New Zealand! December 1-14, 2011

Grady was invited to present his research at an international conference in Auckland, New Zealand in December! Since MSU was paying his way, we thought it would be a great tag a long opportunity for me, and we could call it our 10th Anniversary trip - something we'd been trying to decide on for a while. We recruited the grandparents to each take the kids for a week, and off we went!

Dec 1: We flew. For a long long time. Each person had their own TV screen, so we watched lots of movies, which helped pass the time when you weren't sleeping.

Dec. 2: Because of the 16 hour time difference, this day pretty much disappeared.

Dec. 3: We landed in Sydney, Australia and had a 12-hour layover before we left for NZ. Grady planned ahead and got us visas so we could leave the airport and see Sydney. For the time we had, I think we did pretty well. We saw the Opera House, walked across the Harbour Bridge, and took a train to Bondi Beach.

Final November Post - Ania's Baby Shower

We had a fun baby shower at The Grill for our sweet friend Ania, who is from Poland. Here are the hostesses with the mostess!

Ania and Carmen with the precious cake.

Carmen coordinated the theme. She is so creative! Ania said "No pink!"

Ania knew exactly how to use many of her gifts.

Others... not so much. She often said she was looking forward to learning what all these things were for. Next post: our big December trip!

A Few Gems from Delia

Today Delia's class was supposed to dress "wacky" for their Dr. Seuss birthday party!

Delia: "Why does Santa have a wife?"
Me: "I don't know baby."
Delia: "Maybe so she can feed him."
Me: "You're probably right."

(Stepping on the bathroom scale)
Delia: "Mama, how much do I weigh?"
Me: "34 pounds."
Delia: "How much do YOU weigh?"
(Stepping on the scale)
Me: "One HUNDRED and 34 pounds."
Delia: "Wow! You're strong!"
Me: "That's right."