We climbed Mt Maunganui on Saturday. Can you pronounce it? Didn't think so. Mong (like long) uh New Eee. Or the Mount, like we tend to say. I've been on Matt to do this for a while, but there's always been a reason why not. So yesterday we tackled it. Should have left Oceana home though... Ak! It's a dirty/gravel track, and we've got a city stroller (small plastic wheels) so we didnt' take it. She's too big to tie on me anymore, so we carried her and prodded her up the hill. Prodded meaning, "Come ON Oceana, stop picking up rocks. Yes, I see the boat, now COME ON. No, don't sit down. OCEANA! Hurry up!" Well... I guess we won't climb anything else with her for a few years. At least not without a nice chunky wheeled stroller. That's one thing I regret about the stuff I bought when she was a baby. We bought this ergonomic-space-age-looking stroller, but it has little plastic wheels and it's absolutely useless on grass, dirt, gravel, or anything besides a shopping mall or a sidewalk. And most of the walking we do in NZ is not on those. Darn it. Oh well. Live and learn. If we ever get another stroller it's gonna be some ridiculously chunky jogging stroller. Not that I'd jog with it. Are you kidding me? I have enough trouble getting myself up a small mountain on a nice track. Let alone a toddler. Gack!
Still think NZ is a icky place to live because of the aforementioned rodent and bug issues. Yah, I'm over them. Especially for scenery like this. 10 minutes from our house. No joke. Well, minus the climbing up part. That part's painful.
Ooh, yay me. I tried to take a picture of the sun with autofocus. Ever tried to confuse a camera? Try autofocussing on the sun. It throws the poor camera for a loop. It's like zoomin, zoomout, zoomin, zoo-zoo-zoo--. Anyways. But manual focus was easy. Except I didn't want to look at the sun to take it. So I kinda just held it where I thought the sun might be. Kool huh?
I like this picture because I tend to get bored with scenery pictures, but this I would blow up and plaster on my wall. Coz she's gorgeous. And so it the bay, the Kaimais, and Matakana Island. :)
Beautiful, beautiful. It's all beautiful! Well, except for the thought of the bugs and rodents you mentioned. That's not so beautiful at all.
ReplyDeleteI had a massive spider crawl over my foot tonight - Daniel said he's never heard me scream like that before. I made the baby cry. I wanted to cry...
The spider is DEAD. I wish I could just be "over them" like you. Probably never gonna happen though. :)
-Andrea
Yup. That picture with the sun is AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteYes, New Zealand is absolutely beautiful! Hoping I can visit again sometime. Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is really beautiful. I can't believe that is only ten minutes from your house. Amazing. Oceana looks like she is having a really good time.
ReplyDeleteSince you took pictures of your wedding rings, I was wondering if you would mind sharing the story of how you and Matt got engaged. I always think engagement stories are fun :) And since I am asking you to share stories...I was wondering if you would mind sharing about how you and Matt knew that you were supposed to be missionaries, and how you guys settled on NZ. My hubby and I have been talking and praying about what our "purpose" as a couple is lately and how our family can serve God, and so I was just curious about how you and Matt knew what you were supposed to do, and where to go etc.
Thanks Susie, and if you don't want to tell those stories, that is ok too! :)
I've shot blind like that a few times because I couldn't see, and they all turned out great as yours-that's an awesome photo taken in the blind-all of them are great! Beautiful scenery.
ReplyDelete