Happy 4th of July!!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and I'm so glad we were here in Florida to celebrate it - even with the rain!!

The day started out looking ominous, but we headed out to the club anyway to meet the family for lunch. I loved the decorations - seashells in the plants and flags, I'm home!

We had to take the party inside instead of eating by the pool - but everything was delicious and it was fun hanging out together. I had some of this yummy roasted pig with some good ole American barbeque sauce.
Our friends Lisa and Chris joined us from Atlanta - they came down for a few days of beach time and unfortunately it rained for most of their visit. This picture is me and Madelyn, my sweet, beautiful goddaughter.
Lisa is a long-time friend and she is Meggie's godmother.
My girls on the dock with Madelyn and Emily Hill- not the best time to take a picture apparently as everyone is squinting. Still, they are a pretty cute bunch!
After lunch we changed for some swimming games and races. My cousin Padgett was there with her children - here is a picture of her daughter Sloan with Ellie while they watch the big kids dive for coins in the pool.
Meggie dominated her swim race! That's her in the lead and she pulled off first place!! Josie and Katie also raced and did very well but they didn't place this year.

As far as the kids were concerned the best part of the party was the unlimited cotton candy and snow cones. I lost track of how many of each they ate!!
Ellie decided to play with magnetic dolls while the girls swam.

After all the fun at Carlouel we packed up and headed to Mama and Papa's for dinner and to watch the fireworks from their dock. Papa has lots of toys that the girls love including toy trains all over his back deck and an ice-cream truck.

The cousins enjoying some ice-cream.

Papa's train set-up.

After the rain the sky turned a beautiful shade of pink - Florida sunsets are amazing even on overcast days!

Little Will showing me his muscles while we wait for dark.

Samantha was awed by my high-heeled crocs so I let her wear them around, I think she looked pretty good in them!!

We lit sparklers as we waited for the fireworks to start and this year none of the Morrisons burned themselves, yay! Dugald would have been proud of the firework bravery - no tears this year.
Ellie was still a little nervous about things getting loud.

In the end it was another spectacular show as we celebrated America's birthday.

Family Fun

Even though there has been quite a lot of rain since we've arrived we are still loving being at the beach. I love rolling out of bed each morning and enjoying my first cup of coffee while looking out at the waves - we feel very spoiled!!

The girls love eating and playing games on the porch.

This is the view when it rains, still beautiful.

I have some GREAT news to report - Stacy fixed the car!!! He is my hero!!

We got together with all the cousins again at Mimi and Big Daddy's house on July 3rd. They had planned an outside barbeque and swim for everyone and then it poured so much the streets flooded. So we dragged the grill into the garage and improvised. Thankfully it finally let up enough after dinner for the kids to have a swim and play in the bouncy house Mimi had rented.

Mimi and Big Daddy with all the grandchildren.

Aunt Ali with her god-daughter Ellie Rose.

Anna, Mari and Katie watching a movie while we wait out the rain.

Uncle Bill and new baby Baker.

Here's Anders looking happier than he did earlier in the evening.

The big girls went to spend the night with Lilly and Anna came to our house and everyone made it without tears - I was getting slightly worried about Miss Katie at camp but I think she may make it after all. Those of you who pray please pray for her!

We had a fun 4th and I'll post those pics soon. Hope you are all well, we miss our Kiwi family and friends.

Lots of love from all of us. xx

We're here!

Wow, we made it!! After a rather grueling journey we are finally here and enjoying the sunshine!!

Our flights were all fine - just long. We arrived in Auckland and were met by Kate who escorted us over to the international terminal where we visited with Ant, Tom and Abi. Tom and Abi were flying to L.A. a few hours after we left for San Francisco to visit Abi's family in Oregon. It was great visiting with them but typically I forgot to fill out our departure forms so we had to hustle to get those done and make it to our flight on time. Thankfully there were two kind Kiwis working the departure line and they both helped me fill out the forms and then opened a new line for us to help us to go through security. How nice is that? It was just the first of many times someone was going to graciously help me out.

We literally ran after we got through security (along with several other passengers running beside us) only to find there was another line, for another security clearance. We stood in that line about 10 minutes then finally got on the plane.

The girls were great on the flight - but only Ellie slept which would prove to be a problem later. In San Francisco we whizzed through Customs without a problem, found all our bags and loaded them onto three carts and went to find the free airport shuttle to the Westin. It was about 24 C outside, 75 F, which felt quite warm to us. The girls quickly shed their long sleeve shirts while we waited for the shuttle. When it arrived the driver didn't offer any help at all with our bags, but thankfully there was a family in front of us and both the husband and wife helped me get everything on board. Again when we got to the hotel the couple helped me unload. So far I was unimpressed with the Westin.

