And our little dear darling continues to grow and brighten our days with her joyfulness, curiosity and laughs

Transcription

1 Dear Friends, Before our New Zealand life picks up speed even more in just a few weeks, here comes tons of sunny greetings and positive energy with stories and photos from the far south. These weeks, Adriana celebrated her 2 nd birthday. She is talking a mile a minute in Serbo-Croatian, English, Spanish and her own language that even her mother does not understand her sometimes. In July, my mom arrived to visit us for a couple of weeks. This time we took grandma Mileva on two trips to the mountains to show her a bit more beauty of New Zealand. Overall, life has not been boring on our end And our little dear darling continues to grow and brighten our days with her joyfulness, curiosity and laughs 1

2 In April, before going on our trip to North America, we still biked, hiked and enjoyed company of our Dunedin friends. 2

3 Upon our return from the trip (6 weeks later at that time in the 7 th month of pregnancy already), I was not much up for biking or longer hikes. So we continued with shorter walks and spending time with friends. Family bike rides will have to wait for another year We also went to see our first rugby game. We did not last long barely made it to halftime Adriana started talking these months in several languages (including the ones that even her mother does not understand ). Favourite words in Serbo-Croatian are airplane, sun, moon, frog, ball, and mountain. English favourites are no (with a kiwi accent ), car, truck, glasses, hefelamp (elephant) and potty (to a great joy of her parents ). Bike is a favourite word in all languages. Every word has an English a in front (with the exception of moon in Spanish - la luna ). So even sun in Spanish became a sol. English A, B, C, D is our favourite song. Adriana is growing and growing 3

4 Upon return from North America, I had lots of professional meetings with dear people and a conference in Auckland. And I so did NOT want to travel at that time (hard to believe, I know! ) But we all survived those weeks 4

5 And then came another bunch of get-togethers with friends in Dunedin June-August

6 Several new little friends joined us on this world in those months: Adalyn, Avery, and Chester And we continued visiting our other little friends (Jett, Tony, John, Miklosh) 6

7 We spent as much time as we could with Amy and Adam and their newborn daughters, Avery and Adalyn. Adriana enjoyed the babies very much I was not far behind her either. At the beginning of August, we wished farewell to Amy, Adam, Avery and Adalyn for their move back to United States. We will really miss you all here in Dunedin! Wish you all the best in the new chapter of your life and already look forward to Skype chats in the months and years to come! 7

8 And then my mom arrived to visit us! Adriana was so happy to see her grandma in person (and not on Skype only) and kept calling her Bako, bako! ( grandma, grandma! in Croatian). It was wonderful to see my mom again after full 2 years In the next few weeks we enjoyed Dunedin and the area with our grandma Mileva The next day upon her arrival, we took grandma Mileva to explore the area the Otago Peninsula 8

9 At that time we also celebrated Adriana s 2 nd birthday with her first bike (oh, what a joy!), a favourite cake that grandma made and several get-togethers with dear people (even though they did not know we were celebrating the birthday). Of all things, Adriana was most excited her new bike. With a big smile on her face, she kept calling each of us: Mom, bike! Daddy, bike! Bako, bike! And for every bike ride (around the house in the initial days) she was getting ready with a bike helmet and a backpack. It was so much fun to see her so excited about her first bike June-August

10 A few days later, Adriana, my mom and I went on 4-day trip to Te Anau Fiordland National Park on the south-west end of the South Island of New Zealand. We walked along the shores of Lake Te Anau and a nearby Lake Manapouri and enjoyed the scenery of Southern Alps. 10

11 Here in Te Anau, Adriana rode her balance bike for the first time outside. On this first day, she biked about half of a kilometer while on the second she biked 2 kilometers (in over an hour)! We just listened to her exciting words: Mom, bike!... Bako, bike! (with bike coming out in both English and Serbo-Croatian). It was so much fun 11

12 Two weeks later we went to Central Otago and our favourite Lake Wanaka to show grandma Mileva a place that we kept talking about so much in the last few years. Although it was mid-winter and Wanaka was full of skiers, the town of Wanaka welcomed us with sunny and warm winter days (without snow on the town level, of course otherwise I doubt that it would have been Philip s and my favourite place ). Adriana really enjoyed Wanaka (more specifically, she enjoyed bike trail, ducks on the lake and tons of rocks that were patiently waiting to be thrown into the lake ). 12

13 We could not stay just in Wanaka, but had do explore the area too. One afternoon we went a nearby Lake Hawea that was also waiting for Adriana with its rocks. While Adriana had fun throwing rocks into the water, grandma Mileva enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Southern Alps 13

14 One day we also drove to Queenstown through an amazing Cardrona valley and finally managed to freeze our grandma Mileva a bit on a mountain pass on this trip just to make sure our grandma does not return back to Croatia saying how winter in New Zealand is not cold at all 14

15 We walked around Queenstown, enjoying this interesting touristy town, Lake Wakatipu and fantastic views of the surrounding mountains 15

16 But our visits of the area did not stop there on this 4-day trip. On our way to and from Wanaka, we also visited towns of Alexandra and Cromwell and stopped in the interesting historic village of Lawrence. Our grandma Mileva had an excellent opportunity to experience the magic of Central Otago on this trip. 16

17 Here are a few more photos of Adriana and her wonderful moments spent with grandma Mileva 17

18 During my mom s visit, we continued getting together with our friends. Paulina organized Baby shower for me and a soon-to-be new member of our family. It was wonderful to see so many dear people in one place. And it was great that my mom had a chance to be there and meet people dear to us in this part of the globe Thank you all for making this day so special and for being a part of our lives! 18

19 Here are a few more get-togethers mostly with our Spanish-speaking friends 19

20 And our little dear darling in action these months 20

21 A bit more action and play 21

22 And a few scenes from Adriana s busy world Do not get surprised if you receive a phone call or a cell phone message from this part of the world very soon. It is truly amazing how new generations interpret and use toys. While Philip was using wooden building blocks to build castles, Adriana was putting those wooden pieces on her ear and pretending that it was a cell phone. Times are definitely changing! 22

23 In the end of this letter, here are a few more scenes from Dunedin winter this year 23

24 That would be the latest update from our end. In a few days, we will wish farewell to grandma Mileva and a few weeks later we are very much looking forward to meet a new member of our family. Apparently our life is about to get even busier. We are yet to experience that. The next letter with photos will come when we find some spare time that will become even more endangered species in the months and years to come But, we will try our best to keep in touch one way or another Tons of love and positive energy from the far south with a wish that you continue greeting upcoming days and months with a smile your face! Sandy, Philip and Adriana (and very soon another member of the McKague-Mandic team ) Dunedin, New Zealand 19 August