Hobbiton

 SO SAD to say goodbye to my mom on Friday.  We had SUCH a wonderful time together!  It's so hard to believe that her trip literally began with the birth of Isaac and what an amazing time it was.   For her last week in NZ, we planned a road trip up the North Island.   We needed to go up to Auckland to sort Isaac's passport and US documents and also to get his circumcision (they don't do it in Wellington!).   We added a stop to Hobbiton and a stop in Taupo with the hot springs.  It could have been really crazy with the hours in the car with 3 little kids, but everything went extremely smoothly and it was fun!

Here are some pictures from Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand.   It was a great 2 hour tour of the Hobbiton village set that they used in both Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.   It was incredible the attention to detail that went into creating Hobbiton.  I was especially amazed by the Hobbit-sized vegetable gardens that they continue to maintain.  There was something almost "Disney" about it, but more subdued.  The tour finished with a drink in the Green Dragon pub.   It made me want to trace the other LOTR/Hobbit filming spots around the country to provide to visiting US friends.

Curious Charlie: Belly Buttons and the Birth Canal

Both boys are enormously enamored with Baby Isaac.  Here are two precious videos of Charlie that we took the first day we brought baby Isaac home from the hospital.  Charlie was so fascinated by Isaac and had so many questions and tried to work out all that had happened with Baby Isaac being in my tummy one day and outside the next. 
Here Charlie talks about the "treasure" of Isaac's umbilical cord stump.  He also surprised us with his in-depth knowledge of the birth canal (thanks Nana for the "So You're Going to be a Big Brother" book). 

This is a LONG video, but it was so fun to see Charlie's wonder with Baby Isaac.  He had so many questions and was so intrigued by his brand-new little brother.   In one part, Charlie explains how he wanted to make a craft project out of mommy's collection of umbilical cord stumps.  Apologize for the sideways video. 

Family Fun Run

 
Wellington holds a full marathon only once a year in June.  It tends to be the worst weather with horizontal wind, rain and even sleet.  Fortunately, we had a storm on the Thursday before the race with 200km/hr (125mph) gale force gusts that pounded the city (fish in the washed out streets, roofs missing, uprooted trees, massive power outages) and the weather was quite pleasant on the day of the run.  The running race also included a half marathon, 10k and 1 mile kids run.  Jason and my mom ran the 10k and I took the boys to run the 1 mile kids fun run.  I pushed Liam and Isaac in the double BOB stroller and Charlie ran alongside me.   The last run I did with Charlie was quite miserable - as he wanted to poke around in the dirt and look for insects and couldn't understand that we were trying to run a race.  He ran the ENTIRE way this time and had such a great attitude.  It was so much fun and it made me look forward to future family runs.  Jason and my mom did fantastic with their 10k run and it was fun that everyone participated.  I think next June's marathon may be my post-Isaac marathon - despite its reputation for terrible weather.   

Here is a video of us crossing the finish line. (we are at the end of the clip)

Here is a link to some pictures

Big Brudders

Liam and Charlie are fascinated with Baby Isaac.  Charlie keeps saying, "He's so CUTE!" and Liam echos Charlie.  They both are (surprisingly) extremely gentle.   So far, there doesn't seem to be an iota of jealousy, but if I remember correctly, jealousy seemed to erupt when baby started taking in interest in big brother's toys and started to attract gobs of attention with first walking steps and other initial milestones. 

 

Liam has decided that Baby Isaac sounds like a little piggy.

 

Charlie, our emerging reader, reads to Baby Isaac

Baby Isaac

We were thrilled to welcome Isaac Nathan Roberson to our family last Monday 10 June at 2:45pm weighing in at 8lbs 15oz.  We were beyond blessed with a really wonderful midwife and everything with the labor and delivery went very smoothly.


We had MANY funny conversations with Charlie leading up to the birth and the days following baby Isaac's arrival. Both of the boys are a hoot with Isaac and it's made the experience of bringing home baby all the more fun.

Here Charlie explains the "teeny-tiny" pain of labor the week before Isaac was born. 

You can see Liam's lovely pink eye that he developed the day before Isaac's birth.

Nemo's Fury

We've massively enjoyed snorkeling around the beach at the resort. Jason went diving and said the snorkeling just was as good. Charlie just loves to snorkel. The best snorkeling is around the yellow pontoon boat behind Jason in the picture above. I swam the boys to the yellow pontoon and then we watched all of the exotic fish around the pontoon. I think the fish are attracted to a drainage pipe that ends at the base of the pontoon. It's a little gross if you think about it too hard. Charlie and I snorkeled around the drain and what felt like 250 "Nemos" encircled us. Charlie was frantically excited and I was a little panicy about the fish mob. I think it relieved a fear of fish rooted in a childhood experience of falling off the lake dock and being scared to death of the "crappies" eating me alive.
Feeding "chippies"to the fishies. Charlie loved it, Liam was scared.

Sunset photography session

Pretty purple sunset
Charlie at the torch lighting

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Tsunami!...?

The boys were asleep in their little tents on the beach and I was writing my last post about our Fijian tropical paradise - when we were evacuated from the beach via golf cart inland to the top of a hill due to a tsunami warning.



The boys sleeping pre evacuation

I was a little freaked but the resort was amazing at facilitating the movement of all the guests to the evacuation point. We were told to grab our passports and we had 1.5 hours before the tsunami would hit. Jason had noticed on the helicopter ride in that the island is really flat (tsunami threats weren't a factor in my resort hunting). I asked the golf cart driver if this happens a lot, and he actually looked a little freaked and said it's been 2 years by that point, I was glad Jason was there and that i hadn't seen the recent tsunami movie with Naomi Watts and her three little sons.

