Our second day of visiting old favourites took us closer to our old home – the Waitakeres. We started by stopping by a few of the wineries that we had enjoyed wines from in 2002. Kumeu River and Coopers Creek were just where we remembered and the wines had probably improved over the last several years. Unfortunately we couldn’t afford the weight of much wine so we only bought one bottle at each place.
The next place was the beginning of Mark’s journey each day to University – the Swanson train station. The kids enjoyed playing on the flying fox at the playground, although the structure seemed a bit smaller than we remembered. We had lunch at the cafe that turned Mark onto ginger slices (a sweet treat), and then continued over to the boys’ former school. 
We had called ahead to see if either of their teachers would be at the school and learned that Ben’s former teacher, Jennie Hendren, was still there. She greeted us warmly, almost as if it hadn’t been seven years, and showed us the numerous improvements that had been made to the school because of an increased student population. Finally, we visited her classroom where she pointed out the map Mark had given her before we moved away and a bucket full of U.S. pennies that we’d also given her because they were heavy, not worth too much, and easy to replace. She uses the pennies for teaching probability to her Year 3&4 students, and especially likes the fact that they don’t take them. Mrs. Hendren had Ben answer questions about America, which I think he enjoyed doing. 
Not too much further down the road was Bethells Beach. We took many visitors to this beach because it was so close to our home in Swanson. The beach looked much the same, with black sand, a small stream running to the ocean’s edge, and coastal grasses on the dunes. The following sign shows one new “feature.” We didn’t notice the sign until we were leaving, but the boys had noticed the unusual liquefaction properties of the sand near the river. Yikes!
Our final stop on this day was for Mark’s birthday dinner at a family friendly restaurant we were fond of going to called Tony’s. The interior had been updated, but they still had a great kids menu featuring a drink that was extremely memorable to the boys called a “stoplight” (shown in the picture below).
The next place was the beginning of Mark’s journey each day to University – the Swanson train station. The kids enjoyed playing on the flying fox at the playground, although the structure seemed a bit smaller than we remembered. We had lunch at the cafe that turned Mark onto ginger slices (a sweet treat), and then continued over to the boys’ former school.
We had called ahead to see if either of their teachers would be at the school and learned that Ben’s former teacher, Jennie Hendren, was still there. She greeted us warmly, almost as if it hadn’t been seven years, and showed us the numerous improvements that had been made to the school because of an increased student population. Finally, we visited her classroom where she pointed out the map Mark had given her before we moved away and a bucket full of U.S. pennies that we’d also given her because they were heavy, not worth too much, and easy to replace. She uses the pennies for teaching probability to her Year 3&4 students, and especially likes the fact that they don’t take them. Mrs. Hendren had Ben answer questions about America, which I think he enjoyed doing. Not too much further down the road was Bethells Beach. We took many visitors to this beach because it was so close to our home in Swanson. The beach looked much the same, with black sand, a small stream running to the ocean’s edge, and coastal grasses on the dunes. The following sign shows one new “feature.” We didn’t notice the sign until we were leaving, but the boys had noticed the unusual liquefaction properties of the sand near the river. Yikes!Our final stop on this day was for Mark’s birthday dinner at a family friendly restaurant we were fond of going to called Tony’s. The interior had been updated, but they still had a great kids menu featuring a drink that was extremely memorable to the boys called a “stoplight” (shown in the picture below).
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