Down South

More Lochmara Lodge....After taking the water taxi back to Picton we picked up our rental car and drove to Able Tasman National Park for a few days. We stayed in a lovely holiday house and spent a day hiking around the GORGEOUS bays and admiring all the family 'baches' on the beach. Made us think that we'd love to have a holiday house to stay within our family throughout the years...
Able Tasman National Park - filled with Mellow hiking trails - we hiked for about 5 hours with pit stops at beaches along the way. We were all pretty tired at the end...and enjoyed a few beers at the holiday house (which funnily enough came stocked with beer!) Ha ha
Luca's getting so strong now -he holds his head up a lot! We also enjoy having 'conversations' with him. He's so much more responsive now...so much fun :-) Unfortunatly the water was just a bit too chilly for him to get in it. Dad and Fran also thought it was really cold. Our summer in NZ feels like their Florida winters.
After Able Tasman we made our way to Blenheim - the vinyard capital of NZ...famous for making Savignon Blanc. We did the wine tour, picked up a few bottles along the way.
Luca and Dad on the wine tour. Luca looks passed out...but I swear he didn't have a drop of alcohol!

Marlborough Sounds

Bruce (James' Stepdad) was celebrating his 60th bday by inviting family and friends to Lochmara Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds. Lochmara Lodge, an 'ecolodge' only accessable by water taxi, is a beautiful and relaxing place intermixed with all kinds of random art work, endangered animals, hiking trails, glow worms, night floursants in the water, and fine dining. James and I discovered Lochmara last year when we came to the sounds to hike the Queen Charlotte Trek, so it was cool to revisit it a year later with our families - and also to help Bruce celabrate the big 60th!
We were never short babysitters while we were here as there were two sets of Grandparents, and lots of James other Australian realatives willing to watch Luca while we went out for a paddle or walk. Here's a pic of Fran babysitting.
Luca's first hike - we took him for a 3 hour hike in the front pack - Lochmara bay is below. Luca generally enjoys being toted around in the front pack, but we have to be careful not to cover him in sweat when hiking.
Bruce (James stepdad), Fran, Jo (James' mom), and my Dad on the deck. Now Bruce and Jo have met both sets of my parents...they just need to come out to the States and visit...they would LOVE it!

Luca all dressed up for dinner in his cowboy outfit - soooo cute! Look at his boots :-)

Dad and Fran's Visit

What a busy two weeks we've had...Dad and Fran arrived into NZ and spent a few days traveling around the North Island (Bay of Islands, Auckland, Rotorua, Taupo...) before arriving into Palmerston North. I think Fran was relieved to turn in the rental car and let us do the driving, and of course they were both really looking forward to meeting Luca. Dad and Fran really enjoyed NZ and were cramming each day full of activities - so they got a bit of a break when they arrived to Palmy.
We showed Dad and Fran around Palmy, went for walks, BBQ'd, attended Bruce's 60th bday at the beach, played golf, and attended a City Council Summer Concert. It was good that they could come visit - see where I work, where we live, meet Luca! They also came with a huge box of goodies for Luca that was from them and Sherry and Dennis. It was better than Christmas! So many cute new things for our little man (and a tent for Mom and Dad too....we can't wait to take Luca camping!!!)
We couldn't find exactly matching shirts, but thought this was close enough. Now if only I could find some overalls for James...After visiting Palmerston North for a few days we took the morning train down to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island. It was a week of many firsts for Luca...on the train, on boats, hiking with Mom and Dad. Every time he did something new it was like, 'This is the first time Luca has (fill in the blank)' It never ceases to get old to show this man all the new things in life.
And on the Ferry to the South Island to meet up with James' family at Lochmara Lodge.

That Women

I'm now that women.

The one waiting at the gate of the airline that everyone looks at secretly thinking 'PLEASE don't let me be stuck by that women with the baby.' Trust me...they're not thinking 'oh, look at the cute baby, and isn't he cute asleep.' I know because I used to be one of those people who used to look at babies in disgust as I was boarding a plane. I know, I know...it sounds hideous, but it's true, and I'm sure most of you would agree that you have felt the same way too.

So I did feel the eyes staring at me and Luca on the early morning flight to Auckland last week - a flight mainly with business people. James took us to the airport to send us off, and witness Luca's first plane trip and assured me that the people staring at us were more likely to be thinking 'Oh....that poor women left behind all on her own with a newborn while her husband gets shipped away with the army' (James was in his uniform on his way to work). And actually he's probably right. That's probably what they were thinking until they saw me board the plane.

Luca was polishing his halo on the airplane. He mainly slept and there wasn't one cry from him. His ears didn't seem to bother him at all - which I had been warned about on the takeoff and landing. So all in all a very successful trip.

