Photos, and lots of them

Wow, gorgeous blue skies today and no rain forecast at all. Dad wanted to have a swim in the South Pacific Ocean (more for the novelty than actual desire to plunge into its cold depths).  We gathered ourselves after breakfast for a Caroline Bay outing:

Aaron buried himself in soft sand and then cased himself in mud - super fun if you're an Aaron.

Then we meandered to the far side of the bay and squished our feet in more soft boggy sand...

Back to the car by way of the boardwalk...

Home for lunch; Nick mowed the lawn and we had a music practice and the boys put on a brief puppet show.  Headed out early afternoon again for a picnic at the Botanical Gardens but instead of going directly to our destination we drove around the southern parts of Timaru - stopped at the Crows Nest which surprisingly my parents found interesting; Mom bought four books for $1 for the boys.

Then to the gardens where we first had a peek in at the fern greenhouse conservatory thingie, which Nick and I had never actually been into before - pretty amazing to go from the cool ferny side to the hot flower part. 

Then back out into the open; wandered through a rose garden with immaculately clipped hedges, past the dahlia gardens (below is a pom-pom variety, so my Dad tells me) - isn't it gorgeous.

Stopped to take a few pics of my parents before picnicking lakeside and feeding the ducks.

We didn't want to go (all the way) home before going out again for Chinese for tea, so killed a bit of time driving around Patiti Point and the Timaru Cemetery and walking around the Warehouse (where no one got bargains).  Collected the Chinese and headed home after a very active day!!