Yamba Holiday's

Day Two

Today started bright and early. Our bedroom had windows on three sides and the light streamed in early in the morning (great for the view, tough on trying to get any sleep). Mark got up around 5 and found Hayden up so they went for a walk. The rest of us were slow to start and sluggish for most of the day. The boys were happy to be outside for most of the day and made a giant sandcastle out of all the sand on their beach. Even scooping sand from under the pontoon ramp when they ran out.

Mark, Seth and I went on an exploring bike ride and found a great mangrove waterway for crab pots. It is so much fun to ride and just the best way to explore a new place, but gee it so painful on the behind!

Seth on his bike!

Me, happy to be on a bike. The ground is so flat here and it is so pretty, it was perfect for bikes.

In the afternoon we went for a drive and found the Yamba beach- complete with baths, rock pools and even a little cave on the cliff. There was only a little sandy beach; most of the coastline seemed quite rocky.

Josh and Mark near the Yamba sea baths

(or whatever there name is, they have sea water in them anyway).

A photo of Ben, its hard to catch this guy for a shot!

Driving further along we came across several deserted and damaged houses across from the beach. Driving a little further we saw a sign of the name of an aboriginal community with more damaged houses but this time looking lived in. I was really shocked to see people living in houses so derelict; especially since down the road where all these big beach house mansions. I had heard about this before but it was really confronting seeing it firsthand.

Mark and I, happy and relaxed at the beach!

 

Josh on the rocks, always climbing something!

It is really good to see the boys unwind today. There was no complaining about when it was computer time and how they had nothing to do (while they waited for it to be computer time). They kept themselves occupied with chasing and building and exploring. After dinner tonight I suggested a favourite activity of my childhood days: kids vs. dad wrestle on the floor. Mark was a little hesitant, but the oldest three were all for it. They had a lot of fun and amazingly no one got hurt! See the details here. Hayden was really tired from his early morning and activity all day and asked if he could go to bed at about 6:15, just to have a 'little rest'. He was asleep shortly after.

Hayden loves collecting things from the beach. Not sure what he has got here!

Not missing the computers, ipods, phones at all and so glad we made the hard decision to leave them behind. Its so nice to see the kids just play and be active and has given them a chance to do other things; like say even draw a picture!