Paw Paw - Log Days 297 & 298: The Birth of Our Twin Grandsons

Yesterday and today have been spent getting ourselves settled in. That included getting to the nearest town, Paihia, in order to get to a bank and pick up some groceries, getting access to all the marina facilities,  obtaining membership to the Opua Cruising Club and getting some high priority issues resolved like our depth sensor and wind generator bracket. 

A trip to the farmer market was a wonderful outing and,  needless to say,  Elaine arrived back with all sorts of delightful goodies, like smoked salmon pate from the local smoke house, homemade chocolate clusters, a huge butter lettuce, freshly baked potato bread and avocados, which we cannot even remember when last we were able to purchase them. 

We also had the opportunity to reconnect with Time Bandit (Ann and Stewart)  whom we last saw in Panama and Raya (Ros and Rick) with whom we enjoyed a Bon Voyage party in Tonga, as well as meet the myriad of faces behind all the voices 
 we've
heard on the SSB radio nets for months.  We topped off yesterday at the Opua Cruising Club, where we enjoyed Wednesday Night Yacht Racing, followed by dinner with Talulah Ruby,  Blue Summit,  Whistler,  Raya and a host of new found friends.

Of course, the highlight of our day was waking up to the news of the birth of our twin grandsons,  Brayden and Carter,  who are both healthy baby boys at 5lbs 12oz and 6lbs 2 Oz, respectively. It was a very emotional morning though, given that we weren't there. We did, however, get  to meet them via Facetime and we are, nonetheless, grateful for modern technology. They are  just the cutest little prople and we can't wait to hold and kiss them  in a few weeks. 

We had planned on celebrating their birth at the Opua Cruising Club this evening,  but instead we settled for a quiet evening aboard, given that a very long sailing season seems to have caught up with us both all at once.  So a good hearty meal of bangers, mash 
 and
baked beans,  accompanied by a very tasty New Zealand red wine, followed by fresh strawberries and cream, topped with almond chocolate clusters, was a fitting meal, we  believe, to mark the occasion!