Day Thirteen and Fourteen: Taupo to Auckland

Man Boo and I were quickly coming to grips with the fact that our vacation was rapidly coming to a close.  There was a lot to see on the North Island, but we opted to call some audibles on our itinerary and re-routed ourselves a bit so that we could go to Waitomo Caves (glowworms!) and then do an ultra-touristy trip to Hobbiton.

I couldn't take pictures while we were in Waitomo Caves for obvious reasons (it needs to be super-dark in there to appreciate the glowworms) but here's a professional picture so that you can get the idea. It was like that, but less blue.

This ended up being another one of my trip favorites.  It was a very touristy thing to do, but it's popular for a reason.  It's pretty spectacular.  At one point we were floating down an underground river in pitch darkness, we turn a corner and suddenly GLOWWORMS. 

 In the same vein, Hobbiton was also surprisingly fun. For most of the trip we hadn't planned on going, but as we started getting closer to it, Jamie started to mention that we could try it. It wasn't until we missed out on a chance to go on Day 12 (they were sold-out) and Jamie was genuinely disappointed, that we realized that we needed to get there before we flew back,  Just think about all of the campy pictures we would have missed out on!

For those who don't know (I'm looking at you mom and dad), Hobbiton is a movie set used in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. It was built as a temporary set for the LOTR and when they went back to rebuild it for the Hobbit, the farmer upon whose land it was located stipulated that they must build it to be more permanent and maintain it.  A savvy farmer.  So now it's a fully-functioning farm (mostly for sheep/wool) and a cash cow (no pun intended) of a tourist attraction. 

(It's Bag End!)

(Sam's house...and also the final shot of the entire LOTR trilogy)

As a little bonus, the ticket included a free pint at The Green Dragon so we enjoyed a nice drink and a scone to finish out our mini-adventure.

Then, we had to pack up our things (including several boxes of Tim Tams) and headed to Auckland to catch an evening flight back home. Three things I learned from this trip:

1) New Zealand has such fascinating geological history. It was originally part of Gondwana Land so parts of the South Island looked just like the rainforests of South America. But, at the same time, the huge tectonic shifts created these big mountains and it's far enough south that it can get quite cold.  So you'll have rainforest-like jungle juxtaposed with snow-covered mountains in the same view.  

2) New Zealand only has one truly native mammal which is a type of bat. Most of the other quintessential New Zealand fauna are birds because they somehow made the journey to New Zealand thousands and thousands of years ago from elsewhere. Many of those birds (like the now extinct Moa and the Kiwi) became flightless after a time on New Zealand since there were no mammalian predators.  The only reason the bat survived as a native mammal was because at some point, New Zealand was largely underwater which wiped out most of the land-based mammals that originally lived on the New Zealand chunk of Gondwana.

3) It was way harder to get my head on straight coming back from New Zealand than it was flying to New Zealand. We left Auckland on Saturday evening, but got back to San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.  For the next two weeks, I kept on thinking we were a day ahead.

And of course, the best way to end a trip across the world is to have a layover in San Francisco to see the family...

(Riley showing Tio the new hammock)

While the nieces didn't seem fazed by the beard Tio had sprouted after almost two weeks, I kind of liked it...

Maximum Cuteness.

About this time, everyone has written about their year -- reflecting on the highs and lows.  I have so much to catch up on, I'd rather just share some of the memories from the past week.

Starting with these two...

Can you believe how much they have grown??  Can you believe how beautiful they are???  The picture cannot capture how smart, sweet, and hilarious they are so just trust me when I say they are pretty incredible 6 year-olds.

Of course, we capture a lot of video during our holiday with the family.  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to edit it together yet -- stay tuned.

In California, we were busy with our families, eating good food, enjoying our gifts, and sharing quality time with our loved ones.  We even had time to take a quick trip to Big Bear for some skiing!  

We headed back in to "chilly" Minneapolis last night and woke up bright and early to pick up little Clyde.

Our little service dog-in-training has been a great addition to our household so far.  He's super-smart -- he already gets that outside is for potty and has consistently gone within 10 seconds of us taking him out.  The frigid cold air may have something to do with that, though. We also hear that he already sleeps through the night.  Time will tell.

He doesn't quite seem to get how dog beds are supposed to work yet, but I'll chalk it up to first day fatigue.

Happy New Year everyone...

Last Month, Tonight.

I'm so out of practice with this blog thing.  Here's a quick recap of the last month...

Los Angeles.  When we left off, I was in LA doing work during the day and spending quality time with my parents at night.  We even made a trip to Las Vegas over the weekend for a mini-vacation and to take advantage of a free room with a Las Vegas-y view.

