Well, as promised... Here is the first newspaper article about Bike Hutt. The shop opens this weekend and mike and his staff have been working their tails off to make sure everything's in order. Excuse the few grammatical errors and typos. All have been fixed for final printing.
I can't get the darn picture to load, which is a great one. Will try and attach that later this week when this week's paper goes online.

The cycle revolution has arrived in Upper
Hutt with the opening of the Bike Hutt.
The former Repco building at 808
Fergusson Drive is now home to an
impressive range of high-quality cycles,
clothing and accessories.
Behind the store is managing director
and cycling advocate Mike Anderson.
Supporting him is a team of cycling
industry experts hand-picked for their
experience and passion for bicycles.
“Our specialist mechanic Ben
Stephens and customer service staff Katie
Morgan and Nick Byrne are cyclists. They
know the machines and have practical
experience with them,” Mike says.
“They also understand that a bicycle
is not a commodity like a microwave. It
provides a lifestyle.”
If you had come across American born
Mike 20-years ago you would have
found him on a very different path. He had
been destined for a career as a university
professor. But he just couldn’t deny his
love of cycling and his career took a very
different direction.
He has worked in New Zealand’s
cycle industry for the past two years but
his career has taken him around the world.
Mike has over 20 years experience in
the bicycle industry, 2 of which he spent
working exclusively for Lance Armstrong,
7 time Tour de France Champion.
This experience set Mike up perfectly
to take on his latest cycling adventure, and
he’s spent considerable time selecting the
very best bikes to range at Bike Hutt,
including an outstanding range of children's
and family bikes. As a father of two Mike
knows how important it is to have children
on a safe and reliable bike.
Bike Hutt's range includes Trek and Giant
road and mountain bikes, Gary Fisher and
Diamondback mountain bikes, Masi road
bikes and Mirraco BMX cycles.
808 Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt (04) 527-8715

Hi Everyone!
This is a quckie post to let everyone know the good news!
Mike is opening a bike shop!!

the
bike hutt
Upper Hutt, New Zealand

Opens December 1st!

More to come as the store unfolds. Lease is secured, store fit-out begins this week!!

Want more details?? E-mail me.

I'll attach a picture of the kids, just because. We are all well and very, very excited about this next chapter. Tell us what you are up to!

Holiday WIshes to All

It's pretty sad that I haven't logged on and written anything since August! Oh well, never mind.

This month marks a year since we made the big move across the Pacific. In hind sight, it was a HUGE endeavor! We have learned and observed quite a bit over the year, but most importantly of all, I'm happy to report that we have become a more cohesive family unit. I think these big changes either make or break you and your relationships and I'm happy to report, we made it!

Our newest addition, Ruby Helen has just made it to her 6 month birthday. She is so sweet and really fun to be around. Like all babies, (I guess), she's received a number of nicknames. Rubes, Ruby Tuesday, Sister, Sister Sue (pronounced with a sibilant S), Susan Box Dutter- Dox (from Dr. Suess) and many more. You can choose your favorite! Despite her numerous colds and ear infections, we've managed to settle into a routine and she has decided, just recently, that dad is pretty much just as cool as mom. Mike's really happy about that! Ruby has just started to try eating food and seems much more interested than her brother was at this age. I'm experimenting with making baby food, which is kinda fun. Ruby likes avocado the best right now. No cooking required for this delicacy!

Our eldest, Mr. Spicy Patrick Anderson or Soren Patrick Fancy Pants (again, your choice), is doing great. He's reading really well (yep, he's still just4), enjoying gymnastics, riding his bike, swimming and much to our chagrin, the imaginary world of super heroes. We're waiting for the super hero thing to pass, but happy about all the rest and occasionally you will catch us playing along with the shooting of webs, pretending to fly over the city, or fighting the "baddies". He's living in a world of superlatives at the moment. Everything is the biggest, fastest, best, strongest, etc.. That testosterone surge little boys get around this age has definitely kicked in. Thank goodness he's still really sweet.Montessori school has been so amazing for him and for us to be involved with. Just last week, Mike and I organized a "Wheels Day" at school. First of all, imagine this happening in the US... All the children (age3-12) were invited to bring their bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. We set-up a track on the playground with cones, chalk, etc.. The kids got a safety check (helmets and bike) and then were set loose to ride like the wind. It was so cool! The kids were really good sports and good with one another. Mike fixed flats and put bells on the bikes that were without. We both really enjoyed it and the kids, well... duh.

