Blue skies on Boxing Day

We had a super, lazy day today. The weather was fantastic - sunny with blue skies, and a very slight cooling breeze.

Boxing day sales are very popular in New Zealand, but we chose to stay as far away from the shops as possible. Dan had to work (at Muffin Break - he says it was soooo busy!) Joe chose to sleep, eat, sleep, eat all day.

The twins went their separate sociable ways. It's so easy for teenagers to get around here - they just hop on a bus for about $1.65 and can get to various malls and shopping centers that way. It only gets dark at 9pm at the moment, so they're allowed to roam around until 8pm, as long as they clock in with me around 6pm and let me know where they are. Thank goodness for mobile phones!

Seeing as we had the day to ourselves, Paul and I took our fancy little portable, foldable beach chairs ($9 at Bunnings Warehouse) and had a picnic down at Cockle Bay, which is a 5 minutes stroll from our house. We had a book each, a couple of sandwiches and a drink. We found a quiet, shady spot, and settled in for a few hours of sun, surf and snooze.

The pebbly beaches are clean, peaceful and shady, with huge pohutukawa trees and grassy verges. Quite a few Islanders joined us, but they are so softspoken and jolly, and no alcohol is allowed on the beaches, so the peace was not marred at all.

Later we returned home for a nap - hardly necessary, but the sun had made us lazy. Dan stopped work at 7:15pm, so we picked him up and went home for a late supper of Christmas leftovers.

In the evening Paul and the boys watched a Jacky Chan movie, while Rae made a few urgent phone calls, and I updated my blog, and had a quick Skype chat to check in on my folks. It's just so great that we can chat on an almost daily basis for no charge!

A lovely, lazy, laid-back day in Paradise is over, leaving us feeling contented, relaxed and happy.