Rainy Sunday

It was a relaxing, lazy kind of Sunday. I made Diz's coffee cake recipe this morning. Then the boys went over to hit some tennis balls at the club, while the girls stayed back and did the dishes and read. The boys didn't last long as they walked in the apartment an hour later soaking wet. It's still confusing to see dark grey, rainy skies and remember that it's hot outside.

We had lunch at the club with friends and then dashed off to see a play of Robin Hood in Central. It was a slapstick version with 4 players and lots of audience particiaption held at a pizza joint.

When they asked for volunteers, Ally's arm shot up. She got to hold the bag of gold while pretending to be a tree. She was hilarious. Not long after, they wanted parents on stage. Had I known I was going to be doing a dance routine with 3 others, swinging around like Elvis and shaking my hips, I would have avoided eye contact. But it was all good fun.

We were proud of ourselves for driving there and actually finding the way and a parking spot with no issues. We headed home, for our family piano lessons and crashed reading Harry Potter.

The Best Mother's Day Ever...

It had to be a good year. The last few mother's days haven't been the best. Last year the whole family went bike riding in Shatin and came back sick. Austin vomited all over the floor, Ally crashes with a fever and then my dad calls telling me my mom collasped and is in the hospital.

Then there was the mother's day when the kids were 2. Steven was out of town. One of the kids (both claim it was the other) took of the diaper and then they both walked through it and the house.

But this year there were no tears, just smiles. The kids slept in their own beds all night. In the morning, they bounded in with flowers, smiles, pictures and hugs. The flowers were a complete surprise. They has asked to go the playground yesterday with Evelyn and had a complete story about friends they played with. Turns out the three of them had snuck down to Stanley market to get the flowers, which they hid.

I was surprised to get presents as I thought I had gotten them on Friday. Friday I picked them and Jacob up from school. On the ride home, the kids had me plug my ears so they could show each other the mother's day surprises.

One of the surprises was a fill in sheet. Jacob read his sheet first. My mom's name is Christina. She has brown eyes and brown hair. She weighs 200 lbs. Austin interrupted, hitting himself in the head with disbelief. Just when I thought he was going to call Jacob crazy for describing his fit mom at 200, Austin said, "My mom is 210!!" Boasting that his was bigger! I had to contain my giggles as my ears were supposed to be plugged.

Thank goodness for Ally. Hers said that I weigh 29 lbs and was 8 feet tall. Supermodels watch out! Of course, Ally has always had the ability to melt hearts, for eyes she wrote "butfl" (beautiful) and hair she wrote "krle" (curly).

Ally siad she wouldn't trade my mom for "Nini" (night night); Austin said he wouldn't trade me for an ape! Laughing, I asked him if he thought I looked like an ape. And he said, "Just your hairy airpits."

Seriously, who could ask for a better day. I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe next year this could all take place later than 6am.

Lights, Action ......R2 Spring Music Show

Ally and Austin had their big Music show on Friday. They've been practicing for weeks, singing the songs at home at the dinner table. They were so excited that they refused to get hair cuts until just before the show, so that they would look good.

I got there early to get a front row seat. Ally was one of the speakers and was in the front row of the risers. As the kids paraded in, Ally was all smiles and waves.

Austin was on the opposite side in the back row. Austin didn't notice me till a friend pointed me out later.



Ally was the first speaker of the show. She said, "Welcome to the R2 Music Program." clearly and loudly. I was beaming.





Austin's class did a partner dance up front. Everytime he got a boy partner, he'd smack his head self-consciously.






But when Jasmine B. was his partner, he was all smiles.




Austin and Jacob always together








Ally was all performer. She posed for me throughout the whole show. When she wasn't posing, she was yawning. Her teacher came up to me asking, if I saw all the poses!



Kate, Ally, Devon, Music Teacher - Mrs. Barham and Keelin



Keelin, Devon and Ally



Jacob, Austin and me

Fast Fluffers

While Ally and I were at the Girl Scout Mother Daughter Tea, the boys decided to get creative.... (yes, Fluffy is a boy.)

Day 5

Rotorua

We had to get up early the next morning to get Steven to a pick up point for his slegding/rafting day. We drove the 8km back to town to wait at the outdoorsmans shop. The kids and I grabbed a coffee and a cocoa and kissed him goodbye as he jumped in a surfer van filled with 20 year olds.

While dad was gone, Ally, Austin and I headed over to the Whakarewarewa thermal reserve. The hardest part was driving the big campervan without a co-pilot. Trying to back out of a busy parking spot, I stalled three times and cut off an angry local. The reserve wasn’t that far away – thank goodness. Whakarewarewa is a Maori village settlement, where Maori still live today. 10 years ago the women came up with the idea of charging tourist for tours. It was having a special anniversary. The place was packed with locals. The Maori remind me a lot of American Indians, still struggling to find a successful way in a world where their traditions now mean less. We started with a guided tour. Austin was miserable. He was afraid of the steam and thermal holes, afraid of the large, scary looking Maori people and missing Dad. Ally had no desire to walk anywhere.

We watched how they steam their food in the vents everyday, and take a communal thermal bath every evening. (we didn’t watch the actual bathing!) After the tour we watched a song and dance show, with poi balls and Haka moves. On the way out we got a boxed hangi lunch, which is steamed chicken, veggies, stuffing and bread all cooked on the volcanic steam vents. Ally ate, but Austin was too afraid, refusing in case of poison. After seeing a real tattoo artist doing tattoos on site, Austin became a whimpering pain. I think the boy needs an older brother-- Stat. So we left the reserve and headed to the north part of the lake to try to catch a view of dad.

