July 4th, 2008

Better late than never. Here are some pics from the Waldron's BBQ on the 4th. Ethan was the one who instigated the water fight BTW.

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Hiking+Swimming+Wrestling=Camping

Chillin' to da max.
The kids on the Cress Creek trail near Heise. Gotta love the concrete trail.
Madeline taking a breather before the final round smack-down with brother.
Ethan taking his breather in the Heise pool.
Wrestling, Heise style.

This past weekend we were going to go up to Teton Canyon near Driggs but decided on Heise due to the heat. With the swimming pool a stones throw from the camp ground it was a no-brainer.

Camping at the Heise Campground is classic – it's like camping in a city park on a busy day. It's not what Britt and I were used to but we had a blast, as did the kids (and that's all that matters, right?) We hit the pool Saturday and Ethan and I rode the slide a few times. On the first go I forgot to release him from my leg-lock that I had on him going down the slide and he ended up under water a bit longer than he wanted to! Oh well, it'll build some character on him.

Later that evening back at camp, Madeline and Ethan proceeded to hone their wrestling skills while mom and dad sat back and cheered little Madi on. She is one tough cookie. Then came the time honored marshmallow roasting over the fire. It's funny how kids are so tantalized by fire…and anything with sugar, (ie. marshmallows.)

Sunday we hiked the short easy trail of Cress Creek. Madi walked it all by herself (it's only a mile roundtrip) with no complaints. She is getting fast on her feet lately and doing good about not going down face first so often.

It's funny how your perceptions change once you have children. Camping like we did this past weekend is something I would have had great disdain for 10 years ago. But now, it makes perfect sense. It's all about getting the kids exposed to different experiences and expanding their comfort and knowledge. Sure, we'll eventually head to the mountains and hopefully backpack in to some backcountry lake(s) but for now, it's all good. "The kids are alright".

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Ride to Live, Live to Ride

"Look out!"
One proud lad.
"Hey, what's the big deal? This bike thing's piece of cake!"
A day on the rocks with dad.

Ethan recently reached a milestone in boyhood yesterday – he learned how to ride his bike sans training wheels. Some may ask "what's the big deal?" but believe me, for us it's like the parting of the Red Sea…a miracle.

We bought him new bike for his 5th birthday in May and since then he has kept his training wheels on. I took them off on a couple of occasions. But to no avail. He grew frustrated and didn't want anything to do with the bike without the training wheels on. So back on they'd go. His reliance on those damn wheels was getting to the point that there were actually hampering any progress, and making him a bit embarrassed around other kids. He would lean so hard to the right that we had to repeatedly bend the arm back into position on the right sided training wheel. He had a serious gangsta-lean going on.

As the weeks passed it became obvious that it was time to try it again. So he and I went over to the elementary school to practice on the pathway that circles the school grounds and from the first go he got it. I'm glad I donned the running shoes because man, he was bookin'! To make an already long story longer, he was so stoked. He only went down twice, but that's because he didn't know how to stop properly. Plus, you got to have a few spills in the beginning right? Afterward, it was awesome to see him beam as he rode past his buddies in the neighborhood who just the other day were asking him why he still had his training wheels on. Yup, pretty cool.

Now it's just getting him to "look for cars!" when he launches out of the driveway on that thing.

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Da Haps

Ethan and his slimy buddy, Charlie the Snail.

Madeline gettin' er done!

Daddy and Madi at the car wash.

Finally, our new edition in print.

Memorial weekend came and went, and like usual it rained. Ethan and I went out climbing on Memorial Day with some friends and yup, it rained. But that didn't stop us from having fun. We ran into some friends of ours at the cliffs and while I climbed, Ethan tromped around and hunted for snails. He found one in particular that interested him enough to name it, and so he did…Charlie. Charlie rode home in dad's coat pocket with a bunch of his other slimy shelled friends and once we got home, Ethan "released them into the wild." They are somewhere in our front garden among the tulips, roses and bark living happily in case you're wondering.

This past weekend was spent with me away climbing (imagine that) on Saturday and the kids doing various things with Britt and her mom. On Sunday the West Side TeNgaio's spent the day goofing off in various ways. Ethan helped dad wash mom's car until he found the gutter filled with water more interesting. Madi took over after that and put some elbow grease into the car wash. She is so interested in helping people out when they are working on something…anything, she just likes to be involved. She is also pronouncing more and more words that she catches us off guard sometimes, making us do a double take and say "Did she just say…". Yup, she is a wonderchild.

