8 3/4 months old (NZ 2)

The three of us flew down to Wellington on Air New Zealand again. For all you Americans out there, it's only an hour flight south!



Anne and Lloyd were kind enough to let us stay with them in Wellington. They are so hospitable and kind, and we felt right at home in their beautiful house. Once we started chatting, we found that we didn't really have a lot to catch up on because they had stayed with us in Orlando just three months before! We were amazed at the flexibility of time -- on one hand, seems so long ago and so much has happened (babywise)... on the other, it was just a little while ago and not many big events have happened! Here we are in the pub around the corner where Thomas was introduced to crackling (he loved it--maybe he's a Southerner after all!).

Matthew drove us around in a rental car while we were down there. We drove down to the coast, drove around his old stomping grounds, walked around Oriental Bay (yes, it's really called that), window-shopped downtown in the cold rain (because it's winter down here), ate lunch out, ogled the gelato and met some old friends. We also had a lovely big, delicious family dinner with Auntie Beryl, Uncle Trevor, Uncle Neville, Lloyd, Anne, Chris and Jennie. A fun time was had by all, especially Thomas, who even got to sit with all of the adults in his own high chair and eat a rusk (teething biscuit)! Thank you, Auntie Beryl, for thinking of Thomas!


On another one of the days, Auntie Beryl and Uncle Trevor took us to see their new house up the road. It was just a concrete slab, but looked like it was in a nice community where they take care of all the routine maintenance and yard work--very handy! Where can I get one of those? While we were there, we dropped into Uncle Neville's house which was just around the corner, and he introduced Thomas to his amazing brass Euphonium (I think). I've already forgotten what it's called! But it was gorgeous and sounded amazing!


On the last day, Lloyd and Anne drove us all in their car up to Paraparaumu (yes, that's really the town's name) to see Thomas' great-great Auntie Phyllis. Thomas is named after her brother! She was inundated with guests that day, because she also had her own daughter and son-in-law, coming back from abroad after 20 years! Then Lloyd and Anne whisked us to the rental care place just in the nick of time so we could get the shuttle to the airport.



In Thomas news, he is talking away ... one of the "words" we recognize is "nein nein" said with a clicking noise on each syllable. He sounds like he's speaking one of those African languages! Sometimes we just click our tongues back at him, and he clicks back with a big grin!



And then back to Auckland!