Gardners Abroad

April-June various pics

2011-06-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

Can anyone recommend a good blogging site...this one is not working so well for me...the formatting is maddening! Anytime I try to put in written text it ends up all over the place! Very frustrating.
Above pictures include Lizzy and Grace with a friend at the zoo, Lizzy with her kindergarten teacher getting her kindergarten completion certificate, pictures from our trip to UT for Rob's grandmother's funeral, picture of the Gardner men, Robert, (Gramps), Rob and Robby, Grace making a good attempt at reading daddy's book, as well as stripping herself to play in the water with her cousin, and decorating Easter eggs. I really need a different blogging format!

Random pics

2011-04-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Lizzy and Rob had a 'Daddy-daughter date' at Lizzy's school last month. It was a cowboy-cowgirl theme, they had a great time.

More baby Robby pics

2011-04-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

Robby Jr. pics

2011-03-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

I think most peeps already saw these pics on Facebook, but in case you're not on there, here they are.

Robby White Gardner was born on Sunday, March 13, at 11ish in the morning. He weighed 8 pds. 14 ounces, 21 inches long. Another big baby, that's how we like em!

Mom and baby doing well, minus mommy's inevitable sleep deprivation.

We'll post some more pics soon as he gets cuter and cuter each day.

Some Christmas pics

2011-01-03T14:42:00.001-08:00

This is a random assortment of Christmas pics, I know we had more. I'll post them as they pop up.

Lizzy's 5th Birthday party

2010-09-21T14:55:00.001-07:00

I realized I didn't really get a good pic of all the kids at the party, there were 7 girls and 2 boys, all sugared up and played out by the end of the party.

Grammy Gardner gave Lizzy a Cinderella and Snow White outfit which she is showing off. Apparently she is taking the office of royalty quite seriously as she bestows some sort of blessing or important position on her sister.

So we had the party at a place called 'Little Biggs,' similar to chucky cheese but with a lot more to do, much better pizza, and basically much more fun! The bounce houses were a big hit with the kids. Almost as big of a hit as the princess cake. I cannot claim that I made that darling cake, I copped out and bought it. I figured with all the trial runs I'd have to do to make it look like that I'd come out even. Maybe next year I'll attempt one.

New house/Disneyland/family photos

2010-07-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

My siblings-May 2010
Memorial Day 2010-Grandma and Grandpa Vandyke's graves

So these pics of our house in Co Springs are not very good, they're pretty blurry, sorry about that. Our camera is having issues but I was being asked to put them up, so here it is.
The kitchen
Princess Tiana and Lizzy at Disneyland

Belle and Lizzy

Ariel with Lizzy and Grace

The fam at Disneyland
The master--It's really not that yellow
Kitchen

Main living room
laundry room-obviously.
Dining room-which we don't use since we have no dining table.
Lizzy's room
Grace's room
Downstairs living room-kids playroom
Not sure how this made it in here, Lizzy took a picture of her dolls, aren't they beauts.
Gracie as a bunny.

Just about every afternoon there are deer hanging out along the side or in back of the house, just chillin in the shade. They're pretty but we keep our distance.

So there is the house, we haven't done much in the way of decorating, but there's quite a bit of room, so peeps can come and visit!

Cousins....Utah visit

2010-07-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Anna, Lizzy, Mason, and Grace. Getting these kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time was no easy feat.

Shelly and Lizzy, double trouble.
Lizzy, Grace, and Shelly at the creamery.

The girls with their fun aunt Becca.
The Gardner/Schofield clans; Grace, Lizzy, baby Emily, Shelly, and Jason.
This was Rob's doing, naturally.
Lizzy with cousins Kalli, Brook, and Chloe.

Things we love about New Zealand...

2010-05-08T00:33:00.000-07:00

Lizzy with her teachers from kindy.

Lizzy's kindy class

The beaches...the kids will miss them.

The people and their proud heritage

The incredible views

It is a bittersweet feeling to know we are leaving this country so soon. There is much we will miss. We have met some wonderful people and enjoyed being close to so many beautiful lakes, beaches, and countryside. I hope at some point in time we will be back to visit the people and places we have come to love here. Yes, leaving is bittersweet. I love this picture, the sheepy seems to be wishing us a fond farewell. We will miss you too sheepy! =) Here's to another beginning.

