We did our annual Tucker family vacation/reunion last week. This year’s destination was Florida. We spent a few days at the Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando, then drove down to stay at Marriott Crystal Shores in Marco Island. As an added bonus, both Chris and Joe celebrated their birthdays while we were with extended family. … Read More Vacation Recap: Orlando and Marco Island, FL
It’s strawberry season here in Virginia, and we decided to take advantage of it this past weekend by heading over the river to Surry for some pick-your-own fun. Since it’s Mother’s Day weekend, we anticipated a higher-than-normal turnout at the farm. We opted to catch an earlier ferry so that we would arrive at the… Read More Strawberries in Surry
I took Joe and Jack on a mini-vacation to Winston-Salem, North Carolina this past weekend. In good traffic it’s about a 4 hour drive. With 2 little boys, it takes a bit longer :-/ On the drive down, I ended up having to stop 3 times – 3 times for a 4 hour drive! I… Read More Winston-Salem, NC
We decided to take a day trip this past weekend to Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel Peninsula. image via Google Maps It was about a 2 – 2.5 hour drive from where we live. Joe did so well in his car seat and Chris and I were able to enjoy the beautiful Saturday morning scenery.… Read More Coromandel Peninsula: Cathedral Cove
We’ve been spending the last week or so in Wanaka. Where’s Wanaka? Good question. Wanaka is represented by the “A” on that map. If we were to drive from Auckland to Wanaka, it would take between 20 – 22 hours, involve a ferry ride, and cover just under 1,500km (~930 miles). We decided to fly… Read More Wanaka in Photos
We spent Wednesday – Friday in Queenstown last week. Let me share a little bit about our trip with you… Our “side” of fries at Pub on Wharf… more like a giant bucket ‘o chips! Somebody was very happy about all those carbs… Actually, I think he was just happy to see some food. We… Read More Queenstown
Scotland was beautiful. We left Oxford on Monday morning. Things started off right by learning that we’d gotten a free upgrade on our rental car, and instead of a 4 door sedan we had a small SUV. You could argue that we’d end up paying more in petrol, but I was glad for more space,… Read More Scotland: Glasgow
I’m currently sitting on the couch of our hotel in Dunedin waaaay down in the South Island of New Zealand. Ah, Dunedin – the Edinburgh of Australasia. Yes, I said Edinburgh. As in Edinburgh, Scotland. As in nowhere near New Zealand. I’ll spare you the super long history lesson, but the name Dunedin is actually… Read More Dunners
Alright, blog people – I need suggestions for things to do in Dunedin! Did you know that even though I live in New Zealand and even though my Google Maps is set for NZ settings, the first “Dunedin” that pops up when I do a search is “Dunedin, Florida”? I’m sure that it’s much warmer… Read More Dunedin?
Many New Zealand businesses do a great job, in my opinion, of catering to families. Case in point: the parent room, or family room, or changing room, or whatever you want to call it. Changing stations with nappy bins underneath I know that there are changing rooms at many businesses in the States, but it’s… Read More Living in New Zealand: Child and Parent Friendly
Part of our reason for staying in the States so long is for Chris to do a bit of work at some different universities, the primary one being Notre Dame. He’s already been here and to Purdue in the 2 1/2 weeks we’ve been in the USA. South Bend is about 2.5 hours north of… Read More Michigan, and now South Bend
We have about a month now before we head over to the States. To be honest, I’m a bit nervous about it. What will it be like? Will I experience some reverse culture shock? Will I drive my parents and in-laws crazy when we stay with them?! The answer to the last two questions is… Read More Nervous