This weekend, we will be moving to a new house. We are moving into a friend's home who will be out of the country for at least a year. They have two Labrador Retrievers who need looking after, so we were happy to help them out. Our lease at this place is up and the owner wants to sell it anyway. So, off to Silverstream we go. A wee little village with a grocery store, cafe, library, several parks and train stop. All are within walking distance form the house and the land is flat. After living on a huge hill, I figured out why houses on the flat around here are at a premium. We will have a nice, flat back yard and a place for the kids to play. We are really looking forward to being there. As of the actual move, well, you can guess how we feel about that. ...OVER IT!!

Christmas here will be a quiet occasion. We will be thinking of you over the holidays. Don't hate us if we spend the day basking in the sun at the beach, though. We paid dearly this winter. Time to play!

School is out Dec 20th-mid Feb.

Love to you all!

PS- I hesitate to print our address on the blog, so if you need it, just send me an e-mail

allisonanderson2@earthlink.net

Rambligs from Allison

Today was the 4th day in a row of sunshine and warmish temperatures. The first time it's been clear on one of Mike's "weekends" off in a while. Soren, Ruby and I celebrated the coming of Spring by spending most of the day on Friday at the Botanic Gardens in Wellington. Soren was home from school with Pink Eye, (which quickly spread to Ruby), but neither of the kids were feeling bad and it was just too darn nice to stay inside. We had a really good time as Ruby slept in her stroller, Soren and I got to play at the playground, take a walk up to the look-out over the city and share an ice cream. Just like old times, well, just like last summer when Soren was the only show in town! Saturday was spent visiting our local toy library (such a cool thing. Can't beleive there's not more of these in the US) then attending a photo shoot for the bike shop's website. Soren was asked to hop on a brand-new bike with training wheels and zoom around the harbour in Wellington. he was more than happy to oblige. His favorite part being a foot bridge that was made of wood planks. He rode over it again and again humming as loud as he could so that he could hear the vibration in his voice. So cute and so great to be reminded of the joys of riding a bike for pure pleasure. The picture is a photo-shopped cut-out from the photo shoot. You can tell he's enjoying himself, eh? Sunday the whole Anderson family took Soren to a birthday party at a gymnastics gym. It was really fun. Even the adults were playing duck, duck goose and jumping on the tramploines. Mike even did some tricks on the rings and a couple of dads who are former gymnasts did some really cool tricks. Today, Mike got to mountian bike on dry soil. In shorts! Woohoo! He says his body is sore from the gymnastics. Pobrecito!

We're all looking forward to the change in the weather and the brightning of spririts that comes with Spring and Summer.

Since my last entry, I've suffered a bit of a set-back. I injured my back and spent an entire Saturday on the floor, off and on in tears. I thought things were going to be pretty awful with a husband who could not take the day off, an infant to look after and a very active 4 year old at home, but by mid-morning Soren had been invited to a birthday party and taken away for the afternoon and I managed to find a massage therapist who had a spot for me. I was also able to drop Ruby at a friends house for an hour while I hobbled to the appointment. Leaving the massage, walking upright again, I realized how lucky I was to have found some friends here that I can truly count on. Certainly things would have been much, much easier in Austin and I did cry and want my mommy when I realized I couldn't even stand up, but at the end of the day, I realized we are making a life for ourselves here and that feels good. Should I also mention that physical therapy is free here. I have been receiving some good therapy since then and am definitely on the mend. Turns out I probably had some tearing in my abdomen on one side from the pregnancy which caused my hip to torque and put too much pressure on my lower back. As soon as I started working out like mad at the gym, it got inflamed and said "stop". No, more like "STOP"! In the course of my quest to be fit again, I met a Pilates instructor/P.T. who has offered me an internship and Pilates certification training. Many of you know I was planning on doing this in the near future anyway. I was planning on paying for a course, but this came my way and it sounds like a chance of a lifetime. So, the plan is to get stronger, get over the injury, and maybe start the training in December or early 2008. It will be a slow process as I Mike and I will have to juggle the kids, but she is totally OK with having me just a few hours per week. She said I am an awesome candidate with my massage experience. I am also opening my mind up to doing a few massages again. It will be minimal, but I think it will feel great to get back into it. Maybe I'll find someone to trade with. I miss all my Castle Hill "massagists" (haha).!!

