Life Down Under

A weekend of celebrations

We sure had lots to celebrate this weekend! Friday was Aaron's birthday, and of course Taylor especially was so excited that it was her Daddy's birthday. She is now at the age where she understands what birthdays mean, which is really fun. I think that holidays and birthdays are always more fun when there are kids around; they just help to bring out the festive aspects of special days that adults can sometimes overlook. So of course we had lots of fun shopping for daddy's birthday present, decorating the house, and decorating his cake. Then we had one of our good 'couple friends' over for dinner to celebrate with us over steak and wedges. Yum! After Taylor went to bed, the 4 of us played several rounds of Cribbage - continuing a 'boys vs. girls' tournament that started at least 2 years ago when we all were back in Kansas City. It was really a lot of fun - and we all agreed that we needed to do it more often.

Then yesterday was our 6 year anniversary! We had planned to go out to dinner (which we did, and thoroughly enjoyed). As we were just finishing up eating, we spontaneously decided to book a hotel for the night to have a little local getaway. Nic was more than happy to have Taylor for the night, so after scoring a deal on this hotel in town, we were off on our last-minute mini-holiday. I have to say, I was very impressed with the customer service at the hotel (arguably some of the best I've encountered in New Zealand - it reminded me of America), and the rooms and the hotel itself were awesome. Definitely a place I'd go back to again. We had a great time away; it was just what we needed.

After a long rainy day today (last weekend we had the wind; this weekend we've had the rain...all weekend long) , we're feeling somewhat rested and ready for the week ahead.