When I think back about all the fun times we've had with the twins over the past year, it's hard to imagine that 2013 can be any better! It's, by far, been the best year of our lives.
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| Just Hanging Out With Daddy |
November
I realize I haven't really posted anything since Halloween...and I regret that because I will now have to draw way back in my memory to recall all that's happened. I will do the best I can...
Being that this was a busy year - with two MAJOR initiatives at work - by the time I got around to thinking about taking, let alone planning, a vacation, the year was half over already. Although I LOVE to travel, by June my brain was fried, I was overtired and didn't really have the energy to cobble together an itinerary. Plus, with two kids under the age of one, it was overwhelming to think about logistics.
One day in early summer, I saw an air/hotel package from Los Angeles for a cost comparable to what a domestic vacation would cost, so I called the travel agent, gave her the dates we could travel, explained that we would be travelling with twins and asked her to put us together a package.
So, we spent most of November together as a family in New Zealand! It was glorious!
A Summary of Our Trip to New Zealand
Since I consider myself pretty travel saavy, I don't typically use travel agents, but after this trip, I may have to change my mind. All I had to do was book our domestic airfare in the US and NZ, and car rental. The rest was done for us! She told us exactly where to spend our time and what to skip. She also booked us comfortable, clean, spacious hotels that were convenient to all the major attractions. We even spent two nights in a hotel with our very own family-sized tub fed by a hot spring!
We flew out on November 10th and didn't land until November 12th - so the Twins' celebrated their birthday somewhere over the international date line and opened presents the evening before we left:
Flying was easy as pie! We left our home mid-day and met up at a restaurant for happy hour to visit with friends and co-workers in Los Angeles. By the time we left LA, it was bedtime for the babies and we landed in Fiji in the early hours of the morning. We were given a special escort to get through security and customs for our connecting flight. The kids had about five hours to stretch in the airport, then it was onto another plane for a 3-hour flight to Auckland. Even though they were awake for this flight, they were superstars - looking out the windows and smiling and waving at fellow passengers.
We landed in Auckland in mid-afternoon. By the time we collected our luggage, rental car and arrived at our hotel, it was late afternoon - so we visited a supermarket to pick up a few essentials, had dinner, took a walk and went to bed. By the next morning, we were all adjusted to the time zone and ready to go.
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| The shark that took us to the aquarium |
We visited Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium and the kids loved it! They have a conveyor belt that goes beneath a HUGE tunnel-like aquarium. We must have rode it at least ten times! The kids were also fascinated by the Emperor penguins. They would hold their fingers up to the glass and the penguin's eyes would follow their movements.
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| F looking at the fishes! |
While in Auckland, we also visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Similar to in the States, they celebrate Memorial Day on November 11th. Two days before we visited, Prince Charles and Camilla laid a wreath at the memorial - so we just missed them. We showed up for an 11 am tour and, since we were the only ones, had a private guide all to ourselves. This was extremely lucky because it gave us a solid background for many things we would see later on our trip and allowed us to ask questions about the people and culture of New Zealand.
For example, I found the exhibit about how New Zealand was settled very interesting. Unlike the Aborigines of Australia, who may have arrived as early as 40,000 years ago, the Maori settled New Zealand only about 800 years ago - so New Zealand is a relatively "new" country. I was fascinated by the way New Zealander's have continued to uphold and honor the Maori culture. For example, in school, all the children study Maori history and language, many of the streets, cities and landmarks have Maori names and there is even Maori representation in government. Clearly very different from how we in the USA treated and honor our Native American culture.
Our next stop was Pauanui on the Coromandel peninsula. Unfortunately, it was cold and wet - so we made the best of it by visiting a butterfly exhibit and taking a long drive through the beautiful mountains.
From there, it was off to Lake Taupo, where we enjoyed seeing the hot springs, sunshine, and picnic lunches. I could easily retire here six months out of the year!
New Zealand is a very family-friendly country. Each city has multiple parks and an easy-to-find library:
One place we enjoyed was a visit to the Agrodome. It's a corny, but fun tourist-trap where they take you on a tractor-tour of a working farm with animals and vineyards. They also have a "sheep show" where they bring up the 19 breeds of sheep and demonstrate sheep-sheerings and dog agility.
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| On the tractor pull |
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| F liked the honey tating so much that he chewed on the stick for awhile |
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| Tasting Kiwi juice |
From Taupo, we drove to Napier on Hawke's Bay. It is known for it's art-deco architecture. While there, we visited the national aquarium and drove up to the lookout:
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| F and a Dinosaur |
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| At the park overlooking Hawke's Bay |
On our way to Wellington, we stopped at a farmer's market. Since it was spring, all the summer fruits were starting to come into season...strawberries and cherries, fresh breads and spreads, and hadmade ice cream made with milk straight off the farm!
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| Cherry face! |
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| At the farmer's market |
Before leaving the north island, we spent a couple nights in Wellington. One of the highlights was a trip to the Te Papa museum. It's a six floor, indoor-and-outdoor cornucopia of Maori and New Zealand culture. Admission is free for everyone, but my favorite part of our visit was a small sum we paid to enter a children's playroom. In the front were toys and books, but behind a curtain that was opened after we entered, was an entire room filled with different play areas - a beach, a pond, a tree house, etc.
