Settling in

I have to post pictures of our house because we really lucked out (and because we’re trying to recruit visitors)! This house was on the market for a lot of NZ $ but the owners took it off and the rent is reasonable. The crown prosecutor of Wanganui lived here so everyone knows where we live when we tell them our address. It’s an old house but much of it has been re-done.  It has 6 bedrooms plus a study, 2 living rooms, and, most importantly, good gas heaters. We also have a pool, which I wasn’t excited about for safety reasons with the kids, but it is gated off just fine. But the best part is that we are in walking distance to almost everything in town.

Lazlo has started kindy (preschool) 5 mornings/week and loves it. His favorite part is the woodworking station with real saws and hammers and nails. People don’t sue much here so the facilities and activities for kids are a lot of fun, but perhaps not the safest. Here’s a photo of his kindy, notice how the doors are open to the back. They stay this way all day, every day, despite the fact that it is rainy and in the 40’s. There isn’t central heat here so homes, schools, stores and restaurants aren’t much warmer than outside.

Lazlo at kindy

Here is Liska on her first day. She goes to a Baptist creche (preschool for younger kids?), which is pretty nice and is a block from our house. I’m sure Brad will curse my name when she asks him to sing the bible songs they learn at school with her.

Liska's first day of school

Finally, I have to include a picture of Liska with her first hair cut. We were remiss about combing her hair and didn’t realize until it was too late that she was growing dreadlocks. So we had to cut them out. I think this cut suits her personality better, anyhow.

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Road Trip

The people who bought our house wanted to move in a month before we could leave for New Zealand, so we took a long road trip and our friends and family were kind enough to let us stay with them. It ended up being a great send off.

Before leaving Natalie, Guillermo and Maya had an impromptu going away party for Lazlo and Liska complete with cake, costumes and a bouncy castle.

Lazlo, Guillermo and Liska

They (and some other friends) also had a neighborhood party for all of us. We were so lucky to live in such a great neighborhood!

We first visited Grandma Martha and Grandpa Paul in Greenville, South Carolina. We were fortunate to see Brad’s sister, Gwen, her husband, Kip, and their 3 kids, Claire, Ollie and Toby, as well.  Paul even took a day off of work (which is unheard of) to spend extra time with us. They were very kind and let Brad and I relax after our harried moving day. It was on this trip that Lazlo had a life changing experience at Frankie’s Fun Park:

I’m not sure why I don’t have a shot of him driving himself.

Next we went to DC to visit Uncle Seth and to see the Smithsonian.

We drove up to Philadelphia to visit with Steve, Heather and Lawson, who live in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood with neighbors so friendly it was almost scary. Steve made us his version of El Azteco’s topopo salad that was better than the real thing. Lawson looks like a little cherub with his rosy cheeks and ringlets and Lazlo and Liska had fun trying to entertain him.

Steve, Heather and Lawson

Our plan to visit with them in Michigan wasn’t working, so at the last minute we decided to continue to Brooklyn to see Rachel, Eric and Evelyn for a short visit. They were so kind, we took over Eric’s office just with our luggage and the rest of their apartment with everything else. The kids were happy checking out the garbage trucks, riding on the train and hanging out with Evelyn, who is such an easy-going little person.

Evelyn, showing Liska and Lazlo how the city kids do it

From there we drove to Michigan where we stayed with Boppa and Grandma Molly for a week. We took the kids to Hawk Island Park to swim and ride the paddle boats and celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks. They also had a party for us with our family from the Detroit area (and some of Molly’s family).

Family party with Alex, David and Hannah

Movie night with Boppa, Grandma Molly and Dora the Explorer

Cory, Brad and Eric, happy not to make small talk with strangers

One reason we were in Michigan was for my 20 year high school reunion, which was surprisingly fun. Seeing friends was the best part, of course. Rachel and Eric came from Brooklyn, Martha and Cory from Chicago.

Shelly, Martha and Rachel

After the reunion we drove to Lake Michigan where we rented a cottage for the week with more wonderful friends from growing up. Some were from Michigan, Blythe and Ed came from California and Mindy and Harold came from North Carolina. There were about 12 adults and 12 kids but it worked out remarkably well. The weather was perfect so we spent most of the time at the beach, trying our best to wear out the kids.

On our way we stopped to see Robin, George and Otto, who happened to be home for a visit from Singapore. Rob was unfortunately out of town, but they will be visiting us in October so we will see them all again!

Mindy, Tiffany, Shannon, Michelle, Shelly and Blythe

After Lake Michigan we spent a few days in Evanston, IL with Martha, Cory, Makenna, Lusa and Sasha. Marth and Cory are trying to get us to move to Chicago when we return, so they made sure we had a great time. Makenna and Lusa are two of the sweetest, most well-behaved kids I’ve ever met. When Lazlo and Liska started pummeling each other they watched with great interest as if they didn’t know that fighting was even an option. The kids got along so well that it was a really relaxing visit. We also got to visit our friend Paul, who was very kind about having to endure a dinner with two tired kids.

Makenna, Lazlo, Liska and Lusa

Finally, after Evanston, we headed back to East Lansing to stay with my mom, Nancy and Hannah. They were really helpful with Lazlo and Liska so we could get organized and pack. Gramma Barbara let them help garden, took them bowling, hiked them to story time at the library and let them play dress-up. We also visited my cousin Jonathan, who I hadn’t seen in 15 years. Brad conveniently snuck off to Cape Cod to visit his brother, Greg, Greg’s wife Dieu and our niece Emily. Greg built an engine for his boat (from scratch) so they took it on an overnight trip.

Gardening with Gramma Barbara. Not sure why Lazlo is wearing a plastic bag.

Aunt Hannah and Liska

Pretty Lazlo

Sleepy Liska

Thank you to our families and friends who helped with this move and let us stay with them on our trip!

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Hello

The only blog I’ve read belongs to my friend Natalie, who happens to be a journalist. That means all of her entries are clever, funny and entertaining. Naturally I was intimidated when some friends encouraged me to start one for our family, but they convinced me that it will be the easiest way to keep in touch with family and friends from so far away. They also promised that posting pictures and writing short accompanying descriptions is all one needs to do. I can do that, so here it is.

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