It’s school holidays for Finn and Maggie. They get 2 weeks off in between school terms. So my days are full and busy. In the first week Finn had skiing lessons and Maggie had gymnastics lessons. And no that wasn’t a typo, there is a place called Snowplanet and it is a man made hill for skiing, snowboarding and tubing. It’s pretty cool! The morning was taken up by these activities. In the afternoons we went to the beach, played soccer and tennis, baked, played chess and other board games.
The second week both Finn and Maggie were signed up for morning tennis lessons. The afternoons were busier this week. We had play dates and did some cupcake decorating! My favourite! I took Finn and Maggie to the zoo! I think I was more excited then them haha! And one afternoon Finn and I went to the movies while Maggie and Ann went to a show with another mom and daughter. We saw Turbo, it was great! It’s been fun having them home because we get to do things that we can’t while they are in school.
After a busy week I was excited for the weekend and it was my first trip with my organization. The trip started early Saturday morning so we still had Friday to do something locally. I had told my friends that it was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, so Jenni suggested having a Thanksgiving celebration. We didn’t have enough time to make a full traditional meal so I decided to pick the one thing that reminds me the most of thanksgiving at home: PUMPKIN PIE! My Oma always makes it so this was my first time making it. Pumpkin is more of a savoury food here and so some people thought it was really weird to have it as a dessert. But it was surprisingly a hit! Everyone loved it :)
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| Homemade! |
Many times in our family we go around the table to say something that we are thankful for as our prayer before eating. So I made everyone do this! And it was incredible. It was full of laughter, some tears and lots of reflection.
Jenni and I woke up bright and early to head into the city to get picked up for our Surf Trip to Raglan with our organization. Our first planned stop was the Hamilton Gardens, but thanks to New Zealand spring weather it was raining... So we improvised and went to hot pools near by. It was so nice and relaxing!
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| Sign at our lodge |
We continued driving to Raglan where we explored the town before going to our lodge. The lodge we stayed in was in the middle of the rainforest. So peaceful and GREEN!
There were trails and a lookout called ‘Inspiration Point’. Since the weather was questionable, we were saving our surf lesson for Sunday. So we got to relax and hangout.
Once it got dark Jenni and I walked down the driveway because it contained glow worms! It was just a bunch of green dots but man was it was pretty. There was something refreshing about being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by God’s creation even if it was just for a night.
Sunday morning we got a surf lesson on land before we got anywhere close to the beach! And boy am I thankful for that.
Once at the beach we basically had everything working against us. The wind was crazy strong and the waves pushed you back and sideways each time they hit you. We had an hour in the water, which doesn’t seem like a lot of the time but I was seriously exhausted by the end. For most of my runs I only got to my knees before falling off. But my last run I got on my feet for a couple seconds then toppled over haha. I think I used the same amount of energy getting my wetsuit off as I did in the entire hour of surfing haha! It was a great experience and I think I’ll try it again. Practice makes perfect right! Now that the weather is getting warmer I’d love to spend some more time in the water.
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| YIKES! |
On our way back to Auckland we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls. We got to see the falls from 3 different views. Top, midway point and the bottom bridge. The sights were absolutely break taking, literally and figuratively. There were 261 steps down to the bridge and then we had climb back up them! Definitely worth it though!
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| Top View |
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| Midway Point |
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| Bottom Bridge |
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| Apparently this is 'my' face... |
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