Te Puia

2010-05-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

Te Puia is a Maori cultural center here in Rotorua. We have been meaning to check it out since we've been here and figured we'd better fit it in before we're off next week.

This is a replica of what a typical Maori house or hut was like. Obviously it was quite small, and not made for living in, but just to sleep. The Maori worked, ate and played outdoors in a communal living type of environment.

This big fella is made out of 3,000 year old wood, local to Rotorua. When he is completed he is making the trip to the world fair in Beijing, China where he will be presented as a gift to that nation.

These gentlemen above are doing the 'Haka', a war dance, done to intimidate the enemy. If it worked the enemy would retreat and no battle would take place. I bet it worked a number of times, these fellas can look pretty scary.

Above Rob is greeting the warriors in the group by touching noses twice while grunting. It's a man thing.

Rob was chosen to be the tourist 'chief', and as such was made to greet the approaching Maori leader by picking up the leaf he places down representing peace. By doing so he is telling them that we come in peace and then they are at ease to welcome us. The Maori tour guide said that once Rob picked up the leaf the Maori leader would slap his thigh and turn, knowing Rob meant no harm. But interestingly the Maori leader walked backwards the entire time and never took his eyes off of Rob. I guess he just knew he was dealing with a trouble maker =).

Surgery and other big changes...

2010-03-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

Yeah, disgusting, I know! There should be a limit to what some people put up on their blogs! I had my reservations, but Rob said that at least some of the viewing audience would think the pics here interesting...yeah, that's a good word for it, aka nasty!

Anyways, as many of you already know, Rob had surgery on his shoulder earlier this week. He now has a metal plate in it which is to be removed in 8-10 weeks time. I'm pretty sure that's gonna leave a scar! Oh, if you're wondering what is up with the stitches on his wrist, that would be because the surgeon removed a tendon there to replace the one in his shoulder that is virtually non-existent due to his injury. Don't worry, it is a common procedure with this type of injury, the tendon he removed is actually extraneous, and most surgeons do it this way in the states as well. Crazy I know, you would assume he kind of needs that tendon, but apparently not. Anyhow, two weeks after the removal of the plate he is suppose to be at full capacity...here's hoping! I will be so happy if it's completely successful and he can get proper rest again. The surgeon who worked on him is supposed to be very good though and has had very high success with this particular surgery, so we are very hopeful.
Oh, and btw, they did give him something stronger than Tylenol after the surgery, much to our relief. He's been on Tramadol, which is pretty strong and seems to do the job. He's actually feeling pretty good today though and hasn't taken any pain meds since last night. He's thinking he can go back to work in a week, which will be interesting considering he won't have the use of his right arm, but he's convinced he'll manage.

In other news, which some of you have also already heard, we have decided to move back to the states prematurely so that Rob can take a job managing a new clinic in Colorado Springs. We are pretty excited about this because it is an awesome career opportunity for him. The plan was to stay in New Zealand a few more years, but this is not the sort of job he can pass up, especially since he went to such a fancy schmancy (translation = ridiculously expensive) graduate school, so we got to go where the moola is! There are a number of things we'll miss about New Zealand, we've met some great people here, and it does feel like we're just getting the hang of things and now we're leaving, but we know it's the right choice. This is a beautiful country, but extremely expensive, and if we stayed savings would inevitably be next to nil. But it has been well worth being here, even for just a year. Professionally it's been a really good externship experience according to Rob, especially since he wants to go into management and his boss here gave him a lot more independence and responsibility that he would typically find while externing in the states. He's convinced that is part of the reason he got this job offer. But also culturally it has been worthwhile. There are a number of things I really like about New Zealand and will miss, but I also have a whole lot more appreciation for many things in the states. I know I won't take a lot of things for granted that I just never really thought about before. Btw, the first time I once again enter a Walmart or Costco, I am literally going to cry....everything in one place, the variety, and for so cheap! I never would have thought that before, but compared to what they pay here for groceries, it's a steal!

Anywho, as far as timing, we don't have definite arrival dates yet in the states since Rob still has to hammer out details with this new company, but they'd like him to start the first week in June. But if the surgeon here says he needs to wait to take the plate out until 10 weeks out instead of 8, we will not quite make that and will need to arrive a week or two later. Basically he'll have the second surgery and we'll get on a plane to the states a day or two later. Wish us luck! Apologies to any who intended to visit us here, that would have been fun, there is lots to do. I wouldn't mind coming back for a visit myself someday. So that's our news, we'll keep you all informed and updated via the bloggie.

