1/2/13: Frosty mornings

It's been really chilly lately (for us, anyway!). Mid-20's and lots of frost on the car and leaves. Cory was fascinated by the "frost forests" that grew in the wet dirt in the front landscaping, and loved the frosty patterns on the leaves too. I'm not thrilled about scraping and melting all the frost off the car so we can head out in the mornings, but it's sure beautiful.

1/1/13: Finished our Christmas card scrapbook page

When I stumbled across several of our Christmas cards and newsletters a few years back, I thought it'd be fun to have a collection of them for each year collected in a scrapbook album. I made very quick scrapbook pages to hold the cards and letters on the spot, and since then, I've found and added a bunch more. It's so fun to look back on the old photos and read what we were up to each year. There are still gaps, but I'm slowly tracking them all down. I know I have every single one "somewhere."

This year since I not only finished our annual mailing early (sent them before Christmas Day!) but was also off the whole week of Christmas and at home to boot, I scrapbooked our card and letter straight away. Finished them up today and added them to the album.

Day 1 (Friday, July 1, 2011)

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk, in contrast to the many days of gray and drizzle lately. Cory rode his bike and I walked, and we found ripe salmon berries along the way! He enjoyed eating them too, somewhat to my surprise. He's not big on berries, but does like blackberries when they're in season. Little by little with this boy.

It was especially nice to get outside after spending most of the day catching up at work (from home), calling dentists, and taking Mom to an oral surgeon to get advice on her aching jaw. She's got an appointment to have a tooth pulled next week. Finally following advice her dentist gave her back in February but she ignored because she didn't want to spend the money and it didn't hurt - then.

fri, 12/31...day 365

The last day of 2010, and the last day of my Project 365 posts. I'll be doing another project of some sort to capture everyday memories in 2011 - probably a weekly or biweekly summary on my other blog. It's hard to believe I've been doing the daily photo thing for two whole years now! :-)

We spent a quiet day at the holiday park, catching up on laundry, resting, swimming, and taking it easy. The boys and I walked into town to do some shopping, and Joanna picked us and our groceries up to spare us carrying everything all the way back.

In the evening, we celebrated New Year's Eve by going to a real, sit-down restaurant, The Gothic, which used to be a church. Niall and I both ordered meals where you cook the meat at your table on a (very) hot stone. He thought that was the coolest thing! And the food was delicious.

Wonderful to ring in the new year here in New Zealand with our friends!

thu, 12/30...day 364

Today featured an incredible trip to the Abel Tasman coastline, taking a boat from Kaiteriteri Beach all the way up the coast, and then getting off at a beach partway back to hike through the bush to Tasman Bay where the boat picked us up again in the afternoon.

The beaches and bays are just gorgeous. The water is an incredible color of green, and clear, with beautiful craggy rocks and little islands sprinkled about. Stunning.

On the walk, we had to cross a long suspension bridge that would only support "five people maximum." It was quite an experience!

The walk was up and down, in places quite steep, so I was happy that Cory handled it pretty well, though he did keep asking if we were there yet. Two hours of hiking is a lot when you're not used to doing any at all and you really don't care much about the scenery. He had a great time playing at the beach when we got there, though, so not a total loss. :P

wed, 12/29...day 363

Today's outing was to Kina Beach, located between Motueka and Nelson, the town we went to yesterday.

It was very windy, so Joanna and I set up our towels in a sheltered spot on the grass just back of the driftwood line.

The boys found a driftwood fort and enjoyed adding onto it and playing sparring games.

We also found really big shells on this beach - mussels and other kinds. Adding to our collection...not sure how we'll get them home without breaking!

tue, 12/28...day 362

The Holiday Park where we're staying has great kid-friendly features, like this jumping pillow (wish we had them back in the States), giant chess board, playgrounds, and (our favorite) swimming pool.

Today was cool and a little drizzly, so we headed off to explore the town of Nelson, about 30 minutes from Motueka.

We started at the cathedral, above the main street of town, and then walked down to stroll around looking at the shops. Cory got a silver ring he loved from a street vendor, and Niall got a necklace with a carved bone pendant from the same place.

We stopped for tea at a sweets shop, and then headed back up the hill to the cathedral.