New Zealand Day Seven

Tuesday 14th August:

The men wanted to go fishing, so Jen sent her kids off to school and we just stayed at her house relaxing.  It was nice to just chill.  At one point Taz was watching a movie when she came over to me on the couch, lay down on my stomach and promptly fell asleep.  I think my little girls needed a down day just as much as I did.

 

Meanwhile, the men were not having as relaxing a day as we were. They launched the boat at Kaiaua three hours before low tide, but because the inlet was in dire need of dredging, the water dropped before they realised what was happening and the next thing they knew, they were completely stuck in the mud.   They launched at 7am and only managed to free the boat at 2pm. The men spent the day literally waiting for the tide to come back in so they could get the boat out of the mud.  HAHAHA.  I laugh, but that is a really sucky thing to happen and what a waste of a day.

 

The boys got home from school and so Jen and I decided to take the kids to Sunset beach for a little bit of an outing.  In Jen's words "We set off, all jolly in our journey, enjoying the rainbow we saw along the way ..."

We were about 2km from the beach when we realised the petrol light was on! We had been at the petrol station to fill up the night before but Jen had forgotten her debit card in her camera bag, and I didn't have enough cash on me so we decided to just fill up the next day.  We had forgotten all about the petrol situation before setting out for the beach.

Well, with the nearest petrol station 31km away, we couldn't even risk the remaining 2km to the beach and back, so we just had to turn around and drive back, praying that we would make it.  Noah was feeling a bit car sick and really needed to hurl and we couldn't even risk stopping because we didn't know when the fuel light had come on, so we didn't know how far we would get before running out of petrol.  Jen had formulated a brilliant plan though.   If we ran out,  I (thats right - me) would have to walk to the nearest petrol station fill up a tank and then walk back to the car.  I know, brilliant, right?  Anyway, we were in the middle of nowhere and the kids were all stinking mad that they didn't get to play on the beach like they had been promised so there was much whining, whinging and petulant tantrum throwing in the back (not to mention the disturbing noises of the car sick one.)  But, after much prayer and gripping of the dashboard, we made it to the petrol station and then just straight back home again.  Little bit of a let down to say the least.

That night Jen organised a babysitter so the four adults could go on a double date (a first for Jen and I).  The food was divine, but it was the dessert that I still dream about.  We ordered a sampler platter of creme brulee, dessert pizza, chocolate cakey divinity and a sort of berry crumble, and they were all served with ice cream, fresh cream and a black berry compote of sorts.  We didn't have time to even snap a before shot we got stuck into it so fast.  Hmmm, heaven.

The Dirty Mountains

The weather has been so beautiful here lately that we've been trying to take the kids out as much as possible.  We've gone to a bunch of different parks, took the kids on a bike ride along the Jordan River Trail, and went on our first legit hike together as a family.  The hike happened after Taz informed us one morning that she wanted to go to the dirty mountains.  Well when you get a request like that, how do you turn it down.  So we did a bit of research and decided to take the kids to Cecret Lake.  Its about a 1 mile hike (up a pretty steep incline) to this lake hidden in the mountains.  Taz was amazing and walked/ran the whole way.  She was amazed at how high we were and that she could see down into the valley.

On the way up we saw a little chipmunk in a tree.  We left a couple of nuts for it on the way up.  Then we saw the coolest hairy caterpillar which we obviously had to stop and play with.  And who would have thought, that picking up hands full of gravel and chucking it would be such a treat.  Once we reached the lake, we sat and ate some snacks.  There were two little chipmunks that kept coming around, so we threw a few nuts out for them.  The girls loved watching them grab the nuts and run away with them.  The highlight however was when one of the cheeky chipmunks climbed right into the backpack looking for another nut.  Taz squealed and talked about it the whole trip down the mountain.  I wish I was able to get a photo of it, but alas the camera was in the bag.  On the way down, we saw a moose off in the trees (Moose scare the crap out of me), and we checked to see if the first chipmunk had eaten the nuts we had left.

It was great for all of us to get a little exercise, breathe some fresh (polluted) air and commune with nature.

 Hairy caterpillar

 Getting muddy

Hide and Seek

I counted.  She hid.  She thought I'd never find her because she hides so well.  Fantastic!

State Fair

The Utah State Fair always has a military appreciation day where we don't have to pay the entrance fee.  And so, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth we took the kids again this year.  It was a great little family outing and the kids had a blast.

 Giant Bubbles - Big Hit

 Cutest little piglets - The ones in the cage...in the cage

 Not impressed with the goat trying to eat the stroller

 No Mom, I didn't pick the worst picture of you

 Nothing beats a bit of jumping

This is the only photo I was able to take of her on a ride, because it was the tamest one she went on the whole night.  This is one CrAzy kiddo!

New Zealand Day Six

Monday 13th August:

Miranda Hot Springs.  With all the geo thermal activity going on in NZ we couldn't go without a trip to the local hot springs.  Besides, swimming in deliciously warm water in the middle of winter is just a good idea.  So, we shipped Jen's kids off to school and the rest of us went to the hot springs for a good soak and a bit of lolling (as Jen would say).  Good times, Good times.

 We were wearing hats to keep the drizzle off our faces

 The perspective of this one cracks me up everytime

 Lolling

 Jumping on the giant bubble

New Zealand Day Five

Sunday 12th August:

After church we went to Ernie's Reserve to feed the ducks and let the kids get a little exercise.  

First Hair Cut

When you hair is as curly as my little munchkin's, it takes a looooooong time to get enough length to cut it, but the time eventually came at the ripe old age of 4. We only cut about 2 inches off, but it sprang right up to just under her chin.  Crazy curls!