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).  

Father Christmas

Liam with Embassy Santa

In many ways I feel like Jason and I slipped into this Christmas without a Santa game-plan.  Charlie's curious mind is firing away questions about Santa (How does Santa's sleigh fly? Why do elves wear gloves? How will Santa get to our house if we don't have a chimney???).   Reflecting on my own childhood, I was devastated when my 7-year old younger sister (I was 9) broke the news to me that Santa wasn't real.  I had become a little evangelist for the existence of Santa, and I just really felt deceived and disappointed...  Equipped with these memories, I was ready to raise our kids letting them participate in Santa activities but being truthful about the fact that Santa wasn't real.  That is... until we were at Charlie's preschool and in front of his little buddies he said that his teachers told him Santa WAS real.  It hit me that we were possibly about to create the bratty, know-it-all little kid that cruelly dashes the dreams of his little friends...  Can Charlie handle the truth in a mature manner without declaring it to everyone he sees?  At four years old??? I really don't think so...  So I feel like we are in a bit of a conundrum...   I think we will wrestle with this the rest of this Christmas season and pray for more vision for next Christmas.
So - we jumped full-throttle into Santa world this Christmas.  We saw the Santa parade last week, followed by Santa at preschool, Santa at an Embassy function and Santa at our playgroup.   I was startled by the final Santa encounter at playgroup.  A soft-spoken older gentlemen with a flowing white beard was Santa at our playgroup at the Anglican church (I suspect he is one of the Anglican priests?). Unfortunately his Santa suit was missing an undershirt resulting in thick gray and white chest hair erupting from his Father Christmas suit.  It was weird, and I chalked it up to a "Kiwi" thing, until I saw the hushed reactions of other mom's in the group.  Thankfully, they thought it was also a little strange...

Sexy Santa

Preschoolers welcoming Santa (look at Charlie's excitement)

Kid's singing "Santa Got Stuck in the Chimney"

Santa calls Charlie's name

Charlie extremely hesitantly received his gift 

 Santa calls Liam's name

Charlie tells Embassy Santa he wants a motorbike for Christmas

Summer is Here!

Finally - we are experiencing the amazing heat of New Zealand sun - summer has arrived! Although the temperature gauge is only reading 73 degrees - the sun is HOT. Unfortunately due to the ozone hole above NZ the sun can be fierce. Our friends from Australia complain of how quickly they burn in the sun even compared to southern Australia. In conclusion, I think you can add at least 10 (maybe 15) degrees to the forecasted temp.

We are enjoying the buildup to Christmas - the boys sat on 3 Santa's laps over the past 5 days (I will recap in a future post). There is a giant Christmas tree (made entirely of lights) in the city center near our home that we have yet to see lit up due to the 9pm sunset. I did a cookie exchange with some of the women from the embassy (thank you Joanne for the Mexican wedding cookie inspiration from last year). This is truly our first Christmas together as a little family and we are slowly establishing new traditions -it's really exciting.

Kiwis aren't bashful with the word Christmas. A "holiday" is a vacation and I haven't once heard "happy holidays.". The city puts on a Santa parade (complete with baby Jesus float). We went to the city park to sing Christmas Carols by "Candlelight" (or Carols in the bright sun at 8pm).

It's just really refreshing to be free to say Merry Christmas without any of the PC weirdness that has crept into the US. It reminds me of my childhood in the US in the 80s - yes, the Christmas lights and the consumerism is here, but scaled back 10-fold. It's just, well, nice.

As an aside, we had a celebrity sighting tonight at the beach.
Jason pulled the boys in our Burley bike trailer to meet some friends for dinner and relaxing time at the beach. Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords was sitting next to our group hanging out at the beach with his family. Funny enough, he was sporting a child carrier in the back of his bike for his little one. In true Kiwi fashion no one gawked and they were able to just be a cute little Wellington family.

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Tresses

We were really spoiled in the US with Aunt Maria's regular haircuts for the boys.   While I like the "wild"look of unkept Kiwi boy tresses -  my boys start to get this homeless abandoned-child look that I guess we want to avoid.  I bought a pair of hair shears about 6 months ago, but finally got enough nerve to cut Liam's hair last week.  Charlie's hair is a bit coarser with lots of waves - very forgiving.  Liam's hair is very fine and stick-straight.

Here is the outcome.  Jason came home and said he looked like a girl.  I do see a resemblance with Aunt Emily and Aunt Juliet when they were little.  It's really uneven in the back, and I couldn't figure out how to take any off the top.  Let's say it's a work in progress.  

We are friends with a family in Wellington who have three sons (ages 15-20).  The mom cut all of the boys' hair.  They were watching old home videos and noticed the funky haircuts.  One son commented on how much she has improved over the years with their haircuts.  I guess it shows I need to start somewhere...

Blog Resurrection

Okay... so it's many a few weeks, ahem... months since I last wrote.  I don't want to abandon this blog - it's just been a pretty intense few months.  I will elaborate more (hopefully!) because I want to have a good solid blog run over the next month or two. 
So, after what felt like thirteen Thanksgiving celebrations, we were really excited to usher in the Christmas season.  Jason and I realized that this is our first Christmas away from extended family.  In our eight years of marriage, we've never actually bought a Christmas tree for our family.   We had a little disagreement over buying a real or fake tree.  Given that it's summertime in NZ, the pine trees are all pollinating and spreading their little seeds and it can cause pain to allergy sufferers.  We decided to give a real tree a try, and we'd exile it to the patio, if it caused any allergic reactions.   We've had it for over a week now, and so far it's only filled our house with yummy pine smells.
Here is a picture of picking out the tree at the city tree lot (where the tree was recently cut from the forests near our home).  :)    We didn't bring any rope to tie it to the roof of the tree, so we just jammed it in perpendicular to the car and drove carefully home.







    It's really been fun to pull out ornaments that we've collected over the past 8 years, but never had the opportunity to hang up on our tree. 
It's going to be a very different Christmas, but so far, I'm thankful for the quieter season.  We will miss our family dreadfully, but it's a unique time to just be a little Roberson family celebrating our summery Christmas.  Weird...