Abby's First Blog Entry!!!

Hey everyone!! This is Abby!! I just wanted to say, I am so excited about going home but I will really miss this place!! I am so looking forward to coming home to my friends and family! I also have lots of friends here!! Some of them include: Ohaora Smith, (Aholda) Mya Packman, Tess Packman, Naomi Berger, Jennifer, Finlay Harris, (she is a girl) Jasmine G., Jessica Armstrong, Jaimie, Alice, Maggie, jazzy fizzle, (jasmine), and so many others that I will miss when I leave here. My school only has 150 people in it. There are 2 different schools inside of the Paekakariki School. There is a junior block and a senior block. The junior block includes years 1-4. The senior block includes years 4-8. I am a year 6. ( so I basically skipped 2 grades when I got here.)

My teacher's name is Mr. Reid!!! He is really nice!!!!!!! I love my school and I will miss it here!! P.S. if Mrs. S. is reading this, I know that you try your hardest to make things fun for us and you often do. I know that if you could, you would let us do even more fun, but educational things!! They don't have as many rules here in NZ. I love all of the special things in New Zealand and I hope that sometime in your lives you too will get to live this amazing experience! I hope you guys liked what I wrote today! Bye guys!!!!

Desolation and Pinnacles

For what is likely to be the last of our travels outside the Paekakariki/Wellington area during this particular stay in New Zealand, we decided to keep it relatively close to home and relatively unpretentious....so on a whim and with very little planning, we took off Saturday around noon, after gallivanting around the Kapiti Coast to various soccer games (yes, they call it soccer here). By now the rental car guy in Paraparaumu knows us by first name, so that part was easy. Finding a place to stay at our destination, Cape Palliser, was also easy...there's about only one place to stay, and it turns out we were the only ones staying at the Gateway Motels and Holiday Park in Lake Ferry on Saturday night. I (Jim) guess it is a gateway to something, maybe the Cape? Even the owners weren't there, they having decided to get away for the weekend to the far more glitzy town of Napier and leaving the almost empty motel in the hands of their friend, LeAnn, who happens to be the former owner of the Gateway Motel and Holiday Park. But she doesn't live there and so we were, in fact, the only people there. "Just stay as long as you want tomorrow," she said. "The owners won't be home till late and you're the only ones here, so make yourselves at home. Call me if you need anything," she said, handing us a little piece of paper with her name and phone number on it. "I love this country," I replied. And I do. She left us saying that if any one knocked on our door looking for a room we should give her a call.

This all transpired at about 2pm after our 2 hour drive over windy roads to get there. Only 37 more kilometers to our real destination (a place without hotels or even campgrounds)....Cape Palliser, the southernmost point on New Zealand's North Island, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, where hardcore surfers come to catch some of the best waves in New Zealand, and where, reportedly, more fur seals choose to breed than in any other part of the North Island. The scenery ain't half bad either. After much oooh-ing and ahhhh-ing as we drove the (again) narrow, windy road from Lake Ferry (population about 300) to Cape Palliser (population around nil), we finally arrived at the famous Cape Palliser lighthouse perched high up on a cliff, a perfect vantage point for keeping a watchful eye on boats sailing upon both great bodies of salt water. This lighthouse is famous for its 250 steep steps leading up to it...which of course the kids counted as we climbed just to see if it's true---it is! The view from the top is magical...particularly at sunset, which is when we were there. On one side the sun was setting as high in the sky the nearly full moon was rising. Apparently someone else thought it was magical, because during the short 15 minutes we were up there, a young man got down on his knee and asked a young woman to marry him. Abby was thrilled by this dramatic moment, needless to say!

We ate dinner back at the Lake Ferry Hotel, the only watering hole for many kilometers around. Good food and back to our solitary little self-contained unit, which wasn't half bad for the US$77/night we paid for it! It even had a wood burner in the "master" bedroom, which we promptly lit to keep us from freezing our little toes off. Among the many things we have loved while here in NZ are the many cozy nights we've had together as a family in one accommodation or another...usually very clean, inexpensive, cold, and always providing togetherness. Last night was pure luxury, as the kids had a TV at their disposal with shelves full of movies to choose from. They watched Jurassic Park until David got scared and then he and I headed into the other room to curl up in his bed and watch Racing Stripes (much more my speed) on my computer. Simple pleasure.

