In the Great Green Room there was a Telephone

Chloe loves books. Well, mostly she loves chewing on them. Here's an old favorite of mine. Mom got her a new copy of it while she was visiting just after Chloe was born. Goodnight Moon. Good stuff.

AK '07

Auckland Festival '07 opened in style, if you ask me. The festival is 2 weeks of music, film, art and theater. Smashing. Kim, Chloe and I went with Krystal and Mirko and James and met up with some new friends who went to the Domain (park) early and got a choice (good) bit of lawn for us to occupy. It was a beautiful afternoon - we chilled out w/ a bit if wine/cheese&crackers/sour worms, etc. Don McGlashan, a kiwi folk music dude was the headliner - I had heard one of his songs which I'm not partial to 'stand in the river' which is from this kiwi movie, No.2, which I'm also not partial to- but I really dug the rest of his songs. I look forward to catching one of his gigs later on in the festival.

The main event was this pyrotechnics display by this french group, Group F. This was the absolutely most amazing fireworks display I've ever conceived of. It was good.








These last two photos are of the grande finale. There were some serious fireworks going off and at the very end there was a flash that was approximately as bright as the sun. It was oresome (awesome). Otherwise, things are going fine, I'm turning in this big grant on Friday which will cover my salary in my current lab for the next 1.5 years. It's a pretty good grant, they'd be crazy to turn it down.

Paddling Pools

Well, one of the coolest things that happens in New Zealand is that you are placed into your prenatal class based on your due date and after everyone has given birth, the group becomes your "coffeegroup." We get together weekly for coffee, a walk, or a visit to the paddling pools! Its so nice because all the babies are within 6 weeks of each other and we can go to talk about how we're coping, share what our babies are doing, watch all of them develop, and enjoy a nice "cuppa!" I've heard people say that they still meet weekly with their groups and are now starting on second babies!

Papamoa Beach Retreat

Spent the weekend at Papamoa Beach with some buddies from church. It was such a beautiful getaway and so relaxing!!! Because of Chloe, we got to stay in the premier room with 180 degree views of the ocean. It was stunning! I was even able to capture a shot of an early morning surfer (James) from our window!

So Mature!

"Milk is for beginners, but solid food is for the mature..." Hebrews 5:11 (Message version)

I think she liked it. What do you think? I imagine this is the first of many expressions meant to indicate how she feels about certain foods!

Chloe's Latest Trick

I like to call her "Big Stander."

Who needs a Beautician?

Chloe practically clips her own nails.

A Tisket a Tasket

A little laundry basket.

New Zealand Summer

January and February in New Zealand have been some of the most beautiful months of my life. By all means, come in summer if you can. With much easier beach access than we even had in LA, we've definitely spent a lot of time there! Amazing how not having to sit in 45 minutes of traffic will get ya out to the beach. As a girl who grew up land-locked, I'm really loving it. I lay in my bed on a beach retreat last weekend just listening to the crash of the waves some 50 yards from my window and learned why so often the ocean is attributed with the sound "roar." It is definitely lion-like in its majesty. What God can do with a body of water...wow. We've noticed how calm Chloe is around it, too. She seems to be listening to its natural white noise intently, not wanting to miss a word of what it says. There's a lot of beauty out there. There's a lot of beauty.