Hobbiton

We couldn't go to New Zealand and NOT see amazing scenery.  And everywhere we drove it was like driving through the Lord of the Rings movie set.  It just LOOKS like what you see in the movie.

But just dreaming wasn't enough for us so of course we had to visit the Hobbiton movie set.  It's on a working sheep and cow farm (in fact they sell their cows to McDonald's to make their Angus burgers so you might already have eaten some Hobbit burgers :) so we had to ride a bus in.

Not that the kids minded riding a bus- that's an adventure in itself- especially with maps to look at.

And chairs to climb on.

And then... there it was.  Right over the fence and across the bridge.

And we found ourselves running along the same paths as Frodo, to get to the Shire.

And Isla found herself doing what she loves best- eating things she shouldn't.  This time it was pebbles off the road.  Fantastic!

And then we spent the next time oohing and ahhing and posing and trying to remember scenes from the movies.

The Hobbit holes all look so realistic.  Apparently for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all the homes were made with plywood and styrofoam because the farm owner wanted his sheep farm back once the filming was over.  But then a few tourists came by asking if they could see where it was filmed.  And then a few more.  And more.  And more.  So when they came back to film The Hobbit movies, he asked if they'd actually build permanent structures, so they did.  And now it's a working tourist set.  Very realistic and very cool.

The gardens have giant sized cabbages and other vegetables so that normal sized people look smaller next to them.

Of course Isla looks small next to anything because she is.  But some of the holes are bigger than other so that they could film Gandalf next to those and he'd look bigger.

If you watch the first Hobbit movie you'll see this scene exactly.  Bilboa leaves his home at the top left (under that tree) and run to the right side of the picture and then down the path and behind this lake.

Here's our big group of tourists.  Esther and Sam stayed behind to get mud facials but everyone else wanted to come see.

See?  Lettuce as big as Isla.  Pretty amazing.  And pretty cute.

And here's a shot from the top of the Party Tree.

You could take pictures in front of all the Hobbit holes and some you could even open up and go inside.  But the catch is they're only dug out about 3 feet behind the door so there's nothing fun to see.  Didn't stop these silly boys from going in and posing.

That's me:  trying to keep Isla off the ground and not eating rocks.

And Taylor and his brothers who spent the whole tour geeking out.

And from the top of the hill you can even see across the lake to the Green Dragon Pub.

And here's the door you've all been waiting for.  Bag End.

Isla clearly cannot read and would like to try going in this Hobbit door as well.

This one, though less famous is cuter in my opinion.

And after much protesting we got all 4 kids to look at the camera for one shot around the maypole.

No complaining while playing on this.

And no complaining once this little rugrat was allowed down to continue her previous meal.

Taylor kept trying to get pictures of all 3 boys looking and smiling at the same time.  It's a pretty impossible task at this stage with these silly boys.

See, even the oldest is sometimes the culprit who has lost focus.

That's okay, just find other people who will pose for inside the Green Dragon Pub.

And drinking their "ginger" beer which none of them liked after the first sip.

The old men enjoyed sitting around the table like they were Hobbits and Elves and Men.

And one last group shot even if all 3 boys needed to be manhandled to stand still.

And once last shot for those of you who still haven't gotten enough of the shire- complete with black swans in the lake.