Hamilton to Waitomo

January 17th of a couple of years ago we were in Hamilton.

We got up, packed up, and headed to church somewhere in Hamilton and then visited the temple again, spending most of our time in the Visitor Center.

This MTC is now just a school...I think. 

 

At the Visitor Center, we watched a documentary about Matthew Cowley. The members down here (there) revere the missionaries that brought them the gospel. I told a woman that my dad had served here. She grabbed my greenstone necklace (pictured above) and just squeezed it. She held it as we spoke then pressed it to my cheek when we parted. Also, an Elder Marion J. walked up to me and asked if I knew a Christina Naegle haha. Apparently, he had just spoken to my Aunt Cristy on the phone the day before! Small world.

Beautiful temple :)

We left the temple, and began the drive to our next camp spot in Waitomo. 

Juno Waitomo Holiday Park

600 Waitomo Caves Road, R.D.5, Te Kuiti, New Zealand. The drive, as quoted in my journal, was "the most beautiful drive I've been on, I think."

We arrived at our sight in Waitomo and there was a TRAMPOLINE!

And a beautiful sunset...

Aaand we watched Lord of the Rings in preparation for the climb up Mount Doom the day after next. Sweet as.

Hamilton

January 16th, we woke early and drove to Mount Maunganui.

As you can tell by my beautiful face, we tried to run up the thing. 

A view from the top!

After descending the Mount we spent a few minutes on the beach. 

We then quickly got ready and packed up camp and headed to the Hamilton Temple to do some baptisms!

We then drove from the temple to Hamilton City Holiday Park.
14 Ruakura Road.

Alex's footie pajamas made their first debut.

We had a delicious spaghetti dinner with garlic bread and turned in for the night.

Mitai

Today (as in yesterday, the 15th. I'm already a day behind!) in New Zealand, we stayed in Rotorua again. Everyone chose between two activities; You could either go Zorbing, or Sledging. Sound fun? If you've never heard of Zorbing, this is it.  Fun idea but...let's be hones, it didn't look that fun. I chose Sledging. The river in that link is where we actually were.

I can't find the action shots of our sledging trip right now. This "getting ready" shot will have to do. This is about 1/2 of us. The other half chose Zorbing and had an awesome time.

That evening we went to a Mitai. There, we enjoyed a cultural performance,

 a tour around the place, (this is a spring. The water was crystal clear and there were EELS living in there!)...

...and, of course, fooood. Look at that!

After we ate ourselves silly we headed back to camp for a good nights rest on pads and sleeping bags. Ahhhh :)

Feliz Natal

Our Christmas break was full of family, food, and fun. Before the new year gets away from me, I'm going to document it. For posterity's sake. (I apologize, this post is HUGE.)

Robert has been working early mornings at BYU. Today he received his bonus!

Sprite and Popcorn..

 He sold his Bonus and bought himself some winter riding clothes! (Ok, we consumed his bonus and used our own money for the clothes.) He can now ride outside in the winter time. Toasty.

Before Christmas, Steph, Brian, Jenny, and her fiance Edwin came over for a Brazilian Churrasco. Brian provided the meat and grilled pineapple. It was amazing. Jenny brought Guatemalan Tamales, and Robert and I made beans and rice. It was totally better than Rodizio. . .

Charlotte and Hazel tagged along, of course.

As Steph and Brian were leaving, who should stop in but the Jolly man, himself. SANTA!
Last year Charlotte was terrified of Santa...

He gave her a fright at first...

She was deciding whether to cry or laugh...

And with her mom, dad, grandparents, aunt, and uncle all saying, "It's Santa," as cheerfully as possible she decided it was the coolest thing ever!

"Haha! Sanna. 'Nomen. Saaaana."

 He even said hello to Hazel.

Christmas Eve arrived and, thanks to Brian and the traditions he brought from his family, the Naegle household performed its first ever Nativity. 

The Three Wise men.