Thanksgiving.  After a quick trip back to Minneapolis, I hopped back on a plane for LA again...this time for Thanksgiving festivities.  Managed to pull off a pretty tasty Thanksgiving together with the whole family.  Man Boo came through with the brave and skilled lowering of the turkey into blazing hot oil...

...and 56 minutes later we had a delicious spread.

As usual, it was great to be with family.  Of course, we played a Calvinball-esque version of ping pong.  Needless to say, Man Boo lost 318 to 0.

Got older and baked a lot.  Flew through Minneapolis to get to Boston for work the next day and celebrated another year of life.  Never mind that I totally forgot how old I was turning.  That's what happens once you pass thirty...Upon coming back home I immediately set out to BAKE for our annual holiday/birthday party the next day.  I think I made enough cookies.

Clockwise from left: glazed lemon cookies, sweet and spicy nuts, chocolate crinkle cookies, and peanut butter blossoms.  I should note that this is not even half of the cookies I baked.  Jamie insisted that I bake 142 peanut butter blossoms because apparently every single person at our party would want one or two.  That, folks, is how much I love my husband.

Work, work, work.  Throughout all this has been some really busy work time.  Still loving the job, but it's sort of kicking my butt these days.  After weekly travel for the last month and a half, I really enjoyed my first full weekend at home and am looking forward to my first full week here too.  Minneapolis has been accommodating by giving us some 50 degree weather.  

Next post: PUPPY UPDATE!!

Mother Goose with Leah and Riley.

Wanna see what I was doing last weekend??

You're welcome.

Snow Day Chores.

So the snow dance had a delayed effect and our snow day was today!  I have an unhealthy obsession with snow, and I had been tracking this particular storm for the past week or so.  At the beginning, there was a pretty small chance that it would actually come together enough to drop snow over DC...something about the two fronts having to "thread a needle" to create a perfect situation.

Then, as time passed, all the various weather models started going crazy and weather people just started throwing up their hands and fluctuating between a bunch of snow, and no snow.

In the end, we had THUNDERSNOW which is something of a "chupacabra" (as in legendary) in the weather world.  I heard a couple rumbles, although I didn't see the lightning.  For a while there, snow was coming down so fast.  Our school let out at regular time since the storm hadn't hit by the time we had to make the call -- my weather nerdiness knew that it was supposed to hit right a dismissal so I was panicked about the thought of driving home in it all day.  As admin, I should have been staying until the last student left, but I had a shining beacon of hope.  Our school consultant was at our school that day, and I usually drive her to the hotel after her visits...fortunately, she needed the ride and my kind, sweet, understanding boss let me take her.

While I felt so guilty leaving with the students when I knew that some staff was going to have to hang tight for 15 more minutes, as soon as I hit the road I was thankful. I was slipping all over the place and the storm had just started.  Half an hour later and the roads looked like this: (sorry for the foul language in the commentary...it was the only video I could find on YouTube that had a street near my home in it.)

It took me over an hour to drive what usually takes about 12 minutes.  I was one of the lucky ones...We had some teachers who left at 4:15pm and didn't get home until past midnight.  DC is just not equipped for snow.

So, in risking life and limb for this Snow Day, I figured I should make the most of it.  Slept in.  Big workout.  Caught up on some work.  Made this long overdue video:

Adventures in Cancun.

It's shameful (again) how lame I've been at updating.  I feel like I should do one of those daily posting things to make up for it, but then I realized that that would be largely boring for anyone who reads it.  My life these days consists of little more than work and sleep.  It sounds worse than it is...since I like work and all.

First things first, I know I promised an update on my winter break -- sorely out-of-date, I know, but since pictures of my nieces are timeless...

Here they are on Christmas Eve after they donned their fancy (and crazy-expensive-for-toddler-clothes) dresses.  The first thing they did when they put them on was twirl.  It totally brought me back to my days as a little girl when I would put on my pink taffeta "twirling dress".  I absolutely loved wearing that thing and kept on wearing it long after it was ratty, too small, etc.  Still, I would wear it and hide it so my mom couldn't throw it away.  Alas, one day I came home from school and found out that my mom was using it to mop the floor.  Tough love.

Jamie and I got in to LA and got spend some time with the Jamie-side of the family.  It was wonderful to spend some time with everyone again -- and to see all of the changes they had been making to the house.  After spending so many days in high school at their house, I have so many great memories there -- it's nice to know that even with all of the changes being made, it still feels like "home".

After a pretty delicious Christmas Eve dinner (thanks, Mom!) we tore open the presents and watched the girls play with their new treasures.  Lots of books and new toys.  In the end, I think they did enjoy the puppet theater that we got them...at least more than the puppets we got them. 

I don't know that they were clear on the concept that the puppets were supposed to go in the puppet tent.

