The first weekend back

So our good mates, Cesha and Tracey, wanted to have a mini shogatsu to celebrate the Japanese new year since we were out of town.
We invited a few people and no one could come. So it ended up being just us, which was just fine.

Everyone worked hard to make the night amazing. Can I just say how much I love this food? I was in heaven with all this good food and so were all the kids.
I love hanging out with the Crane's and I'm glad they're our mates.
The kids have a good time and are comfortable there and we always talk the night away whenever we're together. It's a perfect fit.
Their house is awesome as well, so big and wonderful. Cesha and Tracey are always making changes too, which is exciting since Dru and I don't have the cash to make changes to our place like we'd like to.
At least someone's meeting their house goals right?

I got a new plant for Yuki's Totoro plant holder. Hopefully we can keep this one alive. We're not the best. I came into the bathroom and saw one of her Totoro's up in the tree part. It was so cute that I had to take a picture.

I love Dru's sushi.

It was Emiko's friend, Toby's, birthday on the Saturday. So I worked hard all week and made him this shark hat. He was having a shark party, so I figured it was fitting.

It's like the shark is eating his head. I love it. I had to buy the pattern for $5 though and I hate buying patterns. Usually you can find things online for free, but there were slim pickings with shark hats so I caved.

Emiko told me he loved it. So that's good.



It was Aria's birthday this weekend and her mother was having a family birthday this year. So Cesha picked up the girls and dropped them off at the movies to watch Jumanji together like teens. Aria is turning 13 and Piper is already 13 and Masaru turns 13 in March. These kids are growing up right before our eyes and it's crazy. They had a blast. I told Aria I'd bake her whatever she wanted and straight away she asked for this oatmeal apricot bar I make. So that's what I did. I don't even remember making it for her in the past, but I obviously did and it made an impression on her.


Yuki asked for a mirror to be in her room. I have this mirror that's hanging around in my guest/craft room waiting to be put up. I figured it's gonna be a while when my craft room is done, so she might as well have it in her room and at least use it. I love that it's a bike tire.

Later on that night we headed to the hotpools with Keith and his family. We had a good time. It so nice for my muscles to soak in the hot water. I love it. We then got a burger and headed home where I proceeded to put on Kat's gold mask.
It's a little sticky as you can see in the video.


Then on Sunday I started my calling where I teach Relief Society once a month. It's every second Sunday. It's a pretty sweet calling man. It's actually the easiest calling I've had in a long, long time and I'm loving it.
I had a good time teaching it. I love teaching though. Put me infront of a crowd and I have a great time always.
The Laurels come in and listen when I'm teaching, which is really nice. I love having them in there with me, it makes me happy.
It was a good weekend.

Takeshi's derby

So Takeshi's pinewood derby was coming quickly up and he needed to get his truck in. They wanted them in a week early so that they weren't mucking around with it that night. Fair enough I guess.
Takeshi wanted a trophy truck. Dru and I told him it wasn't going to be fast, unlike REAL trophy trucks! He didn't care. We told him the wedge is the way to go, he still didn't care. He wanted a trophy truck. So a trophy truck his father made him.

Dru worked hard on this.

And it turned out pretty awesome right?







Takeshi thought he'd died and gone to heaven. He was loving it.

Here's the video of his race. It did as we predicted and lost the race. But Takeshi couldn't have cared less. I love it.
It was a quick night. It was all done and dusted in under an hour. They only let the kids race once.
I kinda wish they weren't so efficient and let them race a little more.
But I don't wanna be a leader in cubscouts, so I won't complain.
It was a good night and I'm glad we went and I'm super proud of Dru's accomplishments.
I always figure that building the boys derby cars would create some father and son time. But Dru always just builds them himself with no help from the boys.
I don't know why. Maybe he'll let Takeshi help next time.

