This and That

Not much to write about the last few day's. The sun came back so that's been nice. Still wearing shorts or Capri's occasionally but their are a few leaves on the ground in parts of the city. Darryl leaves on a guy's surf weekend tomorrow. They are all flying down to a place referred to as "The Nakki", Taranakki. Flights are cheap around the island so thankfully it was actually cheaper for him to fly there than drive. It supposedly has a great swell there and he is super pumped to get some use out of his new board. He get's back on sunday night and we leave for our two week south island trip on monday morning. We are flying to Christchurch and then RV-ing it around. I don't think we completely thought that through...2 kids in an RV for two weeks. It get' dark at 6:30pm too so I guess it'll be early nights for us all and even earlier mornings :) The scenery in the south island is AMAZING
(especially now with the fall colours) so I will have some great pic's to post over the next couple of weeks. Glad to hear that Canada has thawed out and you are all enjoying a few hot day's. I'm looking forward to enjoying summer again :)

No money, no sun...no fun

So even here in NZ some day's can be a little on the boring side. Yes, yes, I know, shocking. The weather here the last couple of day's has been a little on the colder, cloudy and windy side and it gets dark now by 6:30m. Gone are our long evenings on the beach. I'm not complaining, there isn't snow at least but it definitely rules out some of the fun times we've been having. This weekend D and I had planned to go do this amazing 8hr hike (without the girls) on the top of this mountain tongario but the weather was looking too bad, gale force winds at about 10,000 ft and rain is not my idea of fun, so we had to cancel it.
Now we have a free weekend with bad weather and we are trying to save money for some of the other trips and activities we have planned.
Out comes the list of free indoor things to do in NZ.

Weekend in Rotorua

We had a wonderful 4 days in a place called Rotorua this weekend. It is the most active geo-thermic area in NZ. The ground is bubbling and steaming everywhere you look. We went to a couple of parks that were 'hot spots' and the girls loved seeing and learning about the volcanic activity and bubbling mud. They also had great play parks for the kids. (Us too if you've seen my facebook pic's :)

We also went Lugeing at the top of this mountain. So fun. I'd never done it before but it was a great view and so neat to be able to take the kids.
After lugeing, since it was D's birthday, he and I celebrated by heading out to the Polynesian spa to take in the hot springs and then on to a traditional Maori feast. The Maori's are the native Polynesians to NZ and they have a traditional dinner they prepare called a Hangi. They prepare your food in the ground with lava rocks, wood and sack cloth. Very neat process and very tasty food. It included lamb, fish, kumera, stuffing, veggies and more. It was buffet style and D definitely got his money's worth, lol. The other neat thing about the dinner was that they pick you up in a bus to bring you out to their model village where they have it set up to look like a traditional Maori village and share with you how their ancestors lived and then preformed some traditional Maori singing and dancing. All in all it was really neat experience.
The other really neat thing we did was go to this geo-thermic park called Wai-o-Tapu. It has the largest area of surface thermal activity. It is also the most colorful. The pallet of color's is so amazing. Again, I've added a lot if the pic's of this to my facebook as their would be too many to add on here. Its too bad the girls won't remember a lot of what they are learning but at least the pic's and stories of them being there will hopefully intrigue them enough to have an interest later in life :)
So here is yet another reason for you all to come visit NZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter

It was just me and the girl's today for Easter. It wasn't too bad. I thought it would be worse having no family around, no turkey, and no D. He was on-call. He was still able to join in on the fun for the Easter egg hunt though, since the girls have taken to getting up at 6am (5:55am this morning) since the clocks went back. The day also went smoothly because of an invite to a friends house for tea and an outdoor egg hunt. So great meeting so many wonderful people on our travels.

