We cleaned the apartment like our life depended on it, and for what purpose other than the fact that our child has a dust mite allergy and we really do need to clean more often than we do. I want to get a cleaner in, Jef doesn't - there's the rub. So now I have a semi spotless home (it can NEVER be spotless with a child in tow, especially one who is obsessed about asking for raisins, putting raisins in mouth, chewing raisins, spitting raisins out on the floor, stamping on chewed up raisins, whinging because raisins are stuck to feet).
Come the afternoon I told Jef I needed to go somewhere wild, like a west coast beach or something of the like. As it was late and the sun was already well into its decent in the sky we went to Takapuna to a little beach at the end of St Leonards Road. After walking down the fairly step stairs we were at a fabulous beach as the tide was coming in - not too wild (it's east coast after all) but wild enough.
The peninsula like rock was perfect for us to enjoy the still warm surface for sitting on, as well as venturing out there to feel as though we are amidst the water and cliffs without actually getting wet.
Rangitoto island seemed a stone throw away.
Kien kept collecting raisin-like seaweed from puddles and throwing them into the sea, over and over again.
He was so serious about it too!
But less than serious when Jef tied a giant discarded rope around our tiny boy.
He posed for this photo too. I said "Hey, Kien - look over here" and he froze and smiled for almost 5 seconds before running off.
At the end of the day we dipped our feet in the cool high tide before making our climb back up to our vehicle.
Our car was parked at the end of the street surrounded by spectacular houses with breathtaking sections and no doubt amazing views from the cliff. Kien wanted to see diggers. There were no diggers here.
I'm looking forward to going to Brisbane on Thursday for an extended weekend to visit a friend. It will just be Kien and I so I'm a little apprehensive about him missing his favourite person in the whole wide world, so thank goodness for Skype and FaceTime. This will be his first stamp in his brand new passport. I want it to fill up with lots of stamps!