New Zealand

Monday, June 1 2009
So here we are in Queenstown. It is about 5:00 in the morning right now – we are dealing with the jet lag! Going to bed at 5:00 in the evening tends to make the kids get up early! But today we are going to try to get naps and make sure we don’t go to bed before 8:30 to get them adjusted.
The flights went well, the longest one was actually the easiest. The kids both slept well and there were TV/Movies on demand and we two whole rows to stretch out in so that helped! We arrived here in Queenstown at about noon yesterday. We were all very tired but after being brought to our apartment the kids woke up a bit!
We have a very nice apartment with two bedrooms. The kids were very excited to find that we have our own deck that continues on a pebbled area (perfect for Drew and his tractors) all of which is gated in. After getting settled in we decided to head out for something to eat and to get some groceries and etc… Doug took us to “the best pizza place in the world” in his opinion. After eating there I have to agree. In my opinion it wasn’t really pizza but something else entirely! The pizza we got reminded me a bit of the Tuscan bread you can get at Uno’s only a hundred times better! It was wonderful – I think we will all come home weighing a bit more than we did when we left! Maggie didn’t make it through dinner but fell asleep on the bench before the food came.
After eating we went to the grocery store and just got some basics and decided the rest could wait because it was difficult to carry around a sleeping 5 year old. We came back to the apartment and let her go to bed – we all turned in early.
The kids are discovering that things are a bit different here – Mags was fascinated that French fries are called chips and chips are called crisps. She did not like the tomato sauce – she said it was not like ketchup. I had to laugh yesterday because she was talking and already adapting somewhat of a kiwi accent. Her voice inflections on her questions were definitely different. I think she was doing it on purpose because then when I heard her playing with her dolls they were all talking with a somewhat kiwi accent!
Drew was so excited when we got her yesterday but soon asked if he could go play at Grandpas – had to disappoint him. That’s going to take some getting used to for him! J
Thankfully today is a holiday here so Doug won’t be heading to work just yet – he is going to stay home and help us get settled – maybe help us finish our shopping. It’s very nice that downtown is a very short walk from the apartment which will be great for me when Doug is at work. I’ll come home with better muscles because we do live on a hill so pushing the stroller up could get strenuous! There is also a playground right down the road! The view from our apartment is beautiful, we overlook the town, the water, and the mountains!


For those that care are address is the following:
20 Beetham St,
Queenstown, Otago 9300 New Zealand
I’ll let you know the phone number once we know!