Our New Addition

The long awaited moment is here!

Months of anticipation...  planning.... saving....  preparation.... choosing names....

What will he look like?

How much "energy" will he have?

Will he have a good "roar" like a lion or "purr" like a kitten?

Will it be an easy transition for us?

Are we ready?

Welcome to the Stewart Family!!!!

introducing... sherman

the tank...

new shoes....

chancellor fits in the boot!

I was happy with the li'l Chancellor, but Lee needed yet another money pit, I mean another "man's" truck.  After thinking about our new lives with prams, car seats, diaper bags, visitors from the states, and having room for baby + li'l Ella... I suppose it makes sense.  

2004 Range Rover HSE 4.4L BMW V8... plus FULL mechanical warranty... and of course, we've already had to swap the rims from the 22" Gangster Wheels to 15-spoke 19" Land Rover Alloys to make it "drive-able".  Lee claims it was for the baby's safety....

Night Out

The time. She is a runnin' short. "Alone" time for Kim and I that is.

Final prep for the trip to the hospital is underway this Queen's Birthday weekend (3 weeks to go!) and we thought a date night out is in order. So....fellas.....allow me to explain (dream) about how things work in the Stewart household over here:

1) Golf Saturday morning. Well yeah....Kim works on Sat morning as it is still business time in the States. Must sharpen up those skills should any would-be challengers from the States show up to toss down the gauntlet.

2) Real sore from the gym this week....finally decided that it is NOT ok for me to go ahead and gain weight as my gorgeous wife somehow manages stay trim whilst the belly comes out. The whining about soreness from my first trip back to the gym in 8 weeks is not well received for some reason...

3) Must show her off....itinerary for the evening is dinner and a movie. "District Dinning" restaurant tonight. Fried Pig Ears and Duck Confit were well above average....why do I get a strange look around here when I ask what N/A drinks they have? They don't even know me!?

Whoa girl! "So dope I'd have to smuggle you across state lines or else pay fines!"

4) Appropriately, we went to see "What to expect when you're expecting".....heh. Got to see a new section of downtown Auckland at night which was beautiful. Event Cinemas does "Gold Class" movie options. Which means you hang out in a lounge until the staff guides you in to a proper theater outfitted with real comfy lazy boy chairs. So feet up, order a wine (for me), a club soda (for her) and its movie time.

5) Navigating out of downtown Auckland? Kim can take this one. Hop in the trusty Chancellor and we are back to Titirangi in no time.

Chariot awaits!

Great night out. Lee to spend the rest of the weekend figuring out how to spoil Kim.

Posh Pooch?

So for all you folks in the Northern Hemisphere who are enjoying the spring time weather, fresh may flowers and all that pollen, us kiwis down here in the Southern Hemisphere are gearing up for winter - such that it is.

This is our first winter in NZ and so far it is not all that bad. A LOT more rain - think Seattle - and the temps are a bit more chilly - upper 40s at night and lower 60s during the day.  It is truly amazing how the kiwis don't let any weather change modify their daily outdoor activities and routines.  Every morning we still see the same runners training - rain or shine.  It can be a downpour outside with 20mph winds and moms are still outside pushing their prams with rain covers and walking their dogs.  We must adjust...

Li'l Ella being the very pampered inside pooch that she is, has not really taken to the cooler temps and rainy days.  ESPECIALLY when Lee makes her ride in the bikini top jeep after a swim in the chilly Tasman Sea.... what to do?

We made a trip to Animates (kiwi Petsmart) to investigate how the Kiwis outfit their dogs for the drizzly winter and you would be amazed at the choices and the fact that dogs actually do get raincoats and winter warmers here - it's not just for chihuahuas anymore!  We hesitantly invested in two items for Li'l Ella:

     1.    ThunderShirt - think UnderArmour

thundershirt!

i think i like it.... i think i like it...

     2.     DrizaBone Jacket - think Australian Oilskin

drizabone - more my style!

room to pee... i mean breathe!

Saturday - rain or shine - we made plans to go for a tramp to get out of the house and a bit of exercise for the whole family.  The weather was a bit chilly in the upper 50s and drizzling rain.  Lee tried to pick a somewhat less aggressive trail for his 35-week preggo wife and we ended up selecting the Huia Dam Walk.   The description said that most of the hike is on a dirt road and most of it is pram/stroller accessible, so pretty easy, right?

huia dam track

The track can take you to two amazing dams and the water reservoirs created by the dams.  If you choose to do the entire track it is 6km one-way.  We were thinking, maybe just a short walk since it was  rainy and just see what the Lower Huia Dam had to offer.  