Britt is still on the mend but doing much better. She says she has to constantly remind herself to not over do it though. It's pretty easy to hurt herself at this stage when she starts feeling stronger, but things haven't healed up entirely yet so she has to hold back on pushing it. Soon enough chickee.

On an end note, my friend Jerry and I received our new edition of our guidebook, Sweet Spots, in the mail last week from the printer. We are excited and relieved to finally have it in our hands, to have the paginating and layout work done. Now comes the real work though – to sell the 1,500 copies we have sitting in boxes on a crate in Jerry's garage. It's all good.

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This One's All About Madeline

Talking to her 'peeps.
Just waking up, checking out the sunlight.
Doing the morning jig.
She's obtaining a shoe fetish already!

Since being back from New Zealand and with Brittany having her surgery, I've spent much more time at home this past week helping care for the kids. In doing so, I've had the pleasure of spending more time with little Madi. I'm usually with Ethan more and Britt with Madi because ET wants to do tough stuff, boy stuff with dad so I don't get as much time with Madi.

It still amazes me how smart she is and how fast she learns. Britt and I both believe that she learns faster with having an older sibling around to watch and learn from – the good and the bad. While I was gone she learned to say "ABC", "123", "Daddy(!)", "Done", "More", and a ton of other words that actually help Britt and I out to know what she wants. It's cool. She even throws away, (among other things), her dirty diapers! You wait, next we'll have her mowing the yard.

Her current interests/obsessions are: Books, shoes, Fruit Loops, mom's purse/phone/makeup, sticking finger in nose, drawing with chalk in the driveway, climbing on brother's bed and laughing hard when dad's rear end makes noise.

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Ethan and the Number 5

ET and the mini cake.
The homosapien females of the house.
Ethan rockin' with Daddy and Madi.

Ethan is officially five years old now. Not much to report on the topic other than he got a sweet new bike for his birthday and a scooter/blade thing from his Grandma/Grandpa Waldron. He tried the bike without the training wheels and didn't care for it much so back on they went. He and dad will work on that after Britt as healed up from her surgery.

Speaking of Brittany's surgery we report that she is healing but still in pain. She went back to work yesterday, Thursday, for half a day and did some errands afterwards and by evening she was hurting again. The doctor said she's healing fine though and encourages her to move around but you never know how much is too much until you overdo it I guess. She has a gnarly incision that turned out to be much bigger than anticipated. The doctor told her yesterday that the previous hernia she had fixed before, after having Ethan, had ripped again so he used a bigger piece of mesh to cover both areas. Hopefully this keeps her mended for good because she has been through a lot of surgeries and such in the past few years in a row and is ready to feel "normal" again.

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Kia Ora: Post 9, The Finale

A seriously good carved piece at the Auckland Museum.
The front of the Auckland Museum.
Some dork hanging out in the Marae (traditional Maori meeting house) on display in the museum.
The lovely kowhaiwhai (ko-fye-fye) design used in many Maori designs.

Our last day in New Zealand was spent touring the Auckland Museum. We had a bunch of time to kill so what better way than to catch up on more Maori culture, (not that we were lacking it of course).

We were blown away by the volume and quality of Maori art and artifacts they had on display. It was funny to read that some of these carved pieces were found in swamps or tree hollow, (depending on their size), like they were just discarded or forgotten – I would have killed to have a few of them! And now they are worth mucho denero.

My dad pointed out the only empty display case in the Maori exhibit. A card read that the display had been removed at the request of family members. Both my dad and I have a good idea what was there: Preserved Maori heads that were tattooed. Long ago men of high ranking in the tribes and sub-tribes had their faces tattooed, or mokos. It seems that after the Europeans starting traveling to NZD there became a black market for Maori tattooed heads, sans torso, limbs and all that. Maoris were whacking other Maoris that bore the moko and selling them to the pakeha, the white man. It's one of the few flaws of the old Maoris that seems to be not talked about too much. Makes me think twice about finishing my back piece!

After the museum we tried to find our way to the Auckland Bay Bridge but Auckland is much bigger than I thought and we gave up after many u-turns and other various illegal vehicle maneuvers. So we got to the airport quite early and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally we left New Zealand and endured 24 hours of travel-hell with no sleep, no air conditioning, and stinky-assed passengers, (someone had nasty fumes eminating from their backside as we flew across the Pacific). Then home at last.

