Happy Thanksgiving

I keep meaning to get back to the blog and time keeps getting away from me.

I look at the history of his adventure blog and can't help but notice the declining number if times I post as each year here in New Zealand passes. I guess it is the natural evolution of transitioning from a exciting "new" adventure to what over time becomes more routine.

The truth is we are enjoying ourselves and busy living life. The down time we have is filled with the day to day things we all do - laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, paying bills, and some quite time on the sofa watching TV. Otherwise we are at work or enjoying ourselves out with friends. All of this seems to fill our time and we continually find ourselves with those never ending to do lists of things we want to squeeze in between everything else - Emails to friends and family, writing the blog, …

 

This was our friend Matt's 30th B-day party. We all raced Go-carts.

That is Eric in #13. We (drk green team) came in 5th of 7 

and had the most penalties -LOL.

Since the last blog, I have been back to China twice, once in Sept. and once in Oct. for two weeks each time. Still working on lots of Hobbit stuff and a little Lord of the Rings stuff. Eric has been back to the States to work Salt Lake Cities first ComicCon and has been working full time again at Weta. He has been made the Supervisor of V-stage. This is a large warehouse overflowing with all sorts of stuff from years of Weta work. Including lots of Lord of the Rings molds, props and costuming. He is tasked with cleaning, organizing and cataloguing it all. And to do so, he has earned his certifications for working at heights and driving a forklift - too cool! Most recently he has been temporarily pulled away from V-stage to work on a project for another movie that we can't name yet. 

Now, it is that time of year again...

One of our most favorite times. It starts with our Anniversary and Halloween and goes through Thanksgiving and then Xmas and New Years. 

It is still our favorite time of year, but now it is more complicated.

We spent our Anniversary, our 17th, enjoying the day together. We slept in and then had bacon and eggs for breakfast. Later we went out to our favorite steak house - CrazyHorse, for a delicious dinner followed by our favorite dessert place Strawberry Fare. This year the big Weta Digital Halloween Party was the same night as our Anniversary and we chose to skip it. So there were no costumes for Eric and I. Although on Halloween we both wore our fangs in to work, and as always they were well received. Halloween also happens to be the birthday of our close friend Henri so we took her out to dinner. While good fun was had, it definitely was not a traditional Halloween. And certainly not by US standards. Here in NZ this is still a holiday that is minimally recognized. And this year it was a rainy night so that also hampered the affair.

Then starts November and this year, and likely every year going forward, this month will be more difficult for our family. As we look toward Thanksgiving which is not an actual holiday here in NZ. We approach the birthdays of Casey and Tanner. Tanner would have been 12 years old. At this time last year on Thanksgiving we celebrated in a hospital room, and so we reflect back on the year and reminded of our loss. We are thankful for the years we had with Tanner and love and laughter he shared with us.

Here in Wellington a group of us will celebrate Thanksgiving together with the traditional feast except we will substitute the turkey with chicken. (see earlier blog posts regarding the availability and costs of a turkey) LOL.

On toward the Hobbit release… 

Earlier this month I got to attend the Worldwide Fan Event hosted in Wellington by Peter Jackson and Jed Brophy(Nori the Dwarf),  it was great fun. We got to see over 20 minutes of footage. It is looking to be an action packed middle film (no spoilers) and I was really impressed with the song written by Ed Sheenan for the end of the film... And yes, Peter was barefoot!

We will be attending the Cast and Crew screening of the film on Dec. 10th and then a Hobbit party on Dec. 11th at the Roxy theater followed by a midnight screening of the film.

It is also the beginning of our summer here and the weather is beginning to turn. Summer is the best time of year here and we hope to squeeze in a few day or weekend trips. That said, I am currently typing this blog while it is raining with 26 mile an hour winds rattling the windows.

Myztyc staying warm in an electric blanket. 

She continues to be a love.

Next up is the much anticipated vacation. We have been trying to take this trip since we first got to NZ in 2010. But had been unable to until now. We are off to Cairns, Australia for Xmas to dive the Great Barrier Reef. We will be there for a week. Can't wait!

You'll notice I have not mentioned another trip to China. As it stands now I am not scheduled to go back again til March! And that makes me happy. 

So the year end will be here in what feels like the blink of an eye.

2014 will be an interesting year with lots of unknown ahead. But it is all part of the adventure and we are healthy and look forward to discovering what is ahead of us. 

We wish all of our friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving

Remember all that you have to be thankful for. 

Happy Turkey,

Stacy & Eric