Hot Water Beach

Today we left Auckland and drove over the mountains to the East coast of New Zealand. Our destination was a little spot called Hot Water Beach. The drive over was so amazingly beautiful, with peaceful pastures of cows and sheep, and even some deer - venison anyone?- , and then dramatic mountain passes with ferns that look like palm trees dotting the pine covered hills. We timed our arrival with the low tide, because that is when the magic happens at this special beach. There are two springs that bubble up from the sands, with water hot enough to scald heated by geothermal activity close to the surface. People dig holes in the sand near the springs to make their own natural little hot tubs. Luckily we found friendly sorts there to lend us a shovel! For a few hours, we soaked in the tubs and splashed in the surf, until the tide came in and flooded our hole with cold ocean water. I can't wait to show you pictures! The ocean was so beautiful. I'll be adding more details as I add pictures once we are back home, as the photos will jog my memories.

Tonight we are staying in a little town down the coast from the Hot Water Beach called Pauanui. It seems the place becomes a ghost town once the summer holidays are over and we pretty much have the place to ourselves. It is an exceptional development that reminded us of The Truman Show as we drove around looking for a place to eat dinner. There are only 700 year-round residents and the place swells to 18,000 when the holiday beach crowd show up. We only get to stay this one night and then we head south to Hobbiton. It will be good to see the Shire again.

Simpson's Gap

Today, we headed out west of Alice to hike at Simpson's Gap. It was beautiful and we had a nice time climbing gum trees and the rocks.

Can you see A in this shot?

Water in the desert!

E and I want to go back and bring our watercolors! So pretty.

Golden Orb

While out shopping the other day, we spotted something amazing above us on the grape arbor. Can you see it?

Here, a closer look:

That there is a Golden Orb spider and she was huge and gorgeous. We have heard about the Huntsman spiders that are even bigger and fuzzy like a Tarantula, but have yet to see one. Not sure I am eager to, to tell the truth! In the airport in Sydney, they had a big poster on the wall that showed the 1000 spider species in Australia. We did not have time to stop and look and A was probably happy to pass it on by. She does seem less phobic about the spiders lately. Good timing, I'd say, now that we are here!

Brilliant!

Look what we did last night: The results! One was bold: And the other subtle:

E got lots of compliments while out and about today. Even the lady at the MVR (like our DMV) when we were getting our driver's licences was impressed. Of course, her hair was purple, too!

A did not get much attention, but that is her style.

A Town Like Ithaca

I feel like we have travelled so very far, only to end up right where we started from. This place is so much like Ithaca in so many ways, we feel right at home. On Sunday we went to the Todd Mall market with our wonderful sponsor family. It did not have much in the way of farmers and produce, but the crafts and art were worth a look. The girls got some cool stuff and we enjoyed people watching. All the hippys made me feel right at home, too! Some differences are the presence of the aboriginal population and the cool artwork they did on the trash cans, er, rubbish bins, I mean.

I loved some of the aboriginal art and will definitely be purchasing some. After the market, we went up to the top of Anzac Hill to check out the view. This is looking North-ish:

And this is looking south, towards the MacDonnell Ranges and our neighborhood: The pictures really do not do the view justice. The area is so green and beautiful, but since we were up there in the middle of the day, it looks washed out. Oh well, take my word for it, it is a lovely view. Click to see it bigger.

Joey Licked Me!

Last night, our sponsors took us to see the local wallabies that come down the mountain to be fed. That was the coolest experience ever! I don't know of any place that let's you feed wild animals like this in America. The wallabies were so tame, you could pet them: A looking like a wallaby herself:

The cutest thing ever was when a joey poked out of the pouch of it's mama:

This joey was the one that licked my finger when I went to pet him! He was so cute! We loved petting the wallabies because they have very soft fur. They would grab your hand when you held out the food for them. And they chewed it very thoroughly before getting more.

I can't wait to take our visitors to feed the wallabies!!

