Sunday, November 16, 2008

Jody- You're the BEST-est ever!

Our first ever vacation without the kiddos was made possible by an act of love and sacrifice.
Thanks Jody for watching the girls for us! Jody and David let the girls stay at their house for 2 full weeks!! They had lots of fun and did crazy things Jann would have had a fit over- like playing with shaving cream inside the house! hehehehe
She looks pretty good here, but I am certain she was exhausted. Thanks Corin and Hannah for sharing your toys, bedrooms and love. Mei Li and Ying Li will never forget their first sleep over at Aunt "dody's".





And now to freeze our tushies off

On to New Zealand....Had to change into warmer clothes in the airport.
Met up with our Cedar Park, Texas buddies; Richard and Holly.........fancy meeting you here on the other side of the earth!
This may look redundant, but I had my tongue out in one and they did in the other- couldn't figure how to have all of us look good in one photo.
Love this Photo......Richard seems to be saying something like "You gotta pay to ride this train."
Actually it was a bus. Holly did all the planning and booked us on a trip to Milford Sound.
Her blog will have more details and facts. But the scenery is awesome. Mirror lake ;} no doubt.
Yep, going down there....
Plop! here we are on the boat, looking back from where we came.
Lots of rain meant lots of waterfalls.
Hey Holly!, Watch out for strange birds.
Makes you think a troll will pop out at any moment...
EEK!!!
Wonder what's down there.....perhaps a brook....?
Well I'll be darned! It IS the Brookes!!


Rarotonga and Aitutaki-fantastic

It is so good:
To have been able to travel to the other side of the world.
To have seen the kinds of sunsets and sunrises that we have.
To have seen the white sands stretching far away, and to be able to walk where the water barely covers the sand.
To ride in a boat that parked right up on the beach where Survivor and Shipwrecked were filmed.
To do handstands and cartwheels on the pristine white island sand.
To snorkle in the clearest water and have lunch ready for us on the remote island (yes, even in remote places, there are even more remote islands).
To wake up and have absolutely no plan other than to go paddle out to a reef.
To have raised many a glass in toast to the beautiful scenery and the fantastic feeling of wonder in such a beautiful place.

























My Hero Jann! The plan was to fly back to Rarotonga and stay in a hotel near the airport so we could catch the flight to New Zealand. We arrived at the well advertized "resort" and you could see us both cringe. It must have been paradise for the people who hadn't spent the past weeks where we had. We got to our "suite"...the colors alone were so bad....the furniture was cheezy, the remote was bolted to the wire bedside table with a cable!! and when Jann sat on the bed to call the front desk, it sunk in like a big piece of Texas toast.
I tried to smile, but I think I must have had the look of panic. This room cost over $300 so it should have been much better. Long story short, Jann managed to contact the first resort we had stayed at and we got a room there- thank God!