The morning dawned quiet, cold, and clear as a bell and, as we often are, we were greeted by birdsong (this happens at our own house in Paekakariki as well). Jim woke up really early (for here)to see if he could find some birds at the Lake Ferry spit. All he found was some fisherman who had been there for hours and some really cold weather. Cool desolation, too. After a special breakfast of bacon and eggs, we piled on the layers, piled into the car, and drove back toward Cape Palliser to go on a tramp to a place called the Putangirua Pinnacles. A steep, 1 hour tramp up a streambed and then up the side of the deep canyon led us to a spectacular overlook where we gawked at the unusual and spectacular rock formations....not hard to see why they call them pinnacles. Tall, skinny towers of all shapes and sizes were apparently formed by the rain pounding down on and then running down through the limestone for the past several million years. I (Carolyn) have seen formations something like this in Southern Utah, but those were made of reddish sandstone. These looked like piles of rubble more than anything and it's hard to see how they don't just come tumbling down at the slightest wind or rain. Nature is amazing.

The day ended with a good laugh and lots of talk about things New Zealand as we took what we thought was going to be a way home that was a bit shorter and less winding than the way we'd come over....only to find ourselves on a 30km (posted at 70) one lane road that wound up and down through mountains and valleys, precarious curves with no visibility, no guardrails and no shoulders between you and the vertical drop off into the canyon below. Quite often there was no second lane, either. It was getting late in the afternoon and so we didn't have much time to stop at the Staglands Wildlife Reserve we'd wanted to visit along that road. No big deal, we thought...we'll come back next weekend. By the time we were safely down on the Sea side (our side) of the mountains and back onto two lane roads, we both decided that we can skip that wildlife center....we're not going back on that road anytime soon. We're (or I am) turning gray fast enough, thank you...no need for more help with that. As I (Jim) said to Carolyn, "the locals must think that they can see through rock the way the fly around the corners." Honestly, if I hadn't stopped on the side of the road we would have no back of the car or a very, very close view of the cliff face or both!

As our time of departure draws near, we're all struggling not to feel sad. After all, we have 2 1/2 more weeks and have had the most fabulous time. I feel quite certain we are all changed by it in our own ways. Stay tuned for our planned trip to Manawatu, an estuary that is world renown for its birds. I wonder who suggested we do that trip!

So What's the Big Deal?

As of 5/15/08 there are some new thoughts at the end!

I imagine that when reading these blogs, that many/most/all who read it have a hard time believing that what we are expressing can be true. Is this just simply about being in a new place and away from the normal stressers of life? Certainly the pictures are beautiful and the stories interesting, but is it really all it's cracked up to be? I guess I don't know, for sure, but there are a number of differences that make what we are experiencing both wonderful and irreplaceable. So, with this difference in mind, Carolyn and I began to make a list of these things that are things we've taken to calling "typical Kiwi." The following list is not exhaustive nor in any particular order and will be added to periodically, so you may want to come back to this blog once in awhile. Some have already been mentioned in other blogs.

1) Language - Yes, they speak English, but a true Kiwi is sometimes very hard for me to understand. Although I have been told here that I talk too fast (that's also true in the states when I'm excited, for sure), I cannot, for the life of me, understand more than 50% of a phone message. In fact, there have been a few that I have given up on because it is just too frustrating.

2) The Toilet (Carolyn things that bathrooms in general are a good place to begin when trying to get a feel for a new culture) - We call them bathrooms. They are everywhere in this country. They must have more public toilets per capita than any other place in the world. They are clean, always well-stocked, and in virtually every town we have come to. If a town doesn't have one you are welcome to use one in the restaurants and cafes. One that I used today in Paraparumu Beach had a check list of the things that were cleaned and when. They cleaned the toilet at 6:00 AM. The items checked were commode, wash basin, floor, walls, and CEILING. Yes, they washed the ceiling. I should have taken a picture of the check list for this blog, but didn't. You'll have to trust me. In case you are wondering, the toilet paper was stocked in the PM, no specific time given. Oh, the toilet flushed automatically, the sink came on automatically, the soap came on automatically, and the hand dryer came on automatically. Their were no paper towels, it's a waste. They can also flush in two ways. One side of the button is to flush pee, it uses less water, the other uses more water. It makes a lot of sense.

