A family day trip!

The kids on "Danny the train" in Dannevirke Fantasy Cave!

Today all of us Hawke's Bay branch of the Trowbridge bunch took a road trip to Palmerston North to hang out with Marty's baby sister and her family as she celebrated her 30th.  We decided to make the most of the fact that this special occasion was so close to Christmas, by doing a quick stopover in Dannevirke at the Fantasy Cave, which the kids just love.
It was crowded with people visiting Santa at this special children's spot, but the kids didn't notice (us adults sure did!).  They were far too busy checking out the tiny thumbelina on her flower, the shark that came looming out of the underwater cave, and the teddy bears picnic scene complete with tiny sausages on the tiny barbeque.  My neice Brianna exclaimed "This is the BEST place in ALL of Dannevirke!", summing up all the kids thoughts in a sentence.

I got told off for taking photos - a volunteer actually waggled her finger at me as she grumbled "the sign is RIGHT THERE".... and then as I put the camera away she even said "Now you HAVE turned it off now haven't you?" I assured her that I had not seen the sign as I was busy looking at the scene with the kids on the other side, and that she did not need to tell me twice!".  Hmpf.  I then turned to my sis-in-law and whispered "well, there goes her free advertising on my blog....it might be quite a different blog now!!"

Grandad and his neices check out the "pussycat, pussycat, where have you been" scene

Family photo with Santa went BIG this year!
Granma, Grandad, Aunty Shona, Uncle Paul and cousins Jakob, Brianna and Aedyn joined in!

After the caves, we headed down to the deer park for a picnic lunch.  The girls were very excited to be here, as they have watched (over and over) video footage of them playing here about four years ago with their cousins, and so they "remembered" it!  The huge amount of ducks and chickens were ridiculous here though, stealing our lunch from our plates and our hands!  Luke freaked out a bit, trying to climb into the middle of our laps as they got closer and closer.  Check out our monkeys playing together :) 

 And then it was down to Palmerston North for the big birthday party.  Cheryl is an AMAZING baker, and she had totally gone cupcake crazy for this one...baking over 450 mini cupcakes!! There were vanilla, lemon, red velvet, chocolate and caramel (they were the best i reckon) all presented beautifully beside other scrummy treats.  Needless to say, none of us left hungry!  The kids all disappeared outside to sand and water play, keeping them busy and happy all afternoon and allowing us adults to chill out together.  And I got plenty of cuddles with my baby nephew...ahhh.  Nope, not clucky....but VERY happy to hold the baby whenever needed of course!

Happy Birthday Aunty Cheryl! In her place of honour - surrounded by her adoring neices and nephews (and with her son on her lap!)

I managed to round up the family for this photo too, much to the mens disgust.  But hey, I am part of this family so you should be used to the photos and blogs by now people!  And to be fair, the last family photo we had is missing the youngest three members of the family, so it was time for an update!
Left back: Marty's dad, brother in law, nephew, brother in law, stepdad, mum, nephew, nana (holding nephew) and Marty.
Left front: Marty's dad's partner, sister, neice, sister, and ....us lot, his very own lot!