One of the (many) great things about living in New Zealand is that it puts your location in relation to the rest of the planet in a whole new perspective.  You think you’ve got a long 6 hour drive with your toddler?  Try a 24 hour flight!

Because we live so far away from our family, it is ALWAYS a treat when we get to see them and a very special occasion.  We love visits!  When we told family members that we would be spending a couple months in England, we were silently praying that some of them might visit.  Those prayers were answered and we’ve already had visits from two family members and are about to get a visit from a third.  After all, England is so close to America (in comparison to New Zealand).

Our first visit was from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, J and N.  They arrived on 24 October and stayed for a whole week.

You can tell that J is an experienced mom/grandmom, because she started off the visit with presents for Joe.  He was thrilled!

I love his expression in the above photo, such a thrilled look!

He was having a lot of fun with his dad and Aunt N there to help him open his gifts.  He loves the Leap Pad and his LeapFrog Puppy.  I was a big fan of the new clothes he got 🙂

J and N spent 2 nights with us in Oxford.  One day was spent exploring Oxford and the other day was spent driving to Stonehenge, just me, Joe, J, and N.  It was an interesting drive, as in we got slightly lost, but we found it eventually.

I’d been told that, unless you’re a big Stonehenge fanatic, that it may not be worth the visit.  I shared this with J and N but we 3 decided that it was something we really wanted to see.  I’m glad that we went, but it really is in the middle of nowhere.  It wasn’t quite what I expected – a lot of stones with highways in the distance.  And cold.  We took a quick walk around the stones (you have to stay quite a far distance away) and then headed back for hot drinks.

Obligatory Stonehenge photo… I was freezing and very glad that I’d worn a hooded sweatshirt and long-sleeved teeunder my raincoat but wished for a warmer jacket

Still, it’s neat to be able to say that yes, I have been to Stonehenge.  Someday, when Joe is a teenager and complaining about never going anywhere cool, I’ll pull out these photos and say, “See!  We’ve taken you to cool places.  It’s not my fault if you can’t remember.”  I’m sure he’ll love that 🙂