Dan doesn't feel like blogging tonight

So I will......again. The kids are tucked in bed and we are sitting at the dining room table with two laptops on the go. Dano is enjoying searching up Cogeco services for when we go back. He has thoroughly gone through a list of channels we will get, the speed at which our internet will flow from our finger tips and that I can make long distant calls to all of North America at no extra charge. He loves that crap.

Two weeks ago we created a list of items we had to sell before we leave NZ. Happily we were able to list our stuff on one page. Within two weeks of our list being posted at my high school, Abby's school and here at the camp we have sold most of our things. Our lounge set it gone, we are using the ones that were here when we arrived. Our receiver for our Freeview is gone, so our TV gets no channels. The TV, stand a DVD player will be delivered to it's new owner very soon. Besides Sam's bike and a few small items we have rid ourselves of things that will not be making the trip home. It feels good once again to be down to having very, very little.

Our Kiwi friends have been calling and setting up dinners with them before we leave. Jude and Peter George are friends of ours that we met through our kids at Pukerau School. They had us up to their house for tea. They have 3 kids, Katelyn, Rueben and Olivia. Our kids get on very well with them and our meal and visit was easy, delicious, full of conversation, noisy at parts and felt like we were saying "see you later" rather than "good bye". Our church held a farewell service for us and another family going to Sudan. It was lovely, a light finger tea followed. Stacey and Robert Young had us and the George family up for tea as well, the Georges were leaving for a vacation to California the next day. I am sure we will see Robert and Stacey at our doorstep in Canada one day, we hope! It would be wonderful for Sam and Abs to see their friends James, Libby and Sam Y again. In fact, I am betting that they will be our first kiwi friends to make the journey!

This has been a particularly trying week at school for me. Most of the Senior Management Team and all of the Deans were away Monday - Wednesday at training, which I did not go on as I am leaving. Myself and two SMT were busily hopping around the school. It has been interesting but exhausting at the same time. You would think that the moon had been full for 4 days in a row!

There have been two young families and an older couple staying here at the camp. They are part of a MMM New Zealand, a Christian organization the does property work at churches, camps and schools. The husbands have been lining the dining hall. The families live in giant trailer buses. I will try to get photos of these, they are like nothing we would see in North America. The bonus is that our kids have had the pleasure of having 7 kids living almost right beside us. Ernie and Michelle Pene have 4 kids, Daniel 13, Alix 10, Grace 4 and Mouse or Michael 2. Sammer and Daniel have become good mates. The kids are home schooled by their mom and for the past week Daniel has met Sammer when he gets off the bus at the end of the day. Alix and Abby get along great. Alix came to Alexandra with us last Saturday for Dano's last hockey tournament. She even got to witness Abby puking 2 times on the way, car sickness is bad in NZ with the twisting winding roads( and Dano's driving.) Alan and Rosina Mitchell have 3 daughters, Virginia 14, Erin 12, and Josie 10. For the last 3 weeks Abby, Alix and Josie have been like three peas in a pod. They bought rings together and had a little ceremony where they all put them on, signifying their friendship where ever they are in the world. It was cute! Grace 4 and Mouse 2 are so cute. At any given moment their adorable little faces might appear in our glass door. Many days I come home to them sitting on the couch beside Sammer and Daniel who are playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Both Grace and Mouse have little salad plates in their hands driving the Mario kart. And Sammer and big brother, Daniel encouraging them on as they drive with a plate. Very cute.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am thankful for that. Sam is planning to have a friend, Andrew come over after school. Abby will need an early bed, she has had a busy week. Her class does water safety and swimming lessons three times a week, she is still dancing and getting ready for an exam that she will not be here for. She practices hockey with Sammy and Dano too. She is usually zonked by the time Friday rolls around.

We have less than 2 weeks left of our Kiwi Adventure, it feels a little surreal. We plan on getting our blog made into book form. We hope that this will make a meaningful Christmas gift for the kids and we will get one for us to have. The deal is that every blog I have written Dano will read aloud to me as we snuggle into our bed, and likewise for me. He will doing most of the reading!

Until next time,
Samantha