It’s been a while since my last post… And I haven’t even finished the Wellington trip. I’ll try to keep up with the latest but so far, in summary:

1. We’re expecting a baby boy this October 2009.
2. My wife and I went to Rotorua to take some time off.
3. Baby shower.
4. Start of new basketball tournament with new teammates.
5. Friends coming over.
6. Imax 3D.
7. New ISP.
8. Facebook.
9. Coldest winter and warmest August.
10. New digital camera.
11. Gardening.
12. Etc.

Be sure to check back again. I’ll post some photos too and I’ll try to link this site to my FB account.

The third day of the trip was a whole day tour all over Wellington. We started off going through the library and art museum (sorry I forgot what the place is called) then rode the Tram to check out the Botanical garden…

…  and some cool Wellington views.

We then made our way to the parliament buildings. Lucky us, we are an hour or two ahead of the last tour schedule. So we got some lunch and took some photos at one of the most popular buildings in New Zealand - the Beehive.

Since we missed Te Papa the day before, we made sure that we checked it out before heading back to our rooms. One of the main features was the giant squid caught and studied a few years back. It was huge! Can’t imagine how many it will feed if you make it a stuffed squid.

And a view of New Zealand…

It was a tiring experience but nonetheless worth it! We have conquered Wellington and had a good quiet rest to prepare for Napier.

To be continued…

Driving around Palmserston North, we reached the world renowned Massey University. There’s not much people around, obviously, so we took the opportunity to drive around the campus and take some photos.

A bit north of Palmerston North, we headed for the wind turbine farms. A wonderful site plus a wonderful weather equals magic. Smile!

We had a quick stop-over at Otaki before heading on to Wellington. We dropped our stuff in the backpacker building and started strolling around. Photo below was taken in front of Te Papa, one of the best museums in New Zealand. It was already closed so we had to reschedule the visit the next day.

In the evening we had a quick dinner and another stroll which brought us to Reading Cinema. Guess what was the most popular film that night? Clue: same as the clue in my January 17, 2009 post. The story was good but the movie was even better than the book itself based on several feedbacks I heard.

To be continued…

This was our first day (December 25, 2008) of our holiday tour last Christmas 2008. We’re on our way to Wellington but will stop over for a rest at Palmerston North. First stop for late breakfast was at Hamilton, specifically the Botanic Garden. Photo of Jen and Lec with the awesome wood carving at the background.

Along the way, we had a quick stop on the road side to capture the beautiful view of Mt. Ruapehu.

Second to the last stop is at Wanganui where we had our late lunch at a park beside the famous Wanganui river. City center was basically like a ghost town - well what do you expect on Christmas day? People are probably still asleep or like us, out on the road for a long holiday trip. Photo taken along Victoria Avenue and you can hear a pin drop!

We ended the day in Palmerston North. Slept over at a friend’s friend’s house - thank you for being so nice hosts!

To be continued…

Every year Auckland celebrates the end of Chinese New Year with the Lantern Festival. We went to Albert Park in Auckland City to check it out last night. As usual, there’s no parking nearby so we have to settle for paid parking farther south of the venue. The festival was interesting. Obviously, there were a lot of lanterns all over the park and  lot of people…! Can’t really get a good pose in front of the lanterns with all the peoply trying to get a good shot too, but my photo above is one of the lucky shots we got.

On our way back to the parking lot, the view of the Skycity Tower is just too good to pass for a photo. Jen is wearing the hat we bought in the festival. Kong Hei Fat Choi!

We visited the town of Puhoi last year. It was an hour or two drive from Auckland. The town was very simple and interesting at the same time. You can imagine how small the community is after you see their church, museum and town library but the town’s history is very rich. We strolled around, had late lunch and went home. A good day trip overall!

Guess what my wife got for Christmas? Hint: it’s a book series with the first book showing hands holding a red apple. Well, it wasn’t a surprise anymore when she took a peek while I was working in Christchurch. As of writing this post, she just finished the first book and in her opinion, Harry Potter was still more interesting. Hmmm… No offense to the fans.

Just testing out our the new webcam we bought mid last year (2008) - Microsoft Lifecam NX-6000. It’s a good webcam but doesn’t clamp well on my laptop. Got a lot of features some of which can only be used with Microsoft’s messenger service. Bought it as a bargain - store discount plus Microsoft rebate. Got two and sold the other one to recuperate the overall cost. Brilliant!

Welcome to our home. It’s a two-bedroom residential unit located in one of the safest and friendliest neighborhood in East Auckland. We bought the house last August 2008 for <secret> and feels like we’ve been living here like years now. We can literally leave stuff outside the house and no one will take it, not unless you put it on the sidewalk which really means you’re giving it away. Although it’s a bit farther out to our workplace compared to the last rental unit we lived in, what attracted us most is the location and the location - near shops, good neighborhood, surrounded by popular schools… Need I say more? Feel free to visit us, just let me know in advance so we can do some cleanup first hehe.

We tied the knot last August 8, 2008. Maybe you’re wondering why we joined the 080808 bandwagon? Actually, August 8 is a very special date for us. We became partners August 8, 2000 and have been celebrating it every month and year ever since. Looking ahead, we decided to get married on the same date and then everything just fell into place - August 8, 2008 (080808) and it’s our eight year anniversary too. A lot of 8’s, purely coincidence…

I believe thousands of couples tied the knot that same day. I remember trying to book one of the council’s office which hosts civil weddings / unions to no avail. All offices nationwide were fully booked for that date months prior. So we decided to just celebrate it in our previous unit in East Tamaki. We invited two of our closest friends and a Filipino wedding celebrant. It was a simple celebration on a very special day.

080808 will only happen once in our lifetime - a symbol and reminder to us of our promise to be together for the rest of our lives.