The Young and the Restless

Hashtag hometown tourists

Of course I had to show Jessica around some of our favorite local haunts. I really loved being selfish and having her all to myself while the kids were in school and Jason was at work. We had some good talks on our long drives and I enjoyed getting caught up on her life. And thanks to her I am now all up to date on the latest trends of rompers and succulent flower arrangements.  We enjoyed meandering our way through the snow capped mountains to Akaroa one day. That drive just never gets old. Once we got there we had the charming little village all to ourselves and it was so peaceful strolling along the board walk in the sun and enjoying a delicious lunch on a park bench over looking the ocean. It all came to an end too quickly when we had to head back to reality and pick the kids up from school, but we enjoyed every quiet minute while it lasted.

Taylor's mistake is my favorite local hot spot. Thirty minutes out of town and an entire world away. I mean, this place is my kind of jam.

Ryder made for a good little tour guide. He's kind of a fun one to have around, as long as the suckers are flowing freely he's as happy as a lark.

Our last day trip was a grandiose tour of Christchurch. But before we get to that, let's talk about the weather. Because that's always a fun topic. The day after they got back from Milford, Mother Nature put on an impressive display of talent. Sun, rain, snow, sun, hail, all within like an hours time. Showoff. But then we had straight up sun for the entire rest of the week and weekend. We're talking 7 straight days, which just may be a new record. It was so kind of Jessica to bring along a little piece of the sunshine state with her. The forecast for this day was sun and then a storm rolling in around 2:00. When we headed out around noon there was not a cloud in the sky and it was so hard to believe that the skies would be black in a matter of hours. But just like clock work as we stood at a street corner right around 2:00 talking about how impressively hot it was, a nasty wind came out of nowhere as Ryder sat in his stroller crying with his hands flailing in front of his face trying to block the onslaught of leaves and debris pelting his face. Jessica covered him with her jacket and we finally stumbled our way back to the car with sticks stuck in our hair and dirt stuck in our teeth. It was not a pretty sight. But before that we quite enjoyed ourselves at Hagley park and the downtown district.

I told you, this boy has eyes only for shorts. And especially these cut offs.

There is still so much destruction and devastation from the earthquake, but they are doing a good job brightening it up with art installments and filling empty lots with disco balls and dance floors that play music out of washing machines and night clubs held under white plastic tents, you know, just average stuff like that.

And here's Mister Roger's neighborhood, just in case you were wondering.

Totally worth a lifesaver bribe for this shot

The container malls, which I thought were kind of a cool and innovative idea until Jessica showed me pictures of the the container mall in Vegas. Leave it to Vegas to do everything bigger and better.

This is a memorial from the CTV building where over a hundred people died when it collapsed. Each of the chairs represents someone who died and the white infant car seat gets me every time.

So that's it for our day trips before heading out on another weekend adventure. I really loved the excuse to take a break from the daily grind and enjoyed showing Jessica around. I've gone through my repertoire of 80's slang and have landed on the perfect adjective for her, she is one fly chick.