An Update (that isn't exactly "short")

Dear Friends,

We’ve been very busy lately, but I thought you all would probably appreciate a quick update! ☺ So here goes…

Grandpa’s (Dad’s parents) arrived on Saturday, the 23rd of February. They brought along with them my cousin, David (David’s father is Dad’s brother). I had found out ahead of time (like at least three weeks before) that he was coming, and in the last week Seth and Simon (the next two children after me) had found out he was coming, but all the younger ones were totally in the dark—they had NO idea that David was coming! So it was a really nice surprise for all of them.

On Sunday, we all went to church together, then in the afternoon went up to a church friend’s farm. He owns about a thousand acres of very hilly land (they’re the foothills to the K------- mountains; the farm is so rugged that he hasn’t even set foot on some of the land!), where he raises sheep and cattle. He gave us a demonstration of sheep dogs working sheep, and also sheared a sheep so we could see how that process works. It was all very interesting! I’ve seen sheep dogs working sheep before, but only two (out of our 12-person group!) of us had ever seen a sheep sheared before. So that was a very special afternoon.

Sheep in the yards (sheepdogs behind them).

Our friend demonstrating shearing a sheep.

The next week (until the 1st of March), we worked at home, working up tomatoes and other garden produce, as well as enjoying having Grandpa and Grandma here. The boys also really enjoyed having an older boy around to play with (David is five years older than the oldest boy, Seth).

On the 1st of March (Friday), we took off for a weekend trip down to Mount Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand!). After driving for about six hours, we arrived in Twizel, thirty minutes south of Mount Cook. There, we stayed at the house of some homeschool friends we’ve known for three years.

Along the road

Beautiful Southern Alps!

Beautiful scenery

Saturday, (the 2nd) we drove up to Mt. Cook, and explored the Tasman Glacier area. It was mostly an overcast, drizzly day, but we were still able to see quite a bit. David actually swam in the glacial lake, that had several hundred icebergs on it! He said it was rather cold. ☺

There are many canals in the Twizel area.

Our first good picture of Mount Cook!

I loved the setting.

So beautiful.

Tasman Valley. See the plants in the foreground? The ends are sharp like a knife!

Tasman Valley

The Tasman Lake
(glacier below the mountain in the middle of the picture)

Icebergs, and the edge of the glacier
(along the middle of the picture)

Icebergs...there were literally thousands (or so it seemed!) on the lake!

See the two boats? They give some comparison to how BIG those icebergs are.

Joe--what three-year-old has a chance to get a
picture in front of a lake full of icebergs?

Me. I was half frozen in this picture. ☺ The wind was SOOO cold!

My crazy cousin. ☺ This was in the pool, he was just warming up for the
BIG lake (below).

He made it! Standing on an iceberg. Brr!!
(he said it was about 2°F--VERY cold!)
Note: I got this picture from David's phone, even though Seth took the picture.

Grandma and Grandpa. Trying to keep from freezing. ☺ It was REALLY cold!

Look at that strata! (by the way, this was the top of a mountain)

Sunday, we worshiped with the P-------M------ family at their local non-denominational church. That afternoon (if I remember right, the sun had come out by then), we went down to the Twizel River, where all the boys swam. We spent an enjoyable afternoon there, then went back to their place for a barbeque. YUM! ☺

Elijah and Joe, playing in the Twizel River.

The beautiful Twizel River.

Mum walking back with her baby.

There were lupines in the meadow we were walking through.

The river, with mountains in the background.

The barbeque...taken by David.

Monday, (the 4th) we went back to Mt. Cook, and explored the three-hour-long Hooker Valley trail. A few of us (including myself—yay!) managed to get all the way back to where the Hooker Lake is. The Hooker Lake is fed by a glacier, and there were a couple small icebergs on it. From the lake, the water rushes down a river until it finally joins the Tasman River at the huge man-made Lake Pukaki (IF I have all of that straight! ☺).

On the way to Hooker Valley

The Hooker River
Photo taken by David--I love the composition of this picture!

Hooker River
Also taken by David.

Monday evening, some of us (most of my brothers, plus Dad, Grandpa, David and me) went fishing with two of the P-------M------’s boys. That was fun! Elijah caught a medium-sized salmon, which we ate Tuesday morning. Simon caught a fish, too—it was a rainbow trout, but too small to keep. I’d guess it was only about six inches long. Very pretty, though!

