We took a fun family hike with our friend Saryah on the Mercer Bay Loop in Waitakere Regional Park out to the west of Auckland. Saryah is from Texas and came to stay with us a couple times while she was spending 7 months on a working holiday in New Zealand. We enjoyed hearing about Saryah's adventures of travelling around NZ and working at organic farms during her 7 months here. We also took advantage of having another adult to help us with the kids on the hike.
The hike is pretty easy for adults and a bit more challenging for kids, which made it just about right for us. The track follows the coast with stunning views from cliffs overlooking the Tasman Sea. With the name Mercer Bay, we should have done this hike sooner, but it was well worth it once we got there. I have commented many times that NZ has enough beautiful bays and beaches that they could almost have one for every family. So it's nice that we have our name on one!
All of us together...Maya even wanted to bring her doll on her back.
Looking at the photo, it's kind of crazy to think that this is just 30 minutes from downtown Auckland.
Overlooking the Tasman Sea, which is between NZ and Australia.
Trent rode in the baby backpack for most of the track, but he wanted to talk some too. At 1 year old, he probably walked 300-400 meters (almost a quarter mile).
I remember when Max and Maya were born people told me to time would go by quickly, but to be honest it didn't. The first year of their lives seems like an eternity. Maybe it was because there were two of them. Maybe it was because, due to staying awake all night long, it actually took two years time to get through just one year. Maybe it was because I was taking a crash course in motherhood and still grapelling to hold on to a piece of my life before having children. Whatever it was, the first year of Max and Maya's life felt like forever.
Yet, somehow I find myself one of those people, the ones that say their baby grew up so quickly that before they knew it the first year was gone. The past year of Trent's life has flown by. I still can't believe he is one year old. He still has the delicious cheeks and the chub of an infant, but for as long as he has been able to has tried to keep up with his older brother and sister. He was born a strong baby. Started rolling over at three months, crawling at six and walking at nine. At one year old he runs. He backs down the long stair case. He gets into everything. He climbs on top of chairs.....
I haven't gracefully taken on the role of mother the way I thought I would, especially the infant stage. I don't do well with lack of sleep. While Trent has always enjoyed sleeping, he hasn't been very good at staying asleep. He didn't sleep through the night regularly until he was 9 months old....and even now there are nights that he wakes up in the night. The only thing that will ever put him back to sleep is breastfeeding. Thankfully he is quick and I enjoy the snuggle, knowing that this time will pass quickly.
Trent is inquisitive. He likes to get into cupboards, bags, toys, drawers, an open dishwasher, the toilet, and anything else that seems interesting. He bolts for any open door, especially when it is one leading outdoors. He likes to look at books and seems to want to turn the pages himself more than let someone else turn the pages for him. He loves to laugh and is a great dancer. I wish I had half of his energy and maybe even a quarter of his determination. He has this funny little angry streak that pops up when he doesn't get something that he wants (like a closed cupboard)...as if to let you know that he is in charge and you shouldn't get in his way. More than anything he loves his brother, sister, dad and especially his mom.
Sweet Trent Tane, we are so glad to have you as part of our family.
We were lucky enough to receive a quick visit from two girls, Natasha and Saryah, we knew in our ward in Katy, Texas. Max and Maya love visitors, but when they heard that we would have visitors from Texas, knowing that was were they were born, they were thrilled.
We always enjoy sharing our love of New Zealand with visitors, it never fails to impress. Here are some photos they took while they spent the day with us.
Thanks for coming to visit! Thank you for leaving a bit of Texas! Thanks for the photos!
Living in New Zealand means that we get the Queen's Birthday as a holiday. New Zealand was even kind enough to give us a beautiful and sunny day. Thank you New Zealand. Thank you Queen Elizabeth. Happy Jubilee Year!
We were joined on our adventure by our friends the Dimayas and the Pearsons. Karekare is not far from Piha, along the rugged west coast, about 45 mins from Auckland. Karekare is located down a much narrow and windy road. There weren't as many people at the beach as there are at popular Piha, and the black sandy beach was much wider, allowing the kids to wander around and explore.
We started out with a picnic on the grass before following the fresh water stream out to the beach.
Bryn and Maya
Bryn making sand angels with Bryn.
Trent exploring the beach. He has switched from walking to running.
I have no doubt that every mother says this, but I can't believe my babies are four years old. While the past four years have gone by quickly I almost can't remember my life before I was a mother.
The week before their fourth birthday Max and Maya started afternoon kindergarden. Kindergarden in New Zealand is more like pre-school in the States. It is focused on play and is located at a separate location from the school. For three days a week Max and Maya get dropped for 2 1/2 hours. I almost don't know what to do with myself and the few times we have been home and not our running errands Trent wanders around the house looking for his brother and sister and squawking. Max and Maya are loving kindergarden. Maya is quick to make new friends and Max is thrilled with all the new toys.
We are still attending Playcentre three days a week. I have duty once a week, Trent comes with me and he loves it!
Max and Maya's biggest facination these day is with Lego. My mom and I both got them some for Christmas. We added to them for their birthday and they are a constant source of entertainment.
On the Saturday before their birthday we all went to the Auckland Zoo and got Zoo memberships. Max has already started writing a letter to the zoo keepers asking all sorts of questions. They are going to have to deal with a very demanding client. He wants to know why there are no camels and when the snake enclosures will be done with their remodel.
Max and Maya's birthday feel on a Monday. We went to Playcentre where Trent and I stay for my duty day. The kids at PC all made muffins for Max and Maya's birthday and everyone sang to them. It was a nice way to spend the morning together.
In the afternoon we had some of Max and Maya's
favorite friends, Jayde and Luka over for a play. Their mom Diana made it into a little party by brining lollies and chips.
