After visiting Becci and Mike in Utah we went to Golden, Colorado, to visit an old colleague of Marlène's. From there we went to visit Rik and Ginger in Santa Fe. Santa Fe has to be one of our favourite cities in the whole world. We got to eat a lot of great New Mexican food and had a chance to do some hiking and sight-seeing in the area. It was really great getting to know Rik and Ginger better, their really kindred spirits.
After Santa Fe we went down to Dallas to visit Thomas and Susan and the kids. It was a good time for firsts: first time seeing Stockton, first time seeing Whitney and Brad and their kids, and first time meeting Paige. We also ate a ton of delicious Mexican and Texan food. Plus we went to see the JFK museum in downtown dallas. Joel and Thomas got a chance to really nerd-out with their camera stuff, so now they have even more to email each other about everyday!
After Dallas we made our last stop of the trip: Hobbs. I finally got to see Hobbs. While not a favourite city, it was really neat to see all the places that were part of Joel's childhood. We got to eat at all his favourite places and smoked a brisket in the back yard one day. The weather was really delightful: mid to high 20's while the rest of North America was being dumped with snow. I also finally got to meet Sadie, Joel's dog. She's so cute and fuzzy, and she slept with us in our room most of the trip. Wish we could have taken her down here with us. We also made two trips out to the Guadelupe mountains and hiked Guadelupe Peak and McKittrick Canyon. Both hikes were really beautiful and it was great to get our hearts pumping a little! And it wouldn't be a trip to Hobbs without a Texas Tech football game! TT won, by a long shot, so everyone was quite pleased. Towards the end of our trip we had a huge Peters' Thanksgiving at Pete and Helen's house. We were 37, just about everyone from the family was there. It was great seeing everyone together and I think I've just about met the whole Peters clan now. Finally, heading home we stopped off in Santa Fe to see Rik and Ginger one last time and eat at Harry's Roadhouse (yum!). Then we took off from Albuquerque to start our new adventure in Christchurch!
Once we got to Christchurch Marlène started working that very day, and we had a little bit of time to get things in order before settling the purchase of our new house! We took possession on December 7, and moved in on December 10th. The entire house is wallpapered but we managed to pull it down in the kitchen, lounge and laundry room and getting the walls painted before the furniture arrived. Now we have to work on the rest of the house a little bit at a time. We really love our house and our neighbourhood and Marlène is very much enjoying her new job. Our garden is very full of flowers, which gives Joel no end in subjects to take pictures of.
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We have managed to get a little bit of rock climbing done out at Castle Hill. The first time we went we had no sunscreen and Marlène got a really really bad sunburn. Tsk tsk. Needless to say, we went out and bought sunscreen the very next day and it now sits on our bathroom counter, ready to use whenever we go outside. We haven't done too much going out on the town since most of our efforts have been towards getting the house settled, but it's worth it because it's really starting to feel like home. One of the greatest parts is having all of our belongings back after 1.5 years. It's especially nice having the espresso machine again...
Christmas is a little different this year since it's summer, but we've managed to pull together some of our favourite traditions from home, while still keeping with the summer theme. Marlène did some baking: Linzer torte, espresso cookies, hello dollies, caramel corn and cheese tartlets. Joel also surprised her with a new electric skillet and a batch of her mom's doughnut dough ready to make! We spent Christmas eve making doughnuts and since there are only two of us, it's going to end up being a year's supply of doughnuts!
For Christmas eve dinner we stuck with Peters tradition: hotdogs (on the BBQ!) with homemade buns, cheese ball, vegies and dip, chips and queso, pineapple salsa and guacamole. To that we added cheese tartlets and Mexican relish. We matched it with a nice riesling and it was a splendid, and filling meal! We finished it off with croquignoles (the cut ends of the doughnut dough, Martin tradition) and some scotch for Joel.
Today is Christmas day and Joel is busy making cinnamon rolls, with we will have for breakfast along with doughnuts, baked treats, Roger's egg nog, and some bubbly wine. For dinner we are making chicken drumsticks on the BBQ, ceviche, cheesy potatoes and a repeat of the accompaniments from yesterday. We'll finish that off with linzer torte, and maybe some doughnuts! The weather today is lovely, low twenties, sunny, no wind. The birds are singing and the bees are buzzing and I think we'll spend a good chunk of the day outside. I must say, I like this idea of combining summer and Christmas!
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