New Zealand Thoughts

Matt and I have always wanted to go back to New Zealand but never thought we would have another opportunity.  Our first trip was incredible but it was tough with these two in the campervan...they were just so little and not able to do the hikes or stay up late. We fit everything we could into 6 days but that meant an average of 5 hours driving a day and not much chance to explore in depth or relax.

We still had an amazing time and realized just what an incredible and unique country it is.

Fast forward 9 years and things were 100 times more fun because the boys are old enough to be awed with us at all the beautiful places and take part in all the fun activities.  We didn't have the jaw-dropping amazement of discovering everything like our first whirlwind trip but this time we got to visit many new places and slow down and spend more time in the ones we had to breeze through previously.

This trip took some doing!  A lot of hard work by Matt to pay the bills, days on the computer for me researching and booking (starting 7 months ago), and plenty of packing and planning to be gone for nearly 3 weeks.

By the numbers:
9,900 miles flown
2,200 miles driven (mostly by Matt - love you!!)
10 different places we stayed
many competitive games of hearts
countless laughs
memories for a lifetime

We were incredibly thankful that everything worked out so well and our biggest problems were a 2 hour delay on arrival, a skinned knee and elbow, and some itchy feet, because none of those are really big problems.  I don't think we would have changed a thing.  The kids were the perfect age for this sort of trip because they're old enough to participate in all the physical activities but still young enough to enjoy hanging out with their parents.  We really had so much fun together and I couldn't be more grateful for the guys I'm blessed to have as my family.  Our memories will last forever.

The last pictures I'll share are Alex's collection of t-poses.  He started at the beginning of the trip and took them in lots of places, so please enjoy his tour of T-pose New Zealand...

Epic 3 t-pose panoramic.  Skill level: expert