Castle Hill is one of those places we seem to visit again and again. Only a bit over and hour from Christchurch, it’s a giant child’s playground and easily accessible from the main road. These photos are from the weekend Jeremiah was hunting, and I took the kids to met our friends the Summerfields for a play day among the rocks.

“I can squeeze in there….as long as you go first, Mom.”

Naomi was delighted to climb and crawl her way thorough this little tunnel cave. Milo’s pretty self-sufficient on the rocks, but Naomi is still a hazard, unconcerned about running full tilt down a steep rock slope, uninhibited by Mommy’s visions of little bodies pitching head first down slopes, shedding teeth on the rocks.

There’s a natural slide washed into this rock, unfortunately not smooth enough to get up any speed. The kids spent a lot of time finding ice chunks in rock puddles and doing what kids do with ice–cradling it lovingly if you’re a Summerfield girl, smashing it to smithereens if you are Milo. He has become quite adept at getting a rise from the girls, and the advice my own father gave me in such situations (“don’t squawk, it’s exactly what he wants”) is just as incomprehensible for them as it was for me.

The two youngest Summerfields, Amelie and Ella.

Look there, Naomi could be Ian’s forth little girl.  There were a ton of people out that day, from rock climbers to tourists to families like us.  If you come visit us, we’ll take you to Castle Hill too.