Happy Birthday Jade

Normally I don’t blog on our kids birthdays but, well, Jade deserves a little special blog on her birthday!  6 months ago God placed Jade into our lives….what a blessing she is to our family!  Today she turns 9!!!!  She is so excited that it is her birthday – she has never had a birthday ‘celebration’ nor did she even know when her birthday was.  It brakes my heart to think that she never celebrated her birthday, that she was never showered with love.  God placed His loving arms around her until she joined our family, I know that, but it still stings when I think of how much she missed out on.  So today on her birthday she is getting showered with love & told over and over again how much of a blessing she is to our family…there will be some cupcakes and presents too! 

           

Our ‘baby’ 6 months later – she looks like a different child!  Happy Birthday my sweet girl!!!!

 

In New Zealand…of course…LOTR tour

One of the favorite movie series in the Fraser household is Lord of the Rings…at least for Ron, Tanner, and Justin.  Of course being in New Zealand presents many opportunities to tour various film locations.  We chose to do the tour in Twizel, where they filmed many of the scenes from the Return of the King.  Specifically we were at the location where the Pelennor Fields scenes were filmed.  The tour was fantastic as the guide was actually present during some of the filming and was very knowledgeable about what transpired during the 30 days the film crew was at this sight.  Even Kim left the tour with a new appreciation for the movie, although she will still not watch it.  The kids all had a great time as they got to handle swords and dress up as orcs.  

The guide had movie pics to compare to our locations…very cool

Scary orcs wearing Disney shirts!! Reenacting the witch king scene…fortunately Ron fared significantly better than the real witch king!

  A family really comes together when they are shouting ‘death’!

A White Christmas After All

The odds of a white Christmas in New Zealand, traveling through an area of tropical rainforest, seemed fairly remote at best.   We timed it so that travel was the biggest item on our itinerary for Dec. 25th since most everything was shutdown.  Our destination was Fox Glacier.  Along the way, we ran across Franz Joseph Glacier.  The larger of the two, both strangely located at the edge of the rainforest.  Our white Christmas was from a distance, as we could not get very close to the glacier without a guide, which were all off for the holiday.  That would have to do.  The real white stuff would come the day after Christmas.

The next day, the the three boys took a hike on Fox Glacier.  It was a four hour hike, most of it through rainforest before hitting the glacier.   About 90 minutes were spent on the glacier after strapping on crampons to the bottoms of the hiking boots.  Justin was the only one who suffered any injuries, losing some skin on the ice after misjudging a small ice mound.   Overall, it was a fantastic experience and one of the highlights of the trip.

Justin about to get wet…

Ice crevasse…very cool This is why you need a guide!!!

White Water Rafting on the Rangitata

Another activity we thought the kids would enjoy was white water rafting.  We found a company in Queenstown that specialized in Family Rafting Trips.  However, the rain came & we had to cancel our trip.  After a quick search on the internet, we found a company that offered both hard core and family rafting experiences and it was on our way to Christchurch.  With the large amount of rain that came, the day we went rafting was the first day the company was back up & running.  With the river being fed by glaciers we put on plenty of gear to keep us warm.  After our brief introduction to rafting – how to ‘get down’ when we hit heavy rapids, what happens if you fall out of the boat – Kim was not sure that this was a good idea…..  However, once we got going & Kim realized that the kids were not going to abandon ship, we all had a blast!  Having the tons of rain definitely made for a much more fun experience!! On the family rafting experience the highest grade rapid is 2.  With the rain, we experienced grade 2 rapids with the maximum amount of fun.  With the river running so high we got plenty wet and got our fill of ups and downs.   After the trip we had hot showers and a great BBQ before heading back to Christchurch.

Kayaking

NZ is known for it’s outdoor activities.  Most of those activities fall in the category of ‘extreme sports’.  We found it difficult to find companies that arranged outdoor fun for kids.  But the companies we did find that catered to kids, did an amazing job!  Kayaking was something we thought the whole family would enjoy!  And we did!  Ron was with Jade, Kim with Amanda & Tanner & Justin were together.  Team work was key, as in Tanner & Justin's case.  Arm strength was key for Ron & Kim….& let just say, Kim was exhausted & needed a tow from the guide a few times.  Princess Amanda lounged out while mom rowed away & Jade tried to help dad out but really just made him work more!  

We took a break on a little island. 

