Baby Youngs

Baby Youngs is on her way...we celebrated her anticipated arrival and pampered her and her mommy, Megan (Corey's sister, my sister-in-law), with a fabulous Baby Shower thrown by aunts Sue and Connie.

We wish Megan, Jon, and little Jon all the best as they prepare for the new addition to their family.....Samantha Jean.

Corey and I will make our way back to Minnesota once we're back from New Zealand to fulfill our duties as godparents. We look forward to playing an active role as Samantha grows, achieves milestones, and develops her faith.

To see pictures of the shower: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1CZt3LVwyYvjA

Good friends are hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget.

During our trip back to Minnesota this fall we made our way down to Mankato to visit many friends, of which included the members of the BMFC. The BMFC (Barry Manilow Fan Club) started back when Corey and I lived in Mankato, MN. Really, the name of the group has nothing to do with what we do as a group at all. It just so happens that on our first outing (planned by Leo) we had a strange conversation about the nose of one such Barry Manilow...and when we decided to continue getting together one of the members jokingly came up with the acronym and it stuck. Thus the BMFC started as a group of a friends gathering once a month on outings planned secretively by one member of the club. The outing usually included an event for the day and a meal. We've had some good times at dinners in the Twin Cities, a baseball game, ice skating, and just hanging out wherever.

Over the years we have had many exciting life changes....new jobs, moving to a new city, new houses, kids, adventures, but during this time we have remained good friends. It was great to see everyone! Miss you guys.

Here's a link to some of the pictures I took:


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1CZt3LVwyYvYg

ANZ Bank

Another step in getting established in NZ, we set up banking yesterday. if feels a bit odd going outside of Wells Fargo, but I suppose as their closest branch is in San Diego, CA, we'd better try elsewhere.

ANZ (Aussie and NZ Banking Group) is the Fourth largest bank in Australia and the largest in New Zealand. They're headquartered in Melbourne and have branches in virtually every town over 5,000 on the North and South Islands. It appears that banks operate similarly in perspective to US banks, with a high relience on debit cards (EFTPOS cards in NZ) and a wide network of ATMs.

As a bonus, the US Dollar is on a rebound and yesterday passed 150% the value of the Kiwi! (That's a 30 cent swing since our visit in March!) For an interesting graph, check out Google Finance: USDNZD.

Booked on the Milford Track!

We are booked for one of the Great Walks of New Zealand...the Milford Track. Unfortunately since we are booking so late, all start dates for this track were booked for the December - February season. So we've changed plans and are heading down to the south island a little earlier than previously planned.

The Milford Track is the best-known track in NZ (and the most expensive! and the hardest to book if you don't book early!), with rainforests, alpine meadows, and waterfalls. It's located in the Fiordland National Park and it will take 4 days to hike the 53.5 km ("that's 33.2 miles for you Americans"), starting November 29th.

YAY!!! I can't wait. This is one of the tramps that I didn't want to miss. Thanks to Corey for being flexible with our travel plans.

To learn more about the Milford Track: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Sound

Camping in Puget Sound

On last weekend we decided to to make the long weekend into a long camping trip. Friday found us staying over at Melbourne Lake, a truly beautiful spot but some very loud neighbors.

On Saturday morning we moved further north to Seal Rock, a 40 site camp right on Hood Canal near Brinnon, WA. That's where we took these pictures. While paddling we saw these starfish, some spiny crabs, and plenty of seals. In fact, our lunch spot must have been the seals high tide hideout. They swam around us until we got out of their way and could finally come ashore.

On Sunday we traveled a bit further yet and spent the day in Port Townsend, a city that reminded us of Astoria in several ways. While we found that the paddling wasn't as scenic there, we did enjoy the good weather and a nice picnic in a community park overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

On Monday we were happy to make the trip home to enjoy a nice warm shower!

Breaking news! Yin Jumps in Box!

This just in ... Yin, in some amazing desire to investigate every nook in cranny, jumped into a standard cardboard box. CK and JT we're stunned at the development, stating, "I never thought we'd get her out. That little Pungalo." Yin, a native of Nicollet, Minnesota and family pet for 6 years simply stated, "purrrrr". We'll keep you abreast of any new developments in this truly amazing revelation.

New Blog Layout

I decided to try a new blog template today since I wasn't happy with the "old paper" look and feel. Still not ecstatic about this template, but it's a fresh change. I have yet to find something or create something that I really like. But we're new to the blogging endeavor...so this is just the start.