home again, home again, jiggity jig

We're back from a nice trip to Auckland. Fortunately we have a really good traveler on our hands, and he's becoming quite seasoned.

It was very sad to say good bye to Margaret for probaby two years, but I feel lucky that I was able to spend some quality time with her before their big adventure in the United Arab Emirates. Despite the very serious & pensive look, Quincy instantly loved her.

We had fun wandering around this wildlife preserve that rescues animals from the circus, sick animals, and excess breeding stock. There was an otter that was blind in one eye, lots of monkeys and birds, hissing ducks (they were freaking us out actually), and five beautiful lions.

This was so surreal. It's hard to see the background, but picture rolling hills dotted with grazing cows behind this lone zebra.

We were the only ones there and you could get very close to the animals. Little Q had a good 'ol time as did Margaret and I.

Quincy got his fourth or fifth (I'm losing count) ear infection while we were there (he will likely need tubes/grommets), so we had a couple sleepless nights before the antibiotics kicked in. This was at 3:50am. I ended up giving up on sleep that night and just getting out some toys. Looks like it was a popular decision. (And I'm pretty sure that even if he wasn't wearing this shirt, he'd have been up all night.)

Then off to spend a few days with my in-laws, Q's Nana and Poppa. It was nice and chilled out. He got to meet his great grandmother and really liked her walker. She was nice and shared.

He loved all the beautiful (and very breakable) things in his grandparent's house. Luckily the cool (very tall) sculpture only wobbled a bit but managed to stay upright. He also loved their lawn and wondered why our grass at home looks so different (i.e. dead).