80 days and counting

I have to say that the fact we are only 80 days from departing New Zealand is a little bit unsettling(80 days is based on an August 12th departure - not confirmed but very likely). 80 days is not a very long time and we are all starting to realize that this great adventure is soon to be over. There are still a few things that we hope to experience before we leave so we will have a busy last few weeks.

We have some good news about Samantha's teaching position. Until this past Friday, Samantha was still slated to teach at Grand Bend Public School. The first round of transfers had not resulted in her being moved. Friday afternoon, Saturday morning for us, Samantha received an email that informed her she would be teaching Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten at Tilbury Area Public School. This was her first choice from the postings this round. She gets to work for her favourite principal, Ken Gregory and gets to work with an old friend, Cheryl Chinnick who is the other Kindergarten teacher in the school. Samantha is very excited about working with the JK/K kids. She has enjoyed dipping her toe in the secondary school environment but has decided that elementary school is where she wants to be. She will now have taught every grade in elementary school.

It is the thick of the hockey season here. Last weekend I played in the Senior Non-checking round in Gore. The kids were away with friends and Samantha dutifully sat in the stands and cheered on her groom. Then this weekend the kids had two games on Sunday in Dunedin. We departed home at 7:15 a.m. for a 9:15 game and then a 2:30 p.m. game. The team won their first game but played really poorly, very sloppy and no jump. Thankfully after a couple of hours off, they played much better but lost. The Open Grade(full contact) team had two games immediately following the kids' second game. I don't normally play Open Grade because Samantha is afraid that I may break some ribs or get a concussion or get in a fight but she graciously agreed to stick around and I would play the first one. Then she agreed after the first one, with numb toes and a cold nose, that I may as well the second on since we were there. Samantha has froze through 12 hockey games over the last three weekends, which included 3 games on Mother's Day, and for that she gets my vote for wife of the year.

Below are some pictures from this weekend's hockey and from a wedding that we attended last weekend. Hope you enjoy them.

Mother's Day weekend

We left Friday afternoon for Dunedin. Dano had a hockey tournament to play so we arranged to stay at a holiday home in Purakanui which is near Dunedin. The holiday home was amazing with a gorgeous view. We hope to book this home and take Mom and Dad there when they are here.


Dano played 6 games of hockey in two days. That is a lot of time spent in a cold arena. The kids were so good, they hung in there with me. During one of Dan's games the kids skated on the rink beside the ice Dan was playing on. During the 5th game the kids and I went to Moana Pool and played in the wave pool and went on the water slides. We had a good weekend, even with hours spent in a arena.



We are in the midst of making plans for our return to Canada. I have been applying for jobs and should find out soon about where I will be placed. Housing is something that we are trying to sort out. If there is anyone that knows of a rental home with 3 bedrooms in the Chatham Kent area, Aug 1st, we would really appreciate your help.


Did I mention it was a lot of hockey this weekend?
Until next time,

Samantha