Cheers for now! Hmm...I wonder if I can get away saying that once we move back, I've gotten used to it...Americans would probably look at me really odd like I'm trying to be all Kiwi or British when I'm just a Yank. Oh well =).

St. Patrick's Day party

2010-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

For St. Patrick's Day, Lizzy's kindy had a 'magician' come and do a little show for the kids. It was very entertaining. Some of what he did was pretty tricky and had the adults scratching their heads. The kids favorite part seemed to be the animal balloons. The magician gave one to Gracie as well. If he only knew the battle that would ensue over only ONE pink balloon...argh! He was a super sweet man though. The kids had a blast.

Domestic terror, thy name is Gracie

2010-02-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

I came into the bathroom the other night to find this...Gracie happily playing in my make up and covered in my mascara and quickly running away from the crime scene. Rob couldn't resist taking a pic before we cleaned her up. Yeah, it's cute people, when she's not yours!! Don't get me wrong, I love this little face, but don't let the sweetness of it fool you. Gracie is what you would call, diabolically cute...emphasis on the diabolical. I know Rob was a handful as a kid, but I've been meaning to ask my mother-in-law if Rob(by) was a huge handful that she couldn't take her eyes off of when he was a toddler. I think Gracie has a lot of him in her!

Every time she disappears for awhile, and all is quiet, I know she's getting into something she shouldn't. It doesn't seem to matter where I put things, she somehow finds a way to get to them. I've put dangerous things out of reach, but with so many other things that I need available it's such a pain, (and since we're renting, we're not allowed to put up shelves and make holes in the walls) so I've given that battle up in a way...and this is the result.

She did however, manage to get the mascara on her right eyelashes, pretty evenly actually. She obviously put a lot of effort into it!

Ah well, what else can we do but embrace the madness.

Trip to Christchurch

2010-01-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

This past week we took a 4-day trip to the city of Christchurch on the South Island. There is a possibility of our moving to Christchurch in 6 months time or so which is partly why we wanted to go and get a feel for the city. I would say it reminded me of a very scaled down, smaller, and more quaint version of New York City. There is quite a bit of Gothic architecture in the city, which Rob and I love, so we quite liked the feel of it. There are a number of buildings dating back to the early 1800's (which is when Christchurch was established and settled) which gives the city a historic feel. The landscape on the South Island is quite different from the North. There are mountains on the South, not big ones like you see on the West Coast, but not hills either. Besides doing some of the touristy things we drove around some of the surrounding neighborhoods to get a feel for where we might want to live if we do end up moving there. Our overall impression, charming city, wouldn't mind living there for a few years. Now we just need to get some of you to come over for a visit!

Christchurch Cathedral, at the center of downtown, Cathedral Square.

The altar of the cathedral.

The first bishop of Christchurch--or the remains of.

A marble relief--I thought the detail on it was amazing close up, but unfortunately you can't really tell from this pic, sorry.

I am enamored with stained glass windows, but restricted myself to posting this one pic. Beautiful though. The cathedral had dozen of stained glass windows featuring various biblical scenes.
Inside view of Christchurch Cathedral from the entrance. Located in the center of downtown at Cathedral Square.
There is a museum in Christchurch featuring all kinds of original artifacts, clothing, daily living/household items, toys, etc. from the early 1800's. This is suppose to be an original dollhouse from that period. I don't think the pics quite do it justice, but the detail, intricacy, and the quality of the craftsmanship that went into making this was unlike anything you would ever see at a toy store today.

Floating down the Avon River in our gondola.

Grace is less than pleased here, but I thought she looked sweet with this big blanket over her that was in the boat.
Feeding the duckies while going down a gondola on the Avon River.

Just cuz

Botanical Gardens
This is a close up of part of a cool sculpture that was in the Botanical Gardens. At least I thought it was cool. It is called 'Regret'. The following two photos are of it as well. I think it is made of copper (could be wrong). There is a lot of detail, especially on the masks, of which there is a close up below.

Panned out view of 'Regret'.
The girls and I outside Botanical Gardens in downtown Christchurch.

