Just a quick note to let you all know that we made it in one piece!! well, minus one piece of luggage, but such is life. They haven't found it yet and I can't seem to remember what is in it anyway so perhaps not a big deal?

Luggage seemed to be a real issue...First, an employee in Toronto threw my carry on with my MAC LAPTOP (and PC laptop - not such a big deal -ha)down the checked and tagged luggage chute. I almost had a heart attack. We had 20 minutes to make our LA connection and had to wait until one of the men located it. We then forgot a piece of luggage in LA - who the heck is used to keeping track of nine pieces of luggage, 2 children, camera backpack, 1 car seat and a stroller anyway? We went and picked it up the next morning.

The amount of times we had to take our laptops out, take our shoes off, go through customs, pick up and check more luggage, wait for shuttles, and run to gates yelling at our children to follow is shocking really. I have NO desire to ever return to Canada. Well... give me a few years to recover.

Spent 1 very cold and rainy day in Santa Monica and felt very poor indeed - too rich for our blood! Finally arrived in Auckland with 50 minutes to spare, filled out lost baggage forms, ran 2 km to the other terminal (could it be any further apart??) in hot and humid weather to be the last ones to make the flight to Wellington (who are these dopey, sweaty people - must be Canadians)...only to fly in to one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Ahhh made it. We haven't slept in 20+ hours but the kids are running around in shorts and sunhats :)

Will post pictures at some point...must sleep...oh, and what happened to Jan 3? Clearly nothing of significance as it completely passed us by ;)