Trip to New Zealand - Part I: California

Finally, I am going to start posting about our trip to New Zealand. I will do it in parts, making it more manageable to write (for me), to digest (for you) and to download (for your computer).

After a bout with the croup, a visit to the doctor for hopefully unneeded steroid medication for Jack, and a morning of harried work and packing, we left Minneapolis on May 20th in the afternoon to head for our first stop on our New Zealand adventure, Los Angeles. The check-in was uneventful; I highly recommend traveling on Tuesday afternoons to whip through airport security. We arrived at LAX around 7pm Pacific time with one tired, but well-behaved little baby.

Normally, Nick and I would travel straight on to Auckland, but we had decided that might be a bit much for our first trip with Jack, so I had booked a hotel in Marina del Rey for the night. We made our way through LAX to find a taxi to take us there. The taxi cab area was temporarily relocated due to a filming that was taking place. I assumed that it was a UCLA film student thing, until I walked through a highly choreographed scene with Jack in his stroller and heard the director yell "cut." I turned around and noticed that the director chairs all said "Entourage." Oops.

We arrived at the hotel and Nick's um, advocacy skills, landed us a crib for Jack about an hour earlier than had been promised to me. (I think the clerk had gave me a line in hopes of eating his dinner before bringing the crib to our room.) I got Jack ready for bed while Nick wandered the nearby streets to find us some dinner. Nick and I huddled in front of the bathroom sink eating takeout Mexican as quietly as possible so Jack could fall asleep and voila, leg one of our adventure was complete.

We all slept well and ate a continental breakfast at the hotel. After a nap for all, we took a walk down to the marina. It was a beautiful day, especially coming off of the long winter and chilly spring we had been experiencing in Minneapolis (highs only in the low 60s in May). Jack got to experience his first swing ride at Mother's Park (see below), which ironically was filled with nannies and the children they were minding. Such is the life in Marina del Rey, I guess.


We ate lunch outside on the deck at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waitress was very taken with Jack and told us about her daughter who was named Daesha Jade. She explained how she had wanted her daughter to have a very meaningful name and that Daesha was a Dutch name and Jade was symbolic of something precious. CK replied, yes, our son is named Jack because we got a flat tire on the way to the hospital and needed one.*

I went to the Cheesecake Factory and all they gave me was this lousy piece of bread.
It ain't the Bread Factory, people.

We returned back to the hotel, took an afternoon nap, went to the Indian restaurant across the street for dinner (disappointing compared to Chapati, our New Zealand favorite, but what one isn't when compared to the best?), and we were off to the airport for the second leg of our adventure: LAX to Auckland.

*This didn't really happen. In case you were wondering.

Parcel from New Zealand

When we returned home from our adventure to Madison a week or so ago, we were lucky enough to come home to a special thing - a parcel (or what we call a package here in the States) from New Zealand. It's always fun to get something in the mail other than the usual assortment of bills, requests for campaign donations, and circulars (advertising fliers for you Yanks), and something from Nick's family overseas is a special event.

Nick eagerly tore into the parcel. He had made a special request to his family for an All Blacks outfit for Jack and they did not disappoint. For those of you non-Kiwis who are wondering, "what kind of crazy father requests an all black outfit for his newborn son, don't most normal babies wear blue, green, and yellow," let me explain. The All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby team and they inspire a cult-like following, particularly by my husband and father-in-law. If you are American, it is difficult to understand the magnitude of a whole country following the same team playing the same sport. I guess it would be like if all of the die-hard Packer, Cub, and Badger fans united together to cheer for a common cause. When visiting my in-laws last fall, I had Nick teach me the New Zealand National Anthem on the long drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound so I could impress my father-in-law, George, by proudly singing along before that Sunday's rugby match. I won several daughter-in-law favor points by doing so. (Note to self: will have to learn the Maori verse on the next trip to bank a few more.)

Not only did Nick's family send an All Blacks outfit, but an All Blacks hat, mittens, and booty set. Their timing couldn't have been better, as the weather has turned cool and we finally gave in and turned on our heat last Friday. Jack also lucked out with a new Stretch and Grow (known as Sleep and Plays in "American"), lots of fun socks, and a beautiful sweater, handmade by Auntie Jean and purchased by Nanny from the hospital shop where Auntie Jean volunteers by selling the sweaters she knits with her amazing talent. The sweater is the perfect size to fit Jack in the heart of winter. There was also another snuggly sleeper that will fit Jack soon and will keep him warm all winter. Grandad tucked in a kiwibird key chain for Jack, which Mommy will carefully safeguard until Jack is old enough to have his own set of keys.

Nick said the All Black outfit and package (almost) made up for the loss that the team had suffered to France in the Rugby World Cup earlier that weekend.

Jack begged us to let him model the clothes right away, so we acquiesced. I swear, he can be such a prima donna. Please see his runway shoot below.





A note from Jack:
Thanks, Nanny, Grandad, and Uncle Michael for all the cool stuff. Hope you don't feel too bad about the All Blacks. As I told Daddy....

There's always 2011.