Made it!

Aotearoa - Land of the Long White Cloud - GodZone - Down Under - New Zealand
However you want to call it, we've arrived and we'll be happy to call it home.

If you're hoping for scenic views and stunning photos, this post isn't it.  We'll get there eventually, but priority #1 here is spending time with family and starting to wind down from our "holiday" mode for a little while and consider what we're intending doing here for the next 8.5 months!   

The boys were treated to new bean bag chairs for their birthday pressies from Nana & Poppa.  

Nana was delighted to have a special afternoon tea prepared for her 4 grandchildren - all together for the 1st time ever!  Gingerbread men from the local bakery - yummy!

A nice trip to the park (3 doors down) provided a chance for the boys to show off their soccer skills.

 We headed inland to a country school fair where somethings felt strangely familiar like this bouncy castle / slide and others were frighteningly different - like their massive playgrounds with balance beams 10 feet up and only a wire to hold on to . . . totally freaked this Canadian mommy out!
I'll do a whole post on playgrounds one day.

 Ok, so here's a little peek at the scenery.  Mountains and hills surround Nelson which is nestled around a harbour on the Tasman Bay.

 This photo is included to highlight the necessity of not letting your child take his flour-filled-squishy-balloon-thing with him in the car . . .   Xavier's broke within 5 minutes of purchasing it at the market and Jackson's lasted over 24 hours, but still ended with the same hilarious result.  Not so hilarious on the side of the road mind you.   Yes, they spent their own money on it.  LOL 

Festival Fun!

 Sharing fried Maori bread with melted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

 Sheep Shearing Demonstration of course!! 

 Boys watching the sheep shearing, mouths wide open . . .

 It feels like every post I've written has ended with a beach scene lately, so I'll continue to follow the trend.  This is Tahunanui Beach in Nelson and while arriving in NZ has brought us the coolest temperatures we've had in months (think April weather in Canada), the boys couldn't completely stay dry next to the ocean . . .  I'm sure we'll return here many more times as we drive by it everyday now. 

We spent much of our first week scouting out places to rent in Nelson, as 10 in a house is pushing it with the likes of our little X-factor (yes, I mean Xavier!).  Renee updated her resume and applied for a retail job advertised in a local shop window by the third day in the country.  More on all of that in the next update!  Great end to the week though - celebrating with fish & chip take-away's wrapped up in newsprint, eaten on the lounge floor picnic-style with Wattie's tomato sauce.   

Here's to "raising kiwi's"!