January 2007
So in the Fall of 2006 Dave and I became housemates. And even though we'd been friends for three years, we got to know each other a lot better as we shared a house. Sometime during that Fall, Dave mentioned that he really wanted to go to New Zealand. I jokingly said, "Take me with you!" because I love to travel.Later that Fall, we recognized that our relationship had changed and we started dating. In June 2007 Dave graduated with his Master's degree and wanted to celebrate by traveling somewhere. I couldn't go to New Zealand at that point but I encouraged him to go anyway. He said he'd rather travel with me and so we spent three weeks in Europe that July. (You can read about it at the very beginning of our blog!)
August 2007
In June 2008 we got married and, although we considered going to New Zealand for our honeymoon, Dave had a potential conference in England right after our wedding. He didn't find out for sure that he wasn't going to the conference until six weeks before our wedding, by which point we had already decided to spend our honeymoon in Ireland and Scotland.In May 2010 we went to Vienna with Sam and Tim, Janice, Tessa and Willem. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and Dave and I decided that we would put New Zealand on hold, yet again, to be able to do it. (You can read about that trip in the June 2010 archives.) After we decided to go to Vienna, I promised Dave that "We WILL get to New Zealand. I'll take you after you graduate with your PhD." Except that when Dave finished last summer, Rachel was one and I wasn't willing to take her with us, or to leave her behind.
October 2007
So why am I telling you all this? And scattering random, old, pictures of Dave and I throughout this post? Because my friends, from April 2 to 17, 2014, Dave and I (along with Donny and Marika) will be TRAVELING IN NEW ZEALAND!!! We don't have a solid itinerary yet, but I do know what's it's not including -- Sam and Rachel. My parents have generously agreed to come here and take care of them while we travel. I'm half excited to be traveling without our kids and half anxious about leaving them for that long. Although I know they are going to LOVE their Oma and Opa time.
Our itinerary will probably include some gardens, a glow worm cave, Hobbiton (from the Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit movies), some road tripping, and some beach time.
I can't wait!
That's awesome! My husband would die of jealousy. He had asked his parents to send him there as a college graduation gift once upon a time, but when the time came, he was ready to propose to yours truly and he opted for a check instead to help buy me a ring... I hadn't thought about that in quite awhile, so thanks for helping me remember how great my husband is and always has been :)
ReplyDeleteWOOOO!!!! That is SO exciting!! I was hoping and hoping that was the 'punchline' of this blog!!! OMG! And April is so soon!! How extremely ridiculously awesome is that!!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome!! A tiny bit jealous, but mostly very excited to travel vicariously through your blog!!
ReplyDeleteI love this! You already know how jealous I am of all your travels, but seriously, Hobbitsville!!! Amazing! I cannot wait to see the pics. I am planning a month long trip to Europe to see it all (well as much as we can). I have seriously priced the plane tickets, hotels, euro rail passes, etc. So maybe in 7 years we'll have our dream trip. Just gotta save up about $20K to do it. We plan to take the kids...no other alternatives. You give me hope! :-)
ReplyDeleteI've been lurking for awhile (found you through Kelly's blog and was shocked to find someone from KW - where I was born and raised. My parents still live in Waterloo but I'm currently in Kingston for school), but if anything can get me to speak up, it's New Zealand!
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to spend 6 weeks there in Jan-Feb of last year, 4 of which were spent living out of a campervan driving from the tip of the north to the bottom of the south island. I'm more than willing to offer any tips of what I thought was worth seeing and what wasn't!
(you just might motivate me to go back and blog about my trip, I started and never finished!)
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! What a great dream come true! You should get a patience award for this one! I love it so much. I've had friends who traveled there - gorgeous place!! Can't wait to see pics!
ReplyDeleteIt has taken A LOT of patience (and another five months of it still to go!) and I CAN'T WAIT to share pictures and stories of our adventures!!! Thanks for being excited with me (us!)!
DeleteHow exciting!!! I'm so happy for ya'll!!! Can't wait to see all of your pictures!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, that is a lot to look forward to! I love that first picture! : )
ReplyDeleteDave and Natasha,
ReplyDeleteThat's so great! I was there for over four years and it was glorious - you won't regret one second of it :)
Have a great time, and let me know and I'd happily send you contacts and/or ideas.
Teresa.
How awesome that you're finally getting to take your trip! I have to admit I'm a bit jealous though, since I'd love to visit New Zealand someday!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm loving your new blog design!