For the past month we have been in New Zealand, visiting family and catching up with some friends.  We timed our visit to coincide with Karen’s sister Jana having her first baby, and it was so nice to be there for baby Storm’s first few weeks out in the big wide world.  He is a very chilled out, strong little boy who was lifting his head and pushing off his feet from the time he was born and will spend hours just looking around the room quietly and contentedly.  Both of us (especially Karen) have spent a lot of time having cuddles with him and just enjoying watching him grow so much already.

We also spent some time down in Havelock North with Dre’s dad and family, where we did a far bit of walking and had an awesome lunch at Mission Estate.  It was so nice to catch up with Tom, Lili and Alex, as well as George and Sue.  We did a lot of walking around the area, and just generally spending time with family.

Dre’s sister Kate and her partner Marcos came to stay, and we went on a walk to Pari Karri park and to the Warkworth Cement works and generally just had a great weekend.  We were lucky enough to be invited to ‘flat dinner’ at Kate’s also and broke out the Lao-Lao which somehow didn’t seem quite so normal outside of Laos!

We went for a fantastic dinner at the Engine Room with Tim, Jillian, Kate and Marcos and the food was to die for.  On top of that we caught up with Tim a couple of times and Jillian many times, going for walks with her dog Susie, attending her school play and just generally hanging out.  Time flew and we were both sad to leave our families again.  It was so nice to spend time with our families after so long, and being there for Karen’s Grandad’s 85th birthday reminded us that we miss out on so much of these things when we’re away.  It was hard to believe that we were there for a month, it just didn’t seem long enough.  We hope to visit again soon!  Our photos are here.