3) Playgrounds - they have what I consider the most dangerous playground item ever invented. We think it's called the flying something-or-other, but I would name it the child decapitator. It is dangerous in itself because the child is raised above the ground and spinning around, but the real danger is that little kids seem not to be able to see the decapitator coming as they gleefully race closer to the thing to see what the other kids are doing! I have seen at least two children get hit so hard by this thing that I couldn't understand how they got up. I exaggerate, but it scared me to watch the hits happen. The picture speaks for itself. Kiwis in general are more sensible and less PC about things that could cause injury, and in most ways this is refreshing. Playgrounds still have seesaws, for example (read...fewer lawyers and less lucrative lawsuits). I loved those growing up. We sue, they don't - therefore we no longer have the seesaw, they do (you can see one end of one to the left in the picture.

4) Driving - they are on the left, as you know. This is the easy part. The more challenging thing is the abundance of windy roads with no guardrails. I'm pretty sure Kiwis simply don't believe in them...wimpy. No lawsuits is probably another part of it! Every now and then, on a REALLY windy road, you may see something that resembles a guardrail, but it's really made from fishing line and bamboo poles or something very much like it! We believe these rails are probably designed to keep the sheep (not the people) from getting killed.

5) Electricity - there are switches on the plugs so you can turn them off is you are not using them. They look just like the light switches here, so there is no confusion. It's also 240, so if you get something stuck in one of those you're pretty much dead. Guess how many times we've thought we were making toast only to come back from making something else to find that the bread is still bread.

6) Food - a friend of ours calls this the a-la-carte country. You have to order everything separately. For example, in order to get fish and chips, you must order fish and chips. If you order fish you get fish, if you order chips you get chips (French fries). In most of the places you pay before you get your food. There is no tipping, unless you get incredibly exceptional service, and there are no added taxes. So, if you order fish and chips for 12.5 (12.50), that is exactly what it costs. So, when you first come here it seems like food is expensive, I'll write about that in a minute, but it isn't really when you add up what it would have been in the U.S. (they call it America, but they can't tell you why). Did I say you usually have to pay for ketchup (which isn't good anyway, so you really don't want it) and things like plastic ware? Once you get used to it, it's really quite sensible (see, there's that word again), as it keeps you from having 5,000 extra ketchups and salt packets shoved in your food bag that you then throw away! Kiwis tend to be pretty conservation focused as a lot.

7) Grocery stores - there are only really about 3 store chains, Pak-N-Sav, Woolworth's (no, not the dime store), and New World. Although there isn't any scarcity of items, there is the mentality that if they are out of an items this week then come back next week if it is important to you. Otherwise, don't worry about it. Produce is very fresh and very affordable. Other items are variable in terms of costs. Mostly, when I first came here, I thought all the food was outrageously expensive. Now I've rethought it. First off, it's so much fresher and wholesome than we get. I believe they don't actually stuff all of their foods with corn additives (read "fill them up cheaply"!) like we do. You get produce that's in season, so it's always good, but not always available. Did I mention "sensible"???

8) Gas - Wow, I figured out today that it is about $7.00/gallon NZ. That's just under $6.00.gallon U.S. We don't drive very often if we don't have to. In fact, we borrow a car from some friends once in awhile, but don't use one more than once or twice a week. We rent a car for the other occasions when we need one at about $40.00 NZ plus gas. When we shop (read Carolyn ,thank you dear) we try to get enough for the week or we have friends pick items up for us as we do for them. It's a great way to go, I think. Sensible.

9) Sports - Rugby, Rugby, Rugby, Cricket, Soccer and Netball. Did I mention Rugby? I'm sure they have basketball, but I have not heard anything about it. Last Friday night we went see the Wellington Hurricanes rugby team play in the second to last regular season game (last home game). It was a must win for them. If they won, they were assured a semi-final spot in the playoffs. It was a blast, though very cold, windy, and raining, which is pretty typical this time of year. We sat in the family seats, which means we were sort of under cover but not really. Layers and waterproofing were the name of the game. WestPac Stadium seats 35,000, but there weren't more than 20,000 there. The Hurricanes are a pretty good team. They beat their opponents, Western Force from Perth, Australia. I'm used to seeing 60 guys on the field or on the sideline in American football, but these teams only carry 22 players. Interesting, too, for this league, is that each team is made up of hometown boys. It is not made up of recruited players who get traded around as it is for our pro teams.

Speaking of local sports, the kids all had their first soccer game yesterday, playing for the Paekakariki local teams. No pictures of Abby because the camera man stayed with the home team. I don't understand Cricket at all, so I won't try to explain it, even if I could.