We are looking forward to seeing some of our good friends soon. Chad and Emily Stadnicki and their 2 kids will be touring New Zealand early October and will drop in to Wellington For 4 days. I think Jack and Soren are about 6 months apart and Owen and Ruby are just days apart. I have known Chad since we were little kids and Emily since college (Scary to think how long tht's been!). They now live in LA, so it will be nice to catch up. Also, no confirmed dates, but we hear Andy LaGrone aka "Noodle" will be coming as well as John Stokes. Both really good, long time friends from Austin. They should be here in October or November and that vist will probably involve us all going down to Golden Bay to visit Mark and Tracey. John wants to do a Kayak expedition and Mark is only too keen for that. It will be warmer and inching up to beach weather, so we'll take the opportunity to get out of the city and enjoy.

We've managed to collect a handful of American friends since we arrived. Crazy how many ex-pats are here. We had a mexican pot-luck a few weeks ago with 2 other American couples (from Califonia). We had so much fun trying to find ingredients and sharing our finds with one another. I just recently got a line on corn tortillas!!!! You don't know how big that is until you have to go without for 8 months. I almost dropped to the floor inthe supermarket when I found them! We sometimes find ourselves sitting around complaining about this or that with the Americans, but it usually just boils down to stuff and the price of it. Mike and I keep refering to the US as " The land of cheap consumer goods". It's true, things here are much more expensive, but as a trade off, consumer debt is much lower, people don't have nearly as many extranious things, and workers all have free health care and earn a living wage (currently minimum wage is about $10US/hour). The cost of buying a home is about what it would be in Austin and certianly cheaper that most of the West Coast. We are still holding off, though. We hear the prices may fall a bit ans with my parents still planning to immigrate, we may just wait until they get here to decide on a neighborhood.

It's late and I'm rambling. We miss you all and would love to see anyone who can make the trip.

Enjoy the photos of our georgeous "bubs" as they call kiddos here.

Love, Kiwi style...

August Already!

Hi Everyone!

What a blur these last 3 months have been. I got an e-mail from my good friend Shanty today asking me when I'll be updating my blog and I just had to drop everything and write something, finally. Sorry for the delay. Just a little overwhelmed with the baby and all the other thousands of changes we've made in the last 8 months.

Yes, it's been 8 months. Mike and I were talking about this the other day and, though we really miss our frinds and family, we are quite happy with the decision to come to New Zealand. We are slowly making friends and getting our bearings and are reminded almost daily of how lucky our children are for getting the opportunity to grow up here.

I'm writing this late in the evening as Ruby, Soren and Mike are sleeping. Between this paragaph and the first, I've been up twice to put Ruby back to sleep. I think I'll turn in for the night and save my charming observations of Kiwis and life amongst them for another night. Now that I'm over my writer's block this won't be hard to do!

Thanks to all of you who have managed to stay in touch. It makes being so far away seem not so far.

Love,

Allison

PS- The winter has not killed us! For every 3 rainy, cold day we get a georgeous, sunny one. Not too bad, eh?

What a May it's Been!

For those of you who have been keeping up with us, thanks. It's been 5 months since we moved here and, things are going well. Quite well..

If you got my e-mail update, you heard the order of things the last couple of weeks. If not, I'll humor you.

1) My parents arrive. We do some very slowly paced sightseeing around Welligton and finish various projects around the house. I think I am going to give birth any moment, so we stay close to home.

2) My due date comes and goes with little fanfare. We all begin speculating on how long it will take for the baby to come and I begin to experience some strange feelings of dissapointment and pressure to get this baby show on the road. I'm getting accupuncture, walking up hills, drinking various tinctures, almost anything I read about, I try.