The Alice

Here we are on our first full day in Alice Springs. We arrived at noon yesterday and were picked up by our sponsors at the airport. They took us right to our house and showed us around. Then we had a little time to ourselves to settle in a bit and explore the house, unpack some of our APO boxes, and freshen up after our 27 hours of travel. Thank goodness for business class on the flight over. It was heaven. I didn't want to land! Anyway, later in the afternoon, we went over to our sponsors' house for dinner. Since we were all so wiped out from the trip, we did not last long and had them take us home before dark. E was in her bed asleep by 7pm, with the rest of us not far behind. I was wide awake by 2 am, but I managed to sleep a little more until 5:30. After that, there was no point in trying to sleep any longer, so I got up and got a shower. We scrounged a breakfast together and then I got out and drove our car for the first time. I managed to get us to the grocery store without running into any oncoming traffic! Fun. We got some groceries and came home to put them away and have some lunch. Now we are hanging out at our sponsors, checking email and waiting on the men to get home from work so we can go do dinner out and then we are going to go feed the wallabys. I'll get pictures and try to get them posted soon. Please be patient with me until we get our internet set up and I can take my time getting stuff posted.

48 Hours

Two days from now, we will be winging it across the country on our first leg of the flight to Australia, hopefully. Why hopefully? Well, the latest snafu is that we are short one passport. Mine. After failing to do it right, twice, the State Depatment is going to get a visit from my husband tomorrow morning when their doors open and he is going to sit there until they get it right. We have been told it is all done and ready to go, but it never made it to C's office last week like it was supposed to do. We'll see.... So, please send us all the prayers, positive passport vibes, good juju, and any other make-it-happen-energy you can muster, so we can get on that plane Tuesday evening. Thank you. *****UPDATE***** We have passports! Alice Springs here we come!!!!

The Best Laid Plans....

Well, our grand adventure should have started today with the drive to VA, but old man winter has decided we need one more day in Ithaca, resting in the hotel. Now, C did get up really early to drive down ahead of us and the bulk of the storm, since he felt he needed to go into work tomorrow to check on last minute moving stuff. The girls and I will follow tomorrow, after the snow clears out.

We got the house cleaned out and the keys to our property manager yesterday, so all is good on the home front. I was the last one at the house, mopping the floor and shutting it up, and while I expected to feel sad, I was more numb than anything. Maybe it will hit me later, or maybe the fact that we are coming back has kept me from being upset. Or maybe we have just not slowed down enough to feel yet.

I've learned a lot about myself in the past few years. One thing is that I resist change. Now, I can swing with a new plan after a period of readjustment, but boy do I hate changes at first. The other is that the unknown scares the bejeezus out of me. Literally freezes me up and keeps me from moving forward without help. C is really good at being that help, for which I am immensely grateful. So you could say this move has been challenging for me. ;-) All that said, I guess I am doing ok, so far. I'll keep you posted on the rest!

Day Ten

Today was more party prep and the arrival of my friend Kime and her two girls, who are friends of all the girls already here, from NV:
And here is a shot from yesterday:

Now, C is home, the prep is going well, the weather seems to be holding out for a good party tomorrow and all is well. I doubt I will get a post up tomorrow, so I'll see you all Sunday with a double day post!

Day Nine

I'm waning here. The stress of getting ready for a big party and cleaning up after four kids who seem to have no concept of the work involved and how they are only adding to my workload is getting to me. We had park day today and it has worn me out even though we did not stay long. I took some pictures of the girls in the lake swimming, but I am too tired to post them. I am going to do the dishes and go to bed.

Day Eight

Today, the girls dyed a friend's hair. She had seen them all at park day last week and wanted to get in on the action! First, the bleaching:

The final result. E and S got a little more blue as well:

And, for fun, here is a blurry failed shot of a braid train:

I took it easy for my birthday, and interspersed party prep with book reading. E and I are sharing the final Hunger Games book and she let me read it during the day. Oh, and C sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses, too!!

Day Seven

Halfway point! I have no pictures today. I spent the day in frenzied party prep and the girls had fun but did not do anything newish worth taking a picture of. We moved the Wii down to the basement for the kids to be able to rock out at the party and leave the living room for the folks who want to talk and be able to hear themselves think! It was very hot today so the basement was the place to be. More chair painting was done, but they are not finished yet, so I can't take a final picture.

Tomorrow is my birthday and anniversary, but C is not home, so we are celebrating on Saturday and after the kids leave.

Day Six

Today, we went here: We tried to swim, but it was very cold. A was the only one to get all the way wet.

So we left and got ice cream instead. Back home, after some Rock Band, there was outside fun as the evening cooled off. Laying in hammocks:

Eating carrots and tomatoes out of the garden:

After pizza for dinner, the girls decided to go paint some chairs in the studio:

Finished chairs pictures tomorrow!

