Chinese Lantern Festival

This weekend, we decided to go to the popular Chinese Lantern Festival...while Porter is still too young to stay up late to enjoy the lights, it was very enjoyable. Along with the lights, there was music and food. Next year, we hope to see this at night. :)

Dragon in the Water

Creepy Faces

Dragon Boat

Porter waving

Also, this weekend, Porter heard thunder for the first time; He had a look that made Jason and I laugh SOOOO hard. He didn't cry but he was definitely sure that this new noise wasn't a truck going by.
Slowly, Porter is learning the alphabet. He now knows A, B, C, and Y. Don't ask "why" he knows Y, but he does!
Fall is slowly approaching. We hope to get some good pictures of the fall colors.

Holiday Fun

So, the holidays came and went, a couple birthdays passed, too…and I was negligent on updating my blog. My apologies. Things are super crazy now with Porter growing up so fast and turning into such a little man!

For the holidays, we traveled back to the US. We hit Texas and South Dakota all in one trip. Counting individual flights, it took us 10 flights to get there and back within 2 ½ weeks! So in Porter’s 18 months of life on Earth, he has totaled up 17 flights so far – almost averaging one flight per month. AND, I’d like to proudly say that he was an absolute CHAMP on the flights. Everyone looked at us with fear as we walked down the plane isle (you could hear them praying for us to not be the ones to sit by them) but at the end of the flights, everyone smiled and was pleased with his great demeanor.

The first flight into Auckland, we hit some really big turbulence. I looked around and everyone was clutching their seats as I was clutching Porter. To everyone’s surprise, there was a loud shriek of “YEAY”! Porter thought we were on a fun ride and his pure joy eased the tension of the flight.

We are back in Christchurch now, missing family and friends, but happy to get back on a schedule. One of the best things that we took home with us is Porter’s new love for wrestling. We were able to attend his cousin’s (Carter) wrestling match while we were home and Porter thought this was super cool. Then, Carter showed him some wrestling moves while we were at Grandma Reker’s house. Porter has been practicing these moves and thinking he’s pretty darn cool, like his cousin!

Yesterday, Porter started his transitioning into the next older room at daycare. He spent the morning there playing in the new play area and even had lunch with the older kids. The teachers said he did wonderful!

Sorry if we didn’t get a chance to visit everyone on our excursion to the States. We are going to start planning trips to the islands in the Pacific, so if you fancy a vacation in that area, hit us up! Maybe we can all meet up in a tropical paradise one day.

Porter’s new words –

Ice cream, socks, owie, shoe (Thanks Grandma Morovitz for teaching this one), horse, heart, circle, and rain.

Porter’s new sign language –

Socks, horse, and rain

Favorite memories from the trip –

Porter asking for a cookie from Grandma Morovitz

Meeting up with the whole family at the Ramkota and going down the water slide a million times

Date night with my husband (Thanks Grandma Reker)

Spending time with my sister

And many more things that I am so grateful for!

Oh, and if anyone has any photos from our visit, please email them to me so I can show them off!

And, as always, you can click on my Instagram Link on my blog to see more photos. 

Porter and me at Sumner Beach

Sand is good!

Grandma Morovitz, Porter, Jason, and Martha

Rugby ball!

More fun and Sumner Beach

Words

Sorry it has been a while since I've posted; I've been busy at work and with home life.
A few weeks ago, we went to the Manderlay Festival in Little River. Porter really enjoyed the petting zoo!

Porter with a wee puppy

Checking out the goat

Small bunnies in hats and a big bunny chilling

Jason had a change to walk around the city and take some photos. He visited many places but one that I find most interesting are the memorial chairs. It is a tribute to the 185 people killed in the February 2011 earthquake. Another interesting memorial is the World Trade Center "art" that is near a bridge I drive over almost every day. I didn't know you could sell parts of crime scene!?!

Memorial chairs with the Cardboard Cathedral behind

WTC Firefighter memorial

185 chairs

We have also been taking Porter swimming a lot and he's loving it! The paddling pool at Hagley Park is now open and it is free...can't beat swimming for free!

Oh, and we can't forget the gardening. Lots to do in the summer!

Also, Porter's sign language and verbal skills are improving.
Sign language - More, Hot, Night Night, and Bird
Verbal - Nose (neh), Ear (eeee), Star, (tar), and Oh No (oh noooo)

Keeping Busy

It was another great weekend! We took Porter swimming for the first time and he loved it! Jason said, "it's like he's been waiting his whole life to do this". As for me, my nerves were shot; Porter kept dunking himself and I kept scooping him back up. - Sorry, no pictures of him swimming.
With the great weather, we decided to head to New Brighton and visit the library on the beach. To our surprise, there was a kite festival and live music. Absolutely gorgeous views, too.

Massive Whale Kite

Playground at New Brighton Beach

Looking for trouble!

Large Stingray Kite

Cool painting on a building at New Brighton

Porter on the run at our local park in St. Albans

Where is Porter's nose?

On Sunday, we decided to take our first trip to the Antarctic Centre. We watched them feed the little blue penguins and Porter used the "fish" sign language when he saw them swim.

The blue penguins are hard to see :-(

Roaming the halls at the Antarctic Centre

Another Penguin Nose!

His shirt should say "penguins dig me"

Imitating the big penguin

Found the Penguin's nose!

In the blizzard room!

Anything with buttons!

Happy

This week, Jason picked up a grill and smoker for us to use this summer. Looks like he's settling in just fine! 
Porter's new words - 'Apple' and 'All Done'!

Ashley Gorge

For Labour Day weekend, we decided to attempt our first family trip to Ashley Gorge. We rented a small…very small cabin for two nights and had a good time. Saturday it rained all day so we had to find ways to keep a 16 month old entertained in the cabin; finding things to do in a small space with a rambunctious toddler is quite challenging. Sunday was beautiful. We let Porter run and play on everything outside. I was constantly trying to get him to wear a hat that he refused to wear. So…I decided to smother him in sunblock. He played and played, found every puddle, and took two naps!

Monday morning, he was a bit cranky but slept for most of the way home. When we got home, he was super cranky! Jason had the good idea to look for new teeth, and YES…Porter has his canine teeth coming in on the bottom. Poor guy is having a rough time with it but will look really awesome when they come in. He’ll have his center two teeth and his canines…I think he’ll look like a troll! Hahahahaha! I’ll have to get tons of pictures.

Porter trying out the baby swings

At the top of the slide - he learned the word "up" during this time

Letting everyone at camp know he was there!

View of the Ashley River

View from our cabin

Castle Hill

I bet you can guess where we went last Saturday??? Yep, Willowbank. Not much new to report there. It was, however, our first time going so late in the day and all the animals were sleeping.

Porter chasing chickens

Hello, Mr. Duck

Maori Hut

Shooing the Kea away!

Kunekune pigs

On Sunday, we ventured out over Porter’s Pass. On the way, we passed Porter’s ski area and got a picture of the entrance. We weren’t looking for anything in particular; it was just a trip to get out of the city. But, to our surprise, we found Castle Hill. This was such a cool place filled with funky limestone boulders. In 2002, it was named the Spiritual Center of the Universe by the Dalai Lama. This area was even part of some scenes of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Porter got out of his buggy and hiked around; this was his first time “hiking” on uneven landscape. He was a bit unsure of himself at first but then gained confidence and made sure we saw all the flowers. Every once in a while, he would pluck a flower from the ground and say, “uh oh”!

Arch in the limestone

Castle Hill Boulders

The Arch from the other side

Porter at Castle Hill

Porter's Ski Area

Entrance to Porter's