10) T.V. - nobody has watched T.V. since they have been here, except on the few nights when we stayed in a real hotel (as opposed to a simple youth hostel type place) on our travels. What little Kiwi television I have seen has been pretty...hmmm...hard to explain. I watched Wheel of Fortune Kiwi style and was amazed by how low the money values were. There was one game I watched when the highest dollar value you could win was $500.00. I haven't watched it in the U.S. for a long time, but the minimum was $500.00. I like the lower one. There are so many things to do OUTSIDE that they kids have never felt the need or desire to watch T.V. We are seriously considering getting rid of the cable at the lake and just have movies. That's what they like the best anyway.

10) Weather and other sort of related things- Weather here is a spectator sport. It is NEVER idle conversation. When they talk about the weather, which is literally unpredictable, the meteorological talk is about lows, highs, southerlies, wave fronts, winds (which have been huge), etc. There are a number of people who rely heavily on the weather for their livelihood... and for surfing, of course. The cloudbursts are legendary, though I have not seen any here like the ones I saw in Texas, though there are more than enough stories from trusted Kiwis to know that Texas storms come close, but not quite all the way. Don't worry Texas, you still beat NZ in the tornado department. Not with earthquakes, however. I'll just say that you can go to a NZ website that shows you where all the rumbles have been for the day. Also, when you first work in a place they inform you of the evacuation area in case of a quake.

I have seen more rainbows in my time here than I can remember seeing in my life. These are not just rainbows that you can see only part of like every other rainbow I have seen. There have numerous occasions when I have wanted to stoop down and pick up the pot of gold... on both ends of the rainbow. Pretty incredible.

11) Insects and other multi-legged things- Well, not quite. First, there are no snakes here. Also, if I remember correctly, there is only one poisonous spider and it is rare. There are no native mammals, everything here has been imported. Possums, stoats, rabbits, sheep (12 million), cows, horses, rats, mice, etc. There are now lots of all of them. The first couple of species were brought here by the English so that they could feel more at home here and so they could hunt. They now spend millions of dollars a year attempting to eradicate them. It turns out that these hometown mammals are destroying the crops and the native bird species. If you recall from another entry, we have to heat our house with wood because they don't have central heat or very much insulation. We also don't have screens because, it is said, there are no insects here - besides the flies, bees, moths, and the most frustrating biting insects I have had the chance to encounter. We need screens when it is warm! Mosquito bites are not really much fun ( I haven't gotten any here), but the itching goes away fairly quickly. The sand flea bites leave what look and feel like permanent bumps that each itch in-di-vid-u-ally. Fortunately they only itch at night when your trying to go to sleep. The fleas are probably the only negative I will take away with me on this trip, though, in the grand scheme of things, that's not really that bad.

So, that's all I can think of for now, but I know there are many others to come. Of course, the themes for most of our blogs have been the incredible beauty, literally at every turn and over every hill, the kindness and the patience of the people, and the low stress life that can be led here. We thought you might appreciate a little culture this time!

Home is Where you are.

I have been thinking a lot about a lot of things, but most specifically about the memorial service for my dad. I haven't quite thought of all that I want to say yet, so that will come soon. It is amazing how far away it feels. Maybe because I am far away. I have recently been thinking about him and about the family. I'll get back to you.

Today's blog from me (Jim) is video viewing. This entry is a tour of the house as requested by my sister, Dee. I will also be entering a video of a Tui with a couple of pictures on another entry. This video is about 6 minutes, so if you are not interested in the house, don't watch. It's not terribly exciting, but it will help give everyone a sense of our nest here. I hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoy this house. There is a coziness and familiarity about it that helps me (and us) to feel comfortable being in our home away from home. Today it is a beautiful, sunny day with a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 Celsius). There has recently been a bunch (heaps) of rain, which has been welcome because they were in a little drought. We also had a very cold night the other night for a house without central heat. People adjust and burn everything that should and can be burned. Here, if they can't save the wood to reuse from a demolished structure they will cut it up into burnable sizes. It seems like a great way to reduce waste, save the environment, and put less stuff in the landfills. It's a far cry from the early days here when they cut down every tree in sight, it seems, so they could pack things up to send back to England. They are slowly replanting.

Anyway, enjoy the video.

Rough Crossing

For the fifth and final day of our South Island Trip #2, I believe I'll let pictures tell the story. In a word...rough! Sick inside, freezing and blown away outside. Note the juxtaposition between David's delight and the girls'---well---lack of delight! Suffice it to say we got home after a wonderful trip with our wonderful friends. No fighting among five kids, lots of great sights, laughter, food, hikes, and relaxation. Again, we are blessed and grateful!

