New Zealand - Paihia

Woke up to a beautiful morning in the town of KeriKeri. Walked down to the main street and found a bakery where we tried some of the favorite Kiwi foods such as creme buns and steak and cheese pies.

It's always fun walking down the main streets of smaller towns and looking in all the locally owned shops. This one shop in particular had a couple of lovely ladies inside. I was drawn to a dress and some jewelry in the window. We got chatting for awhile and she told us about her 4 girls (its always so nice meeting someone else who has 4 or more kids)

While Aaron and I looked around this tiny shop the lovely ladies took our kids around their shop looking at all the fun Christmas trees and ornaments. 

On our drive back into Paihia (Bay of Islands) for the day we came across a local Market and had to have a look around.  

Back in Paihia we had tentatively planned to take a taxi boat ride to one of the islands for the day but it didn't work out. Instead we had a very relaxing day around the seaside town.

A colorful piano right near the pier became a entertainment for people passing by as nearly all of us had a turn. A lovely older lady was very impressed with Joshua's playing and encouraged him to continue practicing.  

Mama and Pops took Josh, Rach and Joseph to lunch while Aaron and I took Rebecca on a walk and looked for the local LDS chapel. It was literally a block away from where we were.

A small branch meets in the building pictured below that is just down the street from the bay.

Kayaking was our next task and oh was it a task.  I was put with Aaron and given no ore as my job was to hold Becca. Pops was put with Joseph and Rachael and Mama put with Josh. 

There was a lot of arguing, crying and laughing. I thought it was awesome and couldn't stop laughing at our chaos. The kids were not as impressed when we returned back and they were cold and wet.

Another day of new adventures and everyone was exhausted by the time we returned to our beds.