The Narrator and donkey, (making him a talking ass?) stomping off. 

Nice tail, Dad.

 I mean, not much of a tail. But you're kind of attached to it, right?

 Wise man and the baby Jesus.

Gangsta

 Perfect little angel adjusting her halo.

 Three wise men, donkey, Joseph and Mary, Baby Jesus, a Shepherd, and the Angel.

Christmas Day arrived. We had the most perfect German pancakes (thanks Robert) and bacon and headed off to church. We have always done Christmas that way. We don't come into the living room until mom and dad have slept then showered. It was usually around 9 am. (I know, right?) We inevitably saw the bigger, unwrapped gifts that Santa had brought us but we didn't get to open any. Next we have breakfast. (Then we go to church, if it lands on a Sunday.)

Finally, we open presents.

Charlotte loves her hat. 

Hazel, the freakishly perfect baby. 

A few days after Christmas we went shooting up North Canyon. Against the law? Maybe.

Good thing we only had a .22 and a BB gun.

Amish woman with a gun, aka LeAnne.

He hit his target shooting backwards. (Never mind that it was a 3' x 5' box.)

We found this crazy fort up there, complete with cardboard and a red flag.

We made our way up to Aspen Grove again this year, even though there was hardly any white stuff.

The kiddos watching "Pooh Bear."

Robert and I left Aspen Grove on New Years Eve and spent it with his family. We sneaked up on them like this: 

(I know it's blurry. Our vision was to ring the doorbell, hide, and have Robert's helicopter hovering in front of the door when someone answered it. You hear the door creak open, see the helicopter take off, then it, uh, gets stuck in the tree.)

The next day we made more German Pancakes. What?

Our Christmas vacation came to an end and we went back home with a couple of gifts. 

This snowman belongs on a White fridge. (Why did I capitalize "White?" We may have made some racial jokes about this snowman. I don't know.)

Fred makes yet another friend.

'Twas a very merry Christmas. We loved spending time with our families and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

I can do hard things!

It's 6:19 and I have no idea what to make for dinner. We have like mounds of leftover white rice from when I made some tortilla things the other day, and then even more white rice from some chinese take out from Robert's surgery.

Oh by the way Robert had surgery yesterday. More details to come.

But as I'm sitting here wanting to whine and moan about what to cook for dinner I think to myself, "Self, don't whine. Robert hates it when you whine. And he should! Because whining is pointless. Am I whining because deciding what to make, shopping for said food, and cooking the food in a way that is delicious is HARD? Do I whine about HARD THINGS? NO! Because I CAN DO HARD THINGS!"

Yes, the famous "I can do hard things" quote came to mind. That quote was more developed than simply said while my classmates and I studied in New Zealand for a semester. It was two (2) years ago today that we touched down in the NZ. I never really gave a clear, concise account of my travels so if I can I think it would be fun to document on the bloggy blog over the next few months where I was two years ago.

Today, Air New Zealand flight #5 arrived in Auckland at 5:30am (local time). The Advanced group, namely Brad and Sandy (the instructors), Holly and Adam (2nd in command to Brad and Sandy), and a few student that went a week early to learn to drive the vans, met us at the airport with the vans and trailer. (p.s. I guess I'm putting off dinner. Sorry Robert, I promise I love you.)

Holly and Adam,
Van and trailer.

We drove to Rotorua, to our reservation at Waiteti Trout Stream Holiday Park.
Okona Cres Ngongotaha, Rotorua

 Tent city is erected.

 This little stream lead to the lake. And I canoed that stream alone for about 30 minutes. It was so thickly surrounded by vegetation and birds. It was one of the magical moments of my life :)

 Shallow for a longs ways. Great for frisbee.

Starting the first night we had evening devotionals, and Jeff and I led this one. As you can tell by my cheek, we passed around CANDY! YES!

That is it. Short and sweet.

Now I'll, uh, make dinner.