Happy Birthday Ian!

Ian enjoyed a whole weekend of fun, starting with his birthday on Friday complete with cake at school and presents at home. Ian then had a party on Sunday with 28 of his closest friends (he's a popular boy!) with much fun had by all. Ian had a trick poodle dog show at his party, with 3 little dogs doing lots of jumping tricks. We had lots of goodies and of course a cake (a Ben 10 cake, no less). Our photo's show Ian with his face painted along with photos of some of his chums and Mom and Dad too. Happy Birthday, son - we hope you had a terrific day (we did!).

Happy New Year!

We welcomed in 2010 in the wonderful country of New Zealand, arriving there on new years eve in time for a party and to meet up with our friends Jez and Catherine who were getting married on the island of Waiheke (in the Auckland Bay) that same weekend.

Our trip was fantastic. New Zealand is a gorgeous country, so very scenic with great food, people and of course wine. We are now Pinot Noir fans, having sampled many several of the local varieties there. Ian got to have a ton of fun. We spent time on the beach running, playing cricket, playing in the waves and sightseeing around the island. Ian also had lots of fun playing in and around the vineyard at the location of Jez and Catherine's wedding.

We moved onto Queenstown for the second part of our trip, staying in the mountains and enjoying superb scenery (snow-capped mountains), a trip on a steamship (Ian loved the coal fires), a trip up the gondola to see Queenstown from above and a ride on the luge (hence the helmets) as well. We ate like kings everyday and enjoyed great hospitality everywhere we went. We've way too many photo's to share, so here we'll post just a few of those featuring Ian and the family to enjoy. Happy 2010!