Lately

We have had a fun weekend even though it's been so windy. We had Liam for the day on Friday and we attempted going to the park, but when you are with the Acklands you always end up at the beach! We played and ran and rolled in the sand. And then found out Liam hates the beach. Ha! He was so cute and had so much fun! You wouldn't have known he usually screams when he's been taken to the beach before.

Sam had a final on Saturday and then his last one Monday. Woo hoo!!! Sunday he took a break from
studying to watch the All Blacks play. It was an afternoon game so Max was able to watch it too. We love Rugby.

Sam finished his last exam and has been slowly recovering the last couple of days. He is wiped out, but I am so proud of him finishing his first semester and learning so much. I sometimes find myself jealous of his learning and test taking (I'm so nerdy I loved finals week!) but then as I sit on the couch enjoying Grey's Anatomy I'm perfectly content for now not having homework.


Watching Sam being willing to go after what he wants inspires me. There is so much risk and hard work involved, plus a whole lot of undoing some things learned that weren't true about his mind and ability. He's brave. He's not okay with the status quo. He's driven. I would have never been able in my wildest dreams to come up with this scenario and adventure for my married life, but it actually doesn't surprise me. The location. Med school. Stay at home mom in a different culture. That surprises me, but the big picture of who we are and where we are going makes total sense.

Sam has three weeks off to recover and tie up some loose ends. We value vacations greatly in our family, but because of a weird car thing we can't travel too far so we will be creative this break and hope for good weather (or to win a Fiji vacation contest I entered this week. Dreaming of island life!)


Oh and I was able to meet up with a new friend from Canada I am really enjoying being friends with here. We complained about the price of groceries and clothes. Ate chocolate. Talked about having busy husband and what we wanted to do for work while having kids at home and trying to figure out what we are qualified to go in NZ. It was refreshing. Easy. Fun getting dressed up to go out all on my own!

Lately life has just hummed along here in NZ. We are still waiting for summer. We hate winter! We are still loving being close to a beach (but definitely miss Mount life where we walked & never got in a car!!) And we are still cracking up at our silly boy who has now added his Woddy doll to his night time regime after watching Toy Story with Sam yesterday. His reward after trying on clothes with me all morning (which he actually loves. Ha! He walks around the store grabbing things saying, "Mac?" and holding it up to him. He can't quite get the "x" sound so it's so cute to hear him say his name.)

Lately we have just been enjoying life in this moment!