VBS

My brother and sister volunteered last week at Vacation Bible school at our church. Thank to the abundance of cell phone cameras, I've got lots of cute pics.



They enjoyed hanging out with their friends as much as actually volunteering.



Apparently my brother showed off his acting skills in a skit & the little kids wanted his autograph afterward.



So cute to see my siblings working with the real little kids who are adorable.



Haley finally has a driving friend- Sam.



Not technically at VBS, but this is Haley's new friend (i.e. Hunter's old friend & possibly future girlfriend??). Anyways....can't wait to see how the young-love romance drama unfolds.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The kidz & Brenda are in Mexico for 6 days on a mission trip outside of Mexico City.

Wicked, We're Wicked

A few weekends back we went to see the highly acclaimed Broadway show Wicked!




I'd been wanting to see it for a while & even had toyed with the idea of driving to New Orleans to catch the production. Luckily it came to Houston & I snapped up some tickets.



What can I say that hasn't already been said about Wicked? We LOVED it. It's funny and entertaining, the music is modern and enjoyable, the characters and costumes are amazing.

Now I want to go back and re-watch the Wizard of Oz with Glenda being the not-so-good witch.

We went to an early Sunday afternoon show with our friends & then out for dinner and drinks after the show- it was a perfect way to end the weekend.

One of the few shots I actually took with my camera- I didn't want to take any during the actual performance.

All in all, I highly recommend seeing this show if you get a chance, even if you aren't typically into musicals.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Doing my civic duty today and reporting downtown for jury duty this morning.

Good Thing

It's a good thing these dogs are so darn cute....



...otherwise I might still be mad about things like this! I'm looking at you little dog (Mia~)!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: The Major League Soccer All-Star game is tonight in Houston!

Ship Creek Walk

Our last real stop on our journey up the west coast to Fox Glacier was at Ship Creek Tauparikaka Walks along the beach & on a boardwalk through some heavy vegetation.



The boardwalk was a great little path through the sand dunes.



I like that the official NZ description is swamp forest- it's a pretty fitting name. There was a small covered area with some educational diagram & an observation tower for great views.



We hiked along the boardwalk & were soon into the think (and very tall!) brush.



The trail led us out to the beach area, which was desolate and some pretty big waves breaking on the shore.



There was a second little lookout deck, barely visible in the photos, that you could hike up to in just a few minutes for a different elevated view.



It's interesting to see two different ecosystems- the beach & the swamp forest, so close together.



This is also the one and only place where we were attacked by the sand flies. I don't think I've ever been attacked by so many bugs at one time!



From the first observation tower, you could see a beautiful mist forming at the base of the mountain where waves were crashing down.



This quiet little tide pool had some birds and fishing just hanging out.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Done with all the photos in the Wanaka folder- just Fox Glacier & our return trip to Christchurch to blog.

Gates of Haast

Our next point of interest on our journey up New Zealand's west coast was the Gates of Haast, which takes you through the Haast Pass in the Southern Alps.

Although a typical one-way bridge and on the main road, there was still so little traffic that you could walk out along the bridge and check out the raging Haast River below.

These boulders were huge & the water was creating quite the torrent around them.



The walls of the surrounding mountains are incredibly steep & some are practically vertical.

It's a neat little place for a driving break & to appreciate the power and enormity of mother nature.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:5 whole weeks ahead of me with no work travel scheduled (well, at least yet!).

Wanaka to Fox Glacier

I'm posting all out of order, but it will just have to do for now! Departing Wanaka & heading up the west coast to our next destination, Fox Glacier, we enjoyed driving along two stunning lakes- Lake Hawea & Lake Wanaka.



The water in both was a brilliant blue & they were flanked by spectacular mountains for shorelines.



We pulled over at a few places & look-outs to learn about how the glaciers came to carve out this area & learn a little bit of history.



At the Lake Wanaka Lookout, I was reminded of some of the terrain up in Alaska on the Klondike Highway.



It was still pretty chilly in these parts, even in summer & the strong winds made a jacket a necessity.



This little rock beach made me wish we'd packed a picnic to sit on the shore and enjoy the waves.



I loved catching glimpses of far-off peaks piercing the sky through closer valleys.



We also started to see many smaller glaciers clinging to the mountain face in this area.



I love all the layers in this photo- flat valley floor, gentle river, rolling hills, towering mountains, a glacier, blue sky & puffy clouds.



We traveled along the lovely Makarora River for quite some time on the journey & H kept wanting to stop and fish (if we had any fishing gear!).



We kept driving further north & deeper into the mountains, but it was looking like rain ahead.



We couldn't resist pulling over for another picture beside the idyllic river.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Survived Austin with the kids & have no plans, other than relax, next weekend!

So Fast

I was going through some of my old wedding photos & ran across some of the kidz. They are growing up so fast! Although only 3.5 years ago, there are so many changes in the teenage years and so much happening.



For that reason, we are taking my brother & sister to Austin today to explore and spend some time with them. Hunter is now 16 and been driving for 6 months, going to be a junior in high school this fall. He starts taking AP classes this year, stops doing wrestling and starts more serious dating!



Haley will be 15h this September and will start all of her practice driving. She's entering the big, bad world of high school and all the girl drama that entails.



I love these pictures so much- they are so priceless & capture so much of the personality of both of them. I can't wait to hang out with them as they get older, find their own path in life, start exploring the bigger world outside of northwest Houston and grow into amazing people.

Photos courtesy of the amazing Trista Lerit

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Austin! and my brother and sister! What more can I say?

Silly Squid

Mia loves to pull Zoe around all the tile and wooden floors downstairs. She's still twisting and turning and pushing against Zoe in their epic battles.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: 3 months until we are headed back to Puerto Vallarta for an amazing wedding!

Blue Pools Hike

After our heli-flight, we headed out on the next segment of our drive, over the Alps & up along the west coat to a tiny town called Fox Glacier.



One of the walks that we'd heard about repeatedly is the Blue Pool hike just north of Makarora, which is a very small portion of the Blue Valley Track.



The train was easily accessible to most people & it's so peaceful to walk through such ancient forests surrounded by giant trees.



Just a few minute hike from the car & we were crossing bridge and seeing spectacular water.



The pools weren't as blue as I've seen them in some photos, but they were gorgeous nonetheless.



We walked a bit further down the trail until we could walk along the river's edge.



Gotta love a well-placed rock & the self-timer on the camera.

There was this really interesting geologic area. It was a giant wall of very brittle, thin sheets of rock.

Up close, this rock wall was just crumbling and flaking apart.

See the fish? H wished we'd had a pole!

There were two narrow suspension bridges to cross the Makarora River. It's a easy, fun little hike & a nice break during a long day of riding in the car.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Headed to Miami today for work...hopefully it won't be death-heat down there.