Los Dos Birthday Parties

Aka: Chloe turns 2! Oh, Chloe turns 2 again! I'm betting now that Chloe's actually had three 2nd birthdays that she will immediately move to the position of honor when she hears the birthday song sung! She may also think the words are incorrect if someone else's name is sung (smile)! I know Chloe had a great time at all of her birthday parties! I only have pics thus far from the two we had in the States. I think Chloe enjoyed playing ring around the rosie with her cousins at the bash Aunt Sue threw, complete with concert pianist, and I was happy to introduce her to my all time favorite Pizza Parlour game: ski ball (though as evidenced by the photos clearly the CAKE was her favorite part! And, considering it was a Maggie Moo's ice cream cake that her Granny L had done, it may have been my favorite part, too!). Chloe was a bit frightened by Chuck E Cheese himself, afterwards saying, "Mouse. Scary. Uncle Chris. High five." Uncle Chris came to her rescue and showed her Chuck E was an okay kind of mouse by reaching out to give him a high five.

Lillian & Bec

Bec & I are always wishin' for more time, but we had a delightful
teaparty with the girls and it made me want Chloe to be around
Lillian all the time as she was SUCH a sweet little role model! Chloe
has since been doling out the hugs & is a big fan of the tea parties!

Momma's Side of the Family

Daddy's Side of the Family

We had such a fun time in Wichita Falls, TX with all the family. I can't even begin to talk about what a lovely stay it was and how generous they all were with us! Talk about filling our suitcases! And, I've heard there are three more packages on the way!

Visit with Maw Maw

Probably the most special part about this visit was when Chloe caught glimpse of her Grandaddy Bill. Supernaturally, she seemed to really see him. Pretty cool moment. Maw Maw couldn't stop mentioning how pretty and smart she thought the girls were.

Airplane. Ride him.

This was my dream moment on the overseas flight between LAX & Auckland. When Chloe saw the airplane, I believe she had been thinking of it like one of her PaPa's horses because she stated, "Airplane. Ride him. Airplane. Pet him." Of course if you could ride him like a horse, you should be able to pet him, too.







One man told me I should travel lighter. Perhaps he meant I should leave the kids at home.

































When traveling by plane 16 hours with a toddler, if they want to tear up the Tahitian flower the attendants tucked behind your ear when you boarded, and she's doing so peacefully, you don't say a word.

My BFF & Our Babies

There's so much to say about our trip to the US,
but just no time. So, here's a little collage of Melissa
& I and our girls. It meant so much to us the way
everyone traveled far & wide to be sure to see us
while we were in the US. Mel managed a big trip by
new mom standards, considering you pretty much
have to bring your entire baby room in order to be
away from home for a day. As they say in NZ, "Good
on ya, mate!" I was so glad to get to see her & introduce
our girls!

Aye aye aye

Mexican food - notoriously good and cheap. Oh? Perhaps in el Estados Unidos, pero not in Neuvo Zealand. Here it's exotic fare. Many of you will gasp at the prices on this menu so prepare yourselves.

 I do apologize for the big flash on the menu, but I still think it's possible to see that a beef burrito is $21.50.  Two beef tacos will set you back $20.50 (but that does include rice and beans).  And I must say it's a far cry from the nice Mexican we enjoyed in LA at El Chollo or, my favorite, the texmex at Alamo Cafe in San Antonio (followed closely by Uncle Julio's in Dallas and Chueys in Austin).  I tried to talk my bro, Steve, into moving to NZ and opening a Texmex resaurant here in Auckland - but he said 'no, gracias'.

Some photos from August

Just a little catch-up from some of last months action. The big event was our visit from L, Jordan and Aaron. I'm trying something new by embedding a slideshow here - I think it would be cool if you didn't have to scroll down to see all the pics, but could just view them all in one place. We'll see how it works...


Well, it kinda stinks b/c you can't control the speed of the slideshow. Stink.

what is it?

ok, don't look too far down and try to guess what this is...


hmmmm...could be...

And, here is the object performing its duty. This is a hot water bottle. You pour hot water in it and then put it under your covers to heat up the bed. Isn't that crazy? It's wacko because it assumes that your bedroom must be frickin freezing. The craziest part is that your bedroom and entire house is frickin freezing. It's winter in NZ, of course your house is freezing.