Summer is here!

Back to strawberry fields.

Summer means Christmas for this part of the world.

New Zealand welcomes the world to Rugby World Cup 2011

And our wee man joins in the festivities...

All Blacks in the making.

UP Fight!

Today is the opening of Rugby World Cup 2011.  We dressed Aaron in black to support the New Zealand All Blacks team who will be playing against Tonga on the opening night.   He doesn't have a black jacket though.  So he ended up looking like "Italy" when I picked him up from school thus the impromptu photoshoot when we got home.  

The jacket actually has the colors of UP (University of the Philippines).  I just didn't have the right camera settings.  This is his favorite jacket now - 2 sizes too small.  

Allan and I are from UP.  We'll always be proud of our school colors.  I hope someday Aaron gets to know more about being an "Iskolar ng bayan".

Spring is here!

We've survived winter!

Thanks to Mama's baking!

The sun is out most of the time now and so are we!

Aaron eats...

...Trees!  (as he calls broccoli)

Aaron playing the memory game

A3!

Aaron's cake by Ria.

Together.  Finally.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Daddy's birthday is on a Saturday.  We went to the pool for a swim then to the nearby Otara market for some pork barbeque.  It was late, like after 12 pm so the stalls were one by one closing down.  We decided to go to Why Knot? for some ice cream and ended up buying more...more ice cream, that is.  On the way to a nearby furniture shop, the delivery guys called to tell us they have our couch in our doorstep. Ha! 'twas a good thing we were five minutes away. 

Here are photos of the birthday boy opening his "present"...and enjoying it.  Yahoo! We have a couch!

 

And here's a stash of ice cream for everybody in the house! The Rum and Cola ice cream is for the birthday boy.  The box says "Smoother that a lounge singer on an ocean cruise to bora bora". haha  Only Kiwis can make packaging labels like that!

We're counting down hours now...

Cheesecake

Our first attempt at cheesecake with Chef Ria Lingad's careful teaching.  Perfect with Robert Harris fresh coffee!

Fall

Today

Was a beautiful day.


But we stayed home and did a lot of cleaning...

To prepare for our little one's arrival...

Pie, anyone?

'hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to y'all from this side of the world!

The long weekend brought us to the northernmost point of New Zealand's north island: Cape Reinga. 

Where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.

And what's a roadtrip without friends?

And the countdown to the big homecoming has officially begun!  34 days to go!

Weekend Warriors

We've finally settled into our new home...slowly but surely. The only fully furnished part of the house is the kitchen.  We have everything we need from pots and pans to our little kitchen gadgets shipped all the way from Singapore. 

We bought a fridge a week before we moved in.  It's a Fisher & Paykel that has a huge freezer.  Our fridge magnets have now been resurrected from storage. 

This weekend, we splurged on a washing machine.  Why buy a fancy one, you ask. Reason #1: We have a toddler.  Reason #2: It's energy and water saving...this one at least.  Reason #3: It fits our laundry area like a glove.  Check that out! Yeeha!

 Et Voila! Our kitchen extraordinaire!  And oh, it comes with a dishwasher, too! We agreed to use it every once in a while to save on water costs.  Like last night when we didn't do the dishes the whole day. hee hee

And because it's the weekend, we set out to discover more of our 'hood.  This weekend it was Why Knot?.  Why not?  After all they sell cheap premium ice cream.  We got this pint of Movenpick for NZ$ 1.99 (Php 65.00)  Here's more...They not only sell cheap ice cream! They sell all kinds of foodstuff! These foodstuff are not expired, rather, near expiry. Some with damaged packaging but otherwise edible and safe for consumption.  Take it from me, I'm a food technologist. Haha!

Feijoa

  'had a taste of this strange fruit today.  It's amazingly refreshing.  The insides tastes a bit like guava and...i dunno. I can't seem to describe it. 

Feijoa

Acca sellowiana is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is native to the highlands of southern Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and northern Argentina.^[1] Common names include Feijoa  Pineapple Guava and Guavasteen.  Large quantities of the fruit are grown in New Zealand, where it is a popular garden tree and the fruit commonly is available in season. The New Zealand season runs from March to June.

-Wikipedia

Clean slate

We've moved to our new home in Flat Bush! 

Blank space

Wicked kitchen

Goodbye, Mt. Eden!

We're moving to the south!

We're moving closer to our workplaces and into our own little flat (with a feisty little kitchen).  And while it makes us happy to finally have our own space, we'll miss city living.  We'll miss the conveniences along Dominion road -- Hell's Pizza, Gorgeous Pizza, 24-hr-Countdown, KFC, etc.

We had a picnic at Cornwall Park after church one Sunday afternoon.  Just the two of us - me and the hubbs.  It's towards the end of summer and we just had to "dine out".  We'll definitely miss Mt. Eden.  We'll be back...soon...with Aaron.

Cornwall Park

Sheep in the city.

Well, hello there sunshine.

Thames Anniversary Weekend

Here's To A Prosperous 2011!

Five hours earlier than Philippines and Singapore, nine hours ahead of Dubai, and a good 13 hours ahead of the UK,  Abby and I celebrated our first New Year in New Zealand.  The year 2010 was full of tough decisions, huge expenses and sad goodbyes. We left Singapore, entrusted our son to my mother-in-law in the Philippines, and flew to a place where we don't have relatives or close friends, a place where we have not been before. Thankfully, we will be welcoming 2011 in a totally different mood. The first few months of the new year will be very exciting for our family. I just accepted a job offer, we already filed our application for permanent residence, we just bought a car and we are step closer to bringing our son over. We thank God for all the blessings that He has given our family.  

Kia Ora 2011!