the local swimming hole

December 22nd and perfect BBQ weather: low humidity, 20 degrees and a slight breeze

picture with Santa

Ella was all smiles until it was time to sit beside Santa and have her photo taken

townhouse pics now with our junk, too!!

Ella gets to bathe in a big bathtub every night now. As a special treat the other night, I made her a bubble bath for the first time

Ella's playroom.
She just loves it!




The living room. This place is big enough for me to have a chair just for breastfeeding the new baby. They even made a kids version (although without the color options) so Ella can sit beside me

The kitchen






Our bedroom






The new baby's room

Santa's picnic at Inspiration Lake

We organized a picnic at Inspiration Lake near Disneyland for Ella and her friends. It was complete with Secret Santa gifts, the man in red himself and even catered with a turkey!



Ollie's Dad was Santa






Bella gets a gift






Ella's turn







Ella and Ollie playing with their gifts




More gifts? Everyone was given 2.




Thank you Santa






Ella in big sister mode giving Pippa some water




Ella's best friend Ollie

Disneyland

Buzz Lightyear!







Ella blowing kisses to the RCMP at It's a Small World




Big Momma in the Disney snow









The Xmas parade. It was so cool, they even had fake snow fluttering around

This picture is actually from the visit before where we sat in on a drawing session where we learned how to draw Donald Duck

decorating the gingerbread house






Wow!






Sadly the same day the humidity got the better of the thin cheap cookie house. The roof got soft and fell in the middle


Our first real tree in HK. We had to buy a lot more decorations!!

Ella's Big Sister bed







AKA someone else needs my crib.

multitasking

Does anyone even care about the rest of our New Zealand trip? Clearly I have moved on...
Here is Ella talking to her Daddy while eating spaghetti

"What are you talking about, Daddy? Of course I am being good for Mommy"


"Yah yah yah"






I see Mommy do this all the time. No problem. It's easy





"Cheese!!"

The sweetass birthday cake I made for Suds.
I'm basically a cake rockstar.

Day # 7 - Kristan and Rob!

Early morning start towards the ferry. So early all the yummy wineries had yet to open. Here we are with the vines at Cloudy Bay


The ferry to the North Island







Every time we are on a ferry, Suds attempts to re-create my ferry picture from when I was a child





A rainy day in Wellington





Cute waterfront homes in Wellington





Photo op in the cute town of Shannon





Almost there.....





We made it to Palmerston North and Kristan, Rob and Keira.
Dinner was waiting for us, yummy spaghetti!

Here is Ella at her last day at Baby Buddies. We brought a cake to celebrate

Day #6- Nelson

See the large sculpture hanging off the building? It is a sandfly, like a mosquito. They were crazy on the West Coast. In no time flat they could have you covered in bites and begging for death to escape the itch. No laughing matter.

One of Ella's top 10 things to do...feed animals! These were at the sandfly place. It was the Twillight Zone here. It was run by an oddball hippie hunter with taped together glasses. He seemed to survive hunting possum and eating them. His store was full of handicrafts made from animal parts and handwritten signs taped to everything. He also had a collection of letters he had written to people and their replies, the theme of which were insults disguised as humor.
























Another pitstop to look at a waterfall. Another chance for the sandflies to try to drain all my blood


New Zealand is full of one lane crossings. You'll be driving along full speed and BAM! you'll have to yield to oncoming traffic at a one lane bridge thing. This one was special because the train tracks. Always yield to a train!


The town of Nelson. Cute town but crap options for camping. Had a very yummy pub meal here so thankfully we were fully re-charged for campground scouting. It had been a hard day on the road with Ella and I REALLY
wanted a drink. Like really bad. Can't wait till I can resume drinking to ease the pain

Tomorrow we leave the South Island behind and take the ferry to the North