Chillin at the bach

Yesterday the girls and I left Te Puke and made the trek up to our bach in the Coromandel. Not the funnest day for me doing all the packing, grocery shopping, driving and unpacking myself, but we're here now so that's all that matters.

This morning we woke up to rain, which was really a blessing since it's been dry for months. I tried not to let the rain put a damper on our first day at the beach, and we headed down for a paddle and a play in the sand straight after breakfast.

The girls had a blast. L was so happy to be at the beach she literally rolled around in the sand.

The girls got straight into building sand castles, but when I went to feel the water temperature, they ditched their buckets and followed me into the sea, happily splashing about in the waves for ages.

I noticed S starting to get cold, so we ran family races on the sand to warm up. My ligaments are so rubbery thanks to my pregnancy that I actually couldn't run, which meant L was the legitimate winner of all our races.

All the beach fun made S sleepy, so we headed back to the bach for her nap. While she was down for the count, L and I made this Coconut Cocoa Date Ball recipe I found online when I typed the list of ingredients into Google.

I think the balls turned out nicely, and am happy to offer them as a healthy sweet treat to the girls, because they won't send their blood sugar levels racing then crashing.

After S's sleep we were headed off the playground for a play when we bumped into some family friends who also have two little girls. We ended up having an impromptu play-date at their bach instead of going to the playground.

I must say, I was very glad for some adult conversation while the four girls played. Yay for unexpected blessings.

Tonight's dinner was a simple roast chicken, gravy, roast potatoes and steamed broccoli and carrot affair.

I've shredded off the leftover roast chicken and it's chilling in the fridge waiting for tomorrow night's Indian Cashew Marsala dinner. The chicken bones are currently simmering away in a big pot of chicken stock, which I'll use to make leek and potato soup.

Being so far from the supermarket makes me want to use every scrap of food we've got here.

What's on your menu plan this week?