A Day in the Life Part II

Soo, I have been trying to post a link to follow me on Instagram on here but it seems to be taking my non-techie mind WAY too long so I decided to just jump back into typing up what's happening (which I can do most of the time).  I left you with the cliff hanger of our Saturday, my perfect day (I know, it was SO exciting) so here we go again...

I think I left you with lunch (om, nom, nom...) and super, super exciting after that, JJ fell completely, totally asleep on the couch.  He began to get cranky when I kept waking him up asking to go to the beach so I finally took the boys outside and played in the secret garden for an hour.  When the hour was up I began bugging the daylights out of JJ again and low and behold, he arose from the couch and took us over to the playground.

We are currently borrowing a car from the most generous of families (until hopefully this Saturday when with everyone's prayers we will find our dream car costing no more than $3500 -- this would make it the most expensive car I have ever paid for) so we had to be taken over in groups.  I took the two bigger AJs while JJ dropped us off and went back for Ma-maw and the little AJ.  I find that this situation just adds more quirk and since we didn't have far to go, it was fantastic!

The playground was INTENSE.  Auckland playgrounds seem to have the sole purpose of freaking out the mamma in the family from what I could tell.  There was this crazy rope thing that you could climb up to a two story "ship", swings that you could bash (as AJ1 says) into other swing riders in a circle, some sort of merry go round with tires that really reminded me more of a ride at a small town festival and the two story, no safety strap having disk, hanging from a second story zip line that my three year old just HAD TO GO DOWN.  He stood in line looking antsy so I was hoping he was chickening out but JJ informed me that "No, he just didn't want to wait!".  I am so in for it with three boys born within three years!

That's my boy

We decided to leave the playground and walk to the beach.  Actually, we just kind of followed JJ as if he were the Pied Piper and all walked at least two miles in the wind pushing umbrella strollers down to Mission Bay (I was a little worried about Ma-Maw but as usual she was a trooper).  I loved it!

Once we were in Mission Bay we had ice cream at Movenpick and played on the playground. When the time came for JJ to take the first batch of us all home he hoofed it back to the car and came back to pick up Ma-maw and the two smallest AJs. It was a great opportunity for AJ1 and I to have a few minutes together on the beach. It was cold by this time and the wind was blowing but we had fun digging in the sand, talking about gravity and finding seashells. AJ1 even did a few song and dance numbers for me while people looked at us like crazy Americans!

Finally, we came home, happily exhausted!

A Day in the Life

So, it's late Sunday afternoon as I write this post but Saturday was exactly as I would like for everyday of my life to be...

I did some online exploring on Friday night to determine the best things for our family to explore on Saturday morning.  I started out getting up at the crack of dawn (6am) and beginning preparations.  We finally made it out at 9 and headed down St. George's Bay Road to the La Cigale French Style Market.  It was a great day for it, cloudy but not windy or raining.  

 When we got there I was immediately in heaven.  I have recently had a serious urge to go back to France so the prospects of anything French were so very exciting to me.  The feeling of this market wasn't exactly French to me but fully European in a way that I have experienced continuously since we arrived (I have been working on that blog but want to make sure I am much more concise when describing my first impressions).  Unfortunately, instead of helping me feel fulfilled of my need to be in France this market only made me long for a European vacation a bit more (Jesse hasn't ever been to Paris and we have a momentous anniversary coming up soonish...)

 Pretty much any kind of foodstuffs you could be after were available at this market and we sampled and savored and filled Trader Joe insulated bags and our strollers to the gills.  Wines, spreads, meats, cheeses, ice cream, growing herbs, loose herbs, coffee and the list goes on (and on and on).

If we're Facebook friends, you probably saw a short, off center video of these two singing. My kids were completely entertained and danced (and so was I and so did I :). There were also Americans serving coffee and it was nice to wander up to a counter and hear a stranger speak in my own accent (okay, maybe not MY accent but US none the less). It's funny how being away from home can make you connect with randoms in a way you never would before. Three weeks ago I might have looked at those coffee servers and wondered if they were ax murderers -- yesterday, I just loved them on sight (well, on hearing).