Back in Boise

So we're back in Boise and living our lives the best way we know how. It's cold and a little depressing but it's nice to have a constant and our beds and to see friends.
Emiko saw this leaf and pointed out that it totally looks like NZ. I was laughing cause it does you know? I love it. Always missing home.

Another thing that's nice is that this is how much it cost to fill our car up. In NZ it's double, if not more than this. I feel bad for my family man. They were so good to come to everything and travel for our visit.

I went to the store and got some pillows for the cases I got at the waitomo caves giftstore. I love them. They make me happy. They're a cool material as well. Like more a sack type material rather than cloth.

Then I had to get up my plant holders that Haley got me. Don't they look amazing? I love them.

This plant needs some TLC. I'm trying my best. I'm not that great with plants.

The kids are right back into it at school. They loved seeing their mates but miss home. Takeshi brought back his Christmas stuff he made before they left. I took a picture of it, then threw it out. The kids know the drill man.

Here's some of Masaru's latest artwork. Pretty cool.
He likes art. He's glad I convinced him to do it instead of choir and I'm glad he listened.
He needed a chill subject, not something else that would take him away from home and demand extra work from him.



We went to Costco to replenish our fridge and freezer. We don't usually take the kids. They always want this and that and it's kinda nice when Dru and I go ourselves. But we took them this time and they had a blast as you can see from this video. I love it.

We had too many things break down for me to feel sorry for myself this week and so I've only cried a couple of times about being back.

Kat's and goodbye to NZ......

We got up to Kat's from Haydn's place and chilled there.
The kids played with Kat's kids and watched TV and played out in their conservatory as well.
Dru and I were thinking of getting dinner but Kat made us some really awesome nachos that we ate. It was nice of her.
It was good to hang out with her and Ray and their kids a little longer and get to know them and them to know us.
I see Kat very little now and so hopefully her kids will remember who I am.

Their house is beautiful and I love it. They love it too. The kids have a room and Kat and Ray have a room then there's two other big rooms for each of her sisters who come and go depending on what's going on. I think the arrangement works out good for them.

This was also the day that Nydia and Keith got in contact with us and told us our fridge had died and that we'd lost all of our food. So Dru was on the phone trying to figure out what to do about that.
It's a pretty suckie situation to know that something crazy is happening back at your place but you have very little control over how to fix the problem you know.
Keith and Nydia cleaned out the fridge and threw out everything so that when we came home, we didn't come home to a gross house.
I'll forever be grateful to those two for doing that for us.

I tried not to stress out about it at all, cause what could be done? Nothing right? What's done is done and whatever we had to do when we came home, we'd have to do it. Me stressing about it would just take away from my time with Kat and put me in a funk for my last part of my trip. No thanks. So surprisingly, it didn't bother me too much. Sure we lost hundreds of dollars worth of food and would have to start again, but again, what could I do about that? Would we have to get a new fridge? Maybe? I dunno. For whatever reason I wasn't too phased by it and I'm grateful for that.
Maybe this whole adjustment in my attitude is paying off? Or maybe I'd just had an epic holiday in NZ and was super chilled? I can't place it, but I'm grateful for it.

Eventually we put the kids to bed in Kat's kids room. They had a bunk, so we put Masaru on top and Takeshi underneath and the two girls on the ground and shoved them in there.
Dru and I slept on Kat's massive couch and it was really comfy. So that was nice.

Kat stayed up and talked with us and I was surprised at how informed she was in the subjects she was talking to Dru about. It was interesting talking to her.
She's really up to date and well researched. She's really smart and I've always admired that about her. She's super talented but plays it down so much that when I'm around I'm like "Oh yeah she's super smart" which sounds crazy but I'm used to her just being my mate, I forget she's so many other amazing things and so important to so many other people and businesses.

She works part time and they want her to work full time but she doesn't want to miss out on the time with her children.
She said it's a tough balance because there's women who put their kids in full time day care, which is super spendy by the way, and are moving past her in the career ladder and sometimes it's hard to see cause she knows that could be her. I get that you know. But then she looks at her kids an the struggle it was just to have them, and how much she loves them and wants to be with them and knows she's made the right choice by keeping it part time.