That evening we ordered pizza and made fruit skewers.
Max and Maya requested that that each have their own cake. Max's was a giraffe cake and Maya's a flamingo cake. To make the dinner extra special we all wore dress ups.
The next day at kindy Max and Maya each received a card and got to sit up in front of the class.
Trent thinks he is big enough to start kindy too and tries to get into as much as he can when we go to pick up his big brother and sister.
Max and Maya were featured on a blog today. Check them out.....
After beautiful Kaiteriteri and Abel Tasman, we got back on the road and drove to Picton to catch the Interislander ferry to the North Island, arriving in Wellington. We had been to Picton on a trip almost two years ago, but on that trip we had flown to nearby Blenheim. This time, our plan was to take the ferry to get to the North Island. Picton is a little town with a port situated on the Marlborough Sounds, which is an area of inlets, peninsulas, and islands.
From Picton, the ferry travels through the Marlborough Sounds and across Cook Strait to get to Wellington. We ended up with fair weather for the Cook Strait crossing, where the seas are often rough. The ferry takes about 3 hours to cross, and rather than a small ferry boat, you travel on a large ship that is important to transport and cargo shipping between the two islands. The ferry has a big playground for kids and many levels to explore, so it was a great way to travel with young kids.
In Wellington, we spent two nights in a great holiday house with a decent view of Wellington Harbour. We spent parts of two days exploring Te Papa museum, which is New Zealand's national museum and is spectacular! We really loved Te Papa and could have spent many more hours there. We also took a cable car ride up to the botanical gardens, which have a wonderful view of Wellington City. While at the gardens, we enjoyed the kids playground.
After a couple great days in Wellington, we were ready to put the close on our trip. I caught a 1 hour flight home to Auckland with Trent. We planned my flight all along because we thought best to make the last part of the trip quicker for Trent. Fortunately, I made a flight in the morning, despite making an incorrect booking for 12 hours later than what I thought I was booking (I blamed my mistake on sleep deprivation).
Everyone else jumped back in the minivan and made the rest of the journey by road. Because Max and Maya were tired of car travel, we got them some toys (some of which were early birthday presents from Lynne and Patsy) to help them endure the rest of the drive. They drove 5-6 hours the first day and spent the night in Rotorua. Then they drove another 4-5 hours (counting a few sightseeing side trips) to get back to Auckland. We had a fabulous trip and were ready to be home again. Lynne and Patsy enjoyed another few days with us in Auckland before catching a flight to Australia where they spent another 3 weeks before flying back to Utah.
On a short hike on Queen Charlotte Sound.
Map showing the ferry route.
Patsy on the flying fox, which is what they call a zip line in NZ. Flying foxes are very common to see at playgrounds in NZ.
Maya with her new toy baby that she named "Baby Lollipop".
Modern styled Maori marae (meetinghouse) at Te Papa.
We had two goals for the trip: (1) spend a lot of time with Lynne and Patsy and show them some great parts of NZ and (2) see parts of NZ that we hadn't seen yet. The second goal took us to see the western and northern portions of the South Island, which required quite a bit of driving. Lonnie loves driving the roads in NZ because the views are beautiful and traffic tends to be light. The downside to NZ highways is that it takes longer to cover distance because speed limits top out at 60 miles/hour and you end up going slower in mountainous regions (like the South Island) where roads slowly wind their way.
When we arrived in the north end of the South Island, we had been traveling for 9 days and stayed in 5 different holiday homes or motels. We tried to break up the travel by not having to drive more than 4-6 hours in a day, but we underestimated driving times for a couple days. We probably overestimated the ability of Maya and Max to comfortably travel this much. They are really good at traveling in the car, but at this point they were ready to stay in one place for a few days. Our stay in Kaiteriteri, where we stayed three nights, worked well for a slowdown in the travel schedule. The holiday home that we rented in Kaiteriteri was perfect with plenty of space for all of us and kid toys for Maya and Max. They were thrilled to play with toys hang out at the house.
Kaiteriteri is a little beach resort near Abel Tasman National Park. Kaiteriteri has beautiful golden sand beaches, and you can catch cruises out of Kaiteriteri to Abel Tasman, which is really popular because it has a backpacking trail that can be done on foot or sea kayak.
For the first week of the trip, we had seen a fair share of rainy, coolish weather. Moving north, we were hoping for some warmer weather, and the forecast gave us some hope. Unfortunately, the weather didn't warm up a lot, and the water at the beach was chilly. We also ended up with some rough seas when we did the ocean cruise along Abel Tasman. We had planned on a couple hours of hiking in Abel Tasman, but with the rough weather, Lynne and Patsy offered to take Maya and Max back to the holiday home to play with toys (Max was desperate to just play). It worked out perfectly for Lonnie and me because we jumped off the boat and had a little date hike with Trent in tow. We walked along a short stretch of the Abel Tasman Track. Trent was perfectly content to be in his sling, and we enjoyed the beautiful views.
Maya and Max at the beach in Kaiteriteri.
Lonnie with the kids at the beach.
After Lonnie got in the cold water, Lynne got up the courage and swam for a bit. Patsy and I just dipped our toes in.
Sunbathing after their brief swim.
Max was so happy to have play time.
More play time.
View of the estuary from the holiday home.
Maya and me in the estuary at low tide.
Getting on the ferry to Abel Tasman.
Split Apple Rock.
One of the bays along Abel Tasman National Park.
Beach in Abel Tasman.
View from Abel Tasman Track.
On our date hike.
An estuary along the Abel Tasman Track. This little spot was beautiful!
Trent slept for a good bit of our hike. He really likes to sleep in the sling.
