‘Beaut bike ride home. Wellington is the best city. Ever.’

This was Dan’s tweet on Twitter on his bike ride home last night. He said he just had to stop and take a photograph as it was so awesome. Wellington is great at throwing us days like this to keep us going through the winter. Days that make you stop in your tracks and feel overwhelming gratitude for everything.

When the rain set in today we were certainly thankful for making the most of the sunshine yesterday.

Charlotte went off happily to school on her scooter, with Dan riding along side, and seems well again. But unfortunately Sophie seems to have picked up a cold from her week back at Kindi last week and sounded terribly chesty last night. The doctor confirmed it as just a cold, but we’ve kept her home from Kindi so as not to share the germs around – as she’s at the sneezing, spluttering, going through a box of tissues stage. She told us not to bother with the doctor saying, ‘It’ll just be a virus. I’m okay, please just give it a day or two before taking me to the doctor.’ I guess we should have listened to her and saved ourselves a $29 doctor’s bill, but we’d rather verge on the side of caution with reported outbreaks of swine flu in the media today.

With Sophie at home and the sun beaming yesterday I thought some Vitamin D medicine and fresh air would be just the tonic. I persuaded Sophie to go on a walk, with the option of a ride in the buggy if she got too tired (thankfully she walked most of the way, as I didn’t fancy pushing 20 kg of combined buggy and child weight, whilst carrying Alice in the front pack). I packed up the buggy with plenty of yummy supplies and water and we headed out the door.

We spent three wonderful hours walking around the headland, stopping to throw pebbles in the sea, admiring freshly planted seedlings and landscaping along the walkway.

At Princess Bay Sophie climbed a few rocks and collected some large pebbles to paint at home.

Alice watched on with avid curiosity and I know it’s not long before she’ll be wanting to get down on the sand and explore it with hands, toes and mouth (mmm, that always makes for interesting nappy changes!). Thankfully, she was content with cuddles and observing from my arms yesterday.

We took our time heading back via Houghton Bay, where the waves pounded into the shore. Sophie did so well to keep going, as her little legs were giving out on her a little, but I said, ‘We’ve had the most perfect time, let’s try not to spoil the ending with grumbles.’ Well, she managed to find a little bit of energy and pounded on, reaching the playground at the bottom of our road.

It didn’t surprise me that she found a renewed bounce in her step and had a good half hour play before her cold got the better of her – leaving me to push her up the hill in the buggy (and I thought I was going to get off lightly).

When I picked Charlotte up from school a little later on I really thought she deserved a trip out in the sunshine too, so Frances took her for a wonderful time at the Chocolate Fish in Shelly Bay, before picking up some essentials from the supermarket on the way home. Sophie, Alice and I sorted out dinner and took it easy – I even managed to doze off on the couch for 20 minutes with Alice, whilst Sophie painted pebbles (thankfully she doesn’t leave too much of a paint trail these days… that’ll be Alice’s domain in the not too distant future!).

A good dose of sun all round – and just as well as it hasn’t stopped raining all day today.

Today has been a day of a visit to the doctor, followed by morning tea for Sophie, Alice and me, a quick visit to the supermarket and the DVD rental store, before snugging up at home. I braved the job of cleaning up the pantry (hated it, but feel so good now it’s done!). Girls watched ‘Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang‘, with me shedding happy tears at the end.

I am so grateful to be snugged up in the warmth of our home and thankful for the sunshine between the rain. Wellington really is the best city when the sun shines – which thankfully it does do a fair bit 🙂