I feel bad for women man, and the struggle between career and mum life. I know it's difficult for a lot of women and I wish it wasn't. I'd be nice if they could have both and not have the sacrifices that come with that. But life isn't like that. There's always a choice and with choices there's consequences. Which is why we have to choose what's best for us and our own families, whatever that looks like, and not judge others who do the same for their families and it's a different way.

She got me a present and it was a GOLD face mask. I was excited to try it and she got one for herself as well.
She said she wanted it to be special, and gold is the most precious stone and she wanted that to represent the way she felt about our friendship. It was the sweetest thing and I was really touched by it but the moment was so casual that I never got to express what that meant to me.
After a good talk together we eventually went to bed.


Our flight didn't leave until around 3:30pm and so we planned on being at the airport at 12:30 and it's really lucky we were there the stipulated 3 hours early. It was a mad house!!
Dru and I woke up and went to the Warehouse for one last shopping trip to pick up some last minute gifts for people and stuff for ourselves.
We realized we totally forgot GOLDEN SYRUP so I can make ANZAC biscuits. I can't believe we forgot that. I'm totally bummed. We also forgot crumpets as well. It's like we're a bunch of rookies at this. So mad at us. We got everything else though and I felt good about that.
We had some breakfast and slowly packed up all of our stuff.
I had the best shower I've had the whole trip, at Kat's place. Man her shower was AMAZING. It might've been the best shower I've had in my life. Ray is a plumber and it shows by their shower. The head and attachment was just what I needed with my long hair and the pressure was amazing. Gosh I wish I could shower in there every day. Maybe I'd shower more!!! Their bathroom is beautiful as well.
We eventually had to say goodbye though and so I caught this one shot of us as I was leaving. I should've gotten a picture of their family and our family etc etc but I just don't think you know. Oh well.
We were grateful to be with them and the time they gave us and the bed space for our family. It was really nice to be so close to the airport and not have to get up super early to make it there you know. It was actually really nice to have siblings and Kat, basically on the way to the airport to slowly make our way up there. It worked out perfect if you ask me.

We headed out to the airport.
Mum and Pete were there waiting and we parked by them and grabbed all of our gears. We headed into the airport and weighed all our bags so we could make them 50lbs. Turns out some of our bags were pretty heavy so Dru had to do some shuffling. So I helped, where I could, with that while we told the kids to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Pete.
Bevin and Dior and the girls showed up and well and it was great to see them.
The line were CRAZY. Apparently the conveyor belt had broken so the staff was having to take all the bags themselves and it was holding up everything.
I was really bummed about that. I figured we could be in and done and dusted and hanging out with Mum and Bevin. But that wasn't the case at all, even by a long shot.
It took the WHOLE TIME in line, getting our bags onto the check on.  By the time we'd gotten through, we just had enough time to make it  upstairs, fill out the forms and race through the gate to security and make it on the plane. I hated it. What a waste of my life. I felt bad that Bevin and Dior had come up to say by to us, only for us to have to be in line the whole time and not get to be with them. We told the kids to go hang out with them until we were actually at the counter.

One great thing was they didn't charge us for our bikes on American airlines. So that saved us $300. So that was nice. We actually did really well with our bikes there and back with American. Southwest won't budge on their bike policy, however, and I don't like that. They allow surf boards and huge fishing lines etc but not a bike? I don't by into the hype that people give southwest. They treated me like crap the last trip and I've never gotten over it. If we could fly on something else I'd never fly those dudes again. But Dru likes them and so I have to suck it up. Southwest sucks!!!

So because things were so crazy I didn't get to spend any REAL time with my family. It makes me sad. Like I said, usually when you show up three hours early you get time to chill. Not this time.
We basically raced upstairs, Dru and I filled out the forms and we hugged everyone and left.