We went inside to check-in and there was a lady in front of us checking into a few rooms and for some reason there were complications so it was taking awhile. The clerk did not even look up to acknowledge that we were waiting, so after what felt like an eternity but really was probably ten minutes I risked rudeness to ask if perhaps there was someone else working the desk that might be able to check us in at which point another lady was coming out and she immediately helped us and was quite nice. She told us that technically she wasn't supposed to check us in since the room was under Dugald's name but she did it - this could be a problem the rest of our time here as Dugs booked all our rooms using his points. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. FINALLY we got up to our room with a King bed and pull-out couch. I wanted to go to bed right then and there but it was only about 2:30 p.m. so instead we walked to a restaurant and had lunch. I was astonished to get the kids meals of chicken tenders, fries, drink and dessert for $4.50 each. Ok so it wasn't the best food ever, but we weren't picky and it was darn cheap. Ellie loved her mac & cheese and the girls were so excited about free refills on drinks that they couldn't finish their meals after all the soda. I only let them have soda to keep us awake for a few more hours, it won't become a habit!

After lunch we went back to the hotel and the girls had a swim, then we were in bed by 7 p.m. Sadly this is where the fact that Ellie had slept became an issue. She, Josie and I were sharing the King bed with her in the middle. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to make our flight. She fell asleep at 4 a.m., I never did. By the time we made it downstairs for check-out I felt like a zombie. In my sleep-deprived state I failed to count the suitcases the porter brought out from storage to put on the shuttle back to the airport. Big mistake.

We got to the airport, loaded our carts and went to stand in line for check-in to Tampa. At least this time the driver helped us unload, he got a tip. While we were in line I started removing all the Air New Zealand tags and realized we were missing a bag. I still didn't have a U.S. cell-phone so at this point there wasn't a thing I could do about it. I just hoped it had been left at the hotel and not on the airport shuttle! I worked out from my list that the missing bag was the one with most of our gifts inside - last year all the gifts broke, this year they didn't even arrive. Ugh.

After a nice, uneventful two-hour flight to Arizona we had to switch planes to get to Tampa. The new terminal was miles away and I had a ton to carry, my shoulder was already killing me from the day before. Thankfully one of those guys who drive a little cart took pity on me and we got a ride. We would have barely made it if we'd had to walk as the little one pulling her suitcase was not the fastest walker in the land. Again we had a nice flight and got to Tampa at 5:30 Eastern time. We were picked up by mom and Stacy and headed to Lindsey's house for a family dinner of Florida favorites like Sangria, Cuban sandwiches and black beans & rice. YUM - except I couldn't really drink the Sangria as I was already so tired I felt drunk. It was delicious and great to see everyone and my mom took some really cute pictures which I will get off her camera and post here in a few days. They had put up a "Welcome Home" sign and lots of balloons and we felt very warmly greeted.

The scariest part of the trip so far came next when I had to drive about an hour home. My sister graciously let me borrow her car - but I had never driven it before, it was raining, I had to remember to stay on the right and I was beyond exhausted. For all these reasons we took it very slowly!! We made it here all in one piece and we are staying in a lovely condo right on the beach - I can look out of my bedroom to the sand and waves. Nice.

Surprisingly that first night everyone woke up at about 1:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep until almost 4. I think at this point I was up to 5o something hours without sleep. Delirious. I'm telling you this because the next morning I did something really stupid. We were driving and the girls wanted to hear a new CD we'd ordered. I tried to put it in my sister's very fancy-pants console while I was driving and instead inserted it on top of the GPS dvd, thus getting both of them stuck. I had put it into the wrong drive. Ali's car is still under warranty as it is less than a year old, but I wasn't sure that covered idiocy. The only reason it might is that technically the dvd should automatically eject when you open the drive and it didn't. However I took it into the car place yesterday and they told me it wasn't covered and it would be $5000. YIKES. Needless to say we argued why we thought it should be covered and they said the guy who could make the final decision will be in on Tuesday. We are praying!!

On a more pleasant note - we got to see all the cousins at Samantha's 8th birthday party on the beach. The kids were so cute getting to see each other again. Uncle Brian taught the girls to surf - here are some pics -and we had a wonderful, warm fun-filled day.

Uncle Will helps Josie on the boogie board.

Josie learning to surf - go girl!!

Ellie played in the sand most of the time.

Meg gives the surfing a go.

Sadly I missed Katie doing it - I had to take someone to the potty - but Aunt Shannon got some pictures of her so I'll try to get those from her.

When we were swimming with Amy and her boys a whole family of dolphins swam by - they were so close!!

I called the hotel in San Francisco and they found our suitcase and are sending it here so that's all good. I drugged everyone with motion sickness medicine after our third night of the girls waking up at midnight and last night we all got a full, uninterrupted nine hours! Bliss!! I've had a chance to see my friend Amy and her boys and my friends Chris and Lisa and their girls. We are having a wonderful time and now that I'm finally fairly rested I hope to take more pictures and post more frequently. Lots of love!!!

