Back to Reality

Well our big family holiday to New Zealand has unfortunately come to an end and we are back to reality at home. I've done 6 loads of washing since we got back yesterday! We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed catching up with my grandparents and Aunts, Uncles and cousin.

We went with my parents, two brothers, sister-in-law and nephew...we all stayed in one big house together. My dad kept calling it the Griswald Family Vacation!!! It was lots of fun having everyone around, the kids loved that there were so many people to play with them!

I thought I'd share a few photos from our trip...(some of my relatives will be checking them out!). There are a fair few, so sorry if they are a little boring! (some of the photos are quite average as my Digital SLR died on the first day so we had to use my little instant camera that I keep in my handbag and the quality is definitely not the best!

We drove from Auckland to Mangonui near the Bay of Islands on the North Island. It was a beautiful location and the house we stayed in was perfect. It was located on Mill Bay and at the end of the backyard was the bay which was perfect for fishing (and relaxing!).

The view of the house from a boat in the water.

We did lots of fishing and the kids thought catching fish was wonderful!

John was the record holder for the biggest catch of the week...he is very proud of himself and taking every chance he can to rub it in to my brothers!

We got to spend time with my grandparents who I haven't seen for about 5 years. It was so nice to see them again and they loved seeing their great grandchildren.

The kids were constantly doing something and were exhausted at the end of each day.

We all loved spending time with my nephew who is the best baby and absolutely adorable!

We did a few "touristy" things.

Love it that I get on so well with my sister-in-law...I also love that my kids absolutely adore her.

We spent time at the beach swimming and digging for Pippi's (not sure if thats how you spell it!).

What holiday is complete without a family photo (I thought of this on the last night when the kids were in their PJs and looking rather dishelved as were John and I!!).

All in all an amazing holiday. I hope we get to do it again in the next year or two. Now we are back to reality with only a week left of school holidays. These holidays have gone so fast and I can't believe school goes back next week.

I will be back in a few days with some layouts and cards to share with you. I'm also working on classes I will be running in the coming months, so more to come on that as well.

Enjoy the last week of the school holidays. Thanks for stopping by!