backpack. backpack

Arie's newest favorite thing :)

or ONE of his favorite things 

Thanks grammy and grandpa for the valentines gift

checking it out

post nap

loaded it up to bring to a friends house

and church

mr. greeter enjoying his snack and toys :) 

backpack backpack

we like you backpack

cheese.

park. outside boy

with tiny bit of warmer weather or at least no snow [mostly]

we are trying to be outside

all sets with getting ready

CHEESE

choo choo shirt

PARK 

and cheese mama

then brrr

hands in his pockets

OUTSIDE

working

'blowing' leaves

back to the PARK

his idea

head first

what! haha

pretty pleased with himself

SUNSHINE PARK day

stop mama

loves to direct :) 

kept warming up please! 

good to be back

to my littlest buddy

but now my big buddies are gone

back to the norm with this little ones feels great!

books in bed

and snugs

post nap blanket snugs

running errands with grammy :)

choo choo in the morning

helping with laundry haha!  

blowing the leaves

he is a worker

post nap 

Books. snacks

and snugs!
my favorite

then a quick trip to the gardens

before grammy and grandpa leave for Florida 

oh my the butterflies are out!

looking for the with grams

and the beautiful spring flowers are out

it was SO nice out

60s in February

Arie ran outside in a tshirt the whole time

at grandmas and grandpas for dinner

he has been extra snuggles

which i dont mind 

after dinner

helping grandpa pack

and one last pic with the truck before it was off to Florida! 

had to pack in the fun before they left

now lots of facetime!!

so we don't miss them to much :) 

on to Auckland

New Zealand

The last leg of the trip

We took an over night flight to Auckland

arrived at 6 am

checked in our hotel

took a nap

and then headed out to explore 

so Day one

 a walk around our hotel and out by the harbor

Meet up with Js co worker and decided to take a ferry to an island 

there are different excursions from the city

and we picked Rangitoto Island

hiking up a mountain to see the city

So gelato for lunch :) 

off on the ferry

welcome to the island

headed up

made it to the top!

then walked over to some Lava Caves

one more view on the way down

then a low key night after a long day

tried out a 'chain' chicken restaurant called Nandos.  it was yummy

 Day Two

Off to another island

Waiheke Island

This was a very large island

so we opted for the hop on hop off bus

there was a town

beaches. restaurants

very pretty place

we are off

First stop off the bus was a beach

then a winery with views

another beautiful beach

 and a little store by the beach that sold 

HONEYCOMB ice cream bars

soooooo good!!!

Cahty wanted to go to another winery 

when she asked where it was it was down a path and right and then about a 20 minute walk

they forgot to mention it was through the jungle. HA!

a slippery wet jungle

we made it though

J and I took in the view while they did a wine tasting

it was an adventure for sure! 

then it was back to the bus and then back to the ferry to head back into the city

We headed straight to dinner

for some Fish and Chips :) 

and a little ice cream

Day Three

woke up early to head out before the airport

St. Patrick's 

The sky tower

and then we went to see Mt Eden

it had WONDERFUL views all around

back to our hotel and McDonalds

for a Honeycomb Mcflurry :) 

and then it was off to the airport noon Monday

and well about 26 hours later

we landed into GR at 7:45pm Monday

and this little man was yelling mama and papa

and I could hear it down the hall as we were coming to the lobby of the airport

mamas heart was so happy to see him and his HUGE hug!

so good to be home to this buddy!

a quick bath and quick snuggle then it was off to bed

we had such a good time away

such beautiful countries and so fun to explore

also so good to be home!