Hello all to back home. The Kiwi based McLeods are actually sitting in front of the tv right now watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. The kids generally panned the singing of the Canadian anthem and made us actually stand and sing the 'better' version during the first commercial break. Pretty funny.

So we have all had some adventures this past week. Last week we went out to McLarin Falls with the kids. It's a lovely park about 20 minutes from the house here. You can do a very short walk into a nice little water fall and there are also some very popular natural rock pools that we waded around in. We all waded around in the water but Don and I literally took the plunge and swam under the waterfall. The water fall was breaktakingly cold. Don and I both had trouble breathing when we fully submerged.


The kids are getting by at school. Certainly everyday gets easier for them (and consequently us!). They are both on their years kiwitag team. Kiwitag is rugby played with flags around the waist, rather like flag football. And, interestingly enough, the kids all have to play in bare feet. Lots and lots of kids go to school in bare feet. And the most popular form of footware on NZ feet on the street are 'jandals'. Anyone know what jandals are?? I didn't. They are flip flops. And people wear them everywhere here, even out hiking. My arches ache just looking at them.

I started my very promising tennis career on Wednesday. I have been fortunate enough to meet a lovely couple who are members of our local tennis club (about 5 minutes from the house) and they invited me down and showed me the basics and hit some balls to me. I really loved it and hope to join the club and take proper lessons. Connor has expressed an interest as well.

Don's big adventure this week involved flying. Yep, a real low cost flight over his bike's handle bars. He nailed his front breaks rather than risk a possible crash into a small ravine. He was remarkably undamaged except for a large bruise on his calf and crushing his helmet. Better a helmet than a head though. The tough guy actually finished his bike ride, I think the adrenaline kept him going. Lots of aches and pains when it wore off though. And he hasn't been back on it since - and that happened on Monday! He says he will be saddling up on Monday again though, using my helmet since his had to be retired.

Aidan also had a mishap on 2 wheels. This one involved a mini-motorcycle that Jack the neighbor owns. The kids were given the opportunity to ride it last weekend. They watched Jack putt around on it and were eager to give it a try. Aidan was first up soDon put him on it, started him off and let him go - no instructions on how to slow down or stop. So Aidan reefed the wrong way on the throttle when he panicked and ended up racing into a hedge. Luckily he had a helmet on but he did get a nasty scrap on his leg. He overcome his fear and got back on it again a while later but I believe the incident has turned him off of motorcycles for a while.

So Aidan got to pick this weekend's adventure activity as he had the toughest week. He expressed a desire to try horse back riding so I rang up the local horse wrangler and and booked us a back country trek. Yes, perhaps a bit ambitious for 2 kids who have never done more than a pony ride around a ring, but in for a penny, in for a pound! So off we went this morning at 10 am for our date with some horses. We certainly got an adventure. Our guides, Chris and Mark, are 100% Mauri, live in the back country, and are very good with horses and very patient with children. They lead us, for 2 hours, thru the back country of the local mountain range, taking us up and down hills, round trees and generally giving us all a lesson in gripping our horses with underused thigh muscles. The boys were on regular horses, no ponies, but they did tie the boys' horses to their lead horses to keep them going and under control We were riding with Australian outback saddles, no horns to hold on to, and the boys' legs were too short to reach the stirrups. But by the end of the trek both kids were guiding and controlling their own mounts. Aidan started the ride very dubious about the whole adventure but by the end of our 'Indiana Jones' style trip, he was a true believer!


Tomorrow Don and I will be marking Valentine's Day with a walk around downtown Tauranga. We'll be gazing into each others eyes (well, likely we will be staring into the others sunglasses) and remembering that yes it is February!! Our neighbors have kindly offered to take the kids on for the afternoon so we will even be childless. Oh joy!!

Love to all and happy valentine's day.