Santa Claus

Kyle took Hyrum and Sabrina shopping for Christmas and they stopped to see Santa.  They both reported it was fun and were super excited to get the gift, a book, from Santa.

6th Grade Graduation

 Eric graduated from Amesbury Primary School.  He presented a speech and received recognition from his teacher.  Then as a family we enjoyed some fun time at Mission Inflatable.  It was a special graduation because this is the first group that started at Amesbury the first year it opened.
 

The Big 40!

I am another year older and hopefully wiser too.  My birthday was very low-key.  It started with a sick little girl that I picked up from school, so the day was spent at home.  Kyle had to work late, so just before bed the kids sang to me and I opened gifts.  I love my family.

 MiKell at 40:  Her body is beginning to fall apart, and her endurance is significantly less than 20 years ago. She still loves being a mother and finds joy in seeing her children learn.  She finds sewing and blogging stress relievers.  She likes to plan and organize trips for the family.  She is currently working with the Faith in God kids and finds them full of energy and learns from them.  She has much to learn in the next 40 years :) 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Saturday was spent with some of Kyle's co-workers.  We ate, played in the beautiful outdoors, and watched some play flag football.  It was a afternoon well spent.

Hallowen

On Thursday we had a Halloween Activity with the Faith in God group.  It was fun and I got pictures of my two in Halloween glasses, scary.

 Halloween was much like the past two years, pretty low-key.  There are a few houses that go all out, but many also leave notes saying no trick-or-treating.  This year we were lucky to go with three families from our ward, which made it much more fun.  The Parks work with Kyle, the Flamianos and the Fernadez families have children in Faith in God.  the kids chose to be a ghost, soldier, butterfly, and witch. 

Last outing with Grandma and Grandpa

 Remutaka Pass looking both directions.  It was a nice stop to get out and stop all the twisting and turning of the road,

 Stonehenge Aotearoa was our next stop.  A working replica of the real thing.  It was an interesting find in the middle of nowhere.

 Our destination was Castlepoint Lighthouse.  We had lunch at a cute little town store and then spent some time on the beach.  It really started pouring and the tide did not let us hike to the lighthouse, but it was still beautiful.

Queen Elizabeth Park was a great last stop.  The kids enjoyed it even if it was a bit rainy.

Kyle and MiKell Trip: Getting Back Home

After disembarking and sleeping on the bus ride home we made it back to Queenstown.  Our last evening in Queenstown we spent walking around town and ate some delicious Italian food.

 Sunday morning we woke up to a gorgeous day.  We went to the park and listened to conference.  It was a lovely time.  We then flew home and found our kids and grandparents still alive.  It was a great break,

Kyle and MiKell Trip: Doubtful Sound

The second day we checked out and met our bus at 8:30 to head to our Doubtful Sound Cruise,

The drive itself was beautiful.  We passed numerous pastures where the momma and baby sheep were playing.  We then got on a boat to cross Lake Manapouri and then a bus over Wilmont Pass.  We then boarded the ship for a couple of relaxing, beautiful days cruising on Doubtful Sound.

Our first view of Doubtful Sound from Wilmont Pass

 Pictures taken along our drive. 

 Plenty of waterfalls, although most were hard to get a good picture of.

 Some of the MANY pictures we took of the fjord.

 

   The first day we took an excursion on a small boat and enjoyed a close up of a waterfall, and a fisherman's hotel.  

 We made it out to the Tasman Sea.  We were able to see a couple of types of penguins and seals.  It was great fun, but Kyle was glad we were sleeping in the calm waters of the fjord.