Land of the long white cloud

We had an amazing spring break in New Zealand. It was probably our very best vacation yet. We rented a beach house (bach) for 10 days and were able to borrow a car from Emily's childhood friend who lives in Auckland. The kids did amazingly well on the long flight, which Brad was able to book using only 30,000 frequent flier miles per ticket. Amazing!



We spent our days soaking up the expansive blue skies, large grassy backyard, HUGE house, and the breathtaking view of the ocean from our living room. The beach was a short walk from our backyard and it was EMPTY. Only a 10 minute stroll down the beach and we were at a great cafe and restaurant, along with an ice cream parlor. What more could you ask for? We really did feel like we had a restorative vacation. We went on long walks, everyone slept great, stopped for coffee and ice cream everyday and enjoyed being outside in perfect weather. Our kids played outside every minute they were awake. It was so nice not to be crammed into 700square feet and the kids didn't miss their toys for a minute







Every other day we did an adventure so it was the perfect combination of rest and having fun. Emily's childhood friend and boyfriend drove out to spend a few nights with us and had fun reconnecting and reminiscing about our childhoods in Cairo. We took the kids to a petting zoo which thrilled them to no end (especially since the dogs and pigs followed us around!). We went on a hike to Cathedral Cove (a shot from Prince Caspian was filmed there) and played on the beach. We even made it all the way to Hobbiton to see where scenes from Shire were filmed. Joy spent the whole time looking for the Hobbits and decided that they all went to the store. Ready for picture overload?!

Cathedral Cove Hike

 Train Ride: Family Picture at the top (not many pictures taken during the ride as we were all still recovering from Simon's car sickness episode and having just cleaned vomit off a 19 month old.)

 Hobbiton 

 Easter Egg hunt in our backyard

 Lots of relaxing, reading and playing outside (and our kids being naked a lot)

 Whiti Animal Farm (deer, pigs, sheep,goats donkeys,llama, alpaca,  all nature of birds/poultry, dogs, opossum, wild cats.....)

Luke's Kitchen: the amazing restaurant and cafe a 10 minute walk from our house. I think we tried most things on the menu over 10 days! The walk home always included Joy "splashing" in the waves and getting completely drenched. Simon either was carried or walked with shoes and socks and preferably kept sand and water free. Our kids are complete opposites.

 Hike with my friend Yasmin around the beach