It was sheer luck that we pulled in to the Okere waterfall reserve park and heard voices of rafters going by. So we rushed to the first waterfall viewpoint just in time to see dad going over a large waterfall in a rubber raft! I was taking pictures before I even knew it was Steven. In the excitement, Austin hit my camera case and sent it and the batteries and memory card flying over the edge. Thank goodness the camera was in my hands. I spent a few minutes figuring out how to climb down a gorge when I decided it just was too hard. By then we could hear what sounded like Maori chants, so we decided to run further down the trail to find out where the sounds where coming from. After a 10 minute jog, we came to another viewpoint for yet another waterfall and there were the rafters heading down again. This time we were able to ID Steven and give a big wave! Our timing was miraculous.

We drove back down to Hell’s Gate to pick up Dad. The rafting place is next door to a thermal reserve and mud bath. We headed over to do a mud bath, but it was really expensive and thought it might be nicer just to relax in the holiday park for a couple of hours. The one thing I didn’t plan for well was just how fun the campervan holiday parks are. They have playgrounds, trampolines and more and are usually in really scenic settings. So we went back to swing, jump and explore. Austin and I rented a funky buggy bike, while Dad and Ally played at the lakeside park. If it weren’t windy, we would have been swimming. The lake was warm, but the wind was so strong and cool that you’d have to stay submerged to enjoy it.

After a recharge we headed back out to go to the Luge and have dinner. You ride up a large gondola to a scenic hilltop. From there you can choose one of 3 routes down: Scenic, intermediate and advance. I thought the scenic was white knuckle enough, but the kids and dad wanted more. After a couple of runs, we had a buffet dinner at the top. While the food had been rated high online and in books, we felt you were really paying for the view. Of course, the dessert bar wasn’t that bad!

Day 4

Hahei to Rotorua

















We woke to the sound of a downpour and to Ally crying. Ally had a fever and was miserable. We pulled our wet shoes inside the campervan and figured the laundry hanging on the line and the camp gear could be re-dried. I then spent the rest of the night blowing Ally’s nose, rubbing her tummy and watching over her. When we woke for morning, it was late and we were all still tired. The clouds had broken up, but the wind had taken its place. We didn’t realize till then how lucky we were to get a smooth, warm perfect day for kayaking the day before. Our plan today was mostly driving and possibly blow-karting. Seeing the wind Steven, knew he had to do it.

I went for a quick jog and to the store while everyone was still asleep. I came back to Steven cooking a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs for us. After eating and cleaning up, we drove to Hot Water Beach. It’s a famous for its hot spring fissures that leak up steamy hot water during low tide. We rented a shovel and headed out with the crowds. After no luck for a while, everyone realized that the tide needed to go out a bit more. What started as a bunch of hot tub holes became a big communal one. The spot we could find the hot water was still at the edge of the waves, so every time we dug a hole the waves would fill it in. But we could definitely feel the hot water. If you stuck your feet in more than a few inches into the sand, it got too hot! Our kayak guide had told us about a lady how jumped in her hole without testing the temperature and had to be helicopter airlifted to a hospital. Instead of waiting for the tide to finish going out, we felt we got enough of the concept and experience to head on. Today was one of our longest drive days. I thought it would take us around 3 hours. With the late start, we had to skip my hike and train in Karangahake Gorge and lunch at a winery. But we did make it to Blow-kart in plenty of time.

Blow-kart is a cross between a sail boat and a go-kart. Just up Steven’s alley. Austin was crushed to find out he wasn’t old enough to go. They used to have duel person karts that kids could ride in, but stopped after some kids got hurt. The day was so windy, the owner was only letting ages 13 and up go on the track. I think it helped that Austin saw a group of 3 boys that couldn’t go either.

But Dad did go, and go he did. Steven zipped around corners, lifting his tires off the ground. If we ever had a good place to use one, we could see owning one in our future.

Austin was so disappointed that we made a serious effort to get to the Zorb that evening. But first we stopped at a kiwi orchard and processing plant. The tours were over for the day, which was probably better for our schedule. At Kiwi 360, we basically looked in the shop and went potty, but it was cool to see a kiwi orchard. It was laden with fruit, just that the fruit weren’t ripe otherwise, we would have been still sitting there eating them.

After the Orchard we made it to the Zorb near Rotorua. It was twilight, and we were the only ones in the place. The wind was still up, so our only choice was to Zorb with water. We jumped in a rugged, old van and drove up to the top of the hill. There the guy put some warm water in it and then we climbed in a little hole. Once he tapped the side we’d start crawling like a hamster in a wheel. Austin rode with Dad and Ally rode with me. Once the ball got rolling, we’d jump back on our bottoms and ride like a combination of wash machine a waterslide. The water inside stops you from turning complete circles, so it has more waterslide momentum. We were warm inside, but once we slid out, we were freezing! But even the cold couldn’t stop our excitement. We asked if we could buy one more trip, but since they were near closing, they gave us another ride for free! This time Ally, Austin and I rode together, crashing and bashing and laughing the whole way down.

As soon as we could, we ran for the motorhome, put on warm, dry clothes and headed down to fuel up at Fat Dog Café in Rotorua and on to our camp. Even though it was almost dark, we could tell the park was scenic. The Top Ten Holiday park was at the edge of Blue Lake. I felt like I could have been in Washington State, except the water was a lot warmer! Since it was late and we were tired, we pulled in, plugged in and went to sleep.