More Mangawhai

We've been here for a few days now but time seems to have gone really quickly. We've sanded down the barge board at the top of the house, given it an undercoat and filled it (or attempted to) and yesterday Billy sanded down the rest of the end wall. Nothing too disastrous seems to have happened, and we'll post a picture for your critical viewing once we're done.
On Thursday we went into Mangawhai to a yummy chocolate factory, and managed to eat most of the box we bought on the way home - the box is still pretty though! They also had an ice cream parlour and Chris treated us to a cone, which was lovely. Billy sampled the traditional 'Hokey Pokey' (like butterscotch as far as i could tell) which he declared very tasty indeed. In the afternoon we went to Taylor's swimming sports (gala!) which was really good fun - they had music, lots of shouting, pretty bunting and more crucially for Billy, hot dogs. In the evening our task was to get the kids to bed, which was achieved only slightly behind schedule with the help of various coaxing devices.

We got up early on Friday morning and went into Josh and Dani's school to be parent helpers in the Year 1 class. After some sticking and gluing we did some reading with the kids which was good fun. Back home we did some filling and house tidying until 5.30 when our lift to the 'Hay Ride' arrived. We were unsure as to what exactly the activity entailed but as everyone else was going we decided it couldn't be too unpleasant. We arrived on the farm to find 3 trucks filled with hay bales. The trucks took us down to an amazing beach hidden in the forest where Billy swam, I chatted and we all played silly games. We then got another truck ride back to the farm and some food.
Today Billy has gone to play cricket, and the rest of us might be going bodyboarding down the giant sand dune. Should be good!
Lots of love,
Rosie and Billy
xxx