Merry Christmas!

Despite the forecast for rainy weather, today turned out to be warm and sunny and we made the most of our last summertime Christmas. 

It was chilly enough this morning for the kids to wear their new Christmas pyjamas from Grandma Georgia. However, after about 30 min, Madeleine carefully unbuttoned and removed her top and declared that she was not cold.

With the impending move, we kept gifts to a minimum and ended up not getting a tree this year. But last night Steve and I had some last minute guilt about the kids not waking up to a festive Christmas morning, so we made a paper tree and put Christmas lights on a chair to hold what few gifts we had for them. It worked - both kids thought it was fun and exciting and they thoroughly enjoyed the little gifts we had for them.

We skyped with lots of family today, but this is actually a picture of the kids (and Steve) completely absorbed by the advent calendar sent to us by Steve's Aunt Joanne. It had some amazing animation and Madeleine would ask to watch them over and over.

After a little hike in the hills behind our house, we took our salmon dinner down to the beach.

Madeleine loves throwing stones in the water, and is getting much braver at venturing into the water (which is actually really cold).

Aside from our Christmas celebrations, we have been really preoccupied with organizing things for the move. We had a garage sale last weekend, and we have listed a lot of things on Trade Me, the online auction site within NZ.

We made a trip to the zoo this past week with Emily and Jac. Jac and Madeleine both loved the humongous spider exhibit and the lion eating his lunch. We have a similar picture of the kids from our zoo trip last December... hard to believe how much they have changed in a year!

11 months!

Ross' 11 month birthday was slightly overshadowed by Steve's defense, but here are some pictures of him from this past week. 

He loves Madeleine's little dolly (who never wears clothes and whose hair is in unintentional dreadlocks) and is always thrilled when M lets him hold her. I'm not sure what he loves most about Dolly, but her moving eyelids and chewable limbs seem to be what he usually goes for first.

He is into everything these days, much to Madeleine's dismay. She is great at imaginative and independent play, but Ross just wants to barge in and tear things apart and climb all over everything. It leads to many tears. They still love to play chase and tackle though, and crawl through tunnels and tents (tables and couch cushions) together.

He is standing and cruising a lot now and has even started crawling up on his knees more and more.

He says "daddy!" with great enthusiasm when Steve comes home from work, and is making lots of new sounds lately. He loves the bathroom - the toilet, M's potty, the toilet brush... M never got into those things, so this is new territory for us. He also loves Steve's guitar, books, and paper. It's hard to believe that next month he'll be one year old, and we'll be celebrating in California!

Steven Ross Gibson, PhD (!)

Here was the scene this past Saturday afternoon, as Steve read through his thesis one more time in preparation for his defense on Monday.

Steve spent all day Monday in Christchurch for his defense, and he passed with flying colours. One of the two reviewers flew in from Australia, while the other skyped in from his base at Harvard. They had many positive and encouraging things to say, and also some thoughtful and challenging questions that Steve answered very well. He has some relatively minor corrections to make and then the university will formally issue his degree (although just through the mail since he won't be flying back from California for a graduation ceremony). The next adventure (aka the real job) starts on January 20th in Berkeley.

Weekend at the Bach

This past weekend we went to our friends' Matt and Emily's family bach (cottage) at Waiohine Gorge, about 1.5hr away. It was a mix of rain and sun, but such a peaceful and quiet setting, and we all loved it. 

 Ross taking in the view (seen below) from the covered porch.

 Jac and Madeleine sharing a moment (although not sharing a bowl).

Roasting marshmallows by the fire... neither Jac nor Madeleine wanted to eat a roasted one, but found it very interesting to watch. Poor little Ross was watching from afar...

This is one of the views, looking out over the Wairarapa.

Looking the other direction is the little bach (sorry, not my best shot). There is no electricity, which helps make it the wonderful, peaceful place it is.

Camping at Otaki Forks

A couple of weeks ago we went car-camping with our friends Emily and Matt and their little boy Jac. We went to Otaki Forks, up the Kapiti Coast, about 1.5 hours away. It was a beautiful sunny weekend and the river was a refreshing treat.

Ross loved the water, but mostly because of all the rocks he could pick up and eat. Both kids got to try out their new togs (aka swimming suits) from Grandma Georgia.

Madeleine and Jac got along really well and spent ages throwing rocks into the water, playing in the tents, kicking the ball around, and sitting in the cars pretending they were going to the shops. I guess there is something to be said for having your car right there when you're camping!

Matt and Emily moved to NZ from Wales just over two years ago, and Emily and I met at a local playgroup shortly after they had arrived. She has been my closest friend here in NZ, and Madeleine loves Jac like no one else. We will sure miss them when we leave.