The kids had the chance to swim in the water.  Jade & Amanda loved jumping in the water even with the water temperature being a bit COLD!!

 

What a great first experience kayaking! 

Horse Trekking on Cape Farewell Spit

All Amanda has been talking about from the beginning of the trip to New Zealand was the horseback riding.    How many more days?  How many more hours?  How long will we be riding?  Do I have to ride with Daddy?  Can I pick the color of my horse?  Fortunately, we rode horses only three days into the trip so the only questions remaining…Are we doing this again?  When? 

The horse trekking has been the highlight so far for both Amanda and Jade.  Jade has never ridden a horse and Amanda has never ridden one on her own.  Both got their chance and took it. 

We rode for 2.5 hours across a variety of terrain, including beach during low tide and the New Zealand bush. 

The weather was good until we hit the beach and then high winds made that portion of the trip cooler than expected.  Amanda was ecstatic throughout and even after such a long ride was ready for more.  Jade started out a bit nervous but very quickly settled in and also enjoyed every minute and was ready to come back for more.  Our guides were excellent and the girls had a guide that led their horses to ensure a smooth and safe ride.    

The rest of us were not as lucky as our horses had their own personality’s which makes horseback riding a unique experience.  Justin had an especially feisty horse , even getting his dad’s horse to buck on the beach - Ron managed to stay on without dropping the camera he was holding. 

Unlike the girls, mom and dad were not as eager to jump back on the horses, feeling quite sore and stiff after the long ride.  Bye, Bye Horses!!!

Seals, Seals, and More Seals

So far we have been in New Zealand for 6 days.  4 of those days we saw seals.  Seals on the east coast, on the north coast, on the west coast, and in the sea.  Many times you can smell them before you can see them…stinky!  It a good time of the year for seal watching since there are many pups.  Here is one of the cuter sets of pups that we saw near Taranga Bay at Cape Foulwind.

We saw seals fighting/playing with each other and seals sparring with birds as well. 

Of course much of the time they just enjoyed sleeping.

The singing was the best…

There She Blows!…I mean…There He Blows!

After a restful nights sleep and a little souvenir shopping in Kairoura we went on a whale watch tour.  The weather was not as cooperative as we would have liked but the rain held off & the seas, so we were told, were relatively calm.  I was curious how Jade would do on  the boat as the other 3 kids are seasoned boaters.  The sign at the desk said for the earlier tours, “Seasickness Alert”.  Great!!!  Combined with some herbal seasickness tablets and calmer seas than expected, we had no problems in this area…whew!   Overall Jade ended up loving the boat & we were fortunate to see two sperms whales, hundreds of dolphins, and a few seals.  The sperm whales were impressive and the guide was sure to tell us that only the males swim this far south due to the cooler water.    How amazing to be so close to such a large animal.  The guide was very informative & we all learned a ton about whales!  After watching each whale take its last breath before heading deep down into the water, we got to see the classic tail shot seen in so many pictures.  Here is one of our own from the first sperm whale…

Whale #2

Between whale sightings, we got to see lots of dolphins.  They were so playful!  They were swimming all around the boat & doing an acrobatic show for us.  Almost like they were trying out for Sea World.  They loved to race the boat and often were just a few feet away from our spot near the bow of the boat.  Even though everyone goes on the tour for the whales, the kid’s favorite part were the dolphins.    We finished the day off with some great fish and chips at the local hangout, a walk along the beach, a spectacular New Zealand sunset, and feeding a hungry family of ducks at our campsite.

Holidays in New Zealand

For the third year in a row, we are spending the holidays away in a very non-traditional way. However this time we will get to see some snow, maybe even touch it, to make for a “white” Christmas. For what is most likely our last winter living outside the US, we decided to give New Zealand a try. As of this note, we have three days under our belts…finally finding a little time to blog…and so far we are far from disappointed. We arrived on Sunday morning in Christchurch, after connecting through Auckland on an 11 hour flight from Shanghai. Weather was low seventies and lightly raining. Not a good start weather wise, but as we have found out weather changes often and quickly, this time for the better. We have rented a campervan (for 6 of us!! – crazy) and Ron has finally gotten used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Not to say he hasn’t driven on the right side a couple of times…wrongly…and took awhile to get used to shifting with his left hand. Here are a couple quick pics from the first day near Kaikoura…hopefully we will find more time to get some blogs out soon.