Nate's Journey: Early 2016 Beach holiday at Omaha

Towards the end of January, we took the opportunity to shoot off to Omaha for a lovely ten days at a rented bach. It was awesome and a real treat! Such a great holiday place with all the houses (even those that are not beachfront) literally only a short path walk away from what is a stunning 3km stretch of beach. Needless to say, Nate (and we) adored it. My folks also joined us, which was great for us all to get some quality R&R time, although unfortunately we didn't get to see the girls this time around.

Below are just some of the happy shots that we took. Sadly only one taken at a different beach slightly north, as we were always too busy playing in the Omaha surf with Nate which was a bit of a two person job as he tore along the sand and made dives at the waves. He has absolutely no concept of safety in the surf as yet, and because of his very limited verbal skills explaining it is pretty difficult - but he was very keen to play and stamp and splash in the water! We also got no shots of him enjoying his very first Mr Whippy ice cream (he is a true kiwi kid now!), or the resulting mess as he insisted on self feeding :-)

We did have one challenging moment while we were away as Nate's anxiety was pretty full-on on the first day when we went to a local vineyard (Brick Bay) for a spot of lunch and to celebrate my folks last wedding anniversary (49th!). As a result we weren't able to go on the Brick Bay sculpture walk that was thoroughly recommended, but at least he calmed down when we found that they had a swing...and hot chips :-). The anxiety was probably not surprising though given that he was in a different house, a different bed, and out and about in a place that he wasn't at all familiar with, but at times like that it's very apparent that Nate isn't your 'typical' toddler. And frankly, it's not so easy those days. Going out as a family to what seems like pretty innoculously events or places, can be quite a mission - for everyone.

However after the first day, he settled pretty quickly and we had some great afternoons at the beach, lots of fun exploring the many playgrounds in both Omaha and Warkworth, and many walks out and about on his trike. Plus lots of good food and wine, and all in a very relaxing setting. We could so get used to a relaxed beach life....who knows, maybe one day! :-). After all, we won a one in a hundred million genetics lottery with Nate, maybe our numbers will come up in Lotto one day?!