getting ready for a kiwi christmas

This is our second Christmas in New Zealand.  In January we will have been here for two years. While Christmas still brings quite a bit of nostalgia this I am also feeling the love of being a Kiwi...so here are a couple of the joys of being in New Zealand this Christmas...

This is a weta.  They are very big insects that can be found here in New Zealand.  This one Max picked up our garden (yard) and almost brought into the house.  Being a good Kiwi child Max was excited to find this huge bug rather than being scared.

We moved into our current home last February so we missed the pretty red flowers on our feijoa tree, which will produce delicious fruit in a couple of months. These trees are related to pohutukawa trees, which are in glorious bloom all over New Zealand.   

 Other than the last week of rain we have enjoyed some very nice, mild weather.  Our landlord recently fenced our entire yard meaning that Max and Maya have created their own outdoor world, with a rain forest, jungle, mountain.  In preparation for a camping trip they made beds and stayed outside reading for hours.

We've set up our Christmas tree again this year.  It gets re-decorated every couple of days by the kids which is something I remember doing when I was little.

We were hoping to put together a Christmas card this year....I love getting Christmas cards, but I don't think I have ever managed to actually send one out.  Of all years, living in New Zealand with a new baby I thought this should be the year that it finally happens.  Have you ever tried to take family photos with a 3 year old?  Imagine having two of those wiggly 3 year olds, then add a baby (and a sleepless night), top it off with a freak wind storm at the beach.  Needless to say the photo shot ended with four out of the five of us crying.  I'll let you guess who non-crier was.  I'm still hoping to send out a Christmas card (or at least email out a newsletter), but it is very unlikely to happen before Christmas, so if I don't get to it please know that I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

auckland botanical gardens

We had a free Saturday a couple weeks ago and decided to head down to the Auckland Botanical Gardens as we had never been there.  We were also lucky enough to go during a sculpture exhibit that made it even more interesting. 

Max and Maya feeding the duck in the giant pod.

All of the grounds were beautiful but the most memorable were the Children's Gardens.  They had trails and tunnels for the kids to crawl through, a wobbly bridge, giant dinosaur eggs and animal scultputres.  We even saw a (real) beautiful kereru.  

We finally were able to get some photos of Trent awake while on one of our adventures.

Isn't he sweet?  He really is a happy, smilely baby....even if he doesn't like to sit still or sleep in his bed.

Max and Maya enjoyed pretending like they were returning to the womb.  :)

We have realized lately how much they really do like each other.  When one of them are hungry they don't say-"I'm hungry", they say- "Max and Maya are hungry or Max and Maya want a treat".  We are more likely to hear "Max and Maya want to go out to play" that we are to hear about anything singular that one of them wants.  While there is noting easy about having two three year olds and a five month old baby, I do love how much Max and Maya play together.  The get very involved in their imaginary play, exploring the back yard and pretending to be animal rescuers for hours.  I'm glad they have each other.