wild wild west

Sunday afternoon:
one family ambling across the black sand of Piha
enjoying the fresh air and big open spaces
after a couple of weeks of rain
and too many hours indoors,
kicking balls around and
watching one race down the river to the sea,
watching a small sand cliff tumble down,
feeling invigorated.

"Thanks so mush for bringing us Dadda.
Could we come back again tomorrow?"

Monday:

family battled across the Karekare sand dunes in the wild wind.
It swept up the sand and whirled it around in little "tornadoes" and
sent sheets of it blasting across the beach.
Often we had to turn our backs to the blast and
wait for the sand to settle before fighting back into the wind.

We found a sheltered spot for lunch.
It was just like a summer's day.
Beautiful.
The children tumbled in the grasses,
explored, climbed, adventured, contemplated.

The day hadn't started too well.....
whining, complaining, arguing, pushing.
I almost suggested we all hop back in the car
when we arrived at the beach.

But three hours of walking did *something*

It turned into a wonderful day.

K8 summed it up as we waited for another sand flurry to pass
"This has been the funnest time we've ever had at the beach"
qualified only by
"when we couldn't go in the water"