The boys were entertained by this gentleman who created balloon swords for them.  They could have chosen anything they wanted but were being bashful.  I was reminded by the creator that fear of strangers is a good thing which brings up a point that I may expand on at a later time but Kiwi's are not afraid to parent random children even when random parents are around -- I believe it takes a village but I have been quite caught off guard by this at times.  Anyway, I requested that whatever he made, he made two of the same so they wouldn't fight and he gave them swords to fight with -- clever little man.

I am definitely taking one of these home with me next time -- bacon anything -- ummm, yes! We also saw someone hanging bacon in the front yard on the way home -- it looked pretty earthy. We took tons home (not the earthy stuff) and had a fabulous lunch!!

Saturday, In the Park, I Think It Was the 14th of July...

Let's just start by saying that call works differently here (and shout a huge, Thank God!).  Most UVA residents who are sent to NZ come out of the lab, not junior residency so the hellish years are not as easily recalled as they are for my family.  I'm not complaining but stating a simple fact that while JJ learned to do his thing, the last year or so has been hard on me soooo, JJ being on home call is AH-MAZ-ING!!!  In fact, I found myself becoming an angry middle-aged woman last year but that's another post all together (I know, poor me, my husband has to work hard...).

JJ is on-call all weekend but we had a better family day today than we have had in weeks, I mean months, I mean years (okay, maybe a slight over-statement but you get my point). JJ got up "early" (like 7 am) and went to hospital, came home and we all walked over to the park called Auckland Domain.  The Domain is the oldest park in Auckland and has an interesting history (including being Camp Hale, a US barracks from 1942-1944).  Of course, like everything, it's a volcano...

We had a nice time and I got some photos, nothing incredible, but I'll share at any rate..

AJ1 LOVES to fly kites (and he really is good at it).  Flying a kite is one of the few memories that I have with my dad so I love to indulge this.  We headed to the toy store yesterday and specifically purchased a "pocket kite" to have on hand.  We put it to good use today.

There is so much beauty here, I cannot wait to see what things are like when the weather warms up a little (not that it's really cold here now).

trademe

 Trademe, a Tom Tom and online grocery shopping have really made New Zealand for me so far -- I know, it doesn't sound like it takes much for me but if you were living my life (I hate to admit it, but a little overwhelming at moments in the last few weeks) you would totally appreciate these things as well.  Don't forget, when we moved to New Zealand, we came with clothes, a few laptops and the boys Thomas the Tank Engine figures and tracks (oh, and I smuggled a photo album and some children's books into the mix).  This is 100% absolutely lovely to me and I am not looking to replace all our belongings Kiwi style but we have to have a few things to live and trademe (the online auction site) has saved the day...

Everyone has to have a couch and we were able to find one in Remuera that is chocolate brown, looks good (this is the stock photo from the auction, not mine) and super, super comfy.  If you had been to our house in C-vill before (or Daleville or Greenwood) you would know just how important it is to us to have a comfortable couch!!

We have barstools!  We have a bar so these ended up being a must -- just picked them up tonight (again, these are all stock photos from the actual auctions, I will share how they have come together in our rooms another time (or maybe not :)  

Everyone in our family now has a place to sit at the dining room table -- we even have a seat for Junie!!

Everyone has to have a new breakfast set, yes?  JJ about died when I told him we had to drive clear to the North Shore to get these but, well, I really liked them!!  Truth be told, he does too :)

Ash now has a bed -- trip up to the Hibiscus Coast tonight and we picked this up.  

Finally, I had a moment and totally fell, head over heals in love with these two wool chairs.  they are bright orange and I am sure that they were manufactured before me but I still had to have them (although I had to change the entire vision of the public space of our house for them).  Again, comfy!!!

We have purchased about ten other furniture items that I can think of in addition to our beds which came from the Target furniture store.  I love a bargain so this is all right up my alley!

Anyway, tonight was a real treat for me.  We had to pick up a lot of furniture and needed the space that car seats would have taken up so the boys had to stay at home with Mam-maw while we ran up the coast.  On the way home we had to stop and get milk (I am still learning about how much of what my family needs in this new place).  It was such a fantastic treat to go to the grocery, late(r) at night with my husband.  I adore the grocery but when you have six grabby hands that go with you everywhere, the grocery becomes a chore and not a pleasure anymore, so tonight with just JJ and I to look through the aisles, it was fantastic.  We handled it like the inner 12 year olds we are and brought home ten tons of junk!!  I feel a bit sick now but crisps and chocolate will do that to you!!

