Two weeks ago when Steve called me to tell me he had a surprise I felt this dreadful feeling of dread in my stomach.  Neither of us like each other's surprise, it usually means money has been spent and something silly has been done!  I half expected to see him pull up on the drive in a new car.  When he told me he had booked us a little holiday, the feeling of dread didn't subside.  A holiday with three under 5s?  One of which is less than three weeks old!  Uh-oh!  I've travelled a lot pregnant and with two littlees, but three seems a little excessive!  In the week building up to the big departure, there was much stress.  I STILL had the cold, so I visited the Dr for some antibiotics because I was terrified that my ear would burst on the flight.  He expressed great surprise at what is the longest cold in history.  He gave me lots of drugs and advice on what to purchase to get me through.  I got the cat into the cattery, but there was only one place that had room to accommodate the dog and as the guy was the world's biggest areshole on the telephone, I decided that he might not be too good with Sam either.  A last minute phone around, and I found an agency that provide people to actually go to your house to look after pets.  Our local 'pet angel' was a woman I've met before so I had no problems hiring her to tend to Sam at home. We arrived at the airport late.  Steve had no choice but to dump the car in a 24 hour carpark as opposed to long term.  The checkin woman ran with our bags to the plane.  As we ambled on the flight we were the family that everyone glares at.  Two toddlers and a baby and we'd held people up.  Whoops!  Even the pilot made a dig over the intercom about late bags being checked in.  The girls were really good on the plane though.  Moons and Pip excitedly looked out at the window and Egg slept!  Perfect!  When we landed in Christchurch we collected our rental.  Neither of us could bring ourselves to rent a people carrier, so we opted for a Toyota Prado instead.  As much as I hate being unfaithful to Landrover, this car is perfect.  Plenty of room and handles pretty well off road as well.  We drove to Lake Takepo which became our base for three nights.  Staying at http://www.theresidence.co.nz/ (The Residence), which was wonderful for a large family.  We chose to drive to Wanaka and Queenstown from there and do some offroading along the way.  Lots of fun!  Steve and I have travelled around the SI a few years ago, it was great to see some of our old haunts again.  Lake Takepo was just magical, I don't think I realised how special it was until I'd seen it again.  We left for Hanmer Springs the final day, my favourite spot in the South Island, its exactly how I imagine Canada to look.  I really wanted to go out for dinner that night, but I was really anxious about entering a restuarant at the girls' bedtime to eat.  It reminded me of the first time we went out for dinner with Moons as a baby.  I was terrified!  What if she woke up?  What if she needed feeding?  What if I needed to change her?!  People might glare at us!  I'm glad that Steve forced us all out!  We ended up having a lovely stone grill dinner, Egg slept the whole time and the girls behaved incredibly well.  We were even able to enjoy a bottle of wine!  YAY!  I really didn't want to leave the next day.  I was finally in holiday mode!  People are so friendly in the South Island, the car was great and even the weather was mostly OK - even when it was miserable it was just 'cosy,'  I'd dreaded this holiday, but typically on the last day, I didn't want it to end.  Flying back was great, the girls were great again, right until we touched down.  Getting back into Steve's car, they reverted to their old ways.  Screaming and fighting and then Egg threw up all over herself!  Dramas!  Sam is really happy, I think the woman gave him a bath as well because he's all clean and shiny!  I forgot to get the cat, so I have to wait for the next pickup hours this afternoon to pick him up!  And its business as usual wading through calls and mail. 

Egg gets ready for the holiday!

The beautiful Lake Takepo

Girls at Lake Wanaka