Family Fun

Well, it took an entire week for my legs to work normally again after that last tramp. I have seriously never been that sore before and while it was funny for the first couple days, by day 3, the fact that I still required assistance to stand from the couch and could not walk down stairs or hills was no longer amusing. Luckily, it did not stop us from having a little fun on St Patty's Day! We received a fantastic set of fuzzy green stick-on facial features in the mail from Kim, so we put them on and headed to our favorite restaurant to celebrate St Patty along with our friend's birthday. The fuzz was quite a hit, especially when Craig's mustache fell off in his water glass! It was a pretty tame day for us, compared to the usual festivities, but fun nonetheless!


Leprechauns!

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful until Saturday when we headed over to Queenstown to meet up with my parents and aunt and uncle. Craig and I started driving over there early to squeeze in some mountain biking, but only made it about 5minutes down the road before our bike rack start wobbling like crazy. We pulled over and Craig figured out that the part that holds it on the hitch was stripped and not useable. So, we took the bikes off and crammed them in the car with the rest of our camping gear.

When we got to Queenstown, we set up camp and headed over to a cool trail for some MTB action. The trail is pretty technical with lots of single track with rocks, boulders, trees, and roots, so it made for a really fun few hours! And the scenery is beautiful, as usual. So, after our ride we jetted back to camp, showered, and headed to my parents' hotel. The hotel was super fancy and we ended up having a beer there and then hanging out in the flash lobby on the comfy chairs by the fireplace. It was nice to see them for the first time in 9 months.

Next day, we met for a quick breakfast and wandered around town until lunchtime when we had reservations for the skyline restaurant (this is the restaurant we also went to with Andy, where you take a ski gondola to the top for a yummy buffet). The buffet was not quite as impressive as the dinner one, but still tasty. After lunch, we went outside for some fresh air and views, and to watch the paragliders taking off. Uncle Kevin decided to brave the luge, and had two good rides. Then, he decided the luge wasn't adventurous enough and went paragliding! We rushed to the bottom of the mountain and got to watch his whole flight and landing. Looked like fun! I still feel I may have a problem with walking off the mountain for the takeoff though.......


Craig, Mom, Katie, Dad in Queenstown


Uncle Kevin on the Luge

Unfortunately, by this time we had to head back to Dunedin so we left the elders for their trip to Te Anau and Milford Sound. They had a great time there, enjoying continued sunshine, and met back up with us in Dunedin on Tuesday night. The rest of the time since then was spent with the tourists (after work), showing them the sights, including Moeraki Boulders, seal and penguin viewing (Mom got yelled at for using flash photography, which apparently "injures the animals"), Farmers Market, Mt. Cargill, the Catlins, and the Peninsula. They also took the Taeri Gorge train ride and explored Dunedin while we were at work. The weather, amazingly, held out the whole time they were here. There was a Buskers Blitz in town on Saturday, which provided us with some entertainment by street performers, including a sword swallower. And on our drive out on the peninsula, we saw a sheep in a tree, perched right up on top! Crazy!


Tree Climbing Sheep

More Pics

All in all, I think Mom, Dad, Aunt Jeanne, and Uncle Kevin had a great trip. Uncle Kevin only hit one bridge driving, Aunt Jeanne didn't freeze to death, Mom fell over while sitting on my floor, and Dad just talked the whole time :) They are on a plane back to the States right now, and Craig and I are recovering. Me more than him, I spent some time with a kidney stone on Sunday night but am all good now. This weekend brings another time change, we set our clocks back, meaning it will be dark early now. Ick!
Happy Birthday Kim and Katie, and congrats to Bill, Kristen, and Mia on the new addition to the family, Anya!