First Fish of the Year

2010-01-02T18:19:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Day, we were invited by our neighbors to have dinner with them on their boat. We drove out to one of the seven lakes within twenty minutes of our front door and took the boat out to a spot on the lake where the water is heated by geothermal vents. This is Lizzie and Olivia in the cab as we pulled out from the dock.
The sand is hot enough on parts of the beach that you can cook a fish by burying it for forty minutes. After dinner we pulled out the fishing poles, and I caught the biggest trout I've ever seen in person. The fish here have no natural predators, so they grow to enormous sizes. Here's me with my fish!
And after mucking my way through cleaning, filleting, and deboning the fish, here's the outcome!

Christmas at the Beach

2010-01-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Well, ok, a few days after Christmas. That's the Kiwi tradition, though, is to go to the beach on Christmas. Lizzie ran straight up to the water, and spent the next hour or so running away from the waves as they came in.
Eventually, she decided that the water wasn't going to bite her. For another hour she sat and laughed as the receding wave pulled the sand out from under her.
Gracie wasn't so excited about the water. She wouldn't even let me hold her until I dried off, but she had a blast making sand castles with her bucket and shovel Santa left in her stocking.
When Lizzie tired of the water, she discovered that shovels are good for burying Daddy's feet.
The beach we went to is an hour or so north of us on the coast, called Whakatane. There are cliffs overlooking the ocean, and there is a lookout at the top of one of them with a tiki statue surveying the ocean.
This is his view.

Boxing Day in the Park

2010-01-02T17:52:00.001-08:00

For those who have never heard of Boxing Day, it's the day after Christmas. And it has nothing to do with boxing. The name comes from the Victorian tradition of the upper class giving the servants their Christmas gifts in boxes the day after Christmas, or something like that. Another popular (but false) story is that it's the day everyone boxes up the presents they didn't want to take them back to the store. Now it's a holiday best celebrated by blowing things up in public spaces. We got an invitation to participate in a Coke fountain, which I'm honestly shocked I'd never seen before, given my family's history of blowing up anything and everything possible. A Coke fountain is made by dropping six or seven Mentos mints in a two litre bottle of Coke (or Diet Coke if you want it to be less sticky). Some company has made a loading chute that screws on to the top of the bottle so that you can deliver them all at once and have a nice constriction tube to get good height out of your fountain. Ours hit about twenty feet, as you can see below.

A Kiwi Christmas

2010-01-02T17:24:00.001-08:00

For a week or two leading up to Christmas, Lizzie was very concerned that we didn't have a chimney and that Santa wouldn't be able to get in the house. So on Christmas Eve we watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, where a the Muppets give a the matter a thorough treatment, and Lizzie's concerns were adequately resolved. Here's Lizzie and Grace watching anxiously as Grover lays out the scenario of Santa getting into a house with no chimney.With that crisis averted, the kids went off to bed so that Santa could do his magic. In the morning, Lizzie ran out to find presents under the tree and her stocking stuffed, and Christmas began.

Lizzie's obsession with all things Disney Princess continues, and will now include bedtime stories.
Gracie was most excited by her new baby doll, which she proceeded to feed and snuggle, and paid no attention to the rest of Christmas. Thus, most of the rest of the pictures are of Lizzie.
Lizzie had been asking for weeks for a music box, and we finally found one with a dancing ballerina. Big eyes = excitement.
And the heart necklace inside.
This is what they've played with most since the big day. A big ol' marble maze that keeps them entertained for hours.
And Gracie's other new obsession, the Dora scootie car.
So that was Christmas. It turns out that it's a lot more fun when there are little kids to spoil. Jenny and I got each other a few things, but we had a lot more fun watching the kids' excitement.

The many faces of Gracie Face

2009-12-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

So this little photo shoot was completely impromptu. We were lounging around in our bed with Grace after Lizzy had gone to bed, and she starts crankin out all these hilarious poses. Very quickly she can go from sweet and adorable, to ornery, to a fire-breathing, tantrum throwing
2-year old. But actually on this occasion, the 'angry eyes', were all in play. She's quite an actor, and will do these faces at most any given moment if she is prompted and gets immediate laughter as a reaction. She eats up the attention from it and will pull these faces over and over. We're practicing for when she sees Gramps Gardner again =).

photos from Mt. Manganui beach

2009-12-12T21:58:00.000-08:00

Gracie's Birthday!

2009-11-30T22:57:00.000-08:00

Well, not really. Lizzie decided that it was Grace's birthday today. So we made a cake. And then we ate it.