For me this trip was not only educational and recreational but also a bit spiritual. Learning more about my Maori side of the family and getting to not only meet, but really hang out with most of them, is something I'll treasure for the rest of my life. Plus, I have some sweet ideas for more Maori tattoos!

Now, I just have to figure out how I can convince Britt to move there.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!

Ethan's birthday ad in the Post Register this morning. Damn, we've got a good lookin' boy, eh?

Today Ethan turns the whopping 5 years old. It's hard for Brittany and I to believe. It seems like last week we were still changing diapers and the whole 9 yards of babydom. And now he dresses himself, brushes his teeth and hair, (which makes for great photo ops!), and does little chores, (that is, when he feels like it). We're so proud of our little "Big E"!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN-BUBBA-BEANS-SPEED-RACER-REWI-TENGAIO!

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Kia Ora: Post 8

Mt. Ngauruhoe in the Rangipo Desert.
Aranui Cave near the Waitomo Caves.
Chillin' with a stalagmite in the Aranui Cave.
My namesakes burial site in the town of Kihikihi.
Plaque at the memorial site for Rewi Maniapoto.

We stayed the night in Wanganui last night and then headed north to the Waitomo Caves near the town of Te Kuiti before we head to Hamilton for our last night in NZ.

We checked out the Aranui Cave first. This cave is spectacular in that is hosts many formations, mainly stalagtites and stalagmites. This cave was discovered by a maori boar hunter in the late 19th century after his hunting dog chased a pig into the cave. This guy must have been a hardcore bush hunter because the cloak of flora that make up the surrounding forest, (and pretty much all of NZ forested areas), is very thick. Think machete-hacking, arm-gouging thick.

Afterward it was on to the highlight of the area: the Glowworm Cave. This cave doesn't host impressive formations like the Aranui Cave but has something even cooler and very unique: glowworms.

These interesting little devils live on the ceiling in a part of the cave that has standing water in it. The guides corral you into a little boat and float you directly under the concentrations of glowworms as they reside on the ceiling not far above your head. The survival story of these little guys is interesting: They live in parts of the cave that have water in them. Towards the evening, as air pushes through these certain areas, insects are blown into the cave. Upon entering the darkness of the cave, they become disorientated and fly straight up towards the glow of the worms. What the bugs don't realize is that the glowworms have these straight webs that resemble a thin necklace that hang straight down. The bugs go up, get caught and the the worm reels in it's dinner. What makes the glowworm glow is that fact that they don't excrete their waste, they recycle it throughout their little bodies and voila, they glow!

After the cave it was time to start heading to Hamilton for the night. Along the way we had the very pleasant surprise of stumbling across the burial site and memorial for whom I was named after: Rewi Maniapoto. I won't go into the story of Rewi but will say that he was a very significant Maori chief who played a major role in the preservation of the Maori culture, land and heritage among the Maori people during the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. He was my nanny Millie's great uncle.

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Kia Ora: Post 7

Wake patterns off our ferry in the Cook Strait heading back to the North Island.
Sculpture marking the "centre of New Zealand" upon a hilltop in Nelson.
The beautiful city of Nelson, New Zealand on the South Island.
Picton by the bay.
Carving at outdoor art gallery at the parking area for the Coastal Track in the park.

Our 4 days we spent in Nelson were much needed. Being able to stay in one place for a few days was a godsend and we were able to get a feel for this upscale, yet laid back artisan city on the South Island. One thing we've noticed so far on our trip is how friendly and accommodating this country is to tourists – and how clean it is. The Kiwis much take much pride in their country and it's landscapes because you never see rubbish on the sides of the roads or billboards or things that are just plain unattractive and of nuisance. Spectacular mate!

Before leaving Nelson and boarding the ferry back to the North Island, we checked out the geographical "Centre of New Zealand". It is marked by a cool sculpture atop a hilltop that literally marks the center of NZ. In fact, this whole city of Nelson has kick ass architecture, sculptures and designs throughout it. I guess this area is home to many many artists – and it shows. Plus, it receives the most the sunshine in all of New Zealand. Sounds like a good place to call home, eh?

Anyway, after 4 days in Nelson we boarded the ferry in the quaint seaside town of Picton and made the trek back to Wellington and the North Island as we start making our way back to Auckland to fly out on Thursday. I was sad to leave Nelson but we left with fond memories.

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