Happy Birthday, Max!

Firstly, dear readers, I'd like to apologize for the absence of posts in the last few months. Sometimes, things just get busy. We've been fortunate enough to enjoy visits from family, and I've been working on a book, and we've been raising Max, and the blog took a back seat. But no longer! We're back and eager to start posting again. Buckle in.

And we have good reason to start again. Max turned one last week -- this year, at exactly 12:15am on December 20th, Emeline and I were fast asleep in bed, snoring like hobos in warm dumpsters. This is because raising a one-year-old human is tiring. But a year earlier our lives changed forever -- and for better -- at 12:15am, in the early hours of an otherwise normal Saturday morning, when we welcomed our beautiful little monster into our world.

So, this was an auspicious day. Emeline baked a cake -- a big, iced chocolate cake -- and we had a quiet little dinner with our favorite small human. The next day, we invited some friends over too, so they could celebrate Max with us, which meant more cake. The photos below are from our little Kemp dinner, with Max first tentatively exploring the cake, wondering why we lit it on fire, and then soon realizing everything was fine and it wouldn't hurt a bit to smear the icing over his face and hair and neck and clothes and high chair and parents.

We'd just like to say: Happy Birthday, Max. We love you!

Photos of Christmas to follow soon.

Father's Day

Last weekend, we headed out to the beach to celebrate New Zealand Father's Day. This was an inaugural event! Not to be missed. Max had no idea what was going on, but we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and got a bagful of fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and headed to Tomahawk Beach.

Max enjoyed the beach and we enjoyed the fried chicken. Little Max is a little over 8-months-old now. He's getting mobile, crawling a little bit more every day. He's speaking more too and, last Sunday particularly, graced me with plenty of "Da-da-dad-dad," which we've convinced ourselves is his version of, "Dad."

I captured both our favorite and least favorite part of the day on video. This is Max deciding to test whether Tomahawk Beach tastes as nice as our fried chicken.

Resemblance?

Me, on the right, with my sister Deb and my twin brother Stuart, circa 1974.

Max, a few weeks ago. The poor little man looks like his dad a bit.

Perfect Day

Last Sunday was a perfect day. So were the few that preceded it. We got up when Max got us up; we went to the swimming pool nice and early as the sun came up over the harbor; and then we went to Capers, one of our favorite breakfast spots, for a proper breakfast. Perfect. And then home for a nap. I can't think of a better way of spending a Sunday. We only have another four days before we can do it all over again.

I Can See A Rainbow

A couple of mornings ago, we woke up to the strangest sky. It was as if it was lit by an artificial light -- cloudy and sunny at the same time. New Zealand skies always seem to produce some truly magnificent rainbows and not long afterward we saw a huge, complete uninterrupted rainbow stretching from one side of the valley to the other, arcing across the sky and ending somewhere over the ocean, out of our sight. Max was not as impressed as we were. He assumes, I think, that if he sees something once he'll have lots of chances to see it again. Seven-month-olds! We tried to convince him that this isn't something you get to see every day. He was interested mostly in other things. He has a toy moose with chewable ears. He's chewing on it as I type this. Rainbows are less interesting than chewable moooses. Emeline, on the other hand, had to be restrained from driving to the little white house on the other side of the hill and demanding to see the pots of gold.

Maori Week Continued: Fish and Fishing

In a previous blog entry, I told the Maori story of New Zealand and how the north and south islands were named. Here is an abridged version of the story, along with a word lesson, prepared by Te Tumu - School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies for Maori Language Week 2009 at the University of Otago:

ika = (noun) meaning fish
Pronunciation: i = as in "see"; ka = as in "cut"

hi = (verb) meaning to fish
Pronunciation: i = as in "heed"

Combined, hi ika means "to fish for fish".

Maori Language Week (July 27-31)

To all of our non-Kiwi readers: Did you know that New Zealand has 3 official languages? Besides English and Sign language, Maori is the third official language of New Zealand.

This week is Maori Language Week in New Zealand. The country takes one week out of the year to reflect upon the importance of the Maori language and reminds those living here to become familiar with Te Reo Maori, if we don't already speak it. This week, I will post some Maori words and phrases for you to learn along with us.

-o-

To be honest with you, I was completely unaware of the Maori - the native people of New Zealand and the language - when we first moved here. And I consider myself a knowledgeable person. But I never learned about New Zealand in school, except for where it is located. So since moving to New Zealand, I have been curious and amazed by the Maori language and the fact that it permeates quite a bit of every day life here in New Zealand.

If you take the time to look at a map of New Zealand, you'll notice that a few of the cities throughout the country are in Maori: Whangarei, Kaitaia, Taranaki, Moeraki, just to name a few. But most cities have both an English name and a Maori name. For example, we live in Dunedin (Maori name = Otepoti). Other examples: Wellington (the capital city) = Te Whanganui a Tara; Auckland = Tamaki Makaurau; Christchurch = Otautahi.

This week on Sunrise (our favorite television morning news program), the weatherman Josh gives us the weather on a map with the Maori city placenames. On Monday, I missed the weather in Dunedin because I forgot that its Maori name is Otepoti. I wonder if this happened to a lot of other people in Dunedin, including the locals? (ETK)