Chugging along

The posts are slowing down now as we prepare to take our first international trip as a family. As if packing for a baby wasn't enough we also have to haul out our winter gear to pack for a completely opposite season. This is further complicated by the fact that I have to try on all of the winter gear that was packed away because I haven't worn my "normal" winter clothes in 2 years due to the belly bump and although I'm officially at my pre-baby weight, thing's ain't where they used to be. Ah, good times.

In the meantime, Richie's becoming a very adept eater and his menu now includes kumera, pumpkin, carrot, apples, apricot, avocado and baby rice. He's looking forward to trying some new things in the US but most of all he hopes the water tastes better. He's not a fan of water in the sippy cup. Even though it's pure NZ spring water.

in bloom

Since most of the US has been suffering from winter storms lately, I thought I'd let you know what the weather is producing in our neck of the woods...lots of gorgeous flowers. Here's just some of the flowers currently in bloom.

Although I do have hydrangea and calla lillies blooming in my own garden, I don't quite have this quantity. These gorgeous bunches came from one of Paul's patients. He came come with literally a bucket of blooms just before Christmas! 

Happy New Year

As some of you may know, New Zealand is the first major country to see the rising sun each day and hence, the new year each year. This year we marked Richie's first new year celebration at the beach with a lot of other like-minded Kiwis. Richie even dipped his feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time to celebrate (ok, totally not his idea, and he screamed because the water was cold). Note, in these pictures that this is the most crowded I have ever seen a beach in NZ. Quite often we have the entire beach to ourselves but Christmas and New Year's are traditionally spent at the beach and hence the proliferation of beach umbrellas and sun shelters (Essential beach gear due to that old hole in the ozone above NZ, thanks again to all those Aqua Net users in the 80's for that).

But Richie did get a kick out of the warm sand.