(Note: while I am typing this Juliet is awake. There are toys scattered all over the carpet for her to play with, but she is only interested in one thing...THE KEYBOARD, because that's what mummy is playing with. If there's any typo's in this post then it's because of her!)
Tony made arrangements for us to have a little holiday in the Coromandel over his birthday. We discovered the most beautiful place through a grab one coupon that was offering a 50 percent discount. It was called the Dragonfly Cottage located in Whitianga. The cottage and its surroundings were sooo beautiful. We truly found a bit of country paradise, yet again! There were farm animals (chickens, pigs and roosters) for the kids and a game room and trampoline. We particularly liked this place because it was just a one cottage property fully contained with bath tub, kitchen, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, 2 bedrooms and a comfortable lounge with a TV (and lots of DVD's, books & games for the kids to choose from). The owners live on the land, but far enough away to feel like you have the whole place to yourself.
Tony was disappointed it rained all weekend, but I didn't mind at all. I was pleased to stay indoors and enjoy the cottage (and Juliet was even more pleased that it allowed her to have a proper nap during the day in a bed instead of her car seat). Despite the weather we had some time at the beach anyway. We also found a great ice-cream shop and we had dinner at the local pub down the road. It was full of farmers wearing gumboots and your typical kiwi shorts, but they served great food and the people were very friendly. I had to laugh at the sign behind the bar that said: "Please check in your saws and guns behind the counter."
The cottage had a rooster that started crowing every morning around 4am. It also had a cat that Juliet and Ashton loved, but we couldn't get rid of. It refused to get off the kids beds at night and then it tried to unsuccessfully jump through our bedroom window at 3am - scared us to death. I took a few photos of the cottage:
Before we arrived at the cottage Ashton was tired of being in the car and wanted to run:
The cottage backyard:
Tony brings our stuff in:
The front entrance to the cottage. The first little house is the game room, the second house at the back is where the owners live:
The Lounge:
The main bedroom:
The hallway:
2nd bedroom (it had a 3rd bed and the lounge also had a pull out couch for 2):
I loved this bathtub!
Kitchen/dining area:
The cat that wouldn't go away, yet made Juliet squeal with delight:
The most memorable part of Tony's birthday was watching cows being milked. We were coming back from the beach and noticed it was milking time so we stopped and asked a farmer if it was okay for us to watch. We didn't expect him to take us for a walk through 200 cows and then right down into the trough to have a go at milking. It was just a little bitty scary being surrounded by so many big cows and a bit gross looking up at 40 cow bums! Ashton was clinging to me pretty tight and he was not impressed at having to walk through piles and piles of cow dung! Tony was the only one who had a go at milking, but the cow wasn't very co-operative, and sure enough one decided to do its business right in front of us. Tony tried to jump back, but he still got splattered pretty good! We all did. I was very grateful for that washing machine once we got back to the cottage, but I discovered cow poop stains your clothes. I wasn't able to get a photo, but this is what is was like, only much, much, much, much dirtier. I think this photo is taken in a cow factory, but we were in an open country farm. Seeing how hard the farmers work made me realize how much we take for granted. Milk simply appears on the supermarket shelves day after day and we think nothing of it. These farmers work very hard, 7 days a week. They begin their day at 4am and milk the cows twice a day. The men spend the entire day dirty, smelly and working around cow dung, but they seem to love what they do. (They are not the type of men who would be happy sitting in an office in front of a computer all day). The farmers have to make sure each cow is fed properly, that each cow is healthy and gets some exercise, and they also have to constantly clean equipment and the stalls. What would we do without these men?!
Onto my birthday...
I expected my 39th birthday would be a pretty plain and ordinary day, but it turned out to be a great day.
I decided to visit the Hosking and Bezzina family from church at Shakespeare Bay where they were camping. So I organized a picnic lunch and piled 6 kids in the car. I also had one of Bishops boys with us (Hayden and Nathan are best buddies) and Peter's grandson who's also named Hayden. Our car was so packed with kids, stuff, skim boards and boogie boards that the big boys actually had to sit in the backseat with their knees up to their chins (again, I wish I'd had my camera). I got really lost on the way to the beach. For some reason I kept taking a wrong turn and Nathan was getting really grumpy, mumbling from the backseat, "This sucks!" It was so unlike him as he's normally a great, well-behaved kid, but I knew he was really tired after having stayed 2 nights at our house. I just told him to go to sleep and then we'd be there! Fortunately my Hayden and Peter's Hayden were doing all they could to help me. Anyway, after a bit of frustration we finally arrived and the boys had a good feed and a great time in the water. It was really, really shallow for miles and miles so I didn't have to stress about anyone drowning! It was fun just watching the boys, chatting with friends and enjoying the beach.
Then Tony came home from work early (MIRACLES DO HAPPEN) and not only did he come home from work early, but he came home with a beautiful bunch of flowers (TWO MIRACLES IN ONE DAY!). I appreciated them so much and spent the whole week admiring their beauty and how pretty my kitchen looked. Tony's other gift to me was to give me a break by taking all 3 boys camping for the weekend. My good friend Fleur popped over to visit with another bunch of lovely flowers (so then I got to admire my dining room too) and my mum popped over with a new paua shell necklace for me (since I had been refusing to give her one back!). Then we arranged for a YW to come over and we went out to dinner at the old PO in Ponsonby. I tried mussels, but didn't like them at all. I had a delicious clam chowder soup though and some kind of spinach & mushroom pancake thing that was really yummy. We enjoyed an evening walk afterwards and got a gelato.
The following weekend my friend Julia picked me and Juliet up in her Mercedes and took us to Matakana for the day. We shopped at the markets all day and then Julia took me out to dinner. I bought these beautiful tiles for above my kitchen stove which are of NZ native birds: the kiwi, the tui, the pukeko and the fantail. We spent the evening at the beach enjoying the ocean and sunset and left our hubby's to get our other kids feed and into bed. What a nice girls day out it was!!
1 comment:
I love Juliet's dress in the previous post! She is such a beautiful little girl! Hayden is such a good older brother and protector! The trip you took looks so restful and peaceful. I like the bathtub too! ♥
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