I know I know I know

Same old story here . . . Jenny promises to blog, Jenny doesn't blog, Jenny gets threats and hate mail from friends because she isn't blogging. So sorry. In my defence, I haven't had great internet connections for the last 3 weeks. But, no need to worry. We are now in Australia, Brisbane to be exact, with fast Internet. Sooooo, let's start the circle again. . . Jenny promises to blog. . . OFTEN! I will have to do some catching up over the next few days. But, here is a quick update to satisfy the angry. . .

New Zealand was beautiful. The family in New Zealand is beautiful. It was wonderful, and very hard to say goodbye.

We got to hear lots and lots of stories. Oh how I wish now that we would have recorded all the stories. All we needed to do was walk in the door, push record, and have a million tapes to record every single word.

Grandad is a professional hair dresser. World competitions and everything. So, of course he had to cut the boys hair. He tried to have me be his apprentice and teach me how to do it. But alas, I think we decided I am hopeless at it.

We went to Raglan Beach. It's a black sand beach. It's beautiful, but terribly hot on the toes. The kids had a great time having running races on the beach.

The temple in Hamilton has Christmas lights. We were lucky enough to be there when they flipped the switch on. It helped it feel like Christmas.

In Australia and New Zealand each city has a Carols by Candlelight. It's very fun, and pretty to see all the candles in the park lit at the end of the program.

Nathan has always talked about carols by candlelight, so it was fun to finally see, and be a part of it.

We went swimming at a beautiful lake in Rotorua. The water was crystal clear. I got eaten alive by sand flies.


If you look in the background of the picture, you can see a flat top mountain. It's actually a volcano. The top of the mountain (Taraweria) blew off when it erupted in 1886, and buried an entire village. (there, a bit of New Zealand history)

We had a delicious fajita night. And taught everyone how to make mexican food. Crazy to be in a country that doesn't have a Taco Bell. Dwayne was super excited for the fiesta and dressed up just for the occasion.

And last but not least, of course we went to a Hangi (the equivalent of a Hawain luau) The kids loved it, and were amazed. Especially Elijah. He didn't' move a muscle during the performances. Marlee loved the hot chocolate bar. She had waayyyy too much to drink, and started feeling sick and threw up in the bushes right after this picture was taken. She was perfectly fine after that. Fun fun fun.