News from DownUnder part 1

Day 1 to 4 – 1/14 to 1/18 US calendar

Time Flies when you are having fun or traveling like a mad person. Phone services and internet access has been amazingly difficult to get. The hotel didn’t have access that was reliable and then we have been so busy running from place to place I haven’t had time to sit long enough to write and the other thing is time is really off for me. Sacramento is 3 hours ahead of here but one day behind….. so

The flight from Sacramento to LA was smooth from check in at the curb to landing in LA. Of course meeting up with my family is when the crazy begins.

After being picked up by my sister & dad, we waited around for a bit until my brother Ron arrived from Ohio, we headed off to do a “girls nail thing” with mom and Ron went to spend quality time with dad pulling pork or some such thing. It was nice to be pampered as my nails were looking a bit scruffy at that point. Dinner was some very yummy Carne Asada that Flora my SIL made…. Then it was a mad dash as my mom was still packing at 7pm…. Just 30 minutes before we were to be at the check in.

Tom Bradley (international) terminal at LAX is a mess. They are in the middle of a remodel and the lines were terrible. We had to stand in 4 different liens just to check in our luggage completely. Crazy… but lines seemed to be the order of the day! The flight to Fiji was warm…even for me who is cold all the time! The space was cramped and sleep escaped me for the majority of the 10 hours we were on the plane. Arrival in Fiji wasn’t much better than LAX, fortunately that seems to be the end of the gripe session I’ve been having so far. Our landing was one of the best I’ve ever experienced especially given the weather conditions…. Very windy!

Arrival into New Zealand was very nice, the weather was perfect not hot or cold, bit windy but still very comfortable. We found a cab with a huge trailer to take us to our hotel, all 14 bags! Check in was easy and we had a very lovely 3 bedroom apartment.

In Auckland we took the bus tour around the island the first day and then went back to get some sleep. Auckland was a very clean city and not crowded or gross. Very few homeless and people were very polite. We had a few meals, did a ton of walking and on our last night in port had Thai food that was excellent. On the bus ride to find the restaurant my brother asked the driver ot tell us when it was our stop. The driver replied it will be extra so Richard said “my mom will give you a kiss” The driver agreed and then flirted with my mom…flirted…amazing. When we made it to our stop mom went to give the driver a kiss in the cheek and he turned is head for a full lip lock! We were rolling in laughter….

My brothers did that bungee cage thing were you sit in it and it flings you in the air…. I took a video from our hotel room window…..

The next day we boarded the ship and I was running on fumes for energy. We figured out rooms, went to dinner which was average and then I fell asleep on the couch in our room. Nothing exciting at all happened.

I woke up this morning (Monday 1/19 in NZ & Sunday 1/18 in Sac) and things were very quiet. I laid in the dark because Mom & Pam were still sleeping. It was 4:30 in the morning and nothing on the ship was open. We pulled in early 7am to our first port Tauranga, NZ and on the dock we found a wonderful lady tour guide. She took us on a private tour to a city called waimoto.

Our first stop was the GloWorm caves, these are worms in a black limestone cave that glow in the dark. It was very interesting. We then stopped to at a place called the shear shack where they raise and shear angora rabbits…. Very cool place. They put the rabbits on what can only be described as the equivalent of a medieval torture stretch rack! But this rabbit was so calm the whole time and seemed to almost fall asleep during his haircut. Angora wool is so soft and fluffy, when shaved we got to pet the rabbit and it was like the softest of down….. Our last stop of the day was a show that did the history of sheep farming and shearing and a sheep dog exhibition… I liked this one but wished the dog part had been longer…. It’s incredible how well trained they are and everything is done on 5 whistle commands. The dog left the stage, went out into a field rounded up 5 sheep and a ram brought them inside a barn and onto the stage… then kept them there and they were calm….. I got to pet the dog and felt brilliant when the commands they used to control them…. Like “leave it” are the same commands I use with Jack….. if only he were so well trained.

Another time I will tell you about our table mates…. From the upper east coast…. It’s made for some interesting dinner conversation.

The even closed with a swim in the Hydro-pool. This is a salt water pool that runs about the same temp as a nice hot bath and has a huge jet system…. It’s the same size as a regular back yard pool…. After a soak in the pool and a shower, I’m jotting down my travels so far and thinking that one more early night to bed may just get me caught up in the sleep department! Slowing down finally has also made me realize how much I miss everyone at home. Hopefully Oscar has either mooched a few meals from family and friends or eating some of the ones I left in the freezer for him. I haven’t heard from Justin and hope his wisdom teeth extraction went well…..

Tomorrow is a sea day so I’ll check in with you all then.

Hugs from the sea!

Checking in....

Sorry folks there's not much on this post.

I got here safely and wrote a very nice updating post on my laptop that now needs to be copied over.... trying to save minutes as access is super expensive.

will post later tonight with some fun stories so far!

love to all

T-Minus.... can counting

There are two countdowns going on in our family right now......

