Christmas with The Lawrences & The God Parents

Before we knew it was December and time for my folks to arrive in Wellington, so after spending some time with their friends Mike & Blue in Tauranga they hired a car and drove down to Wellington for an emotional reunion in the carpark of the hire car company, we couldn't find them and bumped into to mum trying to find the toilet while dad was calling us giving us directions to where they were parked, a classic Lawrence moment :)



We didn't let them sit down long before we dragged them off to see the sights of wellington, here I am posing with a Maori statue at Mount Victoria...

Oh yes and more importantly here are the folks....(that's Wellington in the background)

Next stop on the tourist trail Dan's paving....

Then is was time to take them to our local pub 'Montieths' for dinner :)

While Dan was working on yet another paving master piece I took Roger & Debbie to the Botanical Gardens, the rain just helped them feel more a home!

Bit of master photography by Kate...

Wow I impressed myself with this one! While Mum & I were taking these Dad was taking a nap in the coffee shop there's only so many flowers a man can look at!!

Dan took a break from paving to come to Martinborough with us to sample some more wines - it would be rude not to!

In between entertaining my folks I went to work, not to meet an important deadline, no, something way more important, the fortnightly morning tea which myself, Jacqi, Trina and Claire were hosting. People take turns to host the morning tea and this one was particularly special as it was Christmas.....the food lasted about 15 minutes before every plate was empty! It's a shame I was leaving the following week as I think I could have ridden that wave of 'morning tea' success for many weeks but Alas it was almost time to leave....

So it was time to have more goodbye drinks, back to Montieths to spend some qaulity time with Hannah (aka Miss Marple) and Dave. Great night although Hannah nearly started a fight with some big jordy dude, you can't take her anywhere ;) She also posed a very serious questions does every kiwi own a Crowed House album?

Before we knew it, it really was Christmas. Now as some of you may know the Bruntons certainly LOVE Christmas!! Here's Krissie with her Little Miss Chatterbox Mug :)

Someones got a new t-shirt...

Here we are with our Secret Santa gifts....

After all that excitement Krissie & Andy jetted off to Auckland where we would join them on Boxing Day.



A good friend and colleague Jennifer invited my parents over for afternoon tea and a walk along the beach (this is where we stayed for the weekend while they were away) it as a beautiful day so thought I'd put a pic in.....


















Here's I am with Jennifer, I was very sad to say goodbye to her....


















Off to Montieths for a Christmas Eve meal, it as quite loud in the bar here's Roger teaching Dan how to use the 'hand hearing aid'....it's really does work....

Then it was off to bed and hope Santa knew where to delver our gifts. Here were are on the deck Christmas morning having breakfast....

Then it was time for a Christmas morning swim.....

It was a perfect Wellington day with no wind!

Can you see the south island in the background....

This is Scorching Bay, time for another swim, the water was freezing! (well I thought it was!) Mum said it was lovely!

Then we had to get super Dan back to cook us Christmas Dinner...

It was the best Turkey Roast we've ever had - top marks, Dan will be cooking every year! Time to skype the family, here's my bother,Tara, Erin , Dylan - guess who likes to be centre of attention?

We were up early on Boxing day to catch a flight to Auckland....check out Mount Taranaki from the plane...

We arrived at Glen & Dee's (Krissie's God Parents) and instantly felt at home and who wouldn't it's just the most gorgeous place...

Time for some sight seeing...

This is Piha Beach which is well known out here as a big surf beach and also it's on the tv show 'Piha Rescue'.....

This was taken just before a massive wave chased us back to shore soaking Mum & Krissie, Dee & I managed to out run it!

Here's Dan catching a wave...

Auckland city.....

Back to Glen & Dee's deck, here's Krissie & Dan modeling their very own Brunton coat of arms caps...they're going to be very big next session I hear.

How many men does it take to light a bbq?

Ah nice family pic...

Here's Glen modelling his christmas pressent - 'the chardonay effecct' t-shirt...

Time for some games....

The plank.... (Andy won!)

If you want to see the After Eight game check out the video on my facebook page....next blog will be New Years Eve....