We waited for the tsunami warning to pass and the resort
staff was really incredible at keeping everyone relaxed in the heat (104 fahrenheit). They provided water and food and kept the mood light. Charlie has
become quite the snorkeler and wears his mask and snorkel everywhere. The picture above shows him waiting out the tsunami with his snorkel and mask.

The evacuation point was at a chapel on top of the hill and Jason recognized older Filipino worship songs (at first he thought it was "God Bless America") being played. We've actually heard Christian music/hymns/sermons everywhere we've been in Fiji. We've heard they've experienced a bit of revival here in recent years - really interesting observe firsthand.

We were able to return to our island paradise via tractor after about 1.5 hours. Thrilled/relieved that it didn't turn into a bigger event.

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Bula!

We made it safely to Fiji last night. It was a real adventure getting here with rides on an airplane, airport shuttle, helicopter and finally a tractor to get to our resort. The boys were in heaven!


Shuttle ride to the international terminal



My first helicopter ride - just amazing. Cheapest way to the island after hours.

Liam was in a HUGE helicopter phase before the ride - he was really thrilled to ride.

The resort we booked looked to be a three-star resort on a five-star beach. I think it reminds Jason of the Philippines in the 80s and he loves it! I had really low expectations considering the price we got on it - but it's very much exceeded my expectations.

Enjoying the sunset over dinner. The boys love the tepid ocean water (especially when comparing it to the "arctic" temps of NZ). Liam can't stop blowing bubbles/drinking the beach water - yuck!!!

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Fiji bound

Need a pick me up?

My kids' passports photos Never cease to amuse.







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Wellington the Divine

We are currently experiencing an extremely freakish weather pattern in Wellington with 10 straight days of GORGEOUS sunny, warm and windless weather.  It is very rare for anywhere in NZ to experience this weather - but ESPECIALLY rare in Wellington.  I've heard that it's the best string of weather we've had in 5 years.

It actually has me a little panicky.  I feel like we need to seize every ounce of sunshine out of every day - but unfortunately we still have laundry, dishes, afternoon naps, swimming lessons and a little stomach virus that's keeping us inside.   I want to go to our favorite Wellington beaches, do hikes along the coast where it is usually so windy that we are almost blown into the Cook Strait and finally jump into the Wellington harbour with all of the other 15-year old teenagers before they head back to school next week.   It's really too much pressure... One of the great things about swiftly moving weather systems over this smallish island nation in the middle of the Tasman Sea is just that - the weather is always changing.  It's nearly impossible to predict, and so you really appreciate these sporadically gorgeous days.  When you get a whole heap of them piled into your lap it's a little paralyzing.

We went camping last Friday night in Kaitoke Regional Park, about 45 minutes north us our home.  It's also the site of "Rivendell" (the Elven outpost where Elrond and his family lived) from Lord of the Rings.  It was a beautiful night with a full-moon and no bugs.  Charlie misses camping in the US because campfires are mostly prohibited throughout NZ.  Kaitoke allows campfires along the riverbed, so we made a fire (with the help of another Kiwi family) and roasted marshmallows (also due to the generosity of this same family) and fed river eels pieces of bacon.  It was really great to fall asleep to the sound of the rushing river.  We are slowly improving the proficiency of our camping skills.

I'm a little taller than Gandalph and Charlie is basically Hobbit height

Well... all good things must come to an end...  It looks like a rainy weather pattern is due to move in next Tuesday.  The fun thing about that - is that we are hopping on a plane to Fiji on Tuesday morning!    

Chaffing in Golden Bay

We had a really amazing holiday in the Abel Tasman / Golden Bay region of the South Island.  This part of the South Island is actually a bit further north than Wellington, and much more protected from the wind.  We spent a few days in the Holiday Park with the Bosley family before heading further west to Golden Bay.

It was so special to see the growing friendship between Charlie and Liam.  Wow... why didn't anyone tell me it would be THIS MUCH FUN?!   They spent hours running back and forth from the beach to the water's edge (at low tide- this could be 1/4 mile away).  As a result they suffered some moderate chaffing that necessitating ditching the swimming trunks.

Here are a few pictures - we have zillions of them - I may try to post more in the near future...

Oui

Liam is starting to talk more and more and Jason and I find ourselves laughing as his personality emerges.  One funny development is that, out of nowhere, he has decided the word yes is "oui."  I captured it in a few video clips, but all day long any "yes" answer is undoubtedly "oui."

I forget how much I love this age!

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Insatiable Hunger...

I'm trying to go easy on the brother comparisons, but one thing is certain -- Liam's a hungry little dude.  He is starting to speak more and more, but without a doubt his clearest words are "chocolate cake please, chocolate cake please."  Kiwis have noted what a husky and healthy little guy he is, and I attributed that to the slimmer-Kiwi body types compared to Americans.  We recently had an amazing visit with the Bosley family from Minnesota (must post about it soon!)  and they also commented on Liam's "healthy" appetite (as well as how thick his arms are - just like when he was born, his forearms are as big as his biceps).  Liam is extremely proportional, and by no means fat, but he may make a better rugby player than a marathon runner.  :)

Here's a funny pic I recently received from Aunt Sarah from her wedding in September (she added the caption).