It is our last weekend on the island, and we are trying to make the most of it! The morning started off beautiful, so we did a beach morning. We have found a boogie board for Alexander, which he loves, though he won't play with it "properly". He loves to stand on it, which requires two of us to balance him and to hold the board under his feet. But, by the end of the outing, he was sitting on the board and letting the waves take him to shore, which is a bit closer to the accepted usage.
Next up in the afternoon was the Christmas parade on the island. It is really hard to hear Christmas carols ("Dashing through the snow...") right after baking on the beach, but this is the Christmas people are used to. The parade was the height of island life: bellydancers (including our friend Cat) and schoolkids, and people on motorcycles, and protest signs. The highlight was a group of men in gumboots (rubber boots) with wheelbarrows, doing a choreographed routine involving spinning the wheelbarrows and moving in complicated patterns. Very kiwi! But there was a Santa at the end, sweating in his heavy coat. Alexander thought about this a long time, and the next day declared that the Waiheke Santa is not the real Santa, since the real Santa is in Pittsburgh: I'm really happy that we scheduled our trips so he can see the "real Santa" at the Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh on December 23. I've put together a quick movie of some of the pictures we took of the parade.
Finally, we invited over a number of island people for our final goodbye drinks at our house. Lots of kids playing around, and Alexander in the middle of it all. We will definitely miss the sense of community we have found on this island.
The day ended with a beautiful rainbow (which never comes out in pictures, which is a shame: the rainbows in this country are glorious).
No comments:
Post a Comment