Kevin and I just got back from two weeks in New Zealand. It was AMAZING and we had so much fun. We did so much it will be hard to summarize it but I want to include it in my book so I'm going to split it up by the areas we visited. First up, Bay of Islands. This was on the northern part of the North Island and was the most tropical area we visited. It was right on the ocean and has a group of about 140 small islands in the area. We stayed in a little coastal town called Paihia. 
There were several historical areas in this little town, including sites where Christian missionaries first landed and integrated with the Maori people. Below is a Huge tree we saw there, see Kevin underneath? 
We went sailing out to an island the second day we were there. Neither of us had ever been on a sailboat and I thought it would be fun. We were on the boat with about 6 other people, several from the UK, Australia, and a German. I rarely met any Americans the whole time we were in New Zealand, it was rare to hear anyone that talked like me! 
We had a pretty leisurely sail out to a little island where we stopped at an island for lunch, hiking, and to kayak. Glen, our captain, had to boat us over to the island in his "dinghy" as he called it. It was rather tiny and I was amazed we didn't fall in the water. 
We hiked to the top of the Island where we found this amazing view. Apparently most of these Islands are protected land by the government in New Zealand and are considered nature preserves. Some of them have homes on them that people have to helicopter in to to reach. Can you imagine?? 
We also went Kayking a little but it was so windy it was hard to get to far in the bay as we kept blowing back towards shore.
The sailing on the way back to Paihia was quite a different experience from the way there. It was so windy we sailed the whole way back on the side. Apparently this is how most sail boats go but I had no idea. All I know is we were tipped so far over my feet were dragging in the water and everyone had to be on one side of the boat so we wouldn't end up in the water. Our captain let the German tourist take the steer for a while at this point while he did the lunch dishes . I did not think this was the greatest idea as we were sailing sideways. 
Anyway, it was quite an adventure. I'm glad I did it once, not sure if I would want to do it again. We were able to see the Island that Captain Cook first landed when he came to the North Island in New Zealand. 
There were several hiking trails in this area and waterfalls. Unlike America where there are rails keeping you from falling to such falls, there are none of those in NZ. We could get very close to the water. 
I was amazed by all the lemon and orange trees that were growing everywhere and the huge palm trees. They were beautiful. 
When Lucy wakes up from her naps in the afternoon, she loves to come lay down on my bed while she is still waking up and talk to me. She has recently started singing the ABC's song and just this week started saying a short prayer by herself before bed. Its very sweet and almost intelligible, but kevin and I can understand her pretty well. Her hair is always is some crazy form when she wakes up. This morning she dumped a bottle of tylenol all over the kitchen (she got the lid off, it was loose) and then tracked it all over. She was very very sticky but she smelled great, very grapey.
And below is a picture of Lucy being cute. She is going through this "very naughty I am 2 and terrible stage " and will scream for everything at me until figure out when she wants. But then other times she is so sweet it almost makes up for her craziness. 
I had a race yesterday down on the Snake River by Pullman. It was a half-marathon and the weather was perfect. The course was out and back on a road along the river. It was gorgeous, the only downside was that there was no spectators because the road was closed for the race. Kevin and the kids occupied themselves throwing rocks in the river and Isak found some 12 year old girls to talk to about the dead fish he found along a dock. They had a lot of fun while I was suffering. I had a new PR though! I was hoping for 1:45, ran 1:46, but as long as it was under 1:50 I was happy. I found this sweet Nike app for my phone that let me hear my mile splits and have "power songs" when I needed them. I could have also had people cheer for me on facebook and then hear cheers while I was running, but alas, there was no service near the river. 
The poor kiddos crashed on the way home. I think they were more tired than I was. We had someone ask us if Isak and Lucy were twins. He told us he had boy/girl fraternal twins that didn't look as much alike as Isak and Lucy did. Funny, first time we have gotten that. Lucy keeps getting so tall, hopefully Isak can keep ahead of her or he might not love that so much when he's older.
Kevin's sister Lindsey and her husband popped in to so it was like a mini family reunion, minus Jason and Whitney. We had tons of fun, staying up late playing Kinnect, having a huge nerf gun fight and even got in a little shopping.
By far the kids favorite part of their house was GusGus the hamster, who was recently acquired by Nathan and Steph. Lucy was so excited, I thought she would hyperventilate. She would just stare at him in the cage and then we let him out to run in the ball and she just kept saying "hi gusgus, hi gusgus" over and over. Poor Skeletor, the other hamster, didn't get nearly as much attention. Probably because he's a biter. Isak thought he was cool but wasn't too sure about holding him. Apparently Conner likes to try to give him rides in his little push cart.
We got Conner his very own automatic nerf gun for his birthday, a rite of passage for every 2 year old boy.
We had lots of fun and loved visitng everyone. Did I mention Stephanie is 8 months pregnant too and super cute? She is. Sorry that I didn't get pictures of my trip to Boise, I promise I love my family there equally too. I love that even though we moved away, we are still close enough to visit once in a while!
Lucy was very excited about her cake and even more excited that people were singing to her. I uploaded a video above of her blowing out her candles. She made us sing to her twice.
Being the frugal mother I am, I regifted this shopping cart from her aunt and uncle from christmas and gave it to her birthday along with some baby doll accessories I bought a year ago at walmart during their huge clearance sale.
She really loved her birthday and had a great time, I must say, she thoroughly enjoyed each of her presents.