Our first Saturday in Christchurch

Our very first Saturday in Christchurch was full of lots of excitement.  Brady was busy working but had a few hours to spend with us in the morning.  We had been told that the Farmer's Market at the Riccarton Bush Park was great so we decided to check it out.  We were told we could walk there.  After the LONG walk, we decided that we were definitely not going to be walking there again.  It was a beautiful day for a walk, but walking there with all of us was less than a good time.  Luckily, our friends offered me and the girls a ride back home while Brady offered to just walk back to his office to work.  Thanks Aneta and Mishko

The Market was AMAZING.  So many stands selling delicious foods and baked goods.  Fresh fruits and veggies and lots of things to try out.

We found some great baked goods that we had to try.

The Juiceman was letting us taste his juices.  They were fresh squeezed.  Pink Lady Apple, Apple and Lime, and Pear were the ones we bought.  They were AMAZING.  

We had to buy a Christchurch FM bag to carry our goods in.  We stopped at this great table to eat some of our plums and the girls Macaroons. Brady had to go buy himself and lambburger.  It was another new food we had to try.  It was great and was served on a great bun with a slice of pear.  So unique and very tasty.

As always, they find a tree to climb in wherever we go.  I know for sure that when we go home they will miss all the good trees to climb in.  They are enormous and perfect for climbing in.  This one was growing out over the stream and fun to climb in over the water.

While at the Farmer's Market, our friend Aneta told us she would take us to the beach while Brady was working.  She had a dog, Ella, that loved to go to the beach and the girls were eager to have a furry friend along for the ride.  She took us to New Brighton beach just outside of Christchurch.  Aneta drove our van and brought Ella along for the fun.  She sat just behind me and whimpered the whole way as she was anxious and excited.  She knew we were headed to the beach and couldn't wait to get there.  She was calm and peaceful the whole ride home.  She had had her fun and was relaxed.

The girls were so excited to be by the ocean and feel the sand on their toes.  We walked under the pier and over to a spot where dogs could be off their leashes.  Ava kept stopping to dig her toes and heels in the sand.

It was a windy day and there were lots of kites flying.

I was content trying to keep my toes warm on the sand, but the girls couldn't wait to get their toes into the cold water.  It's amazing how they have no care as to the temperature of the water.  They will swim in just about anything.  Kayla continued to walk down the beach and want to look for treasures on the sand.  She found a bracelet in the sand that had a longhorn bull on it.  She has worn it everyday since.  Must be her good luck charm.  Funny girl, she even snuck a Texas flag in her backpack and hung it on her wall.  I guess she's a proud Texan.  ha ha

The sand was very fine and soft.  Felt very good in my hands and on my feet.  It was dark; like ash coloring.  Different from Lake Powell red sand or Texas gulf coast sand.

Alyssa had no problems getting in up to her neck....

Even Savannah went in pretty deep.

She needed a warm up in the hot sand after not too long.

Me however, stayed zipped up in my hoodie to stay warm.  If it weren't for the wind that day, it would have felt much warmer.

Now it was time to go home for a hot shower.  Aneta made me get in the drivers seat when we got back to the car.  I was TERRIFIED!!  Not only is it scary to drive in a different town you're not familiar with, it's another country.... but even worse than that is it's on the wrong side of the rode.  I survived and we all made it home safely, but not without some serious concentrations and coaching from Aneta.  One of the hardest things is having the blinker on the right side of the steering wheel.  You can spot foreign drivers when you see them with their windshield wipers on on a sunny day.  HA!!

The funny thing about Christchurch is that you can feel hot and warm for a few hours, then feel like you need several layers and a winter coat and hat the next.

We met up with some friends that we had met on the previous night for Sparks in the Park. They have 4 girls too.  It was a concert and then fireworks.  Brady dropped us off at their car and then we walked quite a distance to the park.  They were so kind to bring us chairs to sit on at the park.  We met them so we could help carry all the extra chairs. It was another long walk that day... and then we had to make that long walk again back to their car and find Brady.  3 long walks for that day... good practice for what lay ahead.

Kayla and her new friend Matilda.  They clicked like magic.  We laughed that teenage trends are universal... they both had on light colored skinny jeans and white converse shoes.  I don't think they stopped talking for 4 hours straight.  That's all in a day for Kayla though.  Her tongue is a non stop machine.

Trying to stay warm while the Symphony played

Pano view of the crowd.