Day Five

Today, S caught Alice the rooster and loved on him. This was a long sought after thing, as she has been trying to catch him since she got here! The girls all gave Alice some love:

We went into town to do a little thrift shopping on the Commons where many a good bargain was found. There was some loving on statues, too:

Back home, the new zipline was enjoyed:

Day Four

Today we went to the Ithaca Farmers Market:

A is showing her friends all the herbs she knows about here:

Much shopping was done. This stall had a gift for a sister, but I am not telling...

After the market we got ice cream at Purity and then hit a hardware store to get the findings for a zip line. When we got home, I put it up between two trees in our yard. A little tweaking is needed, but it was fun trying it out. No pics, I'll have to get some tomorrow.

Last night after posting, the girls did photo worthy stuff, like this tower of blocks:

They made patterns with the pattern blocks, too:

More Rock Band is happening right now. I think they are practicing to be really good during the party next weekend!

Day Three

Day three involved some shopping at the mall and a fun grocery shopping trip at Wegmans, complete with dinner in the marketplace, and exciting finds in the international food aisles.

M was so excited to find this Japanese soda that requires popping a marble through the top to open it. The marble stays in the bottle and the soda flows past it as you drink. Weird, but fun and very yummy! So we each got a bottle to try and she bought a bunch to bring home!

Here is a close up of the trick involved to open the soda:And then there was much Wii Rock Band playing:

Day Two

Park day!

Totally teeter-tottering together:

Groovy girls:Marvelous mermaid mane:

Day One

Yesterday was day zero of the grand adventure visit of Saren and Mollie and all we did was pick them up from the airport, go out to dinner, and come home. The kids stayed up late watching movies and hanging out outside so as not to wake us sleeping old folk (which did not work).

Today, we did more photo worthy stuff, so here are a few pictures to tell the tale.

Swimming at the lake house my brother rented for the week:A and M tubing:

M brought all the fixings for a dye fest and here S is getting bleached:A is a blond!The color is going on as I type. We had to wait till we got back here as the rinsing options at the rental were not optimal. You will see the results tomorrow!

Reset

I feel like someone pushed the reset button on my life. Lately, I have been in a bit of a funk. I know most would say it was the winter, but I really don't think so. I try very hard to find the good in every season and to relish that good. So, I can't say what has kept me feeling stuck, but I know what has gotten me out of it. UWWG. I have come back re-energized. Yesterday, I got up at 5am, got on the road by 6 to head home from Ohio, got home, unpacked the car, unpacked the suitcases, went out to snow blow the driveway, decided to shovel the snow to build back up the luge run, then I started clearing the 6 inches of snow off the ice on the pond until it got dark, came inside and sent an email out inviting people to come skate and sled here today! I needed, and took, a nice long bath after that! But I felt good. So, today, three families came to play with us and we had a great time. Disastrous dinning rooms be damned! I have my life back.

I started the conference off feeling like I wasn't too sure how things were going to go. The place was great, but HUGE, and with over 1000 people (estimated, 300 families x 4 people per family) attending, I was missing the intimacy of the Good Vibrations conference. I also knew that a lot of the families were not even unschoolers, so I was reluctant to get excited about hanging with the tribe if it was going to end up not quite my tribe. So, I had a quick freak out moment when I did not know what I was doing there and then C calmed me down, got me back on track and it was smooth sailing from there. It was good to see old friends, and it was great to spend time with the local families we roomed with and get to know them better. I let the conference type stuff go mostly, and just spent time with people, my family, our roomies and I only went to talks by people I consider friends already. Except for John Taylor Gatto, but he came before freak out moment! And he rocked! Got to read his new book...

My dear husband made a comment on the drive home that really stuck with me. He said being there for the week reaffirmed his faith in humanity. I agree. It is just so wonderful to be with people who enjoy life so much. And who enjoy their kids so fully. And the kids. What can I say? Free range children are the most amazing, life affirming, awesome bunch out there. Ooooo, take a look at this! I wish I was an unschooled teenager so I could go! The video premiered at UWWG and is an example of what a free kid can accomplish. I'm so glad my kids are going to be old enough to go soon.

So, now that I have had my life reset, I'm excited to see what comes next! Stay tuned!