Lizzy's Dance Recital

2009-11-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Lizzy's dance recital was the other day. They performed 'Peter and the Wolf'.' Lizzy's class had a 2 minute stint where they danced around like butterflies. So stinkin adorable. Some of the pics are pretty bad, due to the lighting and the fact that we couldn't get any closer to the stage. She's the taller one in the blurry pics.

I was a little afraid she would get nervous on stage and with all the people, but she seemed not to mind. Although she, and most of her class, stared out at the audience looking for a familiar face while they were supposed to be dancing. We were able to snag a few decent pics of her in her butterfly wings at the end. She's not quite ready for Juilliard, but she sure looks precious. We love our little butterfly!!

Lizzy the Ballerina

2009-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

Lizzy recently started taking ballet lessons. She loves to dance so we figured it would be a good outlet for her. The first week she didn't have a clue what she was doing, and mostly just did her own type of dances, which included throwing herself rather dramatically across the floor, and then yelling to me from across the room, "did you see, mom, that was pretty good huh!" After that I wasn't too sure if ballet was going to be a good match for Lizzy after all, it requires quite a bit of discipline and concentration, and she's 4, but so are all the other kids, so it seems to work. This teacher is incredible at getting kids to fall inline...she seems to have the perfect blend of warmth and high expectations for the girls, and they respond very well to her. After the first week Lizzy learned quickly not to talk during class, and to save her more "interpretative" dance styles for after class. To my surprise she didn't seem to have a problem with that, and has enthusiastically returned to class each week. She tries hard to please the teacher, who gives high praise for it. It's only a 30 minute class, but Lizzy is quite tired by the end, and comes home and likes to crash on the couch for a while.

In a few weeks her class is doing a little dance recital in conjunction with the older girls' classes. I can't guarantee that she'll get all the steps right, but she'll look pretty darn cute trying!

Halloween in Rotorua

2009-11-02T01:06:00.000-08:00

Princess Lizzy, and Gracie Face (rawr!), the Bear.

So we did the Halloween thing this weekend in Rotorua, or something somewhat resembling the Halloween thing back in the States. People don't really do Halloween here, at least traditionally. In the past few years it has somewhat caught on with the younger crowd, much to the annoyance of older generations. So we didn't know what to expect going out to trick or treat. We were told people would know what we were doing. And we weren't the only trick-or-treaters out. But we did receive a few blank stares when the door opened. One lady oohed and aahed at the adorable princess, and after a few seconds realized that Lizzie was waiting for something. She looked at us and whispered "Is it money?" So I would say Halloween hasn't quite caught on here. But whatever, it doesn't take much candy to make these kids happy. Overall people were friendly, inspite of being somewhat bewildered by what we were doing. But we did get one old crone who upon opening the door to find two darling children smiling up at her, told us she did not believe in such a holiday. What is there to believe in? It's two adorable children just wanting a friendly smile and a piece of freaking candy...whatever lady. Can you tell I was just a little annoyed by that interchange? But you get those kinds of folks in the states too, I just wish they wouldn't open their doors to spread their misplaced piety.

Anyways, the kids had a good time. They were so very cute.

BTW, people are definitely not concerned about unwrapped candy here like they are in the states. Most everything we got was unwrapped. Lots of gummy worms (individual worms, mind you, taken in handfuls from a bowl). Umm... I might get some flak over that, sorry Mom, I already let them eat it, and they're okay, I promise! =) They would have been really upset if I had tried to take it away!

Random pictures from around Rotorua

2009-10-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-10T14:40:00.001-07:00

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.

Lizzy's Birthday

2009-09-22T01:01:00.000-07:00

For Lizzy's birthday she wanted cupcakes. So we made 40-50 of them to take to her kindy. FYI, making that many homemade cupcakes and frosting takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r! Next year I'll take suckers to pass out at her school. But she had a blast helping make them.

Barbie gift from Olivia (friend that lives next door).

The big surprise. Lizzy's first bike!

Our house was a cupcake factory on Sunday...we grossly underestimated the time involved with this. Lizzy loved decorating the cupcakes though. She actually got pretty good at it.

Lizzy Lou turned the big 4 yesterday. I mentioned to her about a week ago that her b-day was coming up...to which she replied 'presents?' I said yes, and sort of hom-hummed the question of whether she would want a party or not, or just a quiet b-day at home (of course I had no preference =), to which she said, "mom, I just want presents and cupcakes." Good enough for me! Except after having made roughly 50 homemade cupcakes, planning a party would have probably been easier!

