on 30 trips around the sun

here we are and another year has passed. I've been thinking about birthdays, and how many birthdays i actually remembered, or what i remember, in general, about my childhood.

1. first actual memory - red polka dot bikini and a kidding swimming pool, age around 5. not my birthday but memorable because that's when i started loving polka dots and probably the last time i looked decent in a bikini
[huge gap in memory, likely due to the fact that i gained 3 brothers and 1 sister in this time period, see photo below, man, i didn't know what was coming... but, possibly still one of my favorite dresses... if you can't tell the finer details of the print, it is little girls, with hula hoops]

 2. birthday age 11, hanging up my own decorations around our living room, being an in-general-brat, aged 11, wearing (prescription) glasses exceedingly too big for my face

3. birthday age 18, last birthday with two grandmothers, first birthday it didn't rain. probably a coincidence
4. birthday age 21, delayed surprise party with good friends at college
5. birthday age 26, one heck of a celebration in Phoenix, it's not every day you get to celebrate the 5 year anniversary of turning 21
6.  birthday age 30, Moab, Utah, really really hot summer, recently engaged and heading to a surprise hot air balloon ride in New York followed by the best brunch, ever

 7.  birthday 31, first ever birthday in the winter season, living in a place I'd never even given second notice to, and having the most amazing fiancé plan a surprise trip to Hawkes Bay, located on the east coast of  the North Island.

we had a wonderful time, relaxing in a cottage, Forrest driving me around to endless wineries for tastings as well as a wonderful lunch followed (much later) by a beautiful dinner. To top things off Forrest even presented me with a surprise gift. What a wonderful weekend and perhaps one of my favorite weekends in New Zealand so far.

Mid-Winter

As I begin day two of staying at home with the flu, I realized I hadn't even considered my captive audience that may be awaiting my next post about life in Christchurch. However, likely not as captive any more. regardless... a general re-cap of the last month. and it hasn't snowed again since my first post regarding snow, so, fear not! you aren't missing any treacherous winter conditions.  Since I have been sick, with nothing to do and not wanting to go in and infect my co-workers (even though it's quite common here as it is in the States), I started watching Mad Men and I really enjoy it! Where was I from 2007-2010. Oh yeah, Moving from Phoenix-Boston with a brief stop-over at The Farm in Michigan to help with Dad Projects like painting hay wagons, bright red. Yes, Mad Men, good series, I'm working my way through Season 1, episode 9 comes up today. All possible because of my wonderful in-house Microsoft-hating tech support. Thank you, Forrest :)

As yes, the updates...

We travelled to Lake Tekapo for an extended weekend, 16 June.  The dark sky above Lake Tekapo was recently recognized as the largest dark sky reserve in the world and the evening tour did not disappoint. 

As per usual, we took a trek in the hills/water/snow back in the far reaches of Lake Tekapo, passing by an eerily perched mega resort where it always felt like we were being watched/hunted. and next day we travelled back to Christchurch. 

The last part of June Forrest ran in the 'mud, sweat, and tears' adventure race. a testosterone and costume filled event that Forrest really enjoyed, along with a few thousand other people.

We also checked out a rugby match at the recently constructed AMI (part 2) stadium.  The current AMI stadium, where the some of the Rugby World Cup games were to be held, was ruined in the February 2011 earthquake, which was unfortunate, considering how expensive the stadium was to construct. however, shockingly similar to most of the other buildings in Christchurch that were recently built, cheaply and without recognition of the major fault lines running through Christchurch and New Zealand. alas, i digress.  The rugby game was... entertaining. at least I finally know why every. single. kiwi. wears short shorts (even in winter) called "stubbies". because the rugby players do! and everyone loves rugby! hurray!

The next day we hiked Mt. Thomas, a great day hike, less than an hour drive away.  We hiked the Summit track up and wooded gully track down.

The first part of July we travelled (via airplane!) to Queenstown and for a ski trip to  Cardrona Ski Resort. My frist attempt back on the skis since one hungover New Years Day at Snowbowl in Flagstaff, Arizona in... 2007? My elbow hurt for 3 months after that trip. the only lasting scars from the Cardrona trip, aside from pride, were the aching calves from being rammed into those god awful ski boots. how does anyone like skiing? so much crap to carry around. but the time you've collected all your gear, dodged the kids and the black ice on your way up to the lift line, you're too exhausted to perfect your technique on the way down the bunny hill. Anyway, I think Forrest enjoyed himself on his snowboard. I don't know for sure because Forrest has advanced way beyond my bunny hill tribulations and I didn't see him most of the day.