At the crack of dawn we headed to LAX and made the trip to Cancun, Mexico.  I sat next to Leah and was therefore reading a nice little rotation of books for a good portion of the flight. I have since memorized Something from Nothing as I read that particular book several times as Leah gleefully pointed out "Joseph" on every page.

Heaven blue water, swimming, trampolines, beach, and one killer view from our balcony awaited us in Cancun.

So much fun!  Jamie and I did make the trip over to Chichen Itza one day too...

 Those Mayans were short.

 In the end, it was a really restful vacation for Jamie and I (don't know that I can say the same for my brother and sister-in-law).  Did I mention that the rooms had a giant jacuzzi in the middle of the room overlooking the ocean?  It did.  Also, the minibar was free.  Tequila every night!  (Not really.  Jamie and I didn't even break into the free wine in the room until the last night.)  We're totally spoiled by family...

And now...on a completely different note, but because it is necessary when there is a Winter Storm Watch: it's Snow Dance time.

A Joke.

A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West.  He slides up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

I just skimmed through a list of the "Top 50 Funniest Jokes Ever Told" and the one above was the only one that got me to chuckle (and it was #44 so that's not a good sign.)  That being said, here is a great joke (for those of you who are craving a little update on the progress of the CUTEST NIECES IN THE WORLD):

You're welcome (...Abby).

Can't Resist.

Hope my brother and sister-in-law don't mind me posting the latest nieces video despite them being the tub -- because, holy moly: my nieces are smart/adorable/beautiful/articulate/etc.

I have watched this video a ridiculous number of times today.  My favorite parts are Leah's attempts to cut the time short (i.e. "three? four? FIVELEAHTURN!!!") and Riley's simple "No! no." response.  And of course, Leah's sighing "fiiiiive" (at 0:47) and passing off the bucket to her sister.  

Baby geniuses.

Chippy Goodness.

Not that I talk about my blog often, but 9 times out of 10 when I do, the person I am speaking to will say something along the lines of: "I blog-stalk your brother too!" or "I love your brother's blog!" and definitely "Tell your brother to blog more!"

In an effort to lure more people back to my blog, I present to you a video of my adorable nieces on their recent vacation to Monterey.  

As far as I know, my brother has not yet claimed exclusive rights to his videos...

Of Trapos.

I always joke about how as a third child, I always got the hand-me-downs from my brothers.  So, I was left to play with GI Joes and Star Wars action figures since I did not get toys of my own.  (Of course, this is a joke, because I know I was doted upon by my family.)  Still, when prompted to talk about toys I had as a kid, I usually say something along the lines of "I played with a rag."

This "rag" of course was my trapo -- or as you gringos might call it, my blankie.

I was attached to my trapo for an embarrassingly long time.  I would hide it from my mom so that it wouldn't get washed.  I would suck my thumb and take it with me on trips.  My trapo and I were inseparable.  Except when it came to bathtime.  Then I had a special trapo that would play with me in the tub.  I had very vivid memories of playing with that rag in the tub -- imagining it was some kind of fish or something.  When I think of playing with toys from my youth, that rag is one of the first things I think of...

I'm happy to see that I am not the only one who understood the joy of bathtime trapo.  Maybe it runs in the family.

Two More Favorite Things...

Seriously.  There is nothing better than my nieces in their new little kimonos.

Head-Exploding Cuteness.

Such a proud auntie. I literally got this video a minute ago and I cannot wait one more second to share it with the adoring masses.

For Your Viewing Satisfaction...

...my gorgeous nieces. This is a little something I put together on the flight home from visiting family. Thank goodness for power outlets on planes.

(In case you were wondering, "ojitos" means little eyes.)

It is incredible to consider how much they have grown since the last video I made a little over a year ago. They are a lot more exciting now...

Quick Fix.

Jamie and I will be traveling home tomorrow (hopefully, there is a wind advisory so cross your fingers that our plane makes it out of here). I will be trying to put together a video from this weekend, but in the meantime, I hope a couple of pictures will help tide you over until then...

Sitting in a Chair. In the Sky. Blogging.

Guys, I'm blogging from 30,000 feet up in the air over Kansas City! (At least that's what the little monitor in the back of the seat in front of me says). Apparently, today is the last day of the free in-flight Wi-Fi on Virgin America so blog I must. Never mind that we had to get up at 3:15am this morning to get to the airport. Sleep? BAH!

Anyway, Jamie and I are on our way to see the Zaki clan in San Francisco. My nieces are now bipedally mobile! Hopefully they will remember enough of me from Thanksgiving not to run away from me. If not, dagnabbit, I will do all I can to make them LOVE me in the few short days I have with them. Oh, and I'll see the rest of my family too. Look it's a NIECE!