Elijah and his salmon.

Tuesday morning, we started off on the long road home. When we finally got there that evening, we were all glad to unpack and get back into our regular beds! ☺

All of us together just before we left! (it was a very sunny morning)
Left to right: Esther, Simon, Elijah, Nathan, Gayle (Dad), Emma (Mum), James, Grandpa, Seth, Joe, Grandma, and David.
Photo from David's phone.

Nathan's first icecream cone!

He LOVED it!

Home again! (and worn out)

Nathan, happy to be home!
Photo from David.

He found water...and part of a zucchini!
Taken by David.

The rest of our time with Grandpa’s passed in a blur. On the 8th (a Friday, a week before they left), we spent an enjoyable evening at the H------ Mouth. Also several evenings during that time we spent at the W---- River, about 15-20 minute’s drive from our place, trying to fish (we haven’t had any success there yet).

Trying to capture the silhouettes--not very successfully!

Joe

Joe, ready to go swimming! (it was a very cold evening--he
ended up swimming only a few minutes)

On the 10th (the last Sunday Grandpa’s were here), we took them around parts of the K------- Peninsula. That was really interesting! We walked on the rocks some, went up on top the peninsula, and also explored a famous house in the area.

Mum, Nate and Joe at the K------- Peninsula.

Elijah and Seth with seaweed.

On the 12th (Tuesday), a church friend took a few of the older ones of us out on a deep-sea fishing trip. That was fun! Simon particularly enjoyed it; he ended up catching about twenty sea perch! I caught one by myself, mostly because there were only two fishing poles and they were constantly in use. ☺ Overall, we got LOTS of perch, and only one blue cod (what we were trying to get). Oh, well. It was well worth the effort. While we were out there, we saw quite a few wandering albatross (one of the biggest birds in the world, I believe), four Hector's dolphins (smallest dolphins in the world), and a whole colony (or so it looked, there must have been about a thousand!) of shags preening in the water. They were all together, in one HUGE flock. Quite the sight! Oh, yes—we also checked four cray-pots (lobster traps, for all you Americans), and got two crayfish. There were also several Conger Eels trapped in the pots, so we ended up with one of them, too. We haven’t eaten it yet. Conger Eels are sea eels, and they were LOOONG! About a meter (3 ½ feet, or so), I’d guess, tail to head. They looked about that long, at least! Several people were sick, but thankfully us three children (Seth, Simon and I) didn’t have any problems. It was a glorious day to be out on the ocean!

Here comes the boat! (he was coming to pick us up)

Simon bringing in a fish (with Ken's help).

Got it in! Another perch.

Perch

Wandering Albatross

Pulling a Conger Eel out of the craypot.

Hector's dolphin
Thanks to David!

another dolphin
Thanks to David!

Two more dolphins
from David

a dolphin
by David

Thursday morning, David took most of the boys to the W---- River, to try to fish again. They didn’t catch anything, though. :-\ (pictures all thanks to David)

Love the composition of this picture.

Beautiful river!

Simon fishing.

Then Thursday (two days later), Mum took everyone except me out to the ocean for lunch. They also went up on the tallest set of hills between us and the sea, so Grandpa’s could get a good view of the land around here. I’ve been up there before, so I wasn’t envious. ☺ They got back around 5:30 p.m., tired but happy. The boys had swam for quite a while, and the adults had explored tide pools for a little. They were glad to be home!

Nate, playing in the sand.

Is he saying, “aww”?

A paua (abalone) shell someone found.

1. This baby LOVES mud!
2. This baby LOVES water!

Grandpa, Nate, and Joe.

The Cathedrals--rock formations by the ocean.
Photo taken by David.

View from the hill--VERY high up!

Friday morning, at 5 a.m., Mum left with Grandpas and a few of the boys for the airport. Their three weeks here had sped by SOOOOO fast! And, in just a few short days (four to be exact), we will be flying to the States for three weeks! How time does fly!

Overall, we had a wonderful visit with Grandpas.

P.S. When/if I have time, I’ll try to share more pictures—I haven’t been through all our collections yet! ☺ But it probably won’t happen until I get back. I’ll have LOTS of stories and pictures (Lord willing) to share then! ☺