I don't like leaving at the airport. I get emotional leaving NZ. I start thinking irrationally and thinking 'What if this is the last time I see them?' Then I start crying. I try to hold it together cause I know it's upsetting for everyone to see my cry, but I can't help it. Part of my heart is in NZ, a part that will never be filled anywhere else I live, ever!! That's just the way it is.

I'm reminded of this everytime I go home to NZ. I'm a kiwi and always will be, it's who I am, it's a HUGE part of my identity that will never change. Am I happy in Boise? You bet I am, but one has nothing to do with the other when it comes to my heart.
My heart is split in two, a part of it is in NZ and a part of it is wherever I am with Dru. For now, that's Boise and so my heart is here, as home is wherever Dru is. I've made a life in Boise, a life that I'm really satisfied with you know. I have great mates, my kids are happy and in good schools, I like church and I love our life here. I dunno man, I hope I'm making sense.

I just love NZ and my family. That's it really and I had the best holiday yet and it all comes flooding in once I leave that damn airport and I look back at my mum and Bevin and whoever else is there that has my heart, and I remember it all and I miss it already, even though I haven't even left the country yet. It's like a huge wave that hits me and then it takes me a while to be ok.

Dru's used to it, as it happens every time. The other kids are used to it as well except Emiko who was asking what was going on while I was losing it during security.
Dru always takes over and lets me be by myself until I can work it out. He's good at taking over and working things out.

We went through security and they wanted to check a couple of things, which was fine. I was a little numb so I was like 'whatever man'
We then made our way to the gate and could check on straight away basically.
We got ourselves settled for the long trip and then I took a picture of us on our way home.

We got on the plane, got our bags where they needed to be and go situated.
I sat and cried quietly while Dru and Emiko held my hand and we took off and I looked out at NZ one last time. Super suckie.

The plane was great. We got to watch our own movies and the food was marginal. But no airline has good food.............none, and I've been on a bunch of different airlines.
Nobody really slept at all. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it. Emiko slept a little and I tried to sleep a little but Dru and the kids just watched movies, basically, for 12 hours. It's pretty crazy.
No one complained though and everyone was really good. The plane ride went off without a hitch.

We arrived in LA and were in a crunch for time. Again, the lines were crazy getting checked luggage onto Southwest airlines. Just picking up all of our luggage and hauling it over to Southwest was an ordeal.
One dude said because of our bike bags we couldn't line up in a certain line and I basically told him where to go. It wasn't nice of me and I guess I let go of all that inner peace I had at Kat's place about the fridge.
Time was ticking down and down and I tried not to panic. The kids did amazing and were amazing while we lined up and simply did the best we could considering. I'd go through cycles of 'we're gonna make it.' and 'we're not gonna make it'. I tried to stay positive and also be ok if we missed our flight. I knew I needed to be calm for the family, so just stood in line and hoped.
We got our bags all checked in, no thanks to the slow southwest check dude. Then we lined up at security which was a pretty long line. Then we told the kids "Put your game faces on guys cause we have to haul butt to our gate"
And that's what we did.
Can I tell you how amazing my kids are? Well they are. We all got our backpacks on pulled our socks up (figuratively) and walked/ran to our gate........and guess what? We totally lined up right at the number that they were calling and walked right onto the plane. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. It was a miracle to say the least.
I was so elated. I could let go of all of the anxiety I was holding and relax, cause this trip was the trip HOME!!! Back to my bed and house. Once I'm on the plane I just wanna get home as quick as possible. Airports are tough and gross and expensive you know. Not very family friendly. They're only single person friendly.
We all got on, got our bags up in the place up top and settled in.
I told the kids to get their naps in now because once we're home they won't be allowed to nap or go to bed until 7pm. They didn't like that news because they were so tired and I don't blame them. But they all had school the next day and I needed them not to be jet lagged, so they had to get over it.
All of them napped on the short flight to Vegas and then Yuki kept napping right though the 'no change of planes' layover. Then we kept going through to Boise.

