New Zealand! (1 of 2)

Good morning! Before I dive into our latest adventure, let me officially share our wonderful news...

We couldn't be happier! Today I'm 23 weeks and 4 days and feeling pretty darn good. 

Now... let me tell you about the "babymoon" we just returned from. Two words: New Zealand. Y'all, it was incredible. We made the very most of our short time there and explored as much as we possibly could. We took a million and four pictures so buckle up and get ready to scroll! J actually had some work to take care of so I explored Wellington on my own for the first couple of days. It's referred to as the "coolest little capital in the world" and it definitely kept me busy. I enjoyed the bohemian vibe of Cuba Street, rode the historic cable car, strolled through the Botanic Gardens, hiked around Mt. Victoria (where parts of the Lord of the Rings were filmed), and wandered for hours through Te Papa Museum. 

windy city!

the vast majority of Wellington homes are scattered on the hills like this

                         
                            

Tui- a native New Zealander

view from Mt. Victoria

After meeting back up with J, we headed to the northern part of the north island where we stayed on a farm outside of Rotorua. This area of the island is famous for all the thermal activity. At Te Puia we saw a real live geyser blow and watched mud pits boil and steam. At Wai-o-Tapu we wandered around the most incredible caves, mud pits, waterfalls, and pools. We also made our way over to Matamata and drove around the sprawling farmland used as the shire in LOTR films. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. Our visit was at the perfect time to see all the baby animals. I'm sure J got tired of me pointing out all the precious lambs. What can I say? I have baby fever!

our farm friends, Inca and Bubbles

Champagne Pool

the neon green Devil's Cave... amazing!!!

fly fishing

Huka Falls

baby bump plus a smiling (?) cow

Whew! Next I'll share about our journey to New Zealand's southern island. More fun and stunning views to come!

Oh my, I've been a stranger. Sorry about that! We've definitely been keeping busy since my last post. One of my favorite events during that time was our 4th of July cookout. We had a group of friends over to a fantastic spot at the castle for hamburgers, hot dogs, delicious sides, and games (cornhole, croquet, and ladder ball, anyone?). We wrapped up the evening by watching a fireworks show from our balcony. It was a seriously great time!

Another recent adventure was our Tadake Falls hike up north. The combination of hiking and river trekking led us to a beautiful waterfall. Walker dog was pretty hilarious. He started out the afternoon super excited and thrilled to be exploring nature. Poor little guy hit his breaking point after awhile (it was a bit more strenuous than we had imagined) and stopped to howl every time he had to get back in the water. He crashed so hard on the ride home!

As part of our long weekend we ventured off island to the incredibly gorgeous Keramas. This is the island chain we can see from our balcony. We've heard great things (it is a world famous dive/snorkel spot after all) but had never made the trip til now. Oh my, that water is the clearest I've ever seen. It was hands down the most gorgeous beach I've ever been to.

In other news, I took part in a golf boot camp a few weekends ago. It was an experience but it accomplished its mission in making me more interested in the game (resulting in one happy husband). As you may recall, I vowed a certain someone on our wedding day that I'd learn how to play golf with him.

Our little trip to the Keramas was the perfect getaway before we were all shut in our houses for awhile. Typhoon Neoguri hit us pretty hard! We were incredibly blessed here in Yomitan and didn't experience any real damage. In fact, we really enjoyed our day in and filled it with movies, card games and popcorn! Other friends and parts of the island weren't so lucky. There were power outages, fire alarms blaring at all hours of the night, and extensive flooding in many areas of Okinawa. At the moment there's another typhoon headed toward an orphanage that Koza partners with in the Philippines. Please pray that the storm eases up or turns and that damage there is minimal!

That's a glimpse into our lives as of late. We miss y'all a ton!

Taiwan! What a trip! For Memorial Day this year we decided to explore Taipei, Taiwan with some of our friends. We crammed our schedule completely full with shopping, eating, night markets, hiking, more eating, soaking in natural hot spring and sightseeing. We stayed in a cozy little apartment with some of our dear friends, Scott and Shannon. More of our favorites, Kayla, Audrey and K's sister-in-law Katie stayed just across the hall. Our neighborhood was seriously bustling. I've never seen so many scooters in one place. You have to be really careful while walking and aware that sidewalks are often mistaken as roads!

We started off by checking out Taipei 101. It's the second tallest building in the world and is home to lots and lots of high end stores. J was absolutely thrilled to get to visit the watch shops there. He was even given catalogs from designers that luxury watch aficionados everywhere would be jealous of. 

Another awesome excursion was riding the Maokong gondola. We took glass floored Hello Kitty gondolas up to the mountaintop tea houses. The view was gorgeous! We had fun learning the proper way to brew and drink the local black tea. 

I don't want to deprive you all of the culinary adventure that was Taipei. Here are a few pictures of local cuisine... (let me just say...you're lucky you can't smell it)

I will say, these mile high ice cream cones did look delicious!

7-Elevens offered some interesting choices. 

We all got a good laugh when Jacob asked the ladies what kind of animal these brains came from. We're still not sure. 

This dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung, was named by the New York Times as one of the top 10 best restaurants in the world. Those wontons on the right were seriously amazing.  

In case you can't tell, he's slicing open raw squid and grilling it up. Notice his Hello Kitty glasses?

One evening we relaxed in the hot spring area of Beitou. Since there were 6 adults in our group we were able to share a private room with a huge tatami area and our own bath with spring water pumped right in. It was exactly what we needed to relax and refuel for another night market outing!

I saved my favorite part for last... Taroko Gorge was completely breathtaking. We took a train 3 hours southeast, hopped in a taxi, and drove/hiked around for about 7 hours. The waterfalls, marble cliffs, and green forest were incredible. At one point we hiked to the Water Curtain Cave where we put on ponchos and literally walked through a tunnel with curtains of water cascading through. Unfortunately, it was too dark for our pictures to turn out. 

Pretty, huh? I'm so thankful to be blessed with opportunities to explore this side of the world with my best friend. Life is good!