We went up to Auckland for the day to sort of Luca's American citizenship and passport. I was armed with all kinds of documents, photos, and other paperwork. Walking into the American consulate strangly felt like being at home. I guess it was all the American flags. Luca passed with flying colours and I was beaming with pride when they finally announced 'Congratulations Luca you are now an American Citizen.' Yeah, cheesy I know...but it was kind of cool. He's a very lucky little boy to have both NZ and American citizenship - this effectivly means that he can live/work in USA, NZ, Australia, and get working visas fairly easily for Canada and the UK. But that's way off in the future....

While in Auckland we also visited our friends Mo and Caroline. Caroline is about to have a baby any day now and she was glowing. We can't wait for the arrival of little baby girl? Luca continued the polishing as he put on his adorable well behaved little baby act for the new parents-to-be. Oh, wait...he is an adorable little baby!

Okay...look how cute this is. Luca has cargo shorts similar to Daddy's. Look at the size difference....adorable! Now they just need to get matching shirts.
Smiles everywhere! We are rewarded with lots of smiles now as Luca's personality is starting to shine through. He's probably laughing at how silly Mommy and Daddy look while trying to get him to pull smiles....ha ha.

An eventful week

This week we attended two PNCC events (these are the events I organize for work). Waitangi Day was on Wed so James got to spend the day at home with us. Waitangi Day is a celebration of the founding documents of NZ - when the Maori and European came to agreements - it's sort of a 'New Zealand Day'. In the square was a day long free concert and entertainment - there were a few thousand people in attendance!
Last night we attended one of the Summer Concert in the park music series. There was some fantastic Jazz music, but unfortunatly there was also a bit of rain. We forgot to bring the waterproof cover or umbrella with us - and we got caught out! It was Luca's first expierence of rain (we've had a bit of a dry spell since he's been born). The rain soaked through the stroller and was dripping on his head. Poor little guy probably had no idea what was happening. When we realized he was getting wet and looked inside the buggy - he was just sitting there smiling, and looking up at the water that was spilling on to his head. Ha ha...we soon found a friend who lent us her umbrella.

Our other big event of the week was Luca's 6 week shots (very traumatizing!). He also weighed in at 11lbs 11oz. The Dr. thinks we are both looking really well. I was grateful that James was able to get off work to meet us for the appointment - Luca needed lots of love and cuddles after his 3 shots! That evening Luca cried, and cried, and cried. Poor little bugger! We gave him his first taste of non-milk.....cherry flavored parecetemol to help the pain. Surprising he liked it - and it made him sleepy (which Mom and Dad liked!)

Luca is such a good little boy. He's been giving us lots of smiles lately, and we find ourselves spending hours trying to get him to smile. He particularly likes peek a boo with James, and when I blow him kisses. We still look at him in awe - can't believe we created this wonderful little boy. My favourite part of the day is when I get to wake him up in the morning - he looks so peaceful when he wakes up and is ready to get out his bed and play. He also does these big man stretches where he raises his arms above his head, arches his back and does a big ol' yawn...

Kind of like that!

And the party continues...

More photos from James' Bday party last week. The cheesy kareoke...can't remember what song they are singing...maybe ......'You Lost that Loving Feeling'? I lost track after a while!
Happy Birthday James!
And more singing....

James, Patrick, and Nicola posing for the camera...nice smile James..ha ha!

More Luca photos to come soon...he turned 6 weeks old on Friday, which was celebrated by recieving his 6 week immunizations. He was not happy about this (neither was mom!).

James' Birthday!

On Jan 31st we celebrated James birthday by invited his family around for a BBQ at our place - Just imagine how nice our backyard will be once we are finished with the landscaping project. Then we'll all be hanging out on our nice deck, surrounding by lush green ready-lawn....not dirt and construction debris like these photos show!
4 Generations of Deegans - James Grandpa Tom, Jame's Dad Pete, and of course James and Luca.

James has been saving this bottle of port for 10 years - to drink when after he had his first born son. It's a special bottle from the military from when his unit rebanded into......??? Actually I better not try to talk about it...I'll let James fill in the specifics, b/c I don't really know the story...but....
It did taste pretty good! Pretty cool that James has been saving it for just this moment.
On Friday night we met a big group of our friends and a local Chinese resturant for dinner and Kareoke. Not the type of place that you would want to go to a lot - but heaps of fun when you have a big group, and something to celebrate. Luca stayed with Jo and Bruce at the beach, and after him being gone for an hour I was already missing him! I do admit, though, that it felt a bit like old times as James as I got ready for a night out, wine glass and beer in hand.