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| Outdoors at the museum |
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| Waiting to get in the playroom |
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| Waiting to get in the playroom |
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| Mmmmnm....seagull |
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| Practicing my Haka chants |
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| Wellington Harbor |
We tried to take a tour of the New Zealand Parliament building, but G enjoyed the way her voice echoed in the vast rooms and hallways when she made her baby noises at the top of her lungs...so we had to politely excuse ourselves from the tour. This was the only time on our entire trip that we had to suddenly change our plans because of the babies.
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| On the lawn in front of the "Beehive" |
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| Overlooking the rose garden at the Parliament building |
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| Crawling on the Parliament lawn |
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| Our Ferry |
When we left Wellington, we took an afternoon ferry across to the South Island. To give the twins room to explore and stretch, rather than spend time in the lobby of the ship, we closed ourselves up in the nursery for the 3.5 hour crossing. The room had a sink and a few cribs for small ones to sleep. Even though it wasn't pretty, it gave the twins a safe, contained room to crawl around in. Since we had a two-hour drive on the other side, I am sure they appreciated the exercise.
The second week of our trip was spent on the North Island in Nelson, Christchurch and Queenstown. We visited petting farms, saw Christchurch - which is mostly still closed due to the February, 2011 earthquake, and visited Queenstown.
Attached below are some random pictures from the second half of our trip.
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| Petting Baby Ducklings |
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| My turn to pet the ducklings |
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| We saw LOTS of sheep and cows. Since it was spring, there were babies too! |
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| Goldenrod made the valleys look like postcards |
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| There were lots of lupines blooming too |
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| Sharing a bagel for breakfast |
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| I like see saws |
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| At the gardens in Christchurch. A fern is the national emblem of New Zealand. |
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| In Old Town Cromwell - a gold rush town from the late 1800's that they rebuilt with shops and displays. |
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| Watching speedboat races in Cromwell. |
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| Our dinner the last night in New Zealand. Mom shared her tortellini. Who do you think enjoyed it more? Me or my brother? |
It took G about a week to get back into the time zone in the USA. Whenever we would put her to bed, she would scream and stomp her feet. It's interesting how no one taught her that - she just knew by instinct.
December and Our Second Christmas
December was an extremely busy time at work. Between catching up from our trip, finishing our shopping and mailing packages, and getting ready for the new year it seemed to fly by.
The Twins are not walking yet, but they are crawling very, very fast. Since we are still in the everything-goes-in-our-mouths stage, we didn't put up a tree this year.
Since early December, we have been working on going up and down the stairs. Within a week, F has mastered going up and will take them almost two at a time - not putting both knees on the step in between. Any time he sees the gate open, he dashes for the stairs. Going down is a different story - hands and head first is his preferred way.
G is agile at climbing the stairs too. She has most fun when she climbs a few and bang on the step two ahead.
Both babies have discovered how to dance and it is so cute to see them bop up-and-down when they hear music. We received a hand-me-down toy from a friend which is a doorway with different activities on each side. On the "inside" is a radio and G will keep pushing and pushing the buttons until she finds the exact song she wants - then she'll dance.
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| Peek a Boo! Coming through the door of my house |
I think they are also starting to understand some colors too. If you have two balls and say "give me the red one," most times they will pick the right one.
In addition to saying "Da, Da", "Ma, Ma", "Idea" and "I did it!" F now clearly says "Hi" and "Yeah". G says "nana" when she sees her banana each morning.
One day, we were walking home and I said to F, "You have the most beautiful blue eyes!" and he answered me "Yeahhhhhh!" It was as if he really, truly understood me. I wish I had it on video.
Both babies spend lots of time standing up, but neither is walking yet. F will sometimes let go to grab something or bang together two toys, but as soon as he realizes he's not holding on, he bends his knees and sits. He will also sometimes take a few steps holding onto his walker or a shopping cart. G has gotten very proficient at "cruising" around things that are at her level, like the coffee table.
Both twins have grown so much that in mid-December, we had to take their MiSwivel chairs off the island and attach them to chairs. If we hadn't, they might have pushed so hard with their feet, that the chairs would have tipped over. Our lab will sit at their feet staring up at them and certainly appreciates the treats she finds on the floor. F is all legs and, when he sits next to G, she's a head taller then him. When they're standing, they look like they are just about the same height.
For the holidays, we were given a wonderful gift - a membership to the Children's Museum. In fact, we are there today with our nanny celebrating "Noon Year's Eve". Here are some pictures from one of our recent visits:
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| Practicing Weight Lifting for the 2032 Olympics |
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| Fishing is borrrringggg....I'd rather be upstairs in the bubble room! |
On Christmas Eve, we went to our friend's house.
On Christmas Day we went for a very special lunch at The Briarwood Inn in Golden (yes, the same Golden known for the Coors Brewery). The babies tasted peel-n-eat shrimp for the first time.
G is our vegetable-tarian. She loves steamed carrots and will eat spinach by the fist fulls. The babies also like bananas and tangerines. Each morning F will grab a half of banana in each hand and shove in as much banana in his cheeks as his mouth can hold.
The babies each have several more teeth - both have four on top and four on the bottom. G suddenly had an bottom incisor appear in mid-November, and one of F's came in a couple weeks ago. Another one of G's teeth broke through this week. Ouch! (but they've been handling it like champs).
In honor of their one year birthday and the holidays, we took some pictures in early December. They aren't all back yet, but here are a few:
We wish you all the very best in 2013! May all your dreams come true!