Pupu Springs, Tata Beach and Winding Winding Roads

Another day in paradise, another day filled with new sights and sounds. And another day with a very slow internet connection!

Morning #2 in our cozy little mountain chalet overlooking the Tasman Sea dawned cold and cloudy, but nothing that would stop us from the day's adventures. Yesterday was about one long, spectacular hike in Abel Tasman National Park under a crystal clear sky. Today was about exploring multiple out of the way places (recommended to us by our Kiwi friend Keith Johnston, who knows every nook and cranny of this country) from Abel Tasman north to Golden Bay, a route which winds its way from sparsely populated country to down right desolate country! The road began winding up over Takaka Hill from the moment we left our base camp at Marahau. Up, up, up and more up, hairpin turns like I've never seen. In the daylight hours we found this spectacular, but the return trip in the dark at day's end was mostly just a fast route to motion sickness! But the views....spectacular!

Over the 55 km between Marahau and the Golden Bay urban center (I use the term loosely) of Takaka, we stopped for two short hikes to breathe the clean cold air and take in the breathtaking views...to the East, Tasman Bay and to the West, Golden Bay. By the time we reached Takaka, we were hungry and in need of morning tea (which doesn't have to include actual tea at all, but is a catch all for the time when Kiwis stop to drink something and catch their breath and perhaps a snack sometime between breakfast and lunch). A quick trip to pick up supplies for tonight's dinner and we were off again, this time for a stop at Pupu Springs, the largest freshwater springs in Australasia and reportedly the source of the world's clearest water. I'm not sure how they measure "clearest" but I can safely say I've never seen any water even remotely that clear. And, having spent my early years hiking in the backcountry of Wyoming and Montana, I can say that I have a pretty high bar when it comes to clarity of my water! Pupu Springs, like many special places in NZ, is a sacred place for the Maori people. The thing that struck us most of all was the fact that this place is OFF LIMITS for any kind of tampering whatsoever! How is it possible that this clearest of all waters on earth hasn't been exploited for profit? New Zealand is pretty good at this stuff.

Next stop...the VERY off the beaten path Grove Scenic Reserve. The 30 minute round trip walk took us through some of the most fascinating landscape and fauna I've ever seen. Dominated by limestone, this small reserve is home to so many interesting rock formations that it reminded me of a sculpture garden. Nooks, crannies, and climbing rocks galore, much to the delight of the children. Naomi discovered that the rock walls are loaded with fossils, and the kids proceeded to identify one after the other.

As the grey day turned to grey late afternon, we pressed on in an attempt to cover Keith Johnston's "Best of Golden Bay" list. Five kids and a leisurely pace prevented us from seeig them all, but we ended the day on the, again very cold, but spectacular Tata Beach. The steep hills roll right down to the sea, interesting shells lie in wait for the taking, and limestone rock formations beckon to the children..."climb me...now!" Knowing that our time there would lead to a winding return in the dark, we tarried anyway. The problem with beautiful places is that they're hard to leave.

Speaking of which, David, who is always most attached to the place where is he is right now (wherever that happens to be) ended the evening crying because he doesn't want to leave this place. I think if we let him, he'd stay here in this cabin forever. But tomorrow we sail back across the Cook Strait back to that other beautiful place...the one where we currently live. Not bad.

Glass and Beauty

These last few days have been all about adding to the already amazing adventures we've had and beauty we've seen while in this incredible country. I hardly know where to begin. First, a reminder of the beautiful places we've been even before we took off on our current adventure to the northernmost part of the South Island. Mount Cook (twice), Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, Kaikoura, Mount Taranaki, and of course, a healthy dose of our own beautiful Kapiti Coast. And now....we add our current trip, which so far has included beautiful glass and incredible beauty.
We've been looking so forward to our long awaited trip with our dear friends the Garvey Bergers (who also happen to be our hosts, landlords, and social coordinators!). From the time we arrived and began planning our short four months together, we knew we'd go on one family trip together, and it somehow evolved into this trip to Nelson, Abel Tasman National Park, and Golden Bay. If you look at a map of New Zealand, it's the north coast of the South Island.....land until recently relatively little visited, not quite so trumped up as places like Milford Sound and Mount Cook, and in some ways unassuming. In recent years, however, it's become one of the most popular places in all of NZ to visit, largely because of its relative accessibility, fabulous weather, and breathtaking scenery. We got a dose of all three. But I must go back to the beginning.