We suited up - all three of us!  Lee and I in multi-layers covered with our Kathmandu jackets and Li'l Ella with her DrizaBone coat.

The Lower Dam is pretty amazing.  It's just a short (uphill) walk from the carpark.  It was completed in 1929 and is one of the most crucial water supply areas for Auckland.  The dam has a grassy front for grazing animals instead of a typical concrete wall.  The water overflow pictured below is a pretty breathtaking concrete funnel that looks like something from a 007 movie!

lower huia dam with water overflow cyclone

It was just a bit misty so we decided to go ahead and hike a bit further.  Then I see a sign for a tunnel - uh oh, we MUST hike to the tunnel!  Of course there is no indication exactly how far this tunnel is... but we set off in good spirits enjoying the time outside and peacefulness of the day.

suspension bridge over the stream

nice peaceful track

The only part of the track that is really suitable for prams/strollers is the lower dam area.  Although it is a one-lane, gravel road most of the way, we encountered some pretty steep hills and rocky areas.  Getting the extra 15 pounds of baby I'm carrying around up the hills required a few stops for doubled over catch my breath time!

The tunnel is right before the Upper Huia Dam - about 1.5 hours into the hike...  I just had to see it right?  Definitely worth it.  The tunnel is about 65m long and carved into the mountain.  It was really beautiful and worth the trek to get there.

entrance to tunnel

look at my belly!

The Upper Huia Dam is a more typical exposed concrete dam - amazing in its remoteness that man completed this engineering structure in the 1929!

upper huia dam

Three hours and 12km later, we returned to the car park.  All three of us were warm AND dry although a little knackered after the tramp.  Li'l Ella's posh pooch poncho kept her nice and warm... Success!

El Jeep-o for the Peep-le

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date"

Long lost love.

On November 20th, 2011 my darling Jeep was packed up into a container in Atlanta and, alone, made the long journey to New Zealand. The journey was not without peril. As any lad with google knows, New Zealand is most unkind to importation of older vehicles. They have strict vehicle standards which must be met to allow one to drive on their roads. To give you an idea of what it took to get fair-Jeepo over here allow me to outline:

1. Cost to transport in container
2. Concession fees in L.A. and Auckland ports to remove Jeep from container and "inspect"
3. MAF (Ministry for Biosecurity protection) fees to fumigate Jeep to eliminate any critters
4. Jeep inspected at importers location and deemed rusty = charge to sandblast and paint underside of jeep
5. Jeep still rusty, one month of Panel Beater work to cut out rust, replace steal, and have an "Engineer" certify that it was done properly....this took 1.5 months....
6. Significant monies to repoint headlamps, new driver-side seatbelt, new front brakes, grind rotors, patch small chip in windscreen, etc.
7. Compliance fees. You MUST receive a compliance certificate before you may register your vehicle to drive on their roads. After compliance for general import health, a WOF (Warrant of Fitness) must be obtained. You must get a new WOF every 6 months to drive. Luckily you must comply only once. 
8. Rego fees which gets us, finally, the tags....

My precious Jeep entered the container Nov 20, 2011, allowed to drive in NZ April 20, 2012.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder...

Jeep was, of course, taken straight to Muriwai Beach

Never again....never.

All that trouble to allow to drive on the roads.....nah..

Li'l Ella missed it too.

Bottom line is DO NOT try to bring any car to this country. They have plenty of suitable off-road vehicles for you to choose from with air conditioning, navigation, and heated seats. Try to figure out how to get the doors off of your CR-V!

Unfortunately Jeep did not get to enjoy a brights Summer's day... this year....

L'Enfant (Bébé d'Ancrage)

In country for more than three months now and things are starting to settle down......yeah right buddy! As some may not now know (uh oh) Kim is 28 weeks preggo with what looks to be a healthy, punchy tyke.

Yes you heard right. Kim "little-voice-big-attitude-in-male-dominated-industry" Stewart's next big project will be wrangling a little monster in around Auckland for a while. I suppose we just figured packing the dog, the house, the Jeep (still in custody), and shifting across the planet to start a new adventure was just a little too easy...so now this.

what the heck is a bassinet?!?

