Raglan

February 24 & 25: We accompanied all 14 LVC students to Raglan Beach on NZ's western coast. We had a bus take us to Raglan, a small beach town about 45 minutes away. We stayed at the Karioi Outdoor Adventure Center and about 10 LVC students took surfing lessons. Our kids had fun on the Flying Fox, a zip-line/swing and on the ropes course. The highlight of the weekend was when Joel, Rachel and Lexie jumped off of a bridge into Raglan Bay. Lots of great scenery (and mozzies -- the kids have the bug bites to prove it)! Pictures here.

Trampoline-ing

The kids love to bounce on the trampoline and fight over its use on a regular basis. To see the pics of them showing off, click here.

Hamilton Gardens

February 15: Each year, the Hamilton Gardens holds an arts festival with live music, performances and whatnot. We took the kids to see a not so great juggler who insulted people of every nationality, including the US. The kids enjoyed it, but Joel and I were hot and cranky. Hamilton Gardens boasts several international gardens that are really quite nice. To see Lexie's photos, click here.

Waihi Trip

By Laura:

After visting the Gorge, we headed to the east coast to spend the rest of the afternoon at Waihi Beach. The kids had a blast swimming in the blue Pacific and collected some beautiful shells. We celebrated Rachel's 12th birthday when we got home. It was a great trip. See pictures here.

Karangahake Gorge Trip

On Saturday we took a day trip to the Karangahake Gorge. The Gorge is enroute to the East Coast and is an old gold mine. Functioning gold mines are still common in NZ and mining is a large industry in the country.

The views of the Karangahake Gorge are spectacular and there are marked paths with walks for different distances. Our walk included going through an 1800 meter tunnel through the mountain. Dark and damp! The Gorge has a river running through it with large rocks and boulders strewn throughout. You can see our photos here....

Hamilton Zoo

by Lexie

On February tenth we went to the Hamilton zoo. It was fun! It wasn't the best zoo we have been to but it was ok. I liked the monkeys. They were funny and the zookeepers put nuts in a bottle and the monkeys were trying to get it open.

We didn't get to see the tiger and I really wanted to see that.

We saw baby pigs and you could pet them. Then one of the adult pigs came over snorting for us to stop petting them.

You can see my photos here.

Our House

Lexie's friend Allie wanted to know about our house in NZ. It's a brick house that's probably what we'd term a cape cod style. It has 4 bedrooms and probably about 1800 sq. ft. Lexie took a house photo. She also took a photo of the trampoline the neighbors lent us, her orange bedroom, and our new (used) minivan.

A few Days in San Fran

We spent a few days in San Francisco before flying to New Zealand. We stayed a few blocks from Fisherman's Wharf and really enjoyed the culture and architecture. Here are some pictures that Lexie took.