Our good mates Robby and Jobecka, came and picked us up. Robby brought our little green truck for the bikes and Jobecka has a nice big car for the rest of our luggage and family.
I'm grateful to those guys for coming and getting us.

I was happy to be home.
We got to work unpacking our bags and keeping the kids busy. We gave them NZ treats and put on NZ music to lift their spirits and mine. We got all of our mail and sifted through all the wonderful Christmas cards. It was nice.
We cleaned the fridge and Jobecka brought us some soup and bread for dinner. Then our friend and neighbour Jessica invited us over for spaghetti at their place that night. So we put the soup in the fridge and went over there.
It was really nice to eat and hang out there. We'd gotten Jessica's baby a gift so it was nice to give that to her and some chocolate for looking out for our house while we were gone.

So between the fridge breaking down, the sink blocking and Dru's car breaking down on the way to work the next day, I was busy enough to not wallow in self pity.
The fridge cost $100 to fix. The car was just low on coolant and the sink got unblocked, eventually, by Dru and Keith, but our pipes need to be replaced. Dru says he can do it himself. But he unblocked the drain enough to hold us for a while until he has time to get it done.
It wasn't too bad. At least we didn't need to buy a new fridge and the car was a easy fix and Dru can replace the pipes pretty easy. So that's nice.

And just like that, it's over! Can you believe it? I can't.
A wonderful, exciting, joyous, glorious, amazing, adventurous, eventful month was over. One we'd been planning for a year.
I loved it and that doesn't even come close to my feelings about it.
Have you ever loved an event or holiday or something that's happened in your life so much, words can't express what you're feeling?
That's how I feel about my month in NZ
I wish I could push to your hearts, how my heart feels about it. But I can't. So whatever one word expresses so much joy that it fills your whole body with light,  overwhelming satisfaction, complete love and radiance, then that's the word I feel.
Thanks NZ, it was the best trip yet.

Leaving Bevin's, staying at Haydn's

We got up and Dior had already left to work so that sucked. We didn't get to say goodbye to her but they were coming up to the airport, so at least we'd see her then.
We hung out with Bevin and slowly packed up our stuff.
Bevin was thinking that maybe he'd come up to Haydn's with the girls, but plans changed and he never made it up. Dior's friends were coming over to spend the night with her and maybe Bevin needed to help with that. Plus the day was rubbish and so there wasn't too much that was gonna happen.
We said our goodbye's and headed to Haydn's place.
It was really muggy in the car but raining outside and without AC we were roasting but couldn't open the windows without getting wet. We were in quite the predicament. It's funny looking back, but not at the time. The kids did great with it.
We got to Haydn's in the afternoon and it was great to see them.
The kids wanted to play 'Cluedo' straight away and Haydn was keen to beat Yuki. Haydn man, always the competitive one. I think Yuki had beaten him at Mum's and Haydn was out for blood and redemption.
Then Haydn and Jessie made us dinner and it was awesome.
Then there was a spot in the weather where it wasn't raining, so the kids took off and tried their luck at the pools.
 
It's nice cause Haydn lives basically on the school grounds and so what's the schools is his. So he gets free wifi as well as access to the pool and he said even the school's shower is better than there's and so often times he'll go shower there and sometimes take the kids if they all need a shower at once.
He really likes his job too and is good at it. I'm proud of him. He's 33 and already a principal of a school. Sure it's a little rural school but that was his goal, to be a principal and he totally is. It's pretty awesome man.
They like being a part of a ward now too rather than a little branch for church. Haydn is the Sunday school teacher and Jessie doesn't have a calling yet, which is really nice considering she just gave birth. It'll be all she can do to show up to church at the moment I'm sure.
We then just hung out and got the kids warm and changed and sent them to bed.
They all had sores and stuff that we were taking care of, so we played doctor and nurses and got that all sorted out then the girls slept in the girls room and the boys slept in the boys room and Dru and I slept out in the livingroom.
We all stayed up and talked for a while and then Jessie and I stayed up even later while she did my beautiful toes in gel.
I LOVE them and this picture doesn't do it justice. My toes look awesome.
Haydn turns into a pumpkin if he stays up past 10pm and so he did a great job trying to stay up and talk with us. Dru was out as well. So Jessie and I just stayed up and talked while she made my toes beautiful.
It was really nice of her. I wish I was around her more so I could help her out in exchange for always having my nails done and looked after. I'd really like that.

