Random pictures from around Rotorua

These are some random photos that we took by the museum downtown. The grounds are quite pretty.







































































Above is the Maori Museum downtown. Lizzy likes it because it resembles a castle.
This last one is of Rob and Lizzy on a paddle boat on Lake Rotorua.

Gracie Face and the Wiggles

I noticed that I did not have many recent pictures up here of Gracie, so I decided to remedy that.

One of my favorite things is watching Gracie dance to her all-time favorite show, the Wiggles. Until quite recently, Grace had never paid much attention to T.V., but come 4p.m. she is glued, as you can see, to the tube, as the theme song for the Wiggles begins.
































































I have tried here to capture the adorable dance that she does at the beginning of every Wiggles show. It's much cuter in person, but you can kind of get the idea.

Grace gets rather annoyed if anyone talks or makes too much noise during 'her show'. She doesn't really chew you out, especially since she can't really talk, but she will give you a glare that says it all too clearly! We love our little Wiggles fanatic.

Ode to the Hubby

So some of you already know this, but last week Rob separated his right shoulder in a bike accident, which to make a long story short, involved hitting a parked car. It’s okay, go ahead and laugh, he’s not seriously injured =). And no, he’s not sure how the car made out, which is everyone’s first question! The best part of this is that he came home with this makeshift sling from the ER that looked like something you’d contrive if this happened while camping, and, get this, a prescription for Tylenol to use as a painkiller! Well I am guessing they must not have a prescription drug addiction problem in this country if that’s all they give out. The funniest/saddest part of this was when Rob taped his shoulder/elbow areas to help get the joints back in the right place, and in the process of taking the tape off partially waxed himself...I have never heard a man scream like that =).

Anyways, as a result of this injury, he has spent the week at home, becoming a third pesky child to attend to, so please get out your violins for me. Actually, he’s been pretty good. But it has made me realize what a good hubby/daddy he is, I seriously don’t know how single parents do it! Here’s to you Rob, we love ya!!!

On a separate note, here in New Zealand a child has been kidnapped/abducted for the first time in like 20 or 20 plus years here. In the last 15 years 3 kids were technically ‘kidnapped’, but they all involved domestic disputes where it was a family member, (custody battles), and all were returned home safe and unharmed. So a random abduction basically never happens here, New Zealand is regarded as very safe. Crime, especially violent crime, is extremely low. A lot of people here don’t bother locking their cars or their homes. It has really upset people here, from what I can tell. Yesterday while at the grocery store I overheard two women discussing it, the one saying that her children were scared, and she now had a gun by her bed. It seems to be causing a bit of a panic. Such news certainly wouldn’t have that effect in the states, where that sort of thing unfortunately is much more common. I hope for everyone’s sake the little girl returns home safely, though in my mind I’m thinking this will most likely not end well.