September - December 2013

The blog posts will be coming fast and furious now, recapping in 6 month (or so) increments.
in October 2013 we went on a wedding planning trip to California and purchased wedding bands in Boston. It was a whirlwind. We stopped by Michigan to say hello to the family there and to California to help Lisa celebrate her birthday and visit June and Grandma Choko.

We also moved from the beach to the central city. we were a bit apprehensive about this at first, but we soon got used to the quick commute to work and more free time in the evenings. Forrest also
benefited greatly from less road rage.

Avon River - Central City

Boston

Lobster in Boston

Michael and Ellen

Halloween

Wine Tasting in CA with Lisa

Visiting Big Trees State Park

June, Choko, Forrest

Chocolate School at She Chocolat

Thanksgiving set up

Thanksgiving Friends

Great Santa Run year 3

message from Mom

a real Christmas tree in our new place! 

Bob and Sheila visited (Forrest Dad and his wife) for Christmas. It was lovely to have visitors for the holiday. We travelled to Wellington via train and ferry before Christmas and then went to Fjordland and Queenstown after Christmas.

June-July-August 2013

I suppose the reason the blog has been left by the wayside isn't a particularly new excuse; I've been busy. Here is a brief update and a token photo of the general activities.

June: My last grandparent passed away, a few days before his 84th birthday. I was fortunate enough to be able to travel back for the funeral and spend some extra time with my family. I was able to see all siblings, their partners and my nieces and nephews. Incredibly lucky to see everyone, considering the unfortunate event.
I got a new job and got rid of my old. Very excited about this! The three aforementioned events happened within 5 days of each other.



Early June we travelled to the North Island to visit sulfur filled Rotorua and a bit of the (extremely rainy) Coromandal Peninsula.
I also published my first work, a travel guide for Christchurch, which is available on Amazon.

White Island - Bay of Plenty - North Island

Hobbiton - Matamata - North Island

Colton, Haley, Emma & Dallas

Claudia

Ellen & Michael

Everyone

Siblings

July: We attended the US Ambassador to New Zealand's 4th of July party in Christchurch, then traveled with friends to Lake Ohau to continue to celebrate a little skiing (wasn't much snow).   I also started my new job and we did some house sitting at a farm 45 minutes southeast of Christchurch.   The ducks disappeared for most of the time their owners were away, then magically returned a few hours before the owners returned. mysterious.

Lake Ohau

The ducks

August: We hiked to Lake Daniells, in the Lewis Pass region.  Travelled to Samoa to celebrate my birthday and then celebrated Forrest's birthday a week later in Christchurch.  We attended Forrest's company's mid-winter party, donning masquerade masks. 

Lake Daniells

Forrest in the South Pacific

Traditional Fale (no electricity)

N'amua Island (home of traditional fale's)

Posh fale at Coconuts Beach Club

September so far: Last weekend we hiked up to Carroll Hut, within the Kelly Range, the West Coast side of Arthur's Pass National Park.

 

Carroll Hut - little white dot in photo

Attempted YMCA

Dan and Lu

toilet