Finally a pic of Charisa

quite possibly the cutest

more pics

doing what we do best.

doing it in a more informal position

he does this really well too

he's here

Aidan Thomas James arrived.

notice the difference

These were taken at our friends' place that we met in our prenatal class - Claire and Stuart. We had afternoon tea at their place this past Sunday, actually the day before the video from the last post. Anyway, they went into labor today (Friday) and ended with a C-section and a little boy, Lachlan. We have yet to find out if he is a redhead like his father.

sun and surf

We had wonderful Labor Day Monday here in Christchurch. Charisa is done with work anyway, but I had the day off. The sun was out and the wind was still and it was nice and warm. What better way to spend one of the last few days of no baby time then to go to the beach. All of us headed over to South Shore at the end of the New Brighton spit. We watched Henry get neurotic and be very angry at the waves, threw sticks for him, and enjoyed some relaxation. It was a lovely day to be with my wife and unborn baby and a neurotic dog.

Long promised baby bump.

Finally a recent pic of shape our baby is causing Charisa's body to be.

Also, Henry came to work with me the other day to be a model for a little mock photoshoot we did. He did really well and entertained everyone when he wasn't asleep.

all in a day's work

Recently at work, we needed to do some photography to illustrate a concept for a client. Since it was still at concept stage, we did not want to spend money on real models. So, yours truly and my coworker Liz stepped up to the challenge. We were meant to look like sweaty, dirty, and exhausted athletes just after a workout. Some of the pics show the fine art of applying dirt and water. Enjoy.







The finished products.

recent photo exhibit

About 10 months ago, my friend Mike Chatfield and I were having a coffee at a nice little cafe in Christchurch. He said I should put some of my photography up there and he knew the gal that organized the artwork there. So I said sure, why not. He walked over to the gal and said "This is my friend Mark. You should have him display his photos." She said, "Sure. How about August?" And the deal was done.

So I borrowed a monstrous camera from a friend and proceeded to convince a few friends to pose for some portraits. I wanted to something a little unique and economical with how I printed and presented them. I was visiting one of the printing vendors for work and saw some samples off one of their cool new printers. This printer can printer on any flat material that will fit on the printer bed. So I had portraits printed two feet square on particle board. Wherever there is white in the photo it would show through to the board. As you see in the pics it gave the photos a warm, textured feel. It was just what I wanted.

Rawhiti Cave

These pics are of a cave we hiked into while up on the North part of the South Island for our anniversary getaway week. It was spectacular. We drove across a farm, parked in his paddock, and then walked about 40 minutes up the side of the hill to this cave. We had it all to ourselves until one guy showed up as we were leaving. And being a small country, we had seen the guy the day before at the beach we visited. So, of course we said hi and had a good yarn.

The locals were telling us that back in the early 1900s the cave was a spot miners and their families would go and have parties. They would bring their musical instruments have a hoot. I can see why, it is a natural amphitheater and it must sound great in there.

Notice, if this sign was in the USA, it would not only ask you to stay on the path to protect nature, but would make sign a waiver and promise to hold all the handrails all the time and that death is imminent if you don't. They still expect you to be responsible for yourself here.

crunchy

Ever wondered what the sound of bone being chomped on by a wild animal sounds like? Here ya go. Mmm Mmm good. This keeps him occupied for almost an hour. That's a good thing. It keeps burglars scared off as well since we have bones scattered in various places around the yard.

I'm a boy. I think it's cool.

another update, holy cow man!

Charisa and I just celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. It's amazing, I didn't think I was old enough to be married that long. We spent four days in Golden Bay, which as the top of the South Island. It is winter, so it was a stormy and wet the first two days, but we had springlike sun and warmth for the second two. Even on the rainy days we got out and explored some short hikes. On the first warm day we got over to Whaririki Beach (pics below) which has beautiful sand dunes and grand rock formations and cliffs. It reminded us of the Oregon Coast and Ruby Beach in Washington.

Little Cornellison is growing nicely. And kicking me in the ear. First the dog and now me. That's one strong little baby already. Only three months to go.


Two thirds of our family at the northernmost point of the South Island.


Big rock at Whaririki Beach.


Another rock.


She never leaves home without a book.


Super big thanks to Jason, Charlie, Nate, and Tricia for the lensbaby.

umm yeah this is way overdue

So if you don't know we are having a baby. We are due at the end of October. And there is lots to do before then.

And we really had a good time in Seattle in February. It was great to stay with Dave and April Thompson. We really enjoyed getting so much time with them and their little Michaela. Having April open the door when we arrived barefoot and pregnant was classic as well. Though, I wouldn't have noticed had she not said anything. Their second baby is due any moment now.

Charisa and I celebrate out tenth wedding anniversary July 25th!! Can you believe it's been a whole decade already? Unbelievable. We can't believe it. Time has gone fast that's for sure. We both wouldn't trade out time together for anything. We have had seriously hard times and some seriously amazing times. And the in between times were pretty amazing as well. We are headed to the North of the South Island for a five night vacation. This will be our last vacation as just the two of us. So we are going to relish it.

With the baby on the way we quickly realized we needed to get our house warm. We really like our place, but it is old and does not hold heat well. So we are getting more insulation in the attic and installing a very rare for New Zealand central heating system. It is a ducted heat pump system. So, Charisa, being her mother's daughter, has become friends with the guy that services the HVAC system at her work. The room the equipment she works with needs to be at a constant temperature and never is. So, the service guy is there often and she has had plenty of time to chat with him as she does her experiments. So, he has found a super great deal on the heating system and it actually falls into our budget. We weren't even looking at central heating because they were so expensive. In the near future we will be getting up at all hours of the night to feed our little one at will be nice to have the house at 65-70 degrees not 50-55 degrees.

And for some photos…


Boxes are comfortable I guess.


My cool as friend Chris. I met him through the photography studio I hung out at when I first got here. He is the second photography/assistant. We also run together 3 times a week. We keep each other going. He is married with two little great sons.

On a wee little hike in the Port Hills. We need to do this more often so we remember what a beautiful place we live. We only have to drive about 10 minutes from our place to get to scenery like this. Notice this is before the baby bump was really bumping yet.




That is the hip bone of cow in his mouth. Finger lickin' good. It's hidden under the yard somewhere for safekeeping now.


At our friend Lisa's 30th birthday party. And that is Lisa.

Also at Lisa birthday party. It was a Cuban theme, so many fellas penciled in moustaches.

Hi.

You can see the bump. More pics to come. Promise.