Active Weekend – We CAN do it!

Last weekend was a whirl-wind of action and sunshine. Saturday was filled with the school fair and voting, but still left time for some fun at the local ‘Spray Pool‘.

Sunday morning was full on at the Recreation Centre’s family time, with Charli adamant she would roller blade. She has the most incredible persistence, strong will and belief in herself (as does Sophie!). There’s a wonderful children’s book called, ‘The Little Engine That Could‘ which stars a Little Blue Engine, whose rallying mantra is, “I think I can–I think I can”. It is one of the greatest tales of motivation and the power of positive thinking ever told. The girls both live up to this mantra and we work hard to maintain their power of positive thinking. Here’s Charli and I having a lot of fun roller blading… (whilst Sophie later joined a group of older girls having a scooter race!):

After nearly two hours of scooting and roller blading we headed up the coast to ‘Stables on the Park‘ so that Sophie could fulfill her love of horse riding.

I bumped into the lovely Hay of ‘Where Karma Meets Camera‘, which was a wonderful surprise – she recognised me first with a warm greeting of ‘Sarah!’ whilst I was still struggling to engage my brain! I finally clicked and it was magic to meet her – always strange ‘knowing’ someone through their writing and photographs alone and then finally meeting them in person – I actually felt a little star struck (as Hay is kinda famous to me in my little world!). – Yes – I’m a bit of a crackpot!

Sophie enjoyed riding a beautiful horse named Brock before riding on the tram to the beach. The Kapiti Coastline is so beautiful and the beach is ‘endless’. The haunting beauty of Kapiti Island is like a magnet to the eyes. The mind wonders off into a world before people when only the sound of native birds filled New Zealand (and the one and only mammal – the bat).

We spent a great afternoon on the beach and exploring the sand-dunes (which are stunning and rich in dune ecology).

It was no surprise that the girls fell asleep on the way home… which made for a rather late bedtime on Sunday night (10pm!) – but it was soooo worth it!