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

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!    

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.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

C. Ronaldo

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Glitchy

My iPhone is acting up and I'm not able to post any pics for the blog.  I'm hoping to have it solved by tomorrow...  I can't believe my mom is already gone.  So glad she made it back to MN safely.  She was even able to venture into Sydney and check out the opera house during her 7-hr layover.

The Wellington weather turned horrible - with howling winds and driving rain.  You can literally hear the winds screeching and howling -- they sounds strong and angry....  I don't know why- but I'm enjoying the intensity of the weather...  You can really only take so many days of basking in the 75 degree sunshine on warm beaches with the crystal clear water lapping at your toes... you know?

I'm looking forward to the normalcy of the the week...

More pictures very soon!

Upping His Game

Liam was a little put-off by Uncle Aaron's comment about his cute video from yesterday so he decided to up his game

And he is on the absolute verge of crawling on his hands and knees. I had my first morning of work and I came back to the babysitter and found he was this |---| close to crawling.

5 other points of interest:

1. There was a 4.0 earthquake yesterday that I completely didn't feel. It's officially my first earthquake and I was running (literally) like a crazy woman around town with the boys and didn't feel anything.

2. The wind here is insane right now. I think I quite like it

3. Charlie is developing a kiwi accent and it is actually making me a little sad. It is very subtle but unmistakable. He doesn't sound like Jason and me. Joanne - did you ever feel weird that the boys had a different accent from you?

4. The outdoor pool near us opened up last week. It's really just for lap swimming but I'm going tomorrow at lunchtime.

5. Liam is usually not a night pooper (Reference Sunday's post). Yay!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone