New Year's Eve

Happy New Years!

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Thanks to Rachel Blaser, we ended up celebrating New Year's Eve at the Ngarunui beach near Raglan. 

It's a surf beach, so the waves can get pretty big. We had a great time playing in the water and waiting for the sun to go down.

We also happened across a small parade in Raglan. First parade we've seen in New Zealand. It was tiny and funny, maybe 5 floats and a great bagpipe band!

The evening ended climatically when a huge wave came in and knocked over Suzanne and Weston, the Blaser's 3 year-old. They were in pretty shallow surf. Suzie saw Weston go down and she tried to save him. She went down too. I was out in the ocean frantically trying to run in to grab them. But the Ocean was the most effective mother and rolled them to shore. They were pretty shaken up, but okay. 

I told Suzanne how brave I think she is to try to save someone else! I said, "Wow, you were saving Weston and the Ocean was saving you!"