The Bath House in Rotorua

Rotorua became known for the bathhouses that were created using the heat from the volcanos. People came from all over the world to stay for weeks and months at a time to sit in the hot sulfur water because they believed that it would heal their ailments. I think I'd feel pretty good sitting around in hot baths every day too! At some point the local volcano errupted and destoyed a lot of the area as well as killed many people. The Maori's believed that the Volcano came because of all of the greed that had come to the area. This bath house was really beautiful and they are now refurbishing it to look like it once did.

Hinemutu--The Pa in Rotorua

Rotorua is full of hot water springs caused by the local volcano's. The area smells like sulfur. People used to come from all over to sit in the springs. It was believed that the water would heal your infirmities. My dad served a mission here in New Zealand. He spent a day by himself in Rotorua waiting for his new companion to arrive. This building is called a Pa. It's a gathering Holy place where the leaders of the the Maori people would meet. My dad has a picture of himself standing here in front of the Pa from his mission. His goal is to have each grandson standing here in front of the Pa just as he did. It was pretty cool to have Cardon and Jace do this.

As the Europeans came to the island, they brought with them Christianity. We had the privilege to see and old Christian church that depicted Christ walking on the water. It was so beautiful because the glass had Christ etched onto it but the water and land behind it were real.

This is a typical Moari Tiki statue. They were hand carved to keep away evil spirits.

The Drift Cars in Rotorua

My dad took us over to the drift cars so that me and BJ could race Cardon. A hair net was a must before putting on the stinky, sweaty helmet. Cardon was just sure that he was going to beat us, but these cars were super fast and powerful and every movement on the wheel really affected the car. So needless to say.............

I WON!!!!!

The Agridome in Rotorua

The kids loved the Agridome. A sheep herder showed us all the different kinds of sheep in New Zealand and what their wool was used for and then showed us how the dogs were trained to keep the sheep in line. Brinly and Amelia got to go on stage and milk a cow and then Cardon got to go on stage and feed the baby lambs.

Thank you Grandpa!!!!!!!

New Zealand--Here We Come!!!!

Once we finally made it to New Zealand--after 25 hours of travel, we hit the ground running. My mom picked us up at the airport in the morning and we hopped in the mini van, drove 2 hours to Rotorua and spent the day doing one activity after the next. Our first stop was The Zorb. They have these great big balls with another ball inside. It's bottom is filled with water. You climb inside, they plug it up and then push you down a big hill. Brinly and Amelia are together on the left and Cardon is on the right.

Then at the bottom of the hill they unplug the opening and you experience a birthing sensation as you squeeze out. BJ and I went together. I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants but don't tell BJ!!!!

I highly recommend this if you ever visit the area!

So The Journey Begins--Spring Break, 2011

We woke up on Sunday morning--our day of travel--to fog. Lot's of fog. We headed to the airport and about 5 minutes before we got there found out that our flight had been cancelled-due to fog. BJ and I felt the panick rising. He went in while I waited in the car to see what we could do. We were put on another flight taking us to Chicago instead of Colorado. The layovers would cut it closer to our departure date in L.A. but they felt like we'd be fine. When we arrived in Chicago we looked up on the screen to find that our flight was delayed by 2 hours. In order to make the 11pm flight out of L.A. to New Zealand we had to get there at least 2 hours early. Well, we didn't arrive in L.A. until after midnight. So, we missed our flight and in missing it we lost a full day in New Zealand because the next flight didn't leave until the following evening. We found a motel, crashed after a long day of travel and woke up in California. What to do all day?????

We decided to make the most of it. We rented a car and took off to spend the day at Santa Monica Pier. It was a bit chilly but beautiful.

We had lunch at Bubba Gump's on the patio basking in the sun. I looked over at a young couple eating near us. The young man was looking at our kids. I thought "I know, I know--they are stinking cute, aren't they?" He looked over at his wife and said "4 kids are wayyyyy to many!" Huh, what? Then I thought, "Oh ya, we're in California, the land of the worldly" so I didn't take offense.

We rode the Ferris Wheel. We got such a great view of the coast line up at the tippy top.

The kids played a few games.

Cardon was very proud of his winning turtle. He's got a good arm!

We hit the Merry-Go-Round and let the kids pick out a little treat.

We spent the last of the day walking on the beach. It was a great day. We headed back at dinner time and got ourselves ready to board the plane---New Zealand here we come!!!!!!

Blue and Gold Banquet

Cardon received awards tonight at the Blue and Gold Banquet. They had a Star Wars Theme and they certainly went all out. They had the Jedi give out all of the badges. The boys loved it .

Jace slept through the entire event and woke up to 20 Star Wars people. He probably thought he was still dreaming. He didn't want to get near them but finally tolerated having the Jedi sit next to him for a picture.