Exactly a week ago we were just stepping off the plane onto New Zealand ground after a smooth but very long trip from Switzerland. The trip on a whole was covered with a sense of blessing, from the beginning when we discovered we only had to pay a third of what we had expected for excess luggage (logically it doesn't make any sense!), a friend of a friend putting 'Priority' tags on all of those cases, the lovely mums and families with other almost-two year olds on both big flights, being able to take the short routes to skip long queues, right through to the friendly NZ airport staff who said "Welcome home!" and also helped us wheel three full trolleys through to our waiting family. Exhausted but very thankful. And now, a week later, we're feeling more adjusted. The girls slept the whole night through for the first time lastnight. I'm thankful to have a mum who heard them in the middle of the night wake-ups while we were oblivious in our jet-lagged deep sleeps.
In many ways it's surreal to realise we have no return ticket and we're here to stay. And that our future is wide-open. We're excited and just a little nervous with this blank canvas ahead of us! We don't know what's next but we're starting to look at the options. Will Eti go into an electrician job first or pursue his dream of being a helicopter pilot? In the meantime we've enjoyed family time with one baby shower for our sister last weekend and another to come this Saturday for my sister, who is expecting her first baby in two weeks! Eti is out kayaking along the coastline right now and we've been for a few walks along the coast visiting the "toboggans" (slides) for the girls.
Here are some photos from our first week here...
Helping papa put our kitchen together. We managed to bring the girls' IKEA kitchen and that dollshouse I couldn't let go of, thanks to some 'strategic' packing skills :o)
Lovely salads for dinner. I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that we're heading into summer and not into winter...
Celebrating a precious little family member who is going to make his/her appearance in February
Enjoying stories with 'Megapop' and 'Superma'
Visiting some of the local playgrounds...
...and enjoying the change of scenery from European mountain alpine to Pacific Island sub-tropical...