We're leaving on a jet plane!

The girls and I are smilingly counting the days until our departure to fairer climes while poor Dugald is practically moping. I keep telling him it's not too late to purchase a ticket, but I do suspect he feels the need to earn an income to pay for our great adventure. We are so grateful!!

Speaking of grateful - a few weeks ago Delaney and a friend took the girls to a professional netball game. They watched the Wellington Pulse play and had such a great time as you can see from these pictures. THANK YOU sweet Delaney!!

We also recently attended the Homeschool Science Fair for the Wellington region. While we didn't enter a project this year we did enjoy seeing all the others and Ellie especially loved the "hands-on" activities for the younger set. Next year we will definitely be putting together a project, you can hold me to it. I've written it here so I will have to follow through!!

Katie holding a seed she planted and a homemade bird feeder.

We also celebrated another birthday!! Beautiful Katie is now nine-years-old! She and Meggie had a combined birthday party earlier in the year when the weather was nicer so her actual birthday was fairly low-key but still quite special as she got lots of gifts and love and she got to pick the food and activities for the day.

She chose a trip to the mall so she could spend some of this gift from Grandma and Grandpa!

The same day as Katie's birthday our Monday Morning Ladies swim group had a little get together after our swim to celebrate the birth of our coach Steve's baby daughter Scarlett. The baby was delightful and slept through the entire event. We decided to start a baby library for her as our gift so it was fun to see all the books everyone chose - it was a great morning.
I'm so proud of my four girls, we've pulled together and managed to finish out our school year with everything completed. Now it's laundry, cleaning and packing for the next few days and then we head out. Have a fabulous week!!

It's Video Time!

Tonight after dinner Ellie came to cuddle in my lap as she often does, however this time she just would not stop kissing me! She kept it up for so long that Dugald had time to dig out the camera and video her doing it - and this is what he saw. You may want to watch this here as sometimes my blog cuts off the edges.

I so love this clip that I saw on Kelle's blog "Enjoying the Small Things"(if you haven't read her blog I would highly recommend it, link on the right). Click here if the blog is cutting off the edges. I should also add that I know nothing about this movie except what I googled after watching the video and that didn't tell me much.

Today we saw the sun - it's been rather scarce around here lately so we took full advantage of it and headed to Eastbourne to walk out to the lighthouse there. Sadly as soon as we arrived it started raining, but since it was lunchtime anyway we ducked into a cafe and ate. After lunch we got to stroll along the shore for about an hour before the sky looked ominous again and we called it a day. I have more pictures to share from my phone so I'l have another post up soon. Lots of love to all y'all!

The Oil Spill

The girls and I are eagerly counting the days until our trip to the U.S., but as we long for the beautiful beaches of Clearwater I can't help but be saddened by the tragedy that is the oil spill. My heart breaks for the families of the men killed, for the people who have lost their livelihood, for the wildlife suffering and dying, and for the beauty that is being destroyed. There are some incredible pictures here. Memories of my childhood are completely wrapped up in the beautiful packaging of the Florida Gulf Coast and I'm distraught to see what is happening to my little piece of heaven here on earth.

Mother-Daughter Night

The girls and I hosted a Mother-Daughter movie and game night last Friday. We invited our friends over for pizza followed by a movie for the girls and some wine, games and chit-chat for the mom's.

We prepared for the evening with a fun-filled trip to the video store and left with four choices for the girls to choose from. Next we cooked up some snacks for the evening - a popcorn cake, chocolate covered pretzel rods and some spicy peanuts. After that we did a quick tidy-up around the house and then literally counted the minutes until the guests arrived!

We've been so blessed in our friendships here and it was fun to have an evening to just celebrate that fact. The girls had their own "champagne" of sparkling grape juice to toast the evening with while the adults stuck to the real stuff. I'm not sure what was said when this first picture was taken but I love how they are all laughing it up.

Last weekend was actually a holiday weekend to celebrate the Queen's birthday so some of our friends couldn't make it as they were out of town - but that's just a great reason to do it all again when we are back from our big holiday overseas. I am feeling very glad of our planned escape from winter as the weather has been dreadful -rain, rain and more rain and we continue to get colder as well. This was the last holiday weekend here until Labour Day in October which makes for a LOOOONNNNGGG stretch of winter without a break. Personally I think North America has the better deal with Christmas and Thanksgiving to break up the winter months a bit.

I will say we've gotten more hardy - last year I drove just about every time I had to go anywhere if it was both cold and rainy but today the girls and I actually got hailed on as we walked to the pool, so I'm adapting.

Enjoy the beginning of your summer our northern hemisphere friends. xx