Lizzy had a special day though. They sang to her at school and she got to sit in the b-day chair and basically be a queen for a day. I brought the cupcakes in and the kids were pretty thrilled. Grace hid my camera, which I couldn't find until returning home, so we didn't get pictures there unfortunately. After dinner we just had a quiet little party at home with Lizzy's new little friend Olivia from next door and her parents. Lizzy seemed quite pleased with her gifts. Of course the highlight was her very first bike...pink and barbie and with a snazzy little bell. She'd been wanting one for a while, especially since her little friend next door has one that she is constantly riding. Though we forgot to get a helmet, and based on her bike wreck today, I'd say she needs one! Don't worry, she's okay, just really in need of practice and understanding properly how the brakes work.

On a sentimental note, it's hard to believe that she is already 4 and such a big girl. I don't know exactly when it happened...this growing up/big girl thing...losing the baby fat, her cheeks becoming less and less round, choosing her own clothes, telling me how exactly to do her hair, etc. A part of me feels a little sad, a little mournful, that my baby Lizzy is gone, but mostly I am excited to see her evolving as a person, finding her own way. And anyone who knows Lizzy knows that she is her own woman (well, little girl for now), and already has some strong opinions about her likes and dislikes. I love her fiestiness and independence, although at times they are maddening to deal with as a parent, but I wouldn't trade it, it's part of what makes her strong. I love her tenderness and devotion to those she loves. I love her concern for others and their feelings. I love that she is a friendly child who never hesitates to introduce herself and make a new friend. Most of all I love her because she is mine.

Happy Birthday Lizzy, we love you. You are our little princess, now and always.

Lizzy the escape artist

2009-09-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a story to brighten your day. Most days Lizzie gets up at 7:00 or so, and comes in to wake us up and get breakfast. This morning Jenny rolled over and poked me at 7:30 and said it was time to get up, and I figured Lizzie must have been tired and let us sleep in some. So I showered and sat down for breakfast, and Grace started crying. I got Grace up and she sat with me while I ate, and at about 8:00 I thought I'd go check on Lizzie and make sure she was ready for school. I found her bedroom door open, and her not in her bed. Some days she decides that she doesn't want to go to school, and has a few places around the house that she hides. So I checked her closet and mine behind the clothes, under beds and behind the couch, and she was nowhere to be found. At this point I asked Jenny if she had seen Lizzie, and tried the front door. It was unlocked. We nearly had a heart attack, and I handed Jenny the baby while I went to see where the Lizzie might have gone off to. Now our driveway opens on to a busy road with lots of cars going past in the morning, so the idea of Lizzie going out the door is not a pleasant one. We share a driveway with another house where Lizzie has a friend, and they are often back and forth between houses throughout the day. As I was walking around the house, I noticed that the wife was in the kitchen, and I thought I'd ask if they had seen anything. I knocked on the door, and Lizzie comes running up to announce that she has had pancakes with her friend Olivia. She had walked out the front door without saying a word to anyone, gone over to the neighbour's house, walked in, and said that she was here for breakfast. She was asked if her parents knew where she was, told them that we did, and sat down to eat. She still has no idea why anyone would be upset. Ah!!!!!!!!

More Hobbiton photos

2009-08-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

The landscape was so beautiful here, I couldn't stop snapping photos. The land that Hobbiton was filmed on is actually all part of one sheep farm. There were sheep dotting the hillsides every direction you turned. Our tour guide told us that there are plans to start filming 'The Hobbit', about a year from now in this same location. If we're still in the area, we'll have to come sneak a peek! Course we'd probably get arrested doing it =).

Our visit to Hobbiton, LOTR; Matamata, NZ

2009-08-31T02:56:00.000-07:00

Looking out of a hobbit hole.

What a ruggedly handsome hobbit!

Sheep shearing/feeding the sheepies

2009-08-31T02:44:00.000-07:00

This was the highlight of the trip for Lizzy!

I couldn't help but think that poor sheep must be chilly after the shearing. They keep them inside at night for a few months after shearing until they grow back some of their wooly coat.

Looking for hobbitses/sheep shearing

2009-08-31T02:30:00.000-07:00

This was the beginning of a sheep shearing, bit of a funny position for the poor sheep, but he didn't seem to mind it, never made a peep.