A fun firework show at the end of the concert.  Now, back to the car a few miles away.

A super fun jam packed summer Saturday in Christchurch.

Hagley Park, February 8, 2017

After a long flight and getting to the house at 11 pm, the girls all sleep soundly until 8 or 9 am.  We were happy they slept good.  We unpacked our bags and situated ourselves around the house.  We were excited to get out and see some of Christchurch since we had arrived at dark.  Brady took us to the biggest and most well known park in town, Hagley Park.  It is a 400 acre park in the center of town... HUGE PARK.  We only saw a portion of it.  There is a Museum (which we didn't see), a school campus, and a Botanical garden.  Also, a pool and playground.  But who needs playground equipment when you have the most amazing trees in all the world to play in?

Below is an area photo of Hagley Park

As soon as we got out of the car... ducks were spotted and we wished we had some food for them.  They were very friendly.

Beautiful flowers all over to stop and pose by.  As you'll see in the pictures below there are many flowers and trees in this park.

I have never in my life seen such enormous and beautiful trees as we have seen in Christchurch.  They remind me of the Tree People in Lord of the Rings.  As it was filmed in New Zealand, I can see exactly why they looked as they did, they are just like that in real life.  Enormous and beautiful and full of life and character.  They take such good care of their trees and grass and flowers.  NZ is a very "Green" place in color and state of mind.

We found this beautiful patch of wildflowers growing so perfectly in a circle.  There was a small path right through the middle so that you could walk in (not to disturb any flowers) and it looks as if you're right in the middle.

This tree was especially neat as it hung low to the pond.  The duck found it quite inviting.  Behind it is a "stairway" in the background.  It is a stairway for ducks.  Such a neat piece of "art" and there was even a duck halfway up catching some warm sun rays.

This stump was so large and fun to climb on.  

But not as fun as climbing in this tree!!!  Now this tree was a memory maker.  We nearly had the whole family in the tree.  Except someone had to be the one on the ground taking more pictures.

Even I was up exploring the large tree.  It had almost a little carved out spot... perfect for a treehouse of sorts.

How old do you think a tree this size could be?  I wish I knew.  So tall and SO wide too!!

Even some small nooks and crannies to squeeze in around the base.

Ava found this neat tree that was basically hallowed out on one side.  Even though Ava found it, I didn't get a picture of her in it.  She was running off exploring faster than I could find her and take her picture.  Alyssa was happy to oblige my picture taking frenzy.

After enjoying the amazing tree, we found the rose garden.  The smell was intoxicating (in a very good way) as soon as you entered.  The roses were all so perfect and large.  Colors and hues that are hardly seen anywhere else.

And the perfect little grass path.  The grass here is amazing.  It is soft and they cut is so short and it's always so flat.  Almost like fake grass, but not.  I love it.  I wish this grass was in my yard.

Kayla enjoyed all the beautiful roses... apparent by the loads of pics she took after stealing my camera.

Brady and I enjoyed watching the girls run around in the rose garden on this little bench.  It was a beautiful day.

And more amazing trees.... with branches growing in all directions.

And flowers with blooms as big as your head...

Ava was so proud of her pine cone.

We loved every second of the park.  We didn't want to leave, but we had placed an order in for dinner and it was coming close to pick up time.  We drug ourselves out of the park promising to be back very soon.

Our dinner was from Pedro's House of Lamb.  From a recommendation from a friend/colleague of Brady's, we bought some roast lamb and potatoes.  We had been talking in the car earlier that a popular meat in NZ is lamb.  Kayla was quick to say she would never eat a lamb.  Brady and I laughed inside.  Savannah had known that we ordered the lamb and we made her promise not to tell anyone else that it was lamb.  We told them it was Roast, which is was... but roast what???  We picked it up and drove back home.  They all commented on how good it smelled and we were all very hungry from our long day.  The girls hadn't had a decent dinner since we'd left Austin and they were all hungry for warm and yummy food.  We served it and Kayla took the first plate.  She ate it quickly and commented right off on how GOOD it was.  She was raving about it....  

After they'd all eaten their meat and Kayla came back for more, I whispered to her that it was LAMB... She GASPED in horror and Brady, Savannah and I laughed.  She still admitted it was delicious and we all ate the whole thing.  Experiencing new food her has been lots of fun with the girls.  Lots more stories to come.....