New Zealand visitations

It seems that I have been chastised for not writing about our recent visits to the homeland (thanks Lloyd!!) so here is a brief summary... We had been planning a March visit ever since our visit in March 2005 (yes I've been back several times in between, but Jamie was having severe withdrawal symptoms as he had not visited since then). So after many months of negotiations and shift-swapping to secure an extra week in a row for Jamie, we managed to string together 3 weeks of his holiday (vacation weeks) and secured a complete bargain of an airfare and off we zoomed at the very end of February. A couple of days after we booked, Jac and Hugh announced their wedding date to be 30 April in Auckland so that initially brought some consternation along with the excitement as Jamie could not take any more holidays until after the 8th May. So after some to-ing and fro-ing with various agencies, we "gave back" the 3rd week of vacation time, booked it up again for the 1st week in May and bought Jamie a one-way ticket back to the US from Auckland during our March holiday. I was lucky enough to stay on in Auckland for the 3rd week in March which meant I was able to continue my visitation of friends during that week. And of course, more importantly we got to come back for a very cool event! They say there is never a perfect time to buy a house, get married or have a baby, but 30th April was indeed a perfect time for a wedding! As per the photo below, everything was stunning.

On the March visit, I had some work to do at various places and whilst I was doing that, Jamie got to relax and read books etc. The weather was amazing every single day and we enjoyed lots of visits to local cafes and restaurants - not to mention the obligatory fish & chips which you really can't get here in the US (although we have found a couple of places that serve meals that are kind of similar in various ways). We spent lots of time catching up with good friends - mainly over delicious meals including two wonderful home-cooked meals (in addition to mother's wonderful meals which go without saying...!): lunch with Lloyd (who I think was born a chef but doubles as an accountant) and his wife Debi (where Lloyd manged to successfully introduce Jamie to a very wide selection of kiwi music) and a very nice dinner at Margaret & Tony's St Heliers abode. It is so good to know that even though we are far away, that friends are able to take the time to meet up (often at quite short notice) when we are back in town so thank you to everyone we got to see!!

The more recent April/May visit was cool because we got to have a couple of days with the family all together (for the first time since our wedding 18 months ago) - see a couple of pics below... Unfortunatly because Jamie had to zoom back to work the last few days of the week, we were only on the ground for 2 full days, 3 nights and 2 part-days :( but at least some time was better than none.

Family picnic of fish & chips on Kohimarama Beach (yes Tracey, you're officially part of the family now!). 

Jamie sending mixed messages about his identity... an American who loves NZ's favourite drink L&P? Wearing a Miami Beach t-shirt on Auckland's Kohimarama Beach? Eating kumera chips whilst wearing a Detroit Pistons cap? Having a good time - most definitely!! 

Here we are in NZ (having just got off the plane 4 hours earlier and Jamie having done a week of working nights prior to that so in this pic he has not seen a real bed for some 60+ hours - hence the squint in the bright kiwi sunshine!) having coffee before Jac's wedding. NZ cafes are quite unique and the coffee brewing is always quite fantastic. 

Here I am with Famous Fleur who has cut my hair for the last 11 years! I grew it for the last 18 months in the USA, but think my trademark and variations of it suits me better (and it is SO much cooler with the length gone). Go Fleur!! 

Mother & 3 daughters in preparation mode at home before leaving for the awesome venue of the Auckland Hilton where both the wedding and reception were to be.... 

Stunning day, stunning bride (and handsome groom), stunning harbour!