As you can imagine, we've taken a lot of pictures since we've arrived in New Zealand. Everywhere we look, there's something new and beautiful and amazing to see -- even when just looking out the windows of our house.
But I do have a few favorites that I thought I'd share, along with the story behind the photo. (And, by the way, if you want to see more frequent photos of our adventures, be sure to follow our Newly Zealand Instagram account. I post there a few times a day. Shameless plug ;)
1 Where's the sun?
I snapped this photo on our first full day in Auckland. The kids and I fell asleep around 5:30 p.m. the day before, and woke up around 3 a.m. the next morning ready to go. Unfortunately, the world wasn't ready for us yet. I love the way the kids are peering out the kitchen window, excited to see their new city -- even though their new city (and Shane, as I recall) would prefer a few more hours of sleep. I also like that the boy is wearing the monster slippers that took up far too much valuable real estate in my suitcase :)
2 Now THAT'S a waterfall!
Beautiful KareKare waterfall was one of the first places we explored -- and it's still one of my favorites. I mean, look at that waterfall! It's incredible!! I remember saying a lot of "Holy Molys" on this hike and snapping about 1,000 photos. Until that outing, I had never seen a landscape quite like the one we were exploring live and in color. It just blew me away. Of all the photos from the falls, I love this capture of the kids taking their own photos, Shane looking quite proud and Moses going for a swim, of course.
3 Dino Dan to the rescue
Not all of my favorite photos are from the beautiful outdoors. This picture of the Adorable Boy still cracks me up. For weeks after we arrived, he complained about not being able to watch his favorite TV show, Dino Dan. Finally, I asked my mom if she could order the DVDs from Amazon and send them over for his birthday. Well, as soon as the package arrived, the boy was on it. He had the wrapping paper off and every DVD open before I even realized what he was doing. (You can see them all lined up beside him.) And then he sat in this chair, just like this, and watched every episode. For hours. It was the best day of my week :)
4 Magical Mount Eden
Our hike to the top of Mount Eden is another one that ranks quite high for me. One of our early adventures, it offered incredible views of the city and those gorgeous green hills I've now learned are commonplace here. We had a blast climbing up and slipping down the muddy hillside (you can watch our video from that day). And then decided to take the roadway back down. This snap is from the descent. The Sky Tower can be seen in the background. The Adorable Boy's out in front, followed by Shane, Moses and the Adorable Girl with a little bit of magic light circling them all. Always reminds me of that magic day.
5 Two birds, one sun
We take the scenic route to school. And by that I mean, we walk the regular way, which just happens to have incredibly beautiful sights. This photo came from a rare sunny day we had recently. It's been quite rainy here the last few weeks, but the sun finally peeked out at us one morning. I saw these two little bird sitting up above us and thought they were quite picturesque -- so I pointed my camera in their direction. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything when I snapped the photo because the sun was so bright. In fact, I thought I missed the birds altogether. But when I got home, I saw they made an appearance in the bottom third -- and boy did that sun look delicious.
6 A $3 donut
Speaking of delicious....Do you know how lucky you Americans are to be able to pop in to Dunkin Donuts whenever you choose and buy half a dozen donuts for like $5?? Since we arrived in New Zealand, we had been craving a good donut. The ones here are a bit...suspect, and the frosting is definitely not right. On our way back from Dinosaur World, the girl spotted a Dunkin Donuts and begged us to go. We complied, and Shane did the honor of shopping for donuts while we sat in the car. I figured he'd come back with a dozen or so for us to snack on through the week. But he came out with just two little bags. "You better enjoy that," he grumbled, handing one to me and one to the girl. "They were $3 each!" Well, $3 never tasted so good!
7 Where trouble melts like lemon drops
The rainbows here. I've mentioned them before, and I'm not lying when I say we see them almost daily and they're spectacular. This rainbow brightened my day during a particularly rough time with the kiddos. I find the hour after school to be quite trying with them. Kids are grumpy and tired and whiny. And they fight and they cry. And it's awful. It doesn't seem to matter what I do to try to distract them or discipline them or ignore them...They just need to get that afternoon meltdown out of their system. This day's meltdown happened at a playground nearby, and we had to make an abrupt exit after I yelled at the boy for doing something to his sister (I can't even remember what). Driving back home, kids crying in the backseat, I saw this rainbow and pulled over to get a better look. I got out of the car by myself, shut the door so I didn't hear the crying, took a few pictures and watched until the rainbow faded away.
8 The road goes on and on
We drove this road to get to Stony Batter Reserve, a historic WWII camp/working farm on Waiheke Island. Along the way, we had to pull over 3 or 4 times just to take photos, so beautiful was the drive. This picture in particular moves me. I love the outline of those New Zealand-green hills along the blue sky, the dusty dirt road leading into the unknown. When I shared it on Instagram, I shared it with this quote from New Zealand's favorite fantasy writer, JRR Tolkien. "The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can."
9 Old man and the sea
Shane took up fishing a couple years ago and has caught just as many fish in that time ;) Still, he loves it, and I try to help him find time to get out on the water when we can. But it's not always easy with two kids to watch over. While on Waiheke Island last weekend, we let the old man toss in his line for about an hour while the kids and I explored the beaches. It was a beautiful, peaceful setting, and we all enjoyed the time. Especially the fish that ate all of Shane's bait ;)
10 This is us
Finally, my favorite photo from our time here. I LOVE this picture. It's from our first weekend, hiking at KareKare Beach. The black sand, the moody sky, the amazing landscape -- it's a breathtaking place. And I love what we captured in this quick family selfie: The kids exploring independently in the background, Shane looking so content to have us all back together and me smiling the kind of authentic smile you only get in a truly happy moment. This is us in New Zealand. Adventurous, excited, content, happy. Yup, that just about sums it up.
