Marching On

You have to admire that I'm writing this post from New Zealand, where we're visiting Scott's parents. They've been here for about a year on a mission, and wow were they excited to have some family come to see them! We Skype with them regularly, and Meredith had no problem at all recognizing them - - she calls them by name and has given them a million hugs and kisses. And she has cried when we've left their home to go back to our condo.

A word about other March happenings before I go on talking about our trip. At the beginning of the month our friends Todd and Carrie Brotherson came to Chicago for a visit. We knew them when Scott was in business school. They are wonderful people! Right now they both work at SVU - - Todd is the head of the business department and Carrie works on setting up travel for students. Anyway, we hadn't seen them for quite a few years and it was so fun to catch up! We stayed downtown with the kids (Ethan babysat while we went out to dinner). We ate at Morton's Steakhouse. You do not go there with dieting in mind. I had the best shrimp of my life, colossally sized, and lightly coated in bread crumbs with a cream sauce. Awesome!

Ethan is preparing for Philmont and went on a 7 mile hike with the scouts a couple of Saturdays ago. We're getting all his stuff gathered - - good shoes, good backback, first aid kit, etc. Also, Ethan received his Life Scout in March. He's been working hard to get those merit badges done and we're hoping to have his Eagle earned in 6 months. Once high school starts he's going to be so busy, and it will be nice to have his Eagle all done with.

Well we left on our trip on March 23rd. The boys had to miss a few days of school, but I don't think they minded all that much. Packing is getting more and more of a pain with all these people to pack for! But we've pretty much got it down to a science. Anyway we had a 4 hour flight to L.A. and then a 16 hour flight to Auckland. Both flights were delayed, but at least we didn't have to rush. The Admiral's club at LAX was amazing, with a great little play area for the kids. Good for them to work of some energy before having to sit for so many hours.

All the kids were good on the flights, and the one to NZ was quite pleasant. We flew Qantas, and even in coach it was fairly comfortable (in contrast with Iberian Air, which we flew last year. That was awful!) Anyway, we got to the airport in Auckland and it took forever to get through customs. They're very careful about anyone bringing in any outside fruit, etc. They even checked our shoes to make sure they didn't have any dirt on them. Once we were through we had a 5 hour drive to get to New Plymouth, where we're staying. We met Del and Carol and then together we went to our hotel. It's not really a hotel though, just several condos set up kind of like duplexes. Ours is very spacious, with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and dining room. The view is just unreal. Outside there is a hill going down and then a stream, and then another hill just covered with every color of green vegetation. It is, as Carol said, therapeutic. Just lovely. And very laid back - - the place is run by a couple of brothers who seem to do all the work themselves. The grounds are immaculate and gorgeous, and there are sheep here too!

I forgot to say that although our 5 hour drive was long and we were so tired and grimy, it was beautiful. This is such a green country! And we saw about a million sheep and cows and even some alpacas. It's fall here, so most of the flowers are done blooming, but there are a few left. Oleanders and hibiscus and the most amazing pampas grass I've ever seen just growing wild on the roadside. Carol and Del have really enjoyed being here.

We all had dinner at our condo, which Carol had thoughtfully prepared, and then we took much needed showers and went to bed. We have had no jet lag at all, which is amazing. We'll see if we're that lucky going back!

Saturday it rained most of the day, but we had fun anyway. After breakfast at Del and Carol's we went to a nice museum in Puke Ariki (pronounced poo-key, but Ethan and I had a good snicker about visiting the puke museum!) Anyway there were lots of interesting historical artifacts about the Maori people and then the first Europeans to come. We had lunch at an Indian place in the mall near the museum, and then we drove to a lovely park. It stopped raining long enough for us to take a nice walk and let the kids play on the playground. We met a man who had a 14-year old son with Down syndrome and had a good chat.

On Sunday we went to church, and Del spoke in sacrament meeting. He gave a great talk about the 4 cornerstones of a successful family - - prayer, scripture study, f.h.e., and temple attendance. Everyone was very friendly and we had fun visiting with another couple who had a daughter Meredith's age. After church we had a relaxing afternoon at Del and Carol's home. They have a nice back yard, and Meredith loved playing outside. She is definitely an outdoor girl!

Monday we went for a boat ride in the Tasmin Sea around some very small islands. Our captain, Captain Chaddy, is very well known in these parts. He was so sweet to Noah and let him steer the ship when it was calm. But it wasn't very calm most of the time - - it was one of the roughest boat rides I've ever been on! I'm so glad none of us got seasick! We did get soaked, however, and boy does that salt water do a number on your hair and skin! But the views were beautiful and the water was beautiful, and it was pretty exciting to be tipping all over like that. And we saw some seals on the rocks and a stingray near the shore. The captain takes care of blue penguins that get orphaned, but they've all left for the winter, unfortunately. That would have been fun to see!

Tuesday we got an earlier start, had breakfast with Carol and Del, and then drove to the base of Mount Taranake (also known as Mount Egmont). It is a dormant Volcano, and looks a lot like Mount Fuji. It's a very important part of the culture of the area, and there was a lovely visitor's center. Ethan and Scott had gotten their backpacks all ready and set off on a long hike. While they were exerting themselves with the hike, Carol and Del and I exerted ourselves watching Noah and Meredith. Not easy, because Meredith was tired and a little cranky. We were going to go to a small zoo, but it was closed. So we went for a nice walk in the park, and then set off in search of another zoo that some people told us about. It was a bit of a drive, but we found it at last. It was such a funny zoo - - very small, you could have walked it from end to end in 10 minutes. They had goats and emus (or rheas, not sure) and sheep you could feed, and there were ducks and chickens and pigeons just running around wild. Meredith and Noah just loved that. Then there were a couple of monkeys and apes, some very smelly pigs, and some beautiful white birds that said "hello." And then, of all things, 3 white royal bengal tigers! They were amazing!  There were also 3 lions, sitting right up against the fence so we could get a very close looks at them. We really had a nice time.

Ethan and Scott didn't climb all the way to the top of the mountain, but they did get pretty close. I'm glad they didn't go any further, because it's very gravelly and dangerous up there. They hiked for almost 6 hours. Ethan is getting ready to start track as soon as he gets back in school, and he'll be in great shape! He and Scott have gone jogging several times here as well.

We are so so excited for Mom and Dad's mission call, especially because it's such an easy flight to go there to visit! I know you will be awesome missionaries!

We love you all!