It's a deep red colour on the toe and a rose glitter gold on my other toes. I love it and it's still going strong.
Then I fell into bed with Dru and we battled having flies land on our faces all night hahahahaha
It wasn't the best sleep, but that's ok man. We were grateful for a bed and to be with my brother and his beautiful kids.
I'm sad I didn't get more pictures. But it's what happens when you're just in the moment, you forget to take pictures aye?

The next morning we got up and Masaru forgot he had to do two 1 mile runs for PE. So off Haydn went to measure and take the kids for a mile run and time them.
Masaru got 11 mins the first time and 9 the next. He did great and we got to report it back to his PE teacher.
The first run was in the rain. So I think he did good considering. The other kids were having a blast.



Thanks to Haydn for doing it and for the pictures he took. I love these action shots of the kids. Pretty cool.
We packed up and the kids hung out at the school and around the house and I tried to get in contact with Kat to make sure she was home so we could travel up to her house and hang out for the night.
It was nice to be with Haydn's family. They live in a cute house closer to more family and seem happy where they are.
I'd be happy too. Jessie also does an amazing job of making the house into a home. She's so good at keeping things simple and just beautiful. I love it. She has a gift.
We were all packed up and ready to go and it came that time again to say another goodbye to another member of my family.
Worse part of going to NZ is saying goodbye. I hate it.
It was so good to be with them and be a part of their world for a little bit. Their kids are adorable and it makes me sad that I don't get to be with them more often.

Leaving mum's staying at Bevin's

So we slowly got up from mum's and finished our packing.
We'd done most of our packing on our 'down' day yesterday and got everything we didn't need into Mum and Pete's car, ready to be taken to the airport on Sunday.
The rest of the stuff we packed was to use while we were staying at family's places on the way slowly up to the airport.
It was awesome that our bikes and big bags all fit into Pete's car. What a stress relief because Llew had the trailer at the beach, so we had to make it work without it, and we made it work thank goodness.
We'd done a sweep of the house a few times to make sure we hadn't left anything. I realized that I'd left my good sandals, my chacos, at the beach. They were put in Ashaan and Llew's shoe box and I didn't think to check in there while we were packing up from the beach. I'm sad cause I love those shoes man. They're good for summer camping/hiking. I guess I'll see them in 2-3 years.
We then said goodbye to mum and Pete and headed out.
It sucked leaving Tok and leaving mum and Pete's house.
I'd gotten in contact with an old buddy of mine called Fleur. She was in the MTC with me on the mission and we served in the same mission. We were never companions and I don't know why. There was only 7-10 of us our whole missions. You'd think statistically we would've been together. But it wasn't meant to be I guess.
Anyway she lives semi close to Bevin and Dior and so we decided to stop in at her place before we got to Bevin's place.
She had two of these 'claw' machines in her house and the kids thought they'd died and gone to heaven. They stood there and played that the whole time we were at Fleur's house. It was pretty cool.
It was really nice to see Fleur and to listen to how she's doing and see her life and her two children.
She has a little boy and a little girl.
She has lots of ideas up her sleeve that she wants to get going with and so I'm excited to see what she does with her talents.

I hadn't seen Fleur in years, so it was a great catch up.

