Rusted Sun

Monday, May 6, 2013

Auckland museum

Another of our favorite places to visit in Auckland. Wonderful for rainy days. The Auckland Museum.

Our friend Erika came with us!

endless summer

This view from our front porch is one of my favorites. Trent in his bucket. Maya sitting close by. Enjoying the fresh air before bedtime.

Trent liked to use his bath water to water the plants.

eating sugar

Trent has a serious sweet tooth and was thrilled when he found a bag a brown sugar that he was able to get into before I caught him in the act.

He does a great sad face. This is what happened when I took the sugar away.

Such a sweet, sad, sugar face.

Mr T was a bit happier when I gave him a bath in a bucket on the front porch.

Before I was able to clean it all up he went back to check for more.

mauhurangi regional park

Some of the most beautiful parts of Auckland are in the regional parks. Over Christmas we decided to tour as many as we could. We managed to get to 21 of the 26.

zoo trip

The silluette of a kereru in a tree.

Max in his adventure hat.

Trent and Lonnie with an elephant.

Feeding the giraffe. Notice that Max is not wearing shoes, like a good Kiwi kid.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

So behind on all the adventures we have had in the last several months....but Calla asked for this cute photo of her and Max and because our computer is somewhere between Auckland and Salt Lake City our blog is the only place I can access it.

We are going to miss our friends in New Zealand.

Friday, February 8, 2013

moving on up

We can finally confirm that we are moving to Salt Lake City in April. We are sad to leave New Zealand, but we are thrilled to live closer to our family.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

review of 2012

Lonnie put together a slide show of photos from 2012. Don't worry if you can't sit through the whole thing, it provides entertainment for our kids who love nothing better than seeing photos of themselves.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

christmas carnage

December has been a busy month. Max and Maya are now in morning kindergarden (the equivalent of preschool in the US, but with government funding) for 20 hours a week. They love it! I try and stay to help as often as I can, which Trent loves.

With kindy, swimming classes, church and playdates Max and Maya have been worn out lately. We usually have quite time after lunch while Trent sleeps. I snapped this photo when they both feel asleep on the couch the other day.

Max and Maya are very out going. They like meeting new people. They run into kindy with our turning back. They show off whenever new people come over to the house, but they are not performers. The kindergarden had a Pirate themed Christmas gala where the kids were supposed to sing Pohutakawa Tree and Silent Night in Maori. They both refused. I took this photo of Maya while the other kids were preforming. It reminds me that she is still so young and vulnerable.

We had a lovely Christmas. The Dimayas and the Kellys came over on Christmas eve. We dinner, talked and had the kids perform a very quick version of the nativity.

Christmas morning we were worried would be spent all by ourselves, but The Watts came and joined us for brunch. The missionaries stopped by later in the afternoon and we also finished giving out our Christmas treats or caramel corn and fudge.

I love that our kids can be so thrilled by (used) inexpensive gifts, may it always be so.

The best part of Christmas in New Zealand is the amazing weather. Summer Christmas, along with two weeks of mandatory vacation for Lonnie, is wonderful. The warm weather brings everything into full bloom, especially the beautiful red pohutakawa trees.

Monday, December 31, 2012

utah friends

We were so lucky to be able to spend special time with friends and family while we were in Utah.

Oddly, we didn't get any photos of the people we spent the most time with, Laura and Tom and Lynne and Patsy. Thank you for letting us stay in tour homes and dealing with our chaotic life.

We did get photos of some friends.....