This is an exciting and terrifying endeavor. The stress, weight gain, and restless nights are enough to drive you crazy....and thats just me....not sure how Kim feels. After getting through settling in, battling insurance claims for damaged items, panel-beaters to fix the Jeep, and a heap of other issues now it is time to get serious about baby-prep.

So antenatal classes it is!  We chose the 2 Saturdays in a row, all day deal.....free in NZ!
Fascinating stuff.

They showed us a very artsy video of how it is done down here with no epidural......I got outed as an American when I asked "Where are the stirrups and the lady lying on her back?".....nossir.
Out West the women don't use the bed......they console themselves with a french yoga ball and squat that baby (bubs) out! I guess knowing that they give a "natural" birth is pain-killer enough.

Truthfully, the classes and the midwife teaching them are fantastic! Though not without their motives.
You can't look in the NZ Herald in a week without seeing some feminist controversy about how a rugby player was photographed bottle-feeding a baby.....BREAST feeding is the agenda that is shoved down your throat at every turn.

And then, there are the other folks in the class. They are.....quite normal...every woman had their man there supporting them and there were about 14 women. They are all local "westies" so it gave a great sense of community or something like that.

nailed it.

So on we go. Time to practice! This week we were instructed to get a dolly or a stuffed animal so that we can practice dressing with baby clothes... and swaddling??  Don't know what all the fuss is about....easy to dress a doll....must be easy to dress a baby! Easy to care for a doll......you get the idea. Donesky!

thanks Jo & John!

Thankfully our great friends Jo and John Russell have showered us with just about all the infant clothes we should need! I can't imagine what it would have cost to gather all this stuff from scratch. And our position is that c'mon....the baby ain't gonna remember what it wore when it was 0-18mo, so it doesn't need to be brand new. 

So off we go on this one. It's exciting and foreign to us all at the same time. After all, the only bottles I have had any experience with are of the brown variety. Not to worry, Kim has loosened up her Green Belt and will do what she always does.....show us guys how a project should actually be done. 

Goat Track Golf

ready to throw down on this hilly "goat track" course!!

Lee convinced me to be his golf caddy for the day and we headed out to one of the more secluded and hilly golf clubs in Auckland - Waitakere Golf Club.  The day was absolutely gorgeous and needed the SPF100 even though the temp was in the low 70's.  For some reason they wouldn't allow dogs, even on a leash, so li'l Ella chilled at the house for the day.

collared shirt?  on an island?

The first time Lee tackled Waitakere, he went in a foursome that included two guys he works with, one of their brothers, and one of their sons acting as a caddy.  The more "established" (read SMART) gentlemen of the foursome hired a golf cart for the course which is rather unusual for Kiwis as most use a truller or carry their clubs for the entire 18.  Let's just say that by the time they reached the 14th tee the brave souls walking the course were knackered and the younger son abandoned the group at the 9th hole in favor of the relaxation of the club house!

Needless to say... we rented a cart :)  I'll hand out clubs and keep score with the best of them - even offer unwanted advice on putting - but just not game with carrying the clubs up and down the hills and back and forth across the fairways for five hours!!!

The course is really beautiful.  It's set in the middle of the Waitakere Ranges and native bush surrounding the west coast.  Some of the holes are really challenging Par 5 doglegs and others have unique tee offs starting in the bush with the green no where in site.

hole 6 par 3 with tee in the bush

rolling par 5

tee'ing off hole 1

nice chip shot with the new wedge!  par?

Lee had some amazing drives on the course and set himself up for several birdies and par shots.  Unfortunately, that short game still needs a bit of work....

nice form... lined up... 

and the crowd goes... awwwww... time for the 19th hole!

Blog Bottlenecks

Sorry the blog posts have been few and far between for the past few weeks!!  We've had several huge events occurring that have taken precedence over postings...

1. container arrival
2. insurance claims
3. unpacking!!
4. catching up on sleep in our comfy bed :)
5. getting the li'l jeep up to "nanny state" standards
6. arrival of our columbian-american via australia for the past year house guest - Alex
7. golf, golf, golf - need i say more....
8. and of course, work

We are pretty much settled now and blog posting will resume.  Li'l Ella and I have gone to a few really cool spots but I have been both camera and iPhone-less during our jaunts.  Almost everything warrants a second visit with camera in hand - so watch out!