I told Lizzy that the 'hobbits', were hiding from us in their houses just behind the wood panels here. She looked in between the panels in the cracks to see if she could see one inside, she was convinced she had. Too cute.

Our visit to Hobbiton, LOTR; Matamata, NZ

2009-08-31T01:45:00.000-07:00

This big tree is referred to as 'the party tree', as it was the tree that the hobbits sat in front of to celebrate Bilbo's birthday.

4 Weeks In....

2009-08-18T01:11:00.000-07:00

Some geysers off a walking trail, above and below.

You can see some smoke billowing in the distance.

Lizzie's Kindy.

Lizzie with two of her teachers at Kindy.

Lizzie got her face painted at Kindy-butterflies!

So it's been a few weeks since we've posted anything. For over a week it was non-stop rain here, so we haven't been out a lot. Also settling in has kind of warn us out a little. But things are calming down and routines are once again being established.

The girls have done quite well all in all with the adjusting, but Grace definitely needs a routine or she's a mess! She is so used to sleeping in a dark room (and/or closet, bathroom), but we just don't have a room here that is without windows, so we're trying to make do and block out the light for her.

Lizzy is really enjoying her kindy (preschool) here, she goes 3 days a week, which seems to work well for her. She is having a hard time remembering the kids' names though...and she just calls them all 'her cousins'. There are a lot of names here that are rather unusual to Americans, and the Maori names are especially difficult to remember. But they're kids she can play with, and that's all she really cares about.

Today we went on a walk with some other mums with kids on a trail that goes past some geysers and hot springs, I got a few pics, as you can see here, but it's somewhat hard to make out the geysers. Boy it sure stunk! I'm getting used to it though. I usually only notice it early in the morning and late at night if I'm outside.

So after being here a month, we have definitely noticed some differences between here and the states in a variety of ways. One is that goods in general (groceries, clothes, etc). seem to be more expensive, significantly so! Except for kiwifruits, those are dirt cheap. But some things are cheaper, like we don't have a water bill here, nobody does apparently, it's just free, and so is garbage. Cell phones are outrageous, like 70 cents a minute, and they don't do family plans. So, no cell phones for us! We don't really need them anyways. Something cool at the store though is that they seem to have a lot more international items available, various curry sauces and all kinds of pasta and noodles, which isn't really anymore expensive than other items.

Something interesting we've noticed about the way people talk here....they always end there sentences with an upward kind of intonation, instead of a downward kind, like Americans do. Almost like they're asking a question, even though they're just ending a thought. But when you do that, people will nod their heads at you, indicating that they understand what you're saying and/or that they can relate. I guess that's why they do it.

Rotorua itself seems to be a real melting pot. Rob has said that only about a third of the people he has seen in his clinic so far have actually been native New Zealanders. A lot of people here are from some part of England, Australia, continental Europe, southern Africa, or Asia (including India). The Australian, British, and New Zealand accents are all similar, but it's actually pretty easy to distinguish them.

Rob is quite liking his job so far. It's a busy clinic and he says the days go by fast.

There are a number of places around here we'd like to go and see on the weekends. Hopefully this weekend we can make it out to where they filmed Hobbiton from Lord of the Rings. The hobbit holes, or outside of the hobbit homes are still visible. I guess we need to get over our hesitancy to avoid outings when the weather is yucky and it's rainy, since it does that here a lot. But when it clears up it sure is gorgeous!

Week 2 in New Zealand --Settling in

2009-07-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a stressful couple of weeks between finding housing, a car, furniture, etc. here in Rotorua. But things are coming together. We found a cute little house in a great location, and we can move in Friday...2 days...hope we can make it! We are busting out of the seams here at this hotel. We also found a used car that is in good condition and we have been finding some good deals on furniture through the 'trade me' site, which is very similar to craig's list back home.

I'm finally getting comfortable with the whole driving on the left-side of the road thing (so odd), I've only driven on the wrong (right) side once (giving one poor driver a fright), thankfully that did not result in an accident..but now I seem to have it in my head to stay on the left.

I plan to get Lizzy into a kindy (preschool) here real soon. The kindy's are free (for the first 20 hrs) as funded by the government, and the kids can be there from 9-3pm M-F, but I think that's a bit much for Lizzy at this point. She really loved her preschool in Nashville, but that was just 2 days a week. I plan to start her a few days a week here and see how she does. They start kindergarten here (called 'entrance') the day they turn 5, and that is a good 6-6-1/2 hours a day, but we've got time to work her up to that.

