Kiwi Children's Playgrounds

In a land where bungee jumping and zorbing are considered tame recreational activities, playgrounds in New Zealand are how should we say this...are completely and utterly dangerous.  Wordy and I always remark that, "they would never allow that in the states!" at nearly every playground we go to...only to then snicker and give it a go.  So this is our first tribute to how playgrounds should be.


Tires, Timbers and Ropes...the Coolest!  It's really hard to portray how massive and fun this playground is for kids AND parents.

I call this slide the 'Arm Breaka.'  A two story drop with no lip on slick fiber glass.  Wordy caught some air on this one and almost hit the railroad tie only three feet away from the bottom of the slide.

I dub this weird spinning/tilted ring the 'Nut Cracka.' As best as we can figure, the main point of this one is to hurt you really bad.

Not in New Zealand

Happy August from Down Under

After a day of clear, blue skies, 50 degrees, and abundant sunshine, the highly anticipated winter storm finally materialized late last night. Today it's been mostly sleet interspersed with heavy, wet snow--yuck. We did get a nice lull mid-morning with a patch of sun, but it's back to high wind and a wintry mix. Hard to remember it's August.

You Can Leave Your Hat On

Over the last year, we haven't done a ton of exploring around New Zealand, and the sightseeing we have done has been by either car or train. However, we do hope to change that in the coming months, a fact that I suspect will lead us, at least once, to our newly renovated Chch airport.

There are many things in NZ that I feel are done in a markedly more civilized manner than in the U.S. I've already mentioned the twice-daily tea time and the reserved parking for expecting and new moms. There are also reserved seats at movie theaters, and you can order espresso drinks or wine (and light cafe food) to take with you into the theater. There are, of course, other examples, but the thing that has so far made the biggest impression on me is the procedure for domestic air travel in this country.

For a domestic flight, passengers typically show up 30 minutes before the flight departs. There are no security checkpoints, and you scan your own boarding pass on a machine that sort of resembles the self-checkout lanes at grocery stores. Can I tell you what bliss it is not to have to remove jackets, sweaters, belts, jewelry, wallets, laptops, Ziploc bags full of 3-oz. bottles of toiletries . . . ? In fact, the departure lounge at Chch airport is structured like a large cafe. High-top tables and bar stools offer places to sit, and handy electrical plugs mean a person can work on a laptop if desired. Elsewhere, comfortable sitting areas make it pleasant to pass pre-flight minutes sipping a beverage or a nibbling on a snack that can be conveniently purchased from a centrally located counter.

Domestic departure terminal. Terrible photo, but maybe you can get the gist of it.

Granted NZ is a much smaller country than the US by several orders of magnitude, and the likelihood of terrorist threats here feels significantly less, but I have to say that in comparison to the post-9/11 reality of terror-alert orange and increasingly invasive TSA screening procedures (the x-ray body scan!), the idea that I can bring a chainsaw on board with me and stow it in the overhead bin (we heard of someone who did) is a source of great delight.

Just the Two of Us

Rocky was away this last week doing smartypants sciencey things with high-tech equipment, so Squiddo was stuck with just me for entertainment.

For the record, let me just say that there is nothing quite like chasing after a child to guarantee a person the sleep of the dead. I'm just sayin'. But I also have gotta say that I think I gave as good as I got because the kid has been sleeping more than he has in a really long time (since the 2-naps-a-day phase): 3 to 3.5 hours during a single nap in the afternoon, and 11.5 to 12 hours at night. OK, maybe it's a growth spurt coming on, but I'm going to say it's not and continue patting myself on the back for a job well done.

Two

Our little guy turned two today. He had a great day, and Rocky and I survived the hosting of our first toddler birthday party. No meltdowns. No tantrums. Everyone left smiling. I call that an unqualified success.

The kid is always moving. Fast. This is why the best pix we take of him are while he's sleeping.

Old Hat

We had two more good shakes today within 80 minutes of each other: 5.5 magnitude at 1:pm and 6.0 magnitude at 2:20pm. Power was knocked out to our house for about 3 hours, and the water is running from the tap at a slow dribble, but other than that, we're fine. Rocky and The Squidd were at their respective schools, both of which were evacuated. And as before, The Squidd would've slept right through the quakes had the teachers not had to wake him to clear the kids out of the building. Rocky left his office and made the short walk with a fellow dad to the daycare to pick up the kiddos. I met them there with the car an hour later (traffic--grr!).

These things have been happening with such regularity that we're becoming very practiced at the recovery drill. Before daylight faded, which happens early now that we're near the winter solstice, we pulled out candles and supplies from our earthquake preparedness kit. We also prepped a simple dinner of PBJ sandwiches, Pringles, and fruit. Trickiest part of all of this is considering how to keep The Squidd warm as he sleeps. Merino wool shirt under his pjs plus two sleep sacks and a blanket? Bring him into bed with us when we're ready for bed? Thankfully we didn't have to follow this thread of thought to it's conclusion as the power came back on around 5:00ish.

So here we are in a very familiar situation: well shaken but definitely not rattled.

Note: Heard on the news that a few (6 or 7) people sustained injuries from falling debris in the central business district, but so far, no reports of the widespread damage and loss of life as last time. Keeping our fingers crossed . . .