Okay, I realize we have been talking a lot about the country, some about the people, when all along you have really just wanted to know how the kids are doing. So some new landmarks for the little ones: Ryan and I had our first full phone conversation two weeks ago. Twice since then she and I have talked on the phone. It turns out occasionally when Ana hangs up, Ryan says that she wanted to talk to Daddy, so Ana hits redial and hands her the phone.
She seems to be able to understand over the phone, which is a big step. She can also answer questions atonomously. The last time she answered the phone herself when I called. After a little chit-chat, I asked if I could speak to Mommy now. Very matter of factly, she replied, "No." Long pause. Where does one go from there?
She also surprised Ana yesterday when they were getting ready to go to the mall. Ana was climbing out of the shower when Ryan marched into the bathroom, declaring herself ready to go. She was fully dressed, with dress, tights, shoes, jacket. Ah, the motivation of shopping for these girls....
3-dog is also growing. Ana laughs at all the facial expressions he has. Dry and subtle they are. He also started crawling last week. I don't know how many times we have turned around to find that he had migrated, or worse, to bump into his noggin with a foot or leg. So far no permanent marks. You could tell that he was wanting to crawl for quite a while, likely due to watching the older sibling.
I went snowboarding yesterday, so I can mark NZ on the list of places I have skied. The views are incredible up there. It plays with your mind to be on a mountain top and look out at the ocean. In the other direction, just more and more of the jagged mountains. But it is all above treelines, so when the clouds rolled in later in the day, it caused snow blindness on the the top half of the mountain. No contours, no landmarks. But the snow base is the best that they have had in some 15 years. It even snowed down here in town today. Didn't stick here, but the hills on the south side of town got more than a dusting. The buses didn't run up to those neighborhoods today.
I can't wait for the spring skiing, when the weather is more predictable.
She seems to be able to understand over the phone, which is a big step. She can also answer questions atonomously. The last time she answered the phone herself when I called. After a little chit-chat, I asked if I could speak to Mommy now. Very matter of factly, she replied, "No." Long pause. Where does one go from there?
She also surprised Ana yesterday when they were getting ready to go to the mall. Ana was climbing out of the shower when Ryan marched into the bathroom, declaring herself ready to go. She was fully dressed, with dress, tights, shoes, jacket. Ah, the motivation of shopping for these girls....
3-dog is also growing. Ana laughs at all the facial expressions he has. Dry and subtle they are. He also started crawling last week. I don't know how many times we have turned around to find that he had migrated, or worse, to bump into his noggin with a foot or leg. So far no permanent marks. You could tell that he was wanting to crawl for quite a while, likely due to watching the older sibling.
I went snowboarding yesterday, so I can mark NZ on the list of places I have skied. The views are incredible up there. It plays with your mind to be on a mountain top and look out at the ocean. In the other direction, just more and more of the jagged mountains. But it is all above treelines, so when the clouds rolled in later in the day, it caused snow blindness on the the top half of the mountain. No contours, no landmarks. But the snow base is the best that they have had in some 15 years. It even snowed down here in town today. Didn't stick here, but the hills on the south side of town got more than a dusting. The buses didn't run up to those neighborhoods today.
I can't wait for the spring skiing, when the weather is more predictable.
The photo to the left is when you "turn off the paved road," a sign that you may be a redneck if you were in the U.S. From here, we are only about 10 km from the moutain. Notice the one-wayness.
This is the view from the top of the mountain, looking west. They call it the Southern Alps. Who knows why.
The view from the same spot, looking east. Not too shabby.