More posts soon...(when I'm on solid ground).

Day 24; Post 23: Birthday.

Currently sitting in the airport on my way to Hartford, Connecticut for my conference. I'm enjoying the FREE wireless internet in the airport being provided by Google for the holidays. Most awesome -- just another way that Google is taking over my life.

Anyway, this morning I was woken up bright and early by my dear husband who woke up even earlier than that to make me breakfast in bed. Despite the fact that I could barely keep my eyes open, I did not spill on the sheets and I enjoyed being pampered.

When I opened my email, I got another pretty awesome birthday gift. A video of my nieces! Which I will now share with all two of you who read this blog! Celebrate!

Day 20; Post 18: The Long Thanksgiving Break Recap.

Jamie and I are back from the West Coast! In a strange reversal, it was pretty cold in Los Angeles when we left -- we had to curtail a visit to the playground with our nieces on Sunday morning -- and pretty warm in D.C. This morning we walked over to the market to get breakfast and groceries and enjoyed the warm sun and clear skies.

While it was hard to leave the family yesterday, it is also nice to have some time at home to do some clean-up and resting up before returning to work. Sadly, I don't know that Jamie and I did the best job combating our jet lag. We went to bed after 2am and woke up around 10:30. Whoops. It'll be fun trying to get to bed tonight.

But that's neither here nor there. On to the important stuff!

You could tell me that there are cuter little girls in existence, but I would tell you that you are a liar with your pants afire. Leah and Riley are growing so fast -- last I saw them they were just trying solid foods; now, Leah was shoving as much banana into her mouth as possible in one bite.

Fortunately, she has deluxe cheek capacity. The girl likes her bananas!

They are both crawling around and "reading" flipping through books and chattering happily. They are also exploring their surroundings bipedally while holding someone's fingers. Even though neither of the girls remembered Jamie or I at first, they warmed up faster than I thought they would. When in a room full of strangers (one where I was the lesser of all evils) Leah would come to me. I would venture to say by the end of the trip, Riley even preferred me! She would grab my legs and say something resembling "up!" and then point me around the room to look at dolls and flowers. (That girl likes her dolls!) She was also quite fond of her Tio Jamie.

On our walk back from the market today, I was daydreaming of a time when we could take our beautiful nieces to the playground near our house. Hopefully some day they'll make it to D.C. Although, right now I'm just hoping that the car trip back to San Francisco wasn't too rough on them or their poor parents.

I already filled you all in on Thanksgiving, but I figured I could share a picture of the final spread (minus the cornbread and cranberry rolls that went in that empty gap on the right side of the picture.) There's also a big and delicious salad that my Tia Carmen made hiding behind the giant stuffed turkey centerpiece.

Like a doofus, I forgot to take a picture of the completed turkey before I carved it up. Just trust me that it looked pretty darned good. That picture makes me wish we got to take some of the leftovers home with us. Boo.

After over 3 decades of Thanksgivings with the Chui's, they were unable to make it to Thanksgiving this year. But, we did get to see them on Friday for lunch. Of course, they went all out (they are quite the gourmands) and made their own sausage. I'm talking, ordered casings online, ground their own meat, etc. They grilled the sausages (as well as portobello mushrooms and tons of veggies) and we all assembled our own sandwiches. So good.

Better still, we got to play with Diego -- the newest member of the clan. He is just a few months older than my nieces and is quite adorable. Somehow I managed to not take any pictures on Friday, but take my word for it...ADORABLE. He was so generous with his toys and would pick up toys to give to everyone around the room. He even graciously allowed Leah and Riley to monopolize the use of his toy trucks.

On the way home from the Chui's we stopped at Jamie's house for the evening. Jamie's family got to meet the girls, and Jamie and I stayed behind for dinner and a big birthday party (for Jamie's brothers, father, myself and Jamie -- all with birthdays in November and December). Again, I neglected to take any pictures...Jamie and I definitely made of with some pretty great loot!

The brothers Long drove us home and we played a Ping Pong tournament. Scott, of course, destroyed Jamie and Kevin -- I was too scared to play him. But, in doubles I came out victorious as the only undefeated player. Scott and I trounced Kevin and Jamie, and then Jamie and I -- the true underdogs -- were able to beat Kevin and Scott. I think this may only be because Scott was nice enough not to smash every shot at me. Very gentlemanly.

The trip back was easy and uneventful. I got to read halfway through the book that Jamie's mom had bought for my birthday (I may be one of the last people to read "Lovely Bones", but it's a good book.) Our Thanksgiving break was great but too short. I am already looking forward to the holiday break when we get to spend more time with our family in the Bahamas...