Tips for World Travels with (my) Children

I'm back! We aren't all settled in yet but settled enough that I can sit down to write for a moment here and there.  I am going to start at the beginning of our trip and maybe throw in a bit of our month in Indiana here and there...

Now, about travel with the three AJs three and under...I had all kinds of ideas about traveling with the three. I spent months collecting toys they had never seen to distract them from the 32 hours (yes, 32 hours!) of travel.  I collected all of their favorite snacks to feed them during the trek.  I packed bags of diapers and wipes and etc, etc, etc...

NEVER DO ANY OF THAT AGAIN!!

The next time that I travel with the three (although I hope that they are by then three, four and under) here is what I will take...just enough diapers plus two, one extra outfit each (not three), any required food (formula), umbrella strollers and kids.  It still sounds like a lot, doesn't it?  Oh and I would DEFINITELY take car-seats again, they were a pain to lug around LAX but so, so, so helpful!!!

A quick recap of our trip, it went perrrr-fecctly!!  My family, being the absolute best in the entire world gathered at promptly one o'clock in the morning to begin to drive us to the airport.  We loaded a borrowed Dodge Ram truck completely full of suitcases and people (Caley, Junie and the UG) in the extended cab, my grandparents Buick with carseats, AJs, Mam-maw, me and Aunt Nana and headed to Indianapolis.

The awesome people at US Air let Junie and Aunt Nana go back to the gate with us, never charged me a dime for our luggage, were courteous, kind and helpful all the way!  The only thing that they did wrong was to seat all three boys together while seating Mam-maw and I in other areas of the plane.  The woman in front of Atticus (who was remarkable and slept up until the last 10 minutes when he started extending his feet into her seat-back) took her complaints as far as she could in Phoenix and we were all seated together for the Phoenix to LA portion of the trip -- have to love the grumps sometimes!!

In LA we spent the entire day at LAX.  First we got off the plane where someone took pity on me and offered me a cart to strap our five carry-ons, two car-seats and five personal belongings.  I specifically brought bungee cords along in case this opportunity arose (I was super surprised to get these through security and onto the plane but I did, twice)!  We had to go to baggage and collect our bags to re-check them for the overseas portion of the trip (when they told me at Indianapolis that I would have to do this, I LITERALLY started crying - can you say embarrassing?!).  We checked our bags, walked about a mile to another building (with three children and a luggage cart) to get some lunch.  After lunch we went back through security (international this time) and headed to find a quiet gate to wait the next 8 hours (we had already waited for four).  We found a gate, I set up the laptop with DVDs and we took turns walking and running the kids around for eight hours.  This sounds absolutely horrible, especially when you consider that we didn't sleep at all (AT ALL!) the night before but, truth be told, it went quickly and wasn't bad, AT ALL!!

At 9 pm LA time (midnight Indiana time) we lined up to board the plane to Auckland with all the others traveling with children...Standing in line AJ1 fell completely asleep.  We boarded the plane, got everyone situated and AJ2 and I joined AJ1 in slumber before the take-off (I didn't even hear it :).  I woke a few times (DINNER!!, WINE!!, SNACK!!, WINE!! and BREAKFAST) and at one point I had a cup of coffee I had to ask them to take away because I was falling asleep with it in my hands, but for the most part we ALL slept almost the entire way to Auckland (in fact, AJ1 didn't wake until the plane landed!!).  Piece of cake!

Here's the best part...for some reason, the flight attendants LOVED us (seriously as in fell in total love with my entire crew) and literally whisked us through customs and immigration.  Less than ten minutes after de-planing I was in a hired car headed for my new home.  I have had this be a two hour experience with a carry-on and no children so this was Ah-mazing to me!!   Air New Zealand was the bomb!  Comfortable, kind, helpful, absolutely the best of the best!!  Fantastic way to be welcomed to Auckland!

I'd do it again in a heat-beat as soon as I get over the jet-lag!

Packing took a whole room!

The crew getting started.

Say cheese at 1:30 am -- great kids!!

Back of the full size truck bed filled with suitcases!!

LA to Auckland!!