New Zealand: part 2, my birthday/Christmas

As you read in this post, normally my birthday is spent at family Christmas events. But this year husband and I were in New Zealand, just the two of us, and he decided to forfeit his Christmas in order to celebrate my birthday. He's a good man. And celebrate we did.

On the day I turned 25 on the 25th I...

Woke up in Wanaka, NZ, and slept in.

Ate berry pancakes that husband made.

Chatted with my mom and my grandma on the phone.

Wandered around the lake.

Kayaked to Ruby Island where we had a picnic and went for a swim.

{kayaking pics by husband}

Went for another swim in this crazy cool swimming hole where we met awesome Frenchies and did an "obstacle course" of sorts that involved walking upstream and then chucking ourselves into the cold, cold water and letting it carry us downstream, only stopping occasionally to jump off cliffs. Wish I had taken photos!

Came back to our hotel where I practiced yoga by myself on the grass while husband made this yummy vegetarian dinner for me.

He even made me a chocolate cake! And that man is NOT a baker and has no sweet tooth whatsoever.

And finally, we went for a walk at sunset back down to the lake. This photo of me on the right is pretty funny. There were all of these trees shedding little white fluffy bits all over the grass, and I got excited and pretended we were having a white Christmas. In the southern hemisphere. Not so much...

{last 2 photos by husband}

Went to sleep, happy and grateful for the best birthday I've had in a very long time.

p.s. New Zealand posts will continue next week, so many photos!