We then headed to Bevin and Dior's where we chilled in the rain. The weather was super rainy which was fine as we had no plans.
Dior wasn't feeling good and had fainted the day before and so was resting. So Dru and I went and took care of dinner while Bevin and Dior chilled with the kids.
I miss the rain. I wish Boise had more.
We ate dinner and just hung out for the night. It was nice.
I stayed up late talking to Bevin and I think Dru did too for a bit. Dior was mega tired and fell asleep. I knew these late nights were going to catch up to me but I didn't care. Let it catch up when I was in Boise.
I only get to be with my siblings like this a few times in my lifetime and I'll make the sacrifice every time.
I enjoyed talking to Bevin. He's a good person and I'm glad he's my brother.
Dior had to be at work the next day as well, so no wonder she went to sleep.
Bevin said that him and Dior were going to come up to the airport to say goodbye to us and so we didn't have to say our goodbye's to them tomorrow which was nice.
I'm glad we had this night together.

Chilling at Mum's

This day was just what the doctor ordered man. The kids were totally pooped and they slept in all morning and then had breakfast and then just watched TV for the morning.
They were just so worn out and Mum was more than happy to oblige.
Dru even had a nap on the lazyboy.
We WERE planning on mtb in Rotorua one last time but Dru's nap solidified the fact that that wasn't gonna happen.
So we decided to go to the movies instead.
We looked at what was playing and the new jumanji was playing. So we decided to watch the first one to get pumped, then go and see the new one.
Oh and here's a random picture from the first week of us on the luge with Maree. I forget if I posted it or not.
It's a great shot.
 

The new jumanji was really good. We laughed and laughed through it.


We then came home and mum made dinner or we brought it, I can't remember.
Masaru continued to just lay and rest and I think it really helped. I was grateful we had such a chill time, cause the next day we were off to Hamilton to be with Bevin.

We stayed up with mum and talked again and it was really nice.
I was sad for it to be the last night with mum and Pete. I like being with them and at their place. The kids do too.
I knew I'd miss it.

Rere slide and end of camping in Tologa

So this was a bit of a bummer day to begin with, with packing up and knowing it was my last day with Gareth and Llew and their families. But no matter what's going on in your life, good and bad, it all passes, that I know for sure. Life is made up of moments of time that go by without you having any control of it, it's the way of the world right?

Dru has a packing system and I ask what help he needs and I do whatever he tells me to. He's a great packer and sometimes he likes to be left alone, and sometimes he likes help or sometimes he likes me to simply talk to him and hang around.

Then something totally random happened. We were hanging around the campsite and then a random Japanese guy stopped in his side by side 4 wheeler type vehicle and walked into camp speaking Japanese to Ryotaro. 

Ryotaro turned up to camp with us at the beach the day before. It was so good to see him and be with him for a while.

He was just doing the dishes when this Japanese guy rocked up. It was crack up man. This Japanese man said when he went past and he saw a glimpse of Ryotaro and knew straight away that he was Japanese and wanted to meet him, so he did.

He worked for a local family who lived down the road and had some crayfish. He asked how many we wanted and went to get some crayfish he'd caught to give to us.

So he left, then came back and Llewellyn and Dru talked to him in the mother tongue. The man was a little surprized and Llew explained the situation to him and had a good talk to him. He still wanted to talk to Ryotaro, however, and they talked to each other for a while. 

He then came over and put the crayfish into some fresh water in a bucket and explained to us how to hold them and cook them. Apparently if you put them in fresh water they slowly die. He was also telling us if they were a girl or boy and the best way to cook them.

I didn't wanna watch them slowly dying so walked away while Dru took pictures.

I'm really sad we didn't get to eat them. They all stayed and we left. Total bummer. But I guess they were for Ryotaro so they weren't ours to take. I asked if we could take a couple home, but I got the big denial.

You can see the man to the left of Nixon. Dru cut him out of the picture. So that was nice. hahahaha

So that was exciting.

We kept packing.

Mum and Pete's tent had been amazing and we were so grateful that we were able to use it for the camping trip. It did our family very well.

We left the rest of our food, which wasn't too much and slowly gathered and packed and gathered and packed.