The trip began with a family sleepover at the Berger's lovely new house (the one they recently moved into, allowing us to move into their other lovely vacated house which we're currently calling our temporary home) because even though it was only Wednesday, we needed to leave our house spic and span for the Sunday open house--hard to do when you have to catch a 7:08am train! After delicious pizza from the wood fired pizza place where Rob works, we sat around laughing until we were too tired to laugh anymore and retired to bed. The night was filled with the sounds of whipping winds caused by a fierce, cold Southerly (they name their wind directions in NZ!!!) accompanied by torrential downpours. An ominous start to a vacation. At 6 the following morning, we dragged ourselves and the five kids out of bed, ate a little breakfast, poured ourselves into the van and drove the short 2 minute drive to the Paekakariki train station (yep...still raining). A few muffins and cups of coffee later, we found ourselves boarding the Interislander Ferry which would take us across the Cook Strait to Picton...a 3 hour tour. Although it began bleakly, the weather broke part way across the Strait and the remainder of the trip was lovely, if a bit choppy (read, can't stay inside) and cold (read, not much fun outside either).

Shortly after 1pm, we picked up our fancy rental cars (a white Toyota Corrolla and a white Mazda something or other), and were off. First stop, a lovely little winery cafe where we dined in the "Boardroom"---I think they saw the five loud children coming and promptly gave us a private room! Still a bit cold and windy, but we enjoyed a very nice lunch amidst the grape vines. Back in the car, we drove an hour or so before coming to the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve, where we went on a lovely walk to a raging waterfall. When we were on the South Island just a month ago, they were in drought condition, but recent rains have changed all that! We finally arrived in Nelson around 6pm, checked into the very cool newish Accents on the Park Backpackers and off to buy breakfast and lunch supplies and to enjoy an absolutely delicious dinner of Thai food.

Next morning after my VERY hot Starbucks coffee (yep, that's right, Nelson has one), we ventured off an a little exploration of the town. We ended up having the most unexpected pleasure of the trip when we happened on a little glass blowing studio and Jennifer talked me into doing a little "blow your own glass" adventure. It was one of those things that I would never have done on my own but enjoyed so thoroughly. I've always loved looking at blown glass objects, and now I can say that I've made one myself! The owner-artist helped us take the molten glass out of the 1000 degree celcius oven, place it onto the end of a long pole, dip it into the colored glass chips, stick it all into another hot oven to melt the chips together and blow through the pipe into the colorful molten glass to form a bauble. It was really cool, and the kids loved watching us do it.

After a fabulous lunch of Mexican food (yes, that's right...fabulous Mexican food in NZ, which we've been told doesn't e(770) 455-1172xist, but we've found two of them so far!), we drove to Abel Tasman National Park and checked into our little chalets overlooking the Tasman Sound. We arrived just at sunset, and awestruck is the only word I can use to describe the scenery. I've seen a lot of beautiful places, but nothing of this kind. The mountains come right down to the sea, and looking out over the sea is to see a sea of islands and mountains shooting up out of the mist. By day the water is a clear turquoise like none I've seen before. We were lucky to wake up to a crystal clear (cold!!!) morning for our all day outing in the Park.

The water taxi took us out to a place called Tonga Bay, about a 45 minute boat ride or 7 hour hike from our chalets, where it dropped us off on a beach of golden sand. Actually, saying it dropped us off on the sand isn't quite right, because around here the tides rule, and depending on where the tide is when you arrive, the boat can't come all the way up to the shore...so off came the shoes and socks and we waded to shore. After drying our feet, replacing shoes and socks, peeling off layers of clothing, and organizing our water and food supplies, we were off....a very quiet parade of 9 people (NOT!). The day way idyllic....not a cloud in the sky all day, perfect temperatures, and 5 children who walked about 8 1/2 miles with complaining only a few times when blood sugar was low. We were all a bit tired on the boat ride back, and now I sit here in bed at 9:30, ready to close my eyes.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but I'm feeling pretty happy and satisfied at the moment. I'm trying not to think about the fact that in less than 5 weeks, we'll be leaving this magical country where we've adventured, relaxed, made new friendships, strengthened existing ones, and gotten lots of perspective on our lives (or I have anyway!). I think I'll focus on today for now.....