNTING!) On our way out of the house this morning we collected the post from the end of the driveway and threw it on the passenger seat of the car. One letter stood out... it was a big red one! It had Granny's writing on it and was lumpy. The kids were nagging to open it because they knew as always it was chocolate buttons from Ireland!

On the way home the sun was low in the sky and everywhere was bathed in a golden light. As we passed through Warners Bay the lake was shimmering orange and I pulled in to the side of the road. I threw the kids out, grabbed the red envelope and raced them to the waters edge.

They opened the envelope like a bunch of seagulls fighting over the last chip! Out fell the three packets of chocolate buttons as expected but also three little white envelopes. Each envelope had a message written on it for each kid. When they opened the envelopes out fell green notes, New Zealand dollars! $40 each. The kids were speechless, then screaming with excitement.

They waved their dollars around and talked excitedly about what they would spend them on. Ice cream? souvenirs? It was a really nice thought of Mum to send them this spending money and it helped to build up the excitement levels even higher than before!

Just before we got back in the car Sian asked could I take a photo of her "holding the sun"

Her teacher had shown them a picture of someone doing it and she wanted to try.

We had fun and each kid managed to have a half decent attempt at it!