Wedding Bells

On November 6 we gained a new family member - 

Lynne Clark aka Granny Lynne!

We flew down to Christchurch on the Wednesday the 3rd to spend some time with the happy couple and also just catch a bit of family time after Tony's first month back at work. It was a great weekend (I'll do another post on that) but the wedding was the highlight. It was relaxed yet beautiful. Tony was the best man and the MC so he was busy... and I was the 'official' photographer - which meant Auntie Sasha was the busy one looking after the kids! Dad and Lynne were/are so very happy. We are thankful we were here to celebrate this new season in their lives.

Clark Men

Lynne and her daughters Katie and Nicci arrived in this amazing Jag... nice entry!

Patrick, the oldest of the grandkids, was the official ring bearer... but Hunter and Brayden were pretty keen.

Vows said, rings exchanged... we're just about to the part where they are announced "man and wife"... but this is an all ages blog so I'll skip the "kiss the bride" photo...

Happy Clark Family - just missing the newest Clark... she was circling the block at this time waiting for dad's brothers to arrive.

Precious moments...

Family Bonding in Christchurch

Originally we thought we'd be able to get some time on the mountain in CHCH before Dad's wedding in November... unfortunately the mountain closed two weeks prior. Instead of changing our flights, we just went down a few days early anyway and had some quality time together. It was a well timed re-grouping after Tony's first 6 weeks at work.

 For our train crazy son we bought cable car passes so we had unlimited access to the CBD!!! The first day was a stunner... absolutely gorgeous! I could live here in Christchurch if not for the winter snow!

 We actually had time to stop and smell the roses! Now this is the kind of holiday we need more often...

 We also got to have a mini-reunion with some dear friends we'd met in Taiwan... Rich and Claire hosted the evening and Greg and Jess came along too! It was so fun to reminisce about the big smoke as well as catch up on the latest adventures in each other's lives. Thanks McFed's for the beautiful meal and organizing the details... we really enjoyed our time with all four of you!!!

 Two nights later we (well, Lynne's famiy) hosted our own mini-reunion with the Stewart cousins!! It was fun to meet baby Joshua and see Jennifer, Mike and Warren again! Thanks, Jen for arranging your side!!!

Sasha and Jennifer

Then there was the actual wedding day... This is the only photo of Tony and I since I was behind the lens the whole day. It was fun to catch up a bit with some of the Clark uncles and aunties and it was good to meet Lynne's family and friends. Now we'll be all set to come down to Christchurch for visits!!!

Ken and Judy came up from Hamilton...

along with Nancy and Graham.

Uncle Alistair and Jenny... they're always a kick to catch up with.

Dad's brother Keith and Anne also came along - so all of his siblings were there!

It was also fun to finally meet Sasha's new beau - Phil.

 Brian and Katie (Lynne's daughter) have 3 boys who our kids just loved hanging out with so family visits will be loud and lots of fun.

Nicci is Lynne's daughter who lives in Auckland... hopefully she'll come down for family visits too!

 

So these are the grandkids... oh what fun to have 'cousins' in NZ and a new Granny too!

Kids At Work Day

Tony had only been at work for a couple of weeks before the annual "Kids At Work Day" rolled around... YAHOO!!! We all got up and out the door to make it on baba's bus on time... it was the noisiest, most interactive bus ride he's ever had... but fun for the kids! And our first bus ride since leaving Taiwan... kinda strange really... considering we took a bus several times a week for most of the kids' lives!

The 12th floor of the building had been rearranged and overtaken by young folk... infants, toddlers, tweens... it was an all ages event. Tony went up to work and so did I... only I was in an unfamiliar 'office'. Hunter, of course, went straight over to the train sets and Helena set about to find as many things she could get herself involved in...

C'mon sweetie... why can't you sit this still when we're eating a meal or I'm trying to have a conversation with a friend?

She loves getting her face painted... is this all girls or just her... everytime she sees face-painting she wants it... and she'll sit through it! Amazing. Maybe I should get my own supplies and use it as incentive... hmmm.

Hunter left the trains long enough to find this table with the radio control racecars... he was pretty much a fixed item there til the facilitator had to give him the ole boot (tears were shed). But wait... what's that little brown bear in the background???

Oh... she's gone from brown bear to ice princess... she is a girl afterall... I guess she can do what she wishes! The big kids were in groups creating Wearable Art displays so Helena found some scraps and pulled this ensemble together. The funny thing was that even though she wasn't in a group, when the kids got up to model there stuff, Helena tried to join in a few groups... our kids are NOT shy... at least not this one right now.

Story time was a chance to just chill out... Hunter was right at the readers knee in the photo before this, but must've decided moving a train around her feet was more interesting than that particular story!

Oh... and here's daddy!!! Well, we did have morning tea up on his floor where we got to meet his teammates and our friend Jacinta from Taiwan came over to catch up as well... that was cool to see her back here. After lunch it was time for Tony to do more real work and these guys were tired... but I had promised Hunter we'd get home via his favorite thing...

TRAIN!!!

So far our only train trip (it's not cheap) but he keeps asking to go again... just you wait, Hunter, just you wait! You'll get your train ride!

