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December 01, 2005
Back from vacation
Last Friday we got back from a whole month away from home - 3 weeks in New Zealand, then 5 days in CA for Thanksgiving. Our time in NZ was fun but tiring - although we spent the better part of two weeks in and around Auckland with Pat, Louise, and Peter, we still ended up driving about 1000 miles. Someday, I may actually put up some pictures... after I put up the June pictures from Dad's wedding, and August pictures from Ethan's birthday, and October pictures from Angie and Wayne's wedding, and...
Ethan enjoyed a lot of our trip, but he was not quite his usual angelic self. I think it was hard for him to have such a long period of time with so little predictability and routine, and so much time away from house and toys. And so few toys. And so few playmates. When we first got there, Louise gave us a deck of cards with a book of card games, which Ethan was obsessed with for the first week. He added Rummy, Blackjack, and Crazy Eights to his repertoire of games. Then for the last week he played incessantly (we're talking 5 hours straight) with this marble/chute toy that Aunt Pat bought. The day after we got home, he barely talked to us all day - just spent hours reacquainting himself with all his toys.
The highlights of the trip were probably the glowworm caves (VERY cool) and all the geothermal activity we saw.
One day, Ethan said two very cute things: we were driving along one of the many curvy roads, and he said, "In New Zealand, the curvy roads are different than in Portland... because in Portland, the curves are straight!" Then a little later, I passed him back some juice (we were in the car as usual) and he sang out, "Thank you, me say thank you..." to the tune of "Deo, me say deo..."
Posted by ktingey at December 1, 2005 04:21 PM