As we settle in I'll post more. I sure hope our internet at home will be faster than here at the hotel, this has taken FOREVER!!! We love and miss you all! Our new address as of this Friday, the 31st, will be: 24b Devon Street, Glenholme, Rotorua, 3310 New Zealand. I'll post our new number in the next few days when we move in and have it set up.

Lake Taupo/Redwood Forest

2009-07-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Lake Taupo, hour south of Rotorua.

Lake Taupo.

Redwood Forest, Rotorua

2009-07-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

2009-07-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is Rob standing by one of the trees in the Redwood forest in Rotorua. Yeah, basically HUGE.

Rob and Lizzy playing at a park in Rotorua.

2009-07-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

This is Lake Rotorua. The island in the distance is apparently a 'kiwi reserve'. They have destroyed any predators on that island and now there is only the native kiwi bird there. Maybe we'll take a trip out there at some point and visit the kiwi.

These black swans are beautiful but fierce! We were careful not to let the kids get too close, but of course Lizzy wanted to pet them, but they made a biting motion at her and she decided they were mean.

This was my sad attempt to capture the scenery on the drive from Auckland down to Rotorua. It really was majestic, but this pic does it no justice. Guess you'll just have to come for a visit to see what I'm talking about.

Kiwi Travels

2009-07-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here's Jenny's account of the trip so far:

Dear friends and family,
Thought we’d post an update on our adventure of entering New Zealand thus far.
As far as the flight…well, let’s just say, it could have been worse, but not much! But we survived, after 12 hours of no leg room and kids screaming cause they were too uncomfortable to sleep. Although it was a lifesaver that they had individual t.v.’s with all kinds of kid shows on the back of each seat, so Lizzy was able to watch hours and hours of Dora!
Just when I thought the flight from hell would never end it did, and then the real fun started…customs! Boy, were we a sight to behold with our mountains of bags piled a mile high on these little carts that we probably only meant for 2 or 3 medium-sized bags. We each were pushing one of said carts and I had the stroller with our lovely, but screaming children….we definitely got some funny looks. It was like parting the red sea as we walked by with all our stuff and people literally stopped and stared. Then there was the business with the escalator and Lizzy…let’s just say that if she develops a life-long fear of them I will not be surprised…but she survived thanks to a lovely British woman who was in front of her on the escalator and was able to catch her as she soared mid-air off the first step. Then there was the business with the rental car. I have a bone or two to pick with whoever set that up from Rob’s new company. They grossly underestimated the about of room we would need for all our stuff and our own bodies. Once we were able to secure some things to the rack on top of the car we were fine, but we did not have that luxury on the way to the hotel. So heading there we once again resembled a circus with my arms and legs literally hanging out of the window so that we could fit all the luggage. Don’t worry, the kids were safe in their car seats, but if we had gotten in an accident, I think I would have been a goner! Um, it’s a good thing my parents are not on facebook yet, this would not go over well with them…but we made it to the hotel, (despite the underestimated trickiness of driving on the left side of the road) and after some much needed sleep, we are starting to feel human again, and the kids are running around happily. I am actually pretty amazed at how well they are doing with all the changes we’ve put them through in the last 36-48 hours. They really are great kids.
Later this morning (we are 16 hours ahead of mountain time) we head to Rotorua (three hours south of Auckland, where we are right now) where we will be staying in another hotel for two weeks while we look for housing.
It has been a bit of a crazy start here so far, but we are still very excited to be here. The people have been quite kind, and there is a charm to them that is hard to describe…it reminds me of the old movies I’ve seen with the lovely British (New Zealand accent is distinct from British but there is a lot of both here) accents and someone is always saying ‘would you like some tea and crumpets’? There’s a calm to them that I don’t see in a lot of Americans (including myself) because we do everything so quickly and are not very patient…things are done a little slower here, which can be frustrating at times, especially when I’m used to a rather face-paced lifestyle, but I’m sure I’ll get use to and learn to appreciate that aspect of the culture here.
So that’s it so far, I will post pictures in the next few days, after I can locate my camera amidst our mountain of baggage in the hotel. Please forgive me for not starting the blog yet, that will happen soon, and I will place the link on facebook as well as alerts to updates on it. We love you all and appreciate you being a part of our lives, even from so far. I’ll give another update soon, til then, cheers!