New Zealand - Mission Bay

The sun came out today for our trip to the beach. And I have a confession to make. After all my lectures to my kids about our proximity to the equator down here and how they have to make sure to wear enough sunscreen or they will burn to a crisp, what happens? I burn. I burn to a crisp. So there it is, all out in the open. Mock me if you must, I deserve it.

We went to a place called Mission Bay, which was a nice little beach community about a ten minute bus ride from downtown. The bay had a small strip of beach and the water was shallow for what seemed like miles out. I never even got to the deep part - it reminded me of the gulf coast down in Galveston.

The sand was covered in seashells, and we all spent some time picking up our favorites to take home with us. Even Clark couldn't resist.

The highlight of the day was when Brennan asked Sadie and Ira to bury him in the sand. What would possess him to request such a thing? Doesn't he know his siblings at all? Why would he trust them with something like that? Luckily I was there to make sure they didn't torture him (too much) while he was helpless. They did poke him in the face and dump sand on his head, but he seemed to like it so I didn't intervene.

On the way home we stopped for some ice cream (according to my friend Ramona the ice cream here is better, and she is definitely right!) then went to this underground international food court back in the city for dinner. Tonight it was Mediterranean. When I took this picture, my kids asked if I was going to turn into one of those people who posts pictures of all of their food. Yes. Yes I am.