Hawley Rescue on New Years Day

We couldn't think of a better way to welcome in the New Year than to head to the beach, so we arranged to meet Jared and Becky and Mum at Hawley.  Yesterday afternoon we got a phone call from Chrish asking if I could pick him up at 11pm.  I was like 'as in tonight!!?' and he said yes as he was looking at flights and thought he may as well come down from Sydney, since he had three days off work.  The boys were so excited to hear Uncle Chrish was coming and all night Kobe kept saying 'Chrish, Chrish, Chrish!'.  We thought it would be fun to surprise Mum and Jared and Becky, and not tell them he was coming, but just show up at the beach with him.

I had my camera ready to video their response.  It only took Becky a second to spot him - her face makes me laugh. Mum on the other hand took a bit longer! I love how Jared goes 'Slick!' (Chrish's nickname that Jared has given him!).  

 

It was a lovely day, not hot but not cold either.  We were wondering how Kobe was going to like the beach this year, as last year he freaked out a little bit.   Okay - well actually he freaked out a lot! He hated the sand on his feet last year, and wouldn't move off the towel or our laps. This year he ran straight to the water and didn't want to get out!   We bought a cheap boat from Chickenfeed and the boys loved it. 

 

Chrish had a slightly bigger boat (Jared's kayak!). 

 

 

All the kids love Uncle Chrish, especially as he loves playing and spending time with them. 

Grandma is always building sandcastles with the grandkids which they love.   

 

Noah was up partying till around 1 am last night for New Years Eve, so he was awake when we first arrived at the beach, but then slept the rest of the afternoon away in the beach tent.

Aaron was the only crazy one who actually went swimming.  The rest of us just put our toes in and felt how cold the water was, and decided against going any further.

Although Jay wasn't given much choice, and ended up going all the way under too.

He was having lots of fun until he decided to have a turn in the blow-up boat.

Aaron and I didn't actually know he was going out in the boat (he asked a long time before he actually went out) and next thing you know we spot him floating off out to sea!  I had Kobe with me in the water, so asked Chrish to watch him while I took off up the beach, watching Aaron wade out trying to get to him.
Aaron isn't the strongest swimmer, so I was actually thinking I may have to start heading out if he wasn't able to get to him, as Jay was getting further and further away as the wind was quite strong. Luckily we were on a beach with life guards (which I have never seen at Hawley till today!) and they had spotted that he was in trouble, and one started out on a board to get to him.

Just as the guy on the board reaches him, the surf rescue boat also did, and pulled Jay into their boat, with his boat and all.   I knew he would be okay, but at the time I was a little bit anxious, hoping that he wasn't going to start paniking.  He did have a little cry when he got back out of the boat to me, and has been a bit stressed about it since, but the lifeguards were really lovely about it and said things happen so quickly and that is why they are there.  It was just like a scene from Bondi Rescue except that it wasn't quite so funny to watch, as it was my son being rescued!  The lifeguards were laughing when I said it was just like Bondi Rescue, except it should be called 'Hawley Rescue' (rescue photos courtesy of Chrish who is a great papparrazzi and always has his camera on hand.  I was actually trying to save Jay rather than taking photos!:). 

It's still hard to get used to Jared and Becky having a baby. Jack is growing lots already and is a lot more alert. Hopefully things will settle down soon and he will give his Mum and Dad some more sleep.

We couldn't leave without having a game of beach cricket.  Harri is definitely the sportier one in the family and couldn't wait to get out there to have a bat.

The shock of the day was that I actually dominated the cricket (yes Aaron - that's right - I dominated!), and it took forever for everyone to get me out.  Aaron was quite stressed by it all and said it was like 'losing to Bangladesh'. It must've been because of my side kick (Kobe) helping me out.

On the way there, Chrish and I kept commenting all the cool things to take photos of.  I couldn't resist on the way home, and made Aaron drive, so I could snap a few shots.

It was a lovely way to start the New Year.  Hopefully it's going to be a great one!