Mountain Getaway

It was Labour Weekend last weekend so we took advantage of the long-weekend by having a rip-roaring good time on Friday night with 7 of our good friends over for a dessert evening and game night in which we all laughed so hard our eyes watered and tummies ached - what a great way to start a weekend, eh?!? Saturday, Tony took his first bike ride with a group here in Wellington - truth be known it was his first bike ride period in 3 months!!! Little did he know he'd ride 80km!!! Exhausted, but happy, he greeted Dad and Lynne at our place for the evening as they were en route to Christchurch and stopped over for the night. They bonded with Hunter at the Kenepuru hospital because the little guy had another fever and chesty cough - so he's on meds... meanwhile, Granny Lynne helped me get the little lady into bed and baked some tasty treats for their drive and our Mountain Getaway!!! SO after an already full weekend, we got up at a reasonable time on Sunday morning and made our way north to Mt Ruapehu. We spent a couple of hours on the mountain Sunday introducing the kids to snow... and then on Monday Tony got to snowboard for half the day before we came to play... what a blast! Being spring, it was the most positive mountain/snow/cold experience I've ever had... I think I'll sanction another mountain vacation - though mid-winter still sounds too cold for me!!!

Okay, modified a bit, but still... you've got to recognize blue skies when you see them!

It was gorgeous - clear, sunny, very little wind - it was like being at the beach, only with more clothes!

We hired a couple of tobagons to let the kids have a go on their first ever trip to snow. At first Hunter wasn't that keen... but he got into it eventually...

Helena on the other hand was all go from the moment we started... she's a little daredevil...

 and just oh so cute in that puffy little snow suit we borrowed from some friends!!! Gotta love that the kids are wearing their gum boots in the snow - gum boots being the plastic boots for garden use, rain use, farm use all Kiwis own a pair of (I better get me a pair too since I am a real Kiwi too)!

 After a bit of snow play at the base of the mountain we took the chair lifts up to the next level to play some more... though Hunter looks quite calm and happy here, I was totally freaking out on the inside thinking that the only thing protecting me and my babies from that long drop was a flimsy metal bar and his own self-control... really, not much, eh? Thankfully Tony took Mei mei and I got less squirmy Hunter...

 and we all made it safe and sound!!! Phew... but we had to take it back down too!!!

 Our first go at a snowman... not bad - sorta toddler size!

 Helena didn't really like the mountain she later told us... when asked why not - "No like gloves on"... we fought and fought for her to keep those things on... oh well, at least her hands are still intact!

 Oh yes, so here I am holding on to my little guy - just to be on the safe side!

So our first day went well. After changing into dry gear, we hit a few ski gear sales in town - WOOHOO, I got a pair of snowpants of my own (I was also borrowing some) and now I'm just a helmet and snowboarding boots away from being totally decked out and ready for next year's snowboarding season - much to Tony's amazement and careful planning!! We ate dinner at a picnic table in a park then headed a bit further a field to the Heartlanz Motel where we had a cozy room with a lounge, kitchen, separate room for the kids... not super convenient location - but it was a good price and it was warm! The kids and I spent some time there on Monday while Tony snowboarded on his own... when we met up with him he was EXHAUSTED (could it have been his 80km bike ride just two days prior?)...

 Yes, here's dad... thankfully for him the snow wasn't the only thing melting on that mountain... the kids only lasted about an hour.

 But gosh aren't they so cute in snowgear??? We cleaned up again and headed home... turned out though, Tony's exhaustion and ache were more from the FLU than from anything else... poor guy was uncomfortable and unwell the whole trip back home (thanks to panadol the edge was off)... but overall we all had a great weekend together and I guess that's what was important!

And here's a bit of NZ greenery for ya!

10 Years Later...

Unaware of what the future would hold for me and my first/only former boyfriend Mr Tony Clark, I along with two travel companions braved the 10+ hour flights from Korea (via Malaysia for another great friend's wedding) to New Zealand in what was our summer of 1999. Amber Ambrose (my dear sister) and Tim Bergman (my colleague and good friend) had an absolutely amazing experience planned by my dear Tony. Well... needless to say, sparks flew at that time and Tony stopped by to visit me in Korea later that year... staying of course with his new buddy, Tim. When Tim left ICS he joined up with YWAM and we've managed to stay in contact through the years: the weddings, the births, the moves... so you can imagine our delight when we found out he and his wonderful family were going to be in NZ while we were here!!! So the Bergmans made a special trip down to Wellington for the reunion and we had a great time catching up, reminiscing, playing, praying and just enjoying a friendship that has spanned a decade and several continents.

The night they arrived was the night of Hunter's "Kindy Disco"... he had actually been talking about it, so being good sports, we all went along to support the Johnsonville West Kindergarten. It was a fun hour and a half of inexpensive food and loud music...

 It was such a treat to have girls in the house... Abigail is between Hunter and Helena so Helena just followed everything she did! Abby wanted a sheep on her face so of course Helena got one too... and this was only within the first few hours they met.

Hunter got shy during the dancing part of the disco, but not the girls - they rocked!!! You can see the little pink dots in the back!!!

These guys had been in a tropical paradise for the past 3 months - Wellington in October is a bit chilly to jump into... so we made several fires and shared long-sleeved clothing... it was funny because even we had started to get used to no fires.

Since they'd already been travelling all over the country, we decided not to take a day-trip which required more driving... instead we headed to our favourite place - Te Papa!!!

We spent heaps of time enjoying the discovery centre together...

then over to Petone for fish and chips on the beach!

Briana is in there somewhere!!!

After church on Sunday we came back home to a warm bowl of chili and played games with the Burrow's family until the evening service. "Uncle Tim" was a great war facilitator - but then again he was the PE teacher when we met.

Helena really did love having Abby and Briana over to match her pink levels.

Thanks Tim and Nelly for making the effort to come down - we all really enjoyed meeting the Bergman's as a family and we're looking forward to meeting number 3 sometime somewhere in God's great big world!!!