Kids make Easter so much fun. They make every holiday fun. I love how I've evolved from having it all about me to all about them. To see their joy, their happiness and excitement is enough of a gift for me. I love how having kids makes you 'get' the self-sacrificing aspect of life. To live selflessly. Don't get me wrong. I still love a treat at Easter, or valentines and of course b-day's and Christmas but it really doesn't matter the same.
So this brings me to my question of this week...how do I incorporate the real Easter story into the tradition our society has made it. At Christmas I found a great book that explained the birth of Christ really well and tied it in to how the tradition of Christmas came about. Not quite sure how to do that with the Easter bunny :) Zaiah is a bit young but I did try and talk with Ella a little bit about the basics. Their are big words used when describing the sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross. As it is, a lot of adults have a harder time than a kid would accepting what Christ did for us. I know in Sunday school they just teach it like it is. But I don't want it to look and sound like just another story, because then it sounds just as fabricated as the Easter bunny or santa clause. And what about when they find out you "lied" or "embellished" about that? I want them to get it at a level where it is real for them or as real as it can be.
I looked on Focus on the Family and they had a few neat suggestions that I will keep in mind in the upcoming years.
As for this year, we stuck to the basics: how at Easter time we are celebrating and remembering how God sent his son Jesus to show us how to love others and show them God's love and that Jesus made it possible for us to be able to talk with God easier. And then we just enjoyed the wonderful creation of chocolate!!!!! Thank-you!!!
I'd love to hear what your idea's and suggestions are from growing up or how you do Easter in your house with your kids today.

Climbing Rangitoto

We finally got the chance to climb the volcano that we look at across the bay everyday from our beach in Takapuna.
It was a 25 min. ferry ride over and 1hr hike to the top of the summit. Fairly easy walking for the most part. A little slower with the kids. Extraordinary views of the city from the top. The big crater where the lava emerged 6oo years ago was neat to see and is now all forested (see pic). The lava rubble through the trees was so incredible. There were many different caves to explore and trails you could take to explore the large volcano mass. We found a really neat, dark and narrow cave that we explored. apparently if you take a torch (flashlight, they call flashlights torches) you can keep going through the cave and come out on the other end. We didn't have one and were limited in time to catch the ferry back so we only went so far. Me, being a little claustrophobic, was very happy about that :)

Our adventure proved to be a beautiful good friday morning spent out doors as a family.
this evening we visited another famous volcano, One Tree Hill, but the weather turned bad so I didn't get any pictures...this time. We'll have to go back. The view from there was spectacular as well.

Its the simple things

YEAH!!! We finally have a blanket. The weather has cooled significantly here in the nights so we were forced to buy a blanket. I had a little pink baby blanket that I brought with me but D had nothing but a sheet up until now. As you can see we have the bare minimum in our room but do you like the "surfer Chic" decor? This was Darryl's contribution. I've also just scored a heater to borrow for the colder months of may and june whahooo!!
Like I said...its the simple things that make my happy :)

Surfing with...I mean working with... orthopedic surgeons pays off

I am loving my fellowship here. And I don't just mean the surfing and beaches! I mean I love the work too. I am fortunate to work with a great group of guys who have taught me so much. And I am getting heaps of hands on experience, which has definitely boosted my operative skills and confidence. Coming here for training was

definitely a great decision.

One of the most important things I have learned from the surgeons here is how to make the most out of life! I have become good friends with a number of the younger surgeons here with whom I have much in common. Similar ages, similar young families and similar priorities (ie. family comes first, then work). These guys all seem to make the time to enjoy their families and pursue their hobbies. They seem to have found that perfect balance that I can now realize is possible in this busy profession. And of course, NZ has no shortage of recreational activities. It's a true adventure tourism mecca.

The learning certainly doesn't end in the hospital. They've been teaching me plenty about surfing too. I've been getting out surfing with a few of the consultant orthopedic surgeons every weekend. One of them has this great old 4x4 van. A classic "surf-mobile". We load up around 5:00am every Sunday morning, arrive at the beach before sunrise, drive up the beach scouting out the perfect break, and in the water before the sunrises over the hills. Hitting up a different "locals" spot each time. Like my own guided tour of the NZ surf scene. Priceless.

This morning's surf was somewhat more eventful than usual. After a solid session, I got pummelled by a monster wave. As I was getting tossed in the washing machine, my fin sliced open my heel pretty deep. Needed stitches. Luckily, one of the surgeons I was with called ahead to the hospital to set up a minor OR room. So on the way home we stoped at the hospital, sutured me up and were out the door all in about 15 min (and about 10 of those mins was registering in ER). Perks of the job I guess.

 
 
 
 

Samples

 
 
 
 


I had my second and final photography class yesterday. I love it and am so happy that I am finally developing my long-time passion of photography. After class yesterday we headed back out to Mirawi (black sand beach) for fish and chips on the beach and so I could practice my new skills and D could practice his surfing :) Here are a few samples of our evening. I say few b/c I think I took 1,000 photo's yesterday, lol. Lot's of practice.

enjoy