First Christmas!

It was Camden's first Christmas this year, and we could not have been any more excited! So excited, that we forgot to take a lot of pictures... instead, we were more "in the moment" with Cam. It's really hard for me to let go of my camera in memorable moments like this, but it was worth it since I was actually in the action, instead of just documenting it. SO, I don't have a ton of pictures to share, but just a few.

We wanted to make sure that Camden learns and understands the true reason we celebrate Christmas, with a healthy balance of the things that make Christmas magical for kids. So we did incorporate Santa and his reindeer, along with a few other things.

We went to visit Santa Claus earlier in December, which you saw HERE. Camden did great, but was more interested in that long, white beard instead of the man behind it :) We had a small Christmas tree this year since we had to leave the day after Christmas. It was actually better, because Camden started crawling quickly after we got the tree and it was high and out of his reach! We had fun decorating it together and talking about each of the ornaments (mainly my starbucks cup ornaments) and the sparkly star we put at the top of the tree. On Christmas eve, we went to church as a family and got all dressed up like we used to do growing up! Bobby even took us out to Starbucks beforehand as a special treat! We had read the accounts of the real Christmas story from the bible a few days before, and had been singing the traditional Christmas songs (Silent Night - Cam's favorite) since November! A few days before Christmas, we went to Flat Iron Farm to see all the Christmas lights and animals... Camden especially loved the John Deere Electric Train display they had!

On Christmas morning, we woke up early and came down to our little tree with presents underneath! Santa came to our house! We forgot to do stockings this year. Oops! For breakfast, we made cinnamon rolls and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus - something we borrowed from friends that I thought was a great idea! Once we opened presents, we packed up the car and headed up to Nana and Jido's house to spend the rest of the day playing there!

The day after Christmas, we all hopped onto a plane and headed to New Zealand!! Then we came home and took a breath.

Christmas PJ's I bought for Cam to wear Christmas morning, but he outgrew them!

This moment will forever be in my heart.

Filled my freezer with these babies to give my neighbors/siblings for Christmas!

New Zealand: Part 2

On one of the first few days we were in New Zealand, we ventured out to a few of the local vineyards to do some wine tasting. Hawke's Bay (the region where Napier is located) is known world-wide for their wines. It is the Napa Valley of New Zealand and we were all excited to see what the land had to offer!

Our first stop came with a disclaimer from Joe (who was our tour guide/family who we stayed with): "Make sure Melissa takes her camera." Unfortunately we were already in the car and I only had one lens with me, but he was right...the view was incredible, and a fabulous way to start out our little wine tour.

I don't claim to be an connoisseur of wine by any means, but I do enjoy it and tasting the different flavors/blends/types. I especially enjoy wine tastings to really understand how a particular climate, soil type or aging location (barrel vs. stainless) can really effect the taste of the wine. We all enjoyed sampling a few types and we all picked out two of our favorites to take home with us! I really liked this vineyard's branding (marketing nerd), so I made sure to take home a bottle and a birch wine bottle case with me :) I also really loved this winery....the architecture, location, etc. Everything about it was quite breathtaking. Bobby and I agreed that I we were to have a different house, it would be designed just like this winery. I didn't take too many pictures inside for fear of being labeled as an obnoxious tourist, but we did take a tour and I was able to snap a few shots of my favorite elements.

The vineyard/wine label was called Craggy Range (not available in the US yet), and it was at the base of Te Mata Peak, which we hiked later in our trip. It was designed by John Blair, one of New Zealand's top architects (we visited some of his other buildings in NZ too. Amazing talent). Quite a breathtaking view! We took home one of their Syrah Wines. Our second favorite was their Riesling.

The tasting room. LOVE the concrete walls mixed with the natural wood. "Rustic Industrial Modern" I believe is what they call this look.

The cellars.

After our tour and tasting, a cloud had started to cover Te Mata Peak. My pictures do not do this view justice. This view was absolutely majestic.

Poor baby was worn out from the day. Tita Donna's (Bobby's step-grandmother, who has the house in NZ) house was filled with so much charm! The windows in our bedroom had iron frames that opened out. It was so nice to have them open all the time! The light in there was incredible, too. I could have stayed there all day long, sipping a flat white and editing.

New Zealand: Part 1

To "Middle Earth" we went. There were eight of us: five adults and three children. A two year old, a four year old and an 8 month old. It took us four planes to get from Baltimore to Napier, New Zealand, but it was worth it. I could hardly sleep...not because I had to sleep on a plane for 13 hours, but because I was giddy with excitement. We were traveling to the other side of the world. Below the equator. Across the international date line. It was new for all of us.

After 29 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Hawke's Bay, a region on the East Coast of the north island of New Zealand. The town where we stayed was called Napier (pronounced "nay-pee-er," for those of you *cough* who may want to pronounce it "nappie-air"). The town is settled along the bright blue sea and nestled along a big bluff that overlooks the bay. It's a quaint, sleepy, little town with the most friendly people you will ever meet. The people of New Zealand refer to themselves as "Kiwi's," also known as the national bird. They will stop you on your walk, just to chat about where you're from. They'll stop to hug and coddle your baby. They'll invite you into their house (perfect strangers!) after five minutes of knowing them just to show you the view from their balcony. It's an innocent and trusting culture over there...one that we are just unfortunately not used to here in the States.

Anyway, Napier has a bit of history. In 1931, the town was rocked by a huge earthquake and fires. This event basically destroyed their town and left it as dust. As a result, the town built itself back up in fashionable Art Deco architecture, which was popular at the time. To this day, most of the shops, buildings and houses around Napier maintain the structural history of that art deco era. It's quite charming, as if you stepped back into the 30's! I would have loved to be there for Art Deco Month in February, but I could not convince Bobby to stay that long ;)

We stayed in New Zealand for about two weeks and did a lot of exploring, hiking and touring around. Since I took close to 2,000 pictures, I'm going to have to break them up into multiple posts! Part 1 includes the first couple days we spent in the town of Napier. We took a 9 kilometer hike up the bluff and back down around the port just seeing what we could see. Then we drove up to a look out where you could see all of Napier and the neighboring town. Around Napier, there are tons of sculpted gardens. We visited some of those as well. Camden was a trooper. He barely made a peep and was happy as could be in his "new" baby back-pack.

Bobby pretending like he's in one of my photo shoots. Goof.

The streets on Napier Hill.

Below, you can see the port of Napier to the right. The old town is to the left along the coast.

Houses on the bluff. Modern mixed in with traditional and victorian style homes.

Benjamin enjoying the view.

Joey admiring (or critiquing) the style of homes.

My boys. How I love them.

Our little explorer. He LOVED sitting in the grass.

See the waterfall in the background? There is a prison near by (old) and in the 30's, they dug out a quarry and built the waterfall! Kind of disappointing that it's not natural, but pretty nonetheless.

Loved these tree roots growing in the woods.

Stay tuned for more adventures!

We're Baaaaccckkk

What a whirl wind these past two weeks have been!

Christmas

29 Hours to New Zealand

70 Degrees and Sun

New Years

Sailing

Cam turned 8 Months Old

Vineyards

Hiking

36+ Hours Home

5 Hours Sleep

That about sums it up...but it was all worth it. What a fabulous trip! I have close to 2,000 pictures to go through, so it'll take me a little bit to get a lot of them blogged.

For now, here's a picture from the top of Napier, the little town where we stayed.