Bodily Adventures

Kia Ora! As mentioned previously, Matariki is a Maori holiday that a few years ago (2022, I do believe) became a national public holiday, which means Brad gets the day off work! This year Matariki fell on June 30th, a Friday. We decided it would be the perfect day to take the kids to see the ocean for their first time (Daniel, Autumn and Brynn - obviously James and Ryan saw the ocean when we came to NZ last year, well, Ryan saw it before that, when he moved to NZ last February). Anyways... we decided to take a family daytrip to the east coast of New Zealand and visit Tauranga, specifically to go see Mount Maunganui, which is in Tauranga, well, on the edge of it.  Here's a map, just so you have an idea. I've shown Hamilton and Tauranga. It's about 110 km from Hamilton to Tauranga (around 70 miles) and took us about an hour and a half. We didn't yet own a car that would seat everyone, so whenever we went anywhere all together we took two cars. Brad's Lexus and Ryan...

The first couple weeks here were pretty laid back. We went shopping, I learned how to drive on the opposite side of the road. It wasn't nearly as scary as I had thought it would be and for the most part now (3 months later) I feel pretty proficient at it, though if I got into a tricky intersection or no other cars around I might get a little flustered. And, you'll be glad to hear that only once did I go through a roundabout the wrong way and in my defense, it was a teeny roundabout in a parking lot.  Brad and Brynn being brave and riding with me driving. I took a few of the kids and we went op shopping. Thrift stores are called op shops here (which I kinda love). There's an area of town (Frankton) that had 4 op shops all within walking distance, so we headed there (about an 18 minute drive from home). I drove there in Ryan's car, but then had Ryan do the rest of the driving. Anyways, op shops here are fairly different than back in the states. First, there's lots, li...

Kia Ora!  The day after we arrived Brad's stake had a Matariki Celebration and we went to watch. Matariki is a special occasion in New Zealand, marking the Maori new year, and it was the perfect introduction to the Maori culture for our family. Each ward did a number of some sort, and I think some wards did more than one.  Of course our favorite numbers were ones that included a haka of some sort. They really are fantastic to watch. The evening got a little long for a couple of the kids, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Actual Matariki was on June 30th, and Brad got the day off work for it, you'll get to hear about what we did to celebrate on an upcoming post. For now, enjoy a few pictures from the Temple View Stake Matariki Celebration. In Maori culture the women may have tattoos on their face, where men would have a beard.  These are the elders from the ward Brad lived in singing. This is my favorite song from the Matariki celebration. Somehow I've got to find o...

Kia Ora! So I got to check out Brad's new car. It's a 2012 Lexus GS350, for those who care. And it's definitely the nicest car we've ever bought. It makes a great date night car and I will admit I also enjoy driving it to run errands. We tried to hurry home, hoping to get there close to the time the kids would, but Brad ended up taking a wrong turn and by the time we got home the kids were already there, the cargo shuttle all unloaded and the driver on his way to his next pick up. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to go through the house with the kids, but I was also okay that I didn't have to help unload anything! And how fantastic it was to just simply be all together again. Yippee! I love this picture so much! We were all fairly hungry so we decided it was the perfect opportunity to introduce the children to New Zealand bakeries. I wish I had taken pictures of the cabinet food so I could show you, I'll try to remember to go get some pictures and tea...