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Alaska!
Who knew? Our cruise to Alaska surpassed all expectations. We have created both a book and a slideshow of the week-long excursion - click on 'full screen' at the bottom (make sure you are at the...
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Happy Halloween (and a nod to South Africa)
Well, another halloween, and this one even more exciting than the last; as Jeremy comes to understand each holiday better, so increases his enjoyment of it. Jeremy dressed as "the dark Spiderman" (aka...
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Photo Book
Click here to view this photo book largerThe new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.
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Fighting for Civil Unions in Colorado
As most of you know, we have been lending our image and time of late to help with the fight for basic equal rights in Colorado. Speaking at the rally, testifying in the State House, and all the...
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Blogging for LGBT families day: A typical morning
“Mommy time!!” I am jolted awake as a 47 lb missile hurls at our bed, all legs and arms. I smile and roll over, closing my eyes. Because, although I am a parent with a pair of X chromosomes and...
View ArticleOff to New Zealand!
In three hours, we leave our home for a new adventure: four months in New Zealand, with our base on the South Island. I have been checking items off our our extensive to do list for the past three days...
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44 Hours En Route
Denver to LA, LA to Brisbane, Australia, and Brisbane to Dunedin, New Zealand. Whew! My first sketch of the trip, of Denver International, as viewed from our gate in Terminal A:We had nearly a full day...
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Who Knew?
Fran bounded like Tigger onto the bed this morning as Jeremy and I snuggled, still bleary-eyed and jet lagged. "Let's get going already! I've been up for hours! There's a visitor center we can walk...
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A School Miracle?
What if, as a kid, you didn't have to go to elementary school? What would you gain? What would you miss? What if it was in another country?As many of you know, immigration told us to get a "visitor"...
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Five Stages
From three bathrooms to one. Walking anywhere involves steps- lots of steps. Hauling firewood. Driving on the left side. No friends. So much adjustment.When I was a Fulbright scholar in Israel, we had...
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Letting Beauty Do The Work
Turns out, all I needed was a few days in nature. While Fran has her ocean, my heart responds to forest (or as they say here "far-est"). And what incredible forests they have! As one student said to...
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The "Best Day"
Fran with stuffed albatross at the Otago MuseumHow can it be that every day we are doing so much, and yet it feels like we are hardly making a dent in the list of things we want to do?Yesterday Jeremy...
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First Impressions of Kiwis
In response to a request from a reader, what follows is my top five observations about New Zealanders (called Kiwis). Given that we haven't been here even a month yet, these are really just first...
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Waterfalls, Bikes and Olympians
After careful consideration of the weather this week, we decided to take advantage of a sunny forecast and drove 3.5 hrs to the resort town of Wanaka. It's the local’s alternative to Queenstown, but it...
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Puzzling over differences
As an American now temporarily living in New Zealand, I have been marveling over the adjustments we have made, and the experience of culture shock generally.Jeremy fears for his life in a trompe l'oeil...
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The Catlins and Waterfalls
Last week was an overnight in the southernmost part of the country, an area called The Catlins. By this point, we had made the guidebook “NZ Frenzy” (pronounced En-Zed Frenzy, by the way) our bible and...
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Magical Moeraki
So far, I have been showing you photos taken by phone- mostly my outdated one and occasionally Fran’s newer one. But for the truly incredible sights, you deserve the good camera. But I don’t just use...
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Adventure Capital of the World
The drive up to The Remarkables was pretty harrowing, with little to no shoulder and VERY long drops.Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world. "Bungy" (Americans spell it Bungee)...
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Observations in Kiwi-land: the good, the bad and the wonderfully weird
After living here for two months, these are my observations as an American of New Zealand and New Zealanders. It is an update/addition to my "first impressions" post. Different things strike me as time...
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