Sunday, July 21, 2013

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Tree hugger


I have a confession.  I think I'm obsessed with trees.  Not in the nerdy I-want-to-learn-everything-about-them way, but in the just slightly less nerdy I-want-to-be-the-Swiss-Family-Robinson way. I blame my favorite childhood summer where my best friend and I spent almost everyday up in her tree eating Now and Later candies from her food storage (which now that I think about it, is a pretty genious addition to any food storage) and debating important issues like how to correctly tie LA Gears and trying to memorize every song from The Litte Mermaid soundtrack. And my fate was sealed when we moved to Georgia and my dad and brothers built a zip line, rope bridge and swing in our backyard.  We spent many thrilling summer days under the canopy of those big oak leaves. I waited and waited until the Sissoo tree in our Arizona yard was of decent climbing height and then I drug out Kylie and the step stool and insisted that she would love climbing trees as I hoisted her up.  She didn't get it. She scratched her leg on a branch and begged to get down. I'm hoping now I might just change her opinion.  So we got invited to our first playdate with a few other 'mums' in the ward.  And they liked us enough that one of them even asked us out on a second date.  We went to Hagley Park (it's like Central Park in downtown Christchurch) and I was awestruck.  I tried to play it off cool, like yeah, we tots have trees like this in the desert, no need to be jelly. But I already have plans to come back in the summer and plop down a big picnic blanket and get showered in cherry blossom while the kids just knock themselves out.  It was so good to see them running around with friends again.  And can I just tell you that Jayden's little freckle faced friend with his front teeth missing and his adorable accent is just to die for. I can never get tired of listening to any of them talk, "Jiyemee, may I please push your pram (stroller)?"  It's also so good for me to have a friend. Julie. She homeschools her kids. And I'm counting down the days until mine go back.  She eats only organic whole foods, like we're talking milk straight up from the farm with the cream still on it. And I make sure to maintain a well balanced diet of highly processed food.  She rocks the natural beauty. And I think going grocery shopping calls for smokey eyes.  We are so different, but there is so much I can learn from her and when she showed up on my door step with the best brownies ever, I knew I had found my girl. {As a side note, her cute little girl very politely told me that Ryder was quite noisy at church.  The ward is so tiny and so quiet that you can hear a pin drop and we're used to 200 other babies drowning out his noise. I came prepared this week with the safest options possible, books and flannel board stories. Or so I thought.. He immediately picked up "No David" and kept turning to the naked bum picture then displayed it to everyone as he laughed so loud saying "hi bum bum! Bye bum bum!" I quickly swapped that out for the flannel frogs. The problem is that-and Jason blames this on the fact that he's Chinese-he can't say his "r's" so he says the f-word every time he says frog.  He kept yelling it over and over because he was so excited to see a frog.  Everyone kept turning around and Kylie wanted to dig a hole and die.  It also didn't help that Maddox burned his middle finger on the fireplace before church and pretty much flipped off the entire congregation as he kept showing it to me.  Our cover has been officially blown. I knew we couldn't pull off 'normal' for too long.  Well, atleast I'll no longer be in the running for primary president.}







We walked over to the downtown area and I couldn't believe how much destruction and devastation still remained from the earthquakes that happened almost 3 years ago.  It's heart breaking hearing some of the stories.  This is the famous cathedral.  Julie told me how there was a huge tower with a spiral staircase that you could walk up and see the whole city and now it's gone.  So much history wiped out in a matter of minutes.


Everywhere you look there is construction going on, but they have done their best to lighten the mood with bright colors and artwork all over.


This was pretty cool, the Container Mall, where they turned shipping containers into stores to house those that were demolished in the earthquake.  I think life is finally starting to breathe into downtown again, but I wish I would have had a chance to see "the Garden City" before all of the destruction.  It was such a great day, and now I'm off in search of the perfect picnic blanket.  Maddox requested a red and white checkered one.






6 comments:

Jodee said...

Oh you know how I love this post ;) tree hugging, friends, and that lulu lemon store is to die for! Get your cute little booty in there and grab some gear for me will ya? ;)

Chelsea said...

oh good. brownies, new friends, and do I spy a local wearing a t shirt and shorts? must be getting warm!

Marcee Foster said...

Bwahaha! Oh to have been a fly on the wall in that sacrament meeting! I would've been giggle-plagued for sure! 😂 Julie sounds like an angel! I'm lovin' anyone who shows up with brownies. The town is gorgeous- even with the construction. When are we coming to visit you again??

Janessa said...

Of course Maddox has the perfect picnic blanket picked out in his head already. Isn't it great to know that you're on the verge of a long and glorious picnic season?! I'm dying at your church stories. I'm sure the ward loves having you guys there. Sacrament meeting just got a lot more entertaining! I love the little friends your kids are making. And all these new words are killing me - pram, mums, tots (what's that one?) and what does it mean to be jelly? So fun! I'm in love with the trees too and I'm not even there to shove my kids up in them and take awesome pictures of them. Glad you're loving your new life! Oh, and tell Julie I love her:)

ERIN said...

Oh my gosh I have the same nerd love for trees! Every time I leave Arizona I marvel at the trees. When we were in Hawaii and they had trees bigger around than my house with like 5 trunks intertwined, I was speechless!! I always wanted to be Swiss family Robinson. Now I just want to do it in Hawaii or New Zealand! Those trees are spectacular!! I show Ethan all your tree pics. He needs a tree house in the worst way:)

ERIN said...

Oh my gosh I have the same nerd love for trees! Every time I leave Arizona I marvel at the trees. When we were in Hawaii and they had trees bigger around than my house with like 5 trunks intertwined, I was speechless!! I always wanted to be Swiss family Robinson. Now I just want to do it in Hawaii or New Zealand! Those trees are spectacular!! I show Ethan all your tree pics. He needs a tree house in the worst way:)