Gareth's and Livi's friend had a horse and we got a picture of one of our kids on the horse with Livi but I don't know where that picture went? It was a cute picture. Oh well. It was nice of Livi to let the kids ride on the horse with her. The horses were young and didn't really want children on them so they were lucky to get the small ride they did.

The car was packed to the gills,even though we were going home with no food. We had one more kid in the car and it was our biggest kid, so he takes up a bit of room hahahaha

Everyone else packed up too and got ready for the slide.

It was bittersweet leaving. I was excited to see mum and my other siblings again, one more time but super sad to leave the beach and my two other brothers. What do you do man? You stick to the plan I guess. 

We headed out to Rere rock slide but made a pit stop in Gisborne first. Iestyn wasn't feeling good and so we stopped in at a chemist to see if he was gonna be ok and gave Gareth some money we owed him as well.

We then headed out to the rock slide.

It was about an hour and a half car ride from the beach to the Rere rock slide.

We got there and parked and changed and there were quite a few people there. But it was ok, everyone was happy and having fun and took turns going down. 

Livi got lunch going so we could have something to eat, as the kiddo's were hungry. The rest of us scoped it out and looked at how to do it.

We had a couple of boogie boards and then the kids found a blow up mattress to slide on too.

People just leave things to slide down on the side of the river. It's pretty crazy. For Emiko and I the mattress was a wonderful idea so we grabbed it and headed down.

I started going backwards.

Gareth took some video's of us going down that I'll get at some stage and post up here.

So let's move onto the pictures.

Here's Rylie going down. Good form Rylie, good form.

Masaru, Ryotaro, Rylie and Takeshi all waiting for their turns down the slide.

There's Dru coming with Iestyn to have a go.

Takeshi going for it. I love that look of determination on his face.

Great action shot.

Getting ready to do a group run.

Masaru having some fun.

Great action shot of Dru

Gareth taking it serious hahahaha Great form Gareth.

Llewellyn giving it a go now. I like how Dru's face is normal. It's a good face of pure happiness.

Emiko squished in the middle. Loving Llew's farmers tan.

Love Yuki's face.

I decided to jump on. I love my face in these shots.

I'm grateful to Livi and Gareth for catching the moments.

This is a good shot of Masaru.

Then I decided that we needed to jump on as a family and try to get a shot. Livi was all over it and said to look at her on the way down so she could get some sweet shots. So we did.
The rock slide is free and there's no one there to life guard. It's just you at a local place in the middle of nowhere. That's the way to travel right?

Love this.

Once you get to the bottom you just walk up the side. It's easy. Here's Yuki, Rylie, masaru and Takeshi.

Here's some video's

After the rock slide we went to a waterfall and hung out there for a while, while the kids played in the trees and with each other.
It was nice to be with each other.

I didn't even get a shot of the waterfall or a shot of all of us at the waterfall. I regret that. But oh well.
We then had to bite the bullet and say our goodbye's to everyone.
I always try to keep it surface, cause when I really think about it I cry.
Usually that happens in the car when I'm leaving the family.
This is how it went down for me here as well. I try not to think about it too much and focus on the fun and good times we had together. It makes me happy.
We were then on our way back to Tok.
The weather was HORRIBLE hahahahaha
I got some footage of our car ride home though. They recently built a road from the rockslide over to the main road, but most of it is gravel. So that was fun. Beautiful though, so that's always a bonus.


Pretty crazy aye. At least it's not boring man.
We then decided to stop for dinner in Rotorua then headed back to Tok.
It was good to see Mum and Pete and hang out with them for a while.
Masaru was pretty sick and sunburned and just plain worn out I think. So we got some water into him and some meds and fixed up all the kids sores they seemed to have and then put them into bed.
None of them fought it as they're pretty tired because of all of the action.
It was good to be back at mum's and resting.
We stayed up and talked with mum and Pete. It was nice.
Another great day.