Dad here working on the Blog. That was a very different Christmas. But we enjoyed being with each other. We really missed our children and grandchildren, family and friends but we kept busy and had a good time. We drove about 4 hours to the North to a town called Paihia. We went to church in their little branch on Sunday, went kayaking, driving, hiking, snorkeling, dinner cruise, bus tour and a catamaran day of sailing. It was 5 days & 4 nights of fun in the sun and rain.
We watched on TV "Missing Christmas with the Cranks". In a way it felt like that because we were not in Utah and not with the kids and others. We had no tree or decorations, and for presents we bought a hat pin for our caps... We called the vacation our Christmas. So we were kind of like the Cranks...
We did try to feel the spirit of Christmas. We had a great telephone call with Elder Joey. We had our own little FHE and tried to remember what Christmas was all about. Then we went out and played!
For anyone thinking of coming to New Zealand, just a word of caution. It's expensive. All of these activities are not cheap! Its very easy to spend close to $100 per person per event you do. But it was fun. I heard one lady say she was spending her children's inheritance. Funny.
We saw beautiful views, met very interesting people from all over the world and ate great food. (Mir now loves muscles in the shell). The bus tour was very long but going on 90 mile beach and sand surfing and the forest were all very cool.
People can tell we are American because of our accent. ( I reminded them that we were the only ones without an accent). They ask where we are from and when we say Utah they usually are somewhat curious about us and sometimes ask questions about the Church. It's been fun to answer questions and give out pass a long cards to those we were impressed to.
We are glad to be home! We are starving for communication with our loved ones. Please write or call. We love you all. Enjoy the pics. Sorry for the volume of pics. (We actually deleted 2/3rds of them-yeah for digital) Work your way through them. Hope you had the Merriest of Christmas's.
We watched on TV "Missing Christmas with the Cranks". In a way it felt like that because we were not in Utah and not with the kids and others. We had no tree or decorations, and for presents we bought a hat pin for our caps... We called the vacation our Christmas. So we were kind of like the Cranks...
We did try to feel the spirit of Christmas. We had a great telephone call with Elder Joey. We had our own little FHE and tried to remember what Christmas was all about. Then we went out and played!
For anyone thinking of coming to New Zealand, just a word of caution. It's expensive. All of these activities are not cheap! Its very easy to spend close to $100 per person per event you do. But it was fun. I heard one lady say she was spending her children's inheritance. Funny.
We saw beautiful views, met very interesting people from all over the world and ate great food. (Mir now loves muscles in the shell). The bus tour was very long but going on 90 mile beach and sand surfing and the forest were all very cool.
People can tell we are American because of our accent. ( I reminded them that we were the only ones without an accent). They ask where we are from and when we say Utah they usually are somewhat curious about us and sometimes ask questions about the Church. It's been fun to answer questions and give out pass a long cards to those we were impressed to.
We are glad to be home! We are starving for communication with our loved ones. Please write or call. We love you all. Enjoy the pics. Sorry for the volume of pics. (We actually deleted 2/3rds of them-yeah for digital) Work your way through them. Hope you had the Merriest of Christmas's.
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