Lynne and Patsy visit NZ

For the past three weeks, we had a wonderful visit from Lonnie's parents, Lynne and Patsy.  This was the first opportunity they had to visit us in New Zealand because they had been on an LDS mission until late last year.  We were so happy to have them come see us and spend three weeks here.

As part of their visit, we spent two weeks traveling across New Zealand.  We covered a lot of territory and got worn out with travel (especially the kids, mom, and grandma), but we enjoyed spending time together and got to see a good portion of this beautiful country.  I will have separate posts about the trip, but I wanted to start with some random photos from the visit (between 3 digital cameras we took over 1,000 photos during the three weeks, so there are plenty of photos to share).

Playing on the top of Mt Victoria near our home in Auckland

Patsy, Alisa, and the kids at Mt Victoria with Auckland in the background

All of us after our cruise on Milford Sound

Getting ready for bedtime at one of the holiday homes from the trip

Swing bridge in Mt Aspiring National Park

Looking down at Wellington

Very cool playground toy at Wellington Botanical Gardens

Lynne and Patsy took Maya and Max to Auckland Museum

Maya and Max (with pillows for padding) wrestling with Lynne

Somehow we got everyone to look at the camera in this one 

There was a lot of hand holding during the trip

Walking path at Punakaiki

fay

There are moments in parenting that make all the hard and mundane parts worthwhile.  I had one of those moments a few weeks ago and I want to make sure to record it.

We have a woman in our ward who is deaf.  Her name is Fay. She doesn't always come to church and when she does she doesn't always stay very long.  Her communication is limited to the two people in the ward to know sign language and the few more who go out of their way to say hello.  Fay also happens to work as a stocker at the local grocery store.  When we run into her at the store the kids and I try and use our very limited sign language skills to say hello and communicate a bit with her.  We don't speak New Zealand sign language, which is different from American sign language, we only know very limited American Sign language learned from watching "Baby Signing Time".  Even so, Max and Maya started looking forward to seeing Fay at the grocery store and using some of their signs.

I ran into Fay at the grocery store shortly after Christmas.  With out limited communication I understood that she had spent Christmas alone as her brother was out of town.  Knowing we were going to have the missionaries over for dinner on New Years day I asked her to join us.  Fay wasn't at church on New Year's morning so I wasn't sure if she would arrive for dinner, but thankfully she did.  We ended up having 10 people over for dinner that night.   I tried to write notes to Fay during dinner keep her involved in the conversation but I still worried a bit that she had felt left out.

The next Sunday at church after the sacrament was passed Maya saw Fay sitting in the front row of the chapel across from her sign language interpreter.  Maya asked if she could go and sit with her.  I told her it would be alright as long and she could sit quietly, which is a hard task for a three year old.  Cautiously Maya walked to the front of the chapel, with a book under her arm, and wiggled in next to Fay.  I saw a big smile come across Fay's face.  Amazingly Maya stayed there for the rest of the meeting sitting quietly while drawing in her book.

I doubt Maya and Max understands what it means to be deaf.  I'm quite sure Maya doesn't know that Fay doesn't hear when she talks.  But what she does know is that it no one likes to sit by themselves during church.  She also knows how to be a friend, which makes me so proud to me her mother.

super mom skill #1

I have honed a lot of skills as a parent.  One skill which can sometimes come as a mixed blessing is the ability to smell and recognize a poopy bottom.  Yes, ability to recognize a stinky nappy is one of my super-mom skills.
When, the twins, Max and Maya were young I could walk into the room and know immediately which one was stinky.  Don't ask me how I would know, it was just a super-mom skill.  I also make milk.  I have several super powers.

Having Trent has further refined this skill.  The other day I was driving to the beach with a car full of kids when all of the sudden I knew that Trent had filled his shorts.  I pulled over the car to give him a change.  Not even the teenager sitting right next to him had any idea.

Trent has recently started eating solids (a post for another day) which has turned his not-so-smelly-almost- sweet-smelling breastmilk nappies into stink bombs.

Unfortunately all my abilities to recognize a stinky nappy does not exempt me from having to also change and dispose of those monstrosities.  But, a short while ago I volunteered to review the Munchkin Nappy Disposal System.  I figured with a baby in nappies full time and two three year olds who still wear nappies at night time we will be disposing of a lot of nappies in the coming months.

We keep the nappy bin in the laundry room, because that is where it fits best and I honestly can't smell stinky nappies when I enter the room, which is amazing.

Another beniefit to the nappy disposal system is that Max and Maya think it is cool to help throw away nappies.  I don't even have to ask twice (which is doesn't happen often with 3 year olds) and they are happy put them in to the cool nappy bin that makes nappies disappear.

The nappy bin doesn't go through bags as often as I thought it might.  I was a bit worried that I would quickly have to buy new refills.   It is easy to remove and replace the bag.  I also love that the full bag clips shut further containing the smell even when it is out of the bin.

Now if they could just figure out a way to keep me from having to smell the nappy while changing it.  :)

muriwai

I am WAY behind on blogging all the adventures we have had the last few weeks. Having Lonnie home for two weeks means more adventures, less house cleaning and much less me time.  I don't mind at all.   So I will just jump ahead to today and catch up next week.   

