February 6th is Waitangi Day, commemorating the treaty with the Maori signed in 1840, considered New Zealand’s founding document. I don’t imagine the Maori celebrate the day with quite the same pleasure as we did…. We celebrated the day off from work to go hiking with some friends. Jennifer on the left is an American friend Jeremiah met at an engineering conference. Jen on the right and her husband Dustin and son Tristan are Canadian buddies that Milo and I met at the wading pool. The Canterbury plains stretch below us, dotted with the inevitable sheep and cattle.  We usually hike alone, so it was really nice to have company and it’s exciting to have new friends.  Plus, us three women got in some good girl chat, a real treat!

Lunch at the summit was punctuated by parental remonstrations to the boys to be gentle, throw rocks AWAY from people only, refrain from pushing, etc. Milo and Tristan actually get along quite well, but also constantly test those standards of conduct. Time out seems reasonably effective at this age.

Here they are, trotting along, oblivious of the view but having a blast. Tristan walked the whole ridge line and he’s just a year older than Milo, so I still hold out hope that by the time Milo is too heavy to throw on our backs, he’ll be ready to do at least some amount of walking on his own two legs.

Look, a railing, perfectly slanted for ease of climbing! No one fell into the water this time, but it wasn’t for lack of trying!