The first is Jonathan's deployment for a 9 month tour on the USS Comstock. He has only 11 days left until the ship pulls out. I'm going to miss him being close by in San Diego but what an opportunity to go on a world tour. There's a slim chance we may be in Australia at the same time late January. Jonathan and I have been planning an email contact system so he can keep me updated on all the cool places he visits. 

Australia is the second countdown, It's hard to believe that after almost 18 months of planning and waiting my trip is a mere 17 days away! I've been reading up on shore excursions and in Wellington, NZ there's one that is all the local foodie hot spots. The tour is centered on visiting gourmet food shops, wine tastings, cheese and fruit growers and tastings and a 5 star restaurant.... I'm so taking my fat jeans on this cruise! This morning it was a lovely 88 degrees in Melbourne, time to go dig out my summer clothes and get to packing!

Christmas Happenings

Our holiday season has definitely been Merry & Bright! 

Jonathan made it home for Christmas so we were very thankful for that. We were able to be part of Winter's first Christmas, which was a joy and blessing. 

We spent Christmas Eve with Joe and his family in Woodland, Debe (Joe's step-mom) made a really nice meal and everyone had a great time. There were a ton of presents passed around and I received a killer pair of black boots.... Santa Debe was very generous this year!

Christmas morning started off early as usual, most of us up and about for stockings at 6am but Suz & Justin refused to wake up so we stole Winter and she played with Becca for a while. Around 7am everyone, except Joe and I, drifted back to sleep until 9am then the present opening started in earnest! Winter was the star of the show, she mostly just looked at the gifts and spent time pounding on the boxes... her new favorite past-time. Since she has started crawling and is able to pull herself up on tables & furniture, she spent a lot of time going to whoever was opening the latest gift and checking to see if it fit in her mouth!

After presents we had a yummy breakfast of french toast and sausage made by Justin & Suz then we all hung out in our PJ's and played with our presents. In the afternoon we got dressed for our annual tradition of a movie, this makes 21 years straight that we have gone to a movie on Christmas Day. 

Back from the movies we kicked into entertaining mode as Oscar whole family came to eat dinner and and enjoy the evening with us. We manage to squeeze 18 people in our tiny little living room/dining room area for a sit down meal, it was very nice to have the whole family gathered around the table.

By 10pm guests had departed, the kids had gone off to their own homes or to visit friends, the food was put away and dishes were done. Oscar and I experienced a first in our married life... alone time on Christmas Day. A glimpse of quieter times in future holidays, as our children grow and start families of their own. I thought I would be sad when these days arrived but happily it was nice to be able to spend a few alone hours with the love of my life on my favorite holiday of the year.........

Weekend Happenings

Saturday was very busy day around our place. It started early when Oscar and I took advantage of the fact that we wake up at zero-dark-thirty everyday and hit the outlets for those final 3 gifts we were looking for, a cup of Starbucks and then back home before the crowds made it an unpleasant experience. Speaking of which, Becca works in retail and has had full exposure to "the crowds" and her only comment is that people are robbing her of her Christmas spirit...poor kid!

Oscar and the boys took Andrew for one final fun time before he left Saturday night to go-cart racing. Everyone had fun and as always Oscar was kicked off the course for aggressive driving! It happens every time he goes, my mild mannered husband turns into a speed demon on the course!

We spent the evening alone together at home and it was a nice respite from the crazy holiday party circuit we have been on for the last 10 days. Parties are fun but there's a lot to be said for snuggling up on the couch with your hubby and quietly watching a movie while the weather outside is frightful.

Sunday was a bit of busy as well, Becca moved into her own apartment yesterday. Funny how much I want them to go out on their own and yet when they do, there's a feeling of emptiness when I look into the bare room they occupied. I must have look in there 100 times the last 6 months in exasperation thinking my daughter is a slob but the sight of the very empty, clean room brought me little comfort last night. 

We were excited to spend the evening with our little friend Molly. Mommy and Daddy were off to a Christmas party so Molly spent some time with us. We met some church friends for pizza then drove around our neighborhood looking at lights. Once we were home Molly played ball with Jack and Frankie the dogs for an hour.... throwing the ball for an hour! The dogs were in heaven because we get tired of the game after 10 minutes! Winter came home after that and the girls had fun playing together. Molly was coloring and Winter just kept laughing at her. A deep belly laugh every time she picked up a crayon, it was so cute. Molly has twins siblings on the way so it was good practice to keep Winter away from her crayons and to play with her. 

It's always fun time at Auntie Paige's house so we broke a few rules including staying up past bedtime, ate in the living room and watch all kinds of cartoons. Shhhh don't tell mom and dad!

I frequently find lovely things on other peoples blogs that I like to share. This is a Christmas song I found this morning that really touched me.