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, "why are Forrest and Sara dressed in costumes lately?" and if you're not, I shall enlighten you anyway. 'Fancy Dress' is huge here. Fancy Dress does not mean, 'to put on a fancy dress', rather, 'to dress in costume'. I have been rather resistant to the idea of costumes since... well.. probably sometime back in 4th grade and one of my lovely brothers or cousins scared the bejesus out of me with a dumb mask, or perhaps in 7th grade when i was forced to watch one of those terrible chainsaw and mask movies. costumes to me = scary costumes, Halloween = scary, and I don't watch horror movies. so now we're all caught up with Sara's mental processes. 

Forrest's mid-winter (fancy dress) celebration took place at the Air Force Museum. We had a great time. I conspired with three lovely ladies working at Forrest's office to wear 1960s air hostess outfits with me. well, really I just made the hats and we figured out the rest. all for about $35/person. and the dress is cute enough to wear again (flashback to all those bridesmaids where the bride that told you as much). Forrest rented his costume the day of the event and the whole ensemble worked out perfectly.

Belated 4th of July celebration was just this past weekend and we had a wonderful turnout and some great costumes.We also found Miller and Budweiser beer, to keep things authentic.

So i guess we've been pretty busy and if  you've made it this far into the blog, thanks for reading!

We are really looking forward to our trip back to the States in late August. Hopefully we will be able to see many of you as we travel from California to Michigan and then over to Lisbon.

Snow!

Last night we heard rumors that a snow was planned for the Christchurch area. Not that it hasn't happened before, in winter 2011 Christchurch got the most snow since 1992 with 30 cm. Now... this is no Boston Nor'easter which could dump 30 cm an hour, however, snow is a big deal to Christchurch. With no proper snow removal equipment and many earthquake damaged roads, the conditions were slightly concerning. Today between 10-18 cm of snow fell in the region. Here are some photos of our area, Sumner Beach.

Queen's Birthday Holiday

We celebrated the Queen's Birthday holiday with a day off work and took a camping/hiking trip to Lake Sumner Forest Park. The hiking route is outlined below, total distance was near 45 km over the entire trip. Our first night we spent at Hurunui Hut, which is pictured below. After depositing our packs at the hut we hiked a 9km round trip to the naturally occurring hot springs and jumped in. We returned to Hurunui Hut for the evening. The next day we crossed over the Hurunui River in search of Mackenzie Hut, which was situated up the river valley. We crossed several high "stream" crossings in the rain, and decided to turn around for the car. Just before we turned back we saw a stunning rainbow, photo and video follows. Sunday night we camped at Loch Katrine and Monday we drove out the 4WD jeep trail back to Christchurch.

The Last Two Months

I knew I was forgetting about something, oh yes, the blog, life updates, etc. Sad to say that I was absent from blogger long enough for them to change the posting protocol! Life here has gotten much shakier in the last week, including a 5.2 earthquake yesterday. You can see the trend data of the earthquakes here. I don't talk much about the quakes because I don't want to frighten people (mostly my mom), but they are a part of our life here, and cannot be readily ignored. 

ok, starting from where I left off from blog land, or approximately April, we flew across the Tasman Sea to Sydney, Australia. Where we spent a lovely four day Easter weekend. Pictured below is the Sydney Opera House, The Harbour Bridge, Downtown Sydney from the Harbour Bridge, The Three Sisters of Blue Mountain National Park and Forrest perfecting his handstand.

Shortly following the Sydney trip we travelled down to Arrowtown New Zealand for our engagement photos. We really enjoyed the photo session and our photographers were outstanding. A little sneak peak of the photos is below, we have over 200 images so you will likely see more as the wedding plans develop.

The following weekend we took a short boat cruise around Lyttelton Harbour with Forrest's work group. It was a fun event. 

The next week was another holiday, mid-week ANZAC Day. We headed out to Lake Sumner for a quick bike ride.

The next major event was our Cinco de Mayo party, where 40 people showed up in costume and ready to have some fun. The tequila and tacos were plentiful, as were the sombrero's and fake moustaches.we even had a pinata!

After the Cinco de Mayo party we needed to take a break and set up the tent in the great outdoors. We traveled to the Rangitata River Valley to camp at Lake Camp (ironically enough).

Last weekend Forrest took a gnarly hiking trip with three other engineers, the photos are absolutely stunning and can be found here. I went to Auckland with a friend that is headed back to the UK. Auckland had a great city feel to it, and it's only 1.5 hour plane ride north (on the North Island).

As you can see, my lack of blogging wasn't because I could not reach my laptop from the sofa. We have been very busy, per our usual selves, and are looking forward to the upcoming winter season. They say it has been known to snow here in Christchurch, guess we will see! Take care Friends (and internet stalkers)!