3)Soren's 4th birthday Party is held at the National Museum of NZ. 25 kids come. We had a great time and it was really cool to have all the focus on him. That day I'm feeling happy that the baby decided to wait. I know Soren appreciated it :) In the middle of the party, I'm wondering "Were could Mike be?" He was meant to meet us at the party after his mountain bike ride that AM. I check my cell phone and see a text message that says "Running late. Think I broke my collarbone." He was right.

4) By day 8 of being "overdue" I decide that I am going to book myself a hotel room and stay alone until I go into labour. (crazy the things stress and a few added hormones will make you dream of doing!) Instead, I go into labor that night. .....

5) We arrived at the hospital at 3:48 AM and Ruby Helen Anderson is born one hour later at 4:48AM. We are home that same morning by 7:30. Express Service!

Ruby is a beauty. She's tiny, much smaller than Soren was. She has dark hair and lots of it. She has a very laid-back disposition. She's 5 days old, so I'll have to get back to you on her sleeping patterns. So far, there are none. Check out the photos on this Shutterfly link. http://share.dell.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b32cedb4e483&sid=8Abs2zho2aM1Eq8&auto=1&idx=-1&m=1&d=1179561035373

Love to you all...

Happy Easter

Well, for those of you who have bothered to bother me about keeping this blog up to date....thanks.
So, here we are, April 10, 2007. 3 weeks and some change until the baby is due. Lots to do, lots to think about and lots of excitement buzzing about in the Anderson home. We started our Easter weekend off early by a visit from Mark and Tracey. They made the stop into Wellington on their way back from Thailand and Bali. It was so great to see them. We didn't do anything big, just had dinner with Uncle Bill, then spent 1/2 the day Friday attempting to build a sandbox ("sandpit" in NZ). Without enough wood and the proper nails, we ditched the idea and went to Red Rocks instead. It's a beach and hiking trail/seal colony/preserve at the edge of Wellington. It's gorgeous and you feel like you are miles away from civilization. We hopped over tidal pools and looked at sea creatures, hiked and just hung out. It was a gorgeous day and a really "good" Friday. Saturday, the Easter Bunny came. He was asked to come early since Aunt Tracey and Uncle Mark had to go back home on Sat. Soren hopped around the yard in his Frosty the Snowman pj's and his bunny ears and found a ridiculous amount of chocolate- Most of said chocolate has since been confiscated and frozen for future bribing- We then had lunch together and dropped M&T at the airport for their quick flight back home. We will see them soon , next month, in fact.
We left for Rotatua from the airport. Mike was able to get 4 days in a row off (thanks to the Easter holidays), so we thought "why not". It was really neat. Probably our last trip as a 3 person family and so much fun. Soren talked and talked the whole way up there (6 hours). He has us laughing so much. It was really cool to spend that much time together without distractions. We were able to see how much he has blossomed in the past few months and how accustomed he has become to the way of life here. I accredit alot of that to his faboulous Montessori school. We ended up in a very nice hotel (one of those last-minute cheap-rate, never know quite what you're getting deals), which made it even better. The entire town is littered with thermal pools, bubling mud pits and geysers. Mike says the mountain biking is tops and I say the spa action is tops, so we'll be going back, for sure. 3 days was not enough, but we're lucky that we are so close.
Soren is out of school for the next two weeks. I started out being pretty anxious about this break, trying to figure out waht we could possibly do to entertain ourselves and how I was going to be able to keep up. I also have a list a mile long of things I want to get organized and settled before the baby comes. Something happened amidst all my fretting when I sudenly realized that this truly is my last time to enjoy being alone with my son. Not that I think we won't ever get to do things alone again, it'll just be different. I think he somehow, on some level gets it too. He's been so sweet and fun to be around. I'm frankly happy to have him home. We'll be going to the library, the museum, baking cookies, and if I need a nap, watching a video or two. The taxes can wait (gotta file that extension!) and I guess it's OK if the baby arrives and I haven't cleaned all the baseboards with a toothbrush. She'll probably forgive me!
We miss you all so much, but are truly enjoying our new lives here. Hope each of you get to see New Zealand some day. It's a pretty fantastic place.
Love to you all.....