July Update

Hi everyone,
As I'm finding it difficult to update every week so have decided to start doing monthly updates. This month has been a very busy one for the Smith family. We arrived back safely from our HUGE trip from Adelaide to Sydney and to the North island of New Zealand. We adored catching up with Freya, Stephane, William and meeting Theodore (TJ). Visited the wineries and the German village with a name I simply can't recall...and played a new game called Phase 10 - heaps of fun. Freya and I had a nice night of chatting and a few bevies..which was lovely and I must say one of my highlights to our trip.
We then headed to Sydney where we stayed with Aunty Elizabeth and Uncle David. Headed out to dinner at a lovely chinese restraunt for tea on Grandads' birthday (combined for Grandmas), then headed up to see Nanna for a night which was lovely. From there we headed to the Blue Mountains for a night - did all the touristy things...three sisters, Katoomba etc. And boy was it freezing there - luckily the place I'd booked had heating and electric blankes - that weren't plugged in (we discovered at 3am when we were still freezing)....we had payed for a cot here and luckily had visited Yvonne Windon the day before who lent us a porta cot...as there wasn't one in the room, and no refund for it not being there which we thought a bit rude but decided not to let it ruin our time together as a family... From there we headed back to Sydney to catch up with my school friend Jo and a quick look around Sydney. As Zachary didnt take to well to the different cots and time zone differences we didnt really get much sleep in either Adelaide or Sydney but were hopeful for NZ. I must say however that he was wonderful on the plane rides to Adelaide, Sydney and NZ. On arrival in NZ we stayed in Auckland for the night - when we arrived at our hotel at 2300 local time, we were greeted by the new owners who had no record of our booking (we had already paid for the room!) and according to the sign were fully booked. Apparently this wasnt the case as they found a room for us, which was great. Very modern and so lovely to have a nice hot shower after such a long day of travelling. Did some sightseeing in Auckland before picking up our camper van and heading off to see Aunty Kirtsin in Hamilton. Ended up staying in Hamilton for a few days, and doing some day trips from there whilst Kirstin and Alex worked during the day. Weather wasn't too bad for the first couple of days but very cold at night. Zachary adored his Aunty/Godmother and possible future Uncle and I'd say rather confidently that the feelings were reciprocated. Was very spoilt on my birthday by being taken to a very fancy restaurant for dinner with my Dave, K and A... K organised for Zachary to be babysat, which was a little nerve racking at first but okay once we recieved a message saying he was asleep!! K and D continued to spoil me by taking me to a Polynesian spa and K bbsat Zachary on the 20th so Dave and I could go to a Hungi together. Lovely. We dont get to much time with just us anymore so was fabulous to have some quality. After leaving K in Rotorua Dave, Zachary and I headed from there on our way to Wellington in our huge campervan. It was a truck more like. Five speed manual with a bus steering wheel - fun fun fun!!! Heaps of memorable moments that I might just keep to myself for now - maybe you'll hear my stories next time we have a few drinks..maybe...hehehe Lets just say I love my husband and son very much and absolutely adored having them both to myself for 4 days.... Very much looking forward to spending more time as a family in years to come...which brings me to our most exciting news. Dave and I have bought a house. We signed the papers on Friday and will hopefully be moving in in 6 weeks...so about the 1st September ish....the address I'll send each of you by email just remind me, as tis is a public site dont fancy odd people knowing where we live...sorry. Anyways, Zachary is now 65cm and about 8kg as he had a growth spurt whilst we were on holidays... he also gives us kisses now which is gorgeous... very sloppy and open mouthed but gorgeous. Okay I think that's it for now, hope all is well with everyone, until next month
All our love, Shell, David and Zachary xo