Summer holidays

Ruby had the great pleasure of her Grandpa-Gillian's company (from Scotland) for 3 weeks of the summer holidays. It's supposed to be Grandpa AND Gillian, but they arrived as a couple and became one in Ruby's vocab. "Who gave that to you?" "Grandpagillian" was the usual answer! We went to some fabulous places in the Upper North Island and Ruby basked in all the attention.

Our first trip together was to the zoo where she and Grandpa looked at the Cheetahs

and Daddy sat with her to watch the elephant display, and she got some close-up time with the giraffe, who was happy to take the celery from her outstretched hand. Quite happy to wander off with Grandpa as they explored together. And we all got reminded that Ruby suits Mummy's glasses far better than Mummy does - it's a certain attitude that goes with it I think!

It wasn't long after Grandpa-Gillian arrived that Ruby discovered Grandpa can be convinced to play 'cars' and that he made a good take-off pad for helicopters.

Of course there were intense discussions about which cars needed petrol next and which needed to go through the carwash. Important stuff!Grandpa discovered that Ruby loves shells, so every trip to the beach resulted in him bringing back more for her collection. She dutifully washed them (great way to keep cool in the summer heat, sitting out on the deck with a bucket of water and some 'dirty' shells), and now they get

driven around in her equally extensive collection of trucks.

Little Miss Cheeky is never far away...

Ruby and Grandpa also discovered a shared delight in Monarch Butterflys.We spent a great deal of time in or around water - in this pool was the first time she announced "my do-it myself!" and struggled to get out of our arms to swim 'herself'. A little over-confident, she did of course, sink, but gave it two good goes before she decided we might be right and a boogy board was the best option!

These are the Kai Iwi lakes just north of Dargaville. So shallow - so blue - so calm!!

As always, ever the adrenalin junky, being bounced down the stairs on a bushwalk was the best fun!