Taking a Trip Down South

On December 12 you boarded yet another aeroplane. You are becoming a little jetsetter. This time the plane was bound for the South Island to visit your Aunty Courtney and Uncle Blake and meet their dog Opi. After a big day we reached Invercargill at 8pm and you just looked at your Aunty Courtney and melted her heart. Despite not seeing her in person for a while it was like something in you just knew that she is your Aunty and that you could be safe and happy snuggling in with her for a cuddle and a smile. Every day you would wake up and come out to the lounge with a smile for her, when we met up for lunch and when she had finished work and came home for the day a smile would never be far away. Uncle Blake enjoyed blowing raspberries and you were quick to get the hang of returning the raspberry. While we were down South we visited Queen's Park several times, a big park in the middle of the city. We walked around looking at the pretty gardens, the ducks in the pond and the animal park. They have a great little park like a mini petting zoo where you got to see turtles, rabbits, ducks, peacocks, pigs, deer to name a few. During the week we headed back to the park to have lunch in amongst the lovely rose gardens and to wander through the museum and see the tuatara.

We also headed into town for your first Santa photo at H&J's Department Store you happily sat on Santa's knee fascinated by his long white beard. We had Christmas lunch with Blake's Dad, Stacey and extended family and Steve and Stacey kindly brought you a bookworm soft toy knowing that you love to be read too.

Since we flew down we didn't have room to bring all your books with us but we couldn't be without a story in ten days so we took a trip to the Invercargill library and used Aunty Courtney's library card to issue out some stories to read. You love books and both you and Aunty Courtney enjoyed reading together. Swimming is another favourite hobby of yours and with us being away it meant we couldn't go to your normal swimming classes so instead we went to the pools in Invercargill where you had a great time splashing about in the water. We headed out to Oreti Beach a different beach to what we are used to up North. At Oreti there are no houses near the coastal line and the beach is considered a road so you drive along and park up when you find your spot. Normally Whangamata the beach we go to lots is covered in people sunbathing or swimming between the flags; at Oreti we saw a horse galloping across the sand and in and out of the waves, dogs running up and down the beach, cars, motorbikes as well as people swimming or surfing. While it was a beautiful day but the cool breeze meant you investigated the new texture of sand while wearing your woolens. We visited Blake's family and you meet some of Uncle Blake and Aunty Courtney's friends Nic and Aggie. Aggie's parents have a bit of land which is home to lots of animals. They take in a range of animals looking for a home and when we visited they had a mother duck with ducklings, a pig, goat and your favourite a pony. You love Ava and will often giggle and smile at her but you are used to being around her this pony you just instantly fell in love with. As soon as you saw it your face lit up and the giggles and smiles started you would pat it and play with its nose making it show its teeth making you laugh even more. We all jokingly said oh look we know what Olivia wants for Christmas and while we do have a big backyard at home we don't quite have enough room for a real life pony. Flying home out of Queenstown we headed up earlier in the day so that we could have a picnic lunch down by the river and watch the shot over jet race up and down. He we got some lovely family photos with the three of us which doesn't always happen as one of us is usually taking the photo. Next we headed over to Arrowtown which is where Aunty Courtney and Uncle Blake got married. We didn't have long so just headed into town and had a wander through the Chinese miners village. Arrowtown is known for being a gold mining town, you can still pan for gold along the riverbed today, and they have this old stone village as a reminder of the past. Every day that we were down South we would get out for a lovely walk and the weather was very lovely for our trip, it was actually better than the weather would have been back home which doesn't happen often! Invercargill is often known as a cold place being at the bottom of the island and so close to Antarctica. You have neve had much hair but while we were away something seemed to spark your hair to grow. Daddy jokes it is the cold Invercargill weather that you had to grow hair to keep your head warm.