One of the biggest benefits of living in New Zealand is that Lonnie is given 4 weeks of vacation rather than the 2 weeks he had when we lived in the States.  Lonnie's office has been closed since December 23rd and opens again on January 9th.  I have had two whole weeks of 24 hour help at home.  We didn't plan any trips over the holidays.  We just stayed home but we live in New Zealand so even staying home is amazing....we explored local parks, went the beach, climbed a volcano, worked on getting Trent to sleep longer at night, etc.   

While we didn't finish half the things I had on my honey do list.  Still, I have decided that I really, really, really love having two parents at home all the time.  If by some strange chance we are ever independently wealthy I've decided we maintain a modest lifestyle and have two full time parents.  I don't need or want a huge beautiful home, clothes and cars.  But I would love to have Lonnie home with us all day.  I can dream right? 

Unfortunately today is Saturday, and after tomorrow we return to our normal life.  But yesterday was Friday and after nap time we decided to go for a 45 min drive out to Muriwai.  We had planned to go for a hike but after realized we had chosen the long, steep, mosquito-ridden path we changed our minds and went to the beach.  

Muriwai is a black sand beach with sand dunes (or sand dudes as our kids like to call them), beautiful picnic and campgrounds and a playground.  Also just a short walk up the hill is an amazing gannet colony.

I am quite proud this chubby baby.  I love his snap-on wrists.

Max can never get just a little bit wet, he always ends up soaking.  He should just live in his swimming togs.

The view from above the beach.

This view really don't do the nesting grounds justice.  It felt like we were taking a peek into National Geographic.

Max and Maya, filthy from rolling around in the black sand, stopped on the trail to the gannet colony to look for animal tracks.

hobsonville point park

We spend a lot of time at parks.  Thankfully there are many great here in New Zealand, many of which also in prime locations with fantastic views.  We have been very impressed with the quality of parks we have happened upon.  

A few months ago there was an article in the New Zealand Herald about the top playgrounds in Auckland.  We have decided to test these playgrounds out for ourselves.

Hobsonville Pt
Buckley Ave

pakiri

We took a camping trip with our friends Jordan and Andy.  We didn't take many photos, but thankfully Andy and Jordan did.  Along with being great photographers, Jordan and Andy are adventurers. They kayak, sail, rock climb....you name it they have probably done it.   

Max and Maya were thrilled to go camping.  Their most recent obsession is Go Diego Go!.  They spend hours going on adventures in our garden and exploring at Playcentre.  We also recently read a book about a zebra that goes to camp, which prompted the kids to constantly ask when they were going to camp.  

We stayed at a holiday park which made the camping trip much easier than I thought it might have been.  Instead of camping on the dirt we camped on grass so we didn't even get very dirty.  We were within walking distance of the beach.  There was also great playground for the kids, which they loved.    Even though there were very few people staying at the camp ground we happened to be at the same place as some good friends of ours from church (New Zealand really is a small world).

My one photo for the blog....Andy, Maya and Max blowing up the kayak.

Some of Jordan and Andy's amazing photos....

Trent takes his kayaking very seriously.

The water in the river leading out to the ocean was pretty shallow.  So Jordan and I walked while Max and Maya paddled.  

Other than sleeping (or not sleeping) in a tent the thing Max and Maya liked best was climbing up the sand dunes.

I love this photo of Max.  He looks so happy and full of joy, ready to explore the world.

We even managed to get a family photo.  Most of us are in our swimming clothes (togs).  Lonnie has a stain on his shirt.  The boys aren't looking at the camera, but we look pretty happy which is pretty impressive given that Andy said that getting photos of our kids was harder than photographing a wombat.

hi, i'm trent tane

I'm still behind on our blogging, but I wanted to share these photos I took of Trent the other day...

Trent is such a happy, wiggly and chubby baby.  He is so strong that he almost jumps out of my arms in an effort to be involved anything that his brother and sister are doing. He has gotten very good at sitting up which thankfully slowed his desire to crawl, but he still managed to get half way across the family room this morning.  

He still isn't sleeping through the night consistently which is hard on me (and in turn on Lonnie and the kids too).  Thankfully I do manage to get all three kids down for a nap at the same time most days, which helps me get through the day.  When I am overwhelmed and tired all I really need to do to get by is pick up this beautiful boy, let him grab my face and cover me with his slobbery kisses, and remember that the time will pass much too quickly.

motat tram

Still two weeks behind on my blogging....

We had some extra time while running an errand in the city the other day so we stopped by the Museum of Transportation and Technology and took a quick ride on the tram.  We didn't have time to go into the museum but the kids had fun riding on the tram.  It was free for under 5, as are most activities in New Zealand, and we take full advantage of this having three kids under 5 years old.  So for $2 all four of us were able to ride the tram.

That morning I decided to cut Max's hair.  It was getting long and starting to fall into his face.  He was having a hard time sitting still so I decided to buzz it with the clippers.  I didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but to be honest I was a little heart broken with the result.  He lost his little boy hair and now looks like a big boy.  Thankfully he doesn't seem to mind at all and it should grow out in a couple months.

btw...Trent was with us too, in the front carrier, as always.