Some Big Birthdays

Ellie turned 16 earlier this month,

And Mimi will turn 13 tomorrow.

These are some significant birthdays!  We decided to celebrate the girls by going to Wellington for the weekend.

The highlight was a show Ellie, Mimi and I went to at Meow with Avalanche City, Luke Thompson, and VanDerWel.  They are all from New Zealand, and their music is not available on iTunes America yet, so here are a couple of youtube links if you're interested in their music: Avalanche City - Love, love, love, Sunset, You and I, Luke Thompson - Walls.  It was an amazing show and a really fun night out with my girls!

Some other highlights of the weekend:

We finally went to Te Papa Museum.  It was HUGE!

Julia found a friend in the discovery area 

Life size model of a whale's heart

The Beehive - Parliament building

US Embassy

Embassy Theatre

Downtown fun

Beanbag park

Mmmmmm.... Movenpick

Our current favourite eatery: Burger Fuel

View of Wellington from Mt. Victoria

Another fun weekend in Wellington!

North Island Holiday Wrap Up

The rest of our vacation flew by in a blur, but here are some highlights from the rest of our holiday...

Agrodome is a New Zealand farm experience in Rotorua which features an amazing sheep show. We loved it!  We were able to pet and hold baby sheep, watch a sheep dog demonstration, a shearing demonstration, and Mimi even got to be part of the sheep show!

Who doesn't love baby sheep?

Mimi was asked to hold the gate closed to keep the sheep in,

but the sheep just jumped right over!

The variety of sheep that are farmed in New Zealand

We also went to Skyline Rotorua and loved the view from the Gondola rides up and down the mountain.  We also did the luge, and Cris got one blurry pic - it was FAST!

We visited Te Puke, the "Kiwifruit Capital of the World".  We've all come to love kiwi - especially golden kiwi.  I don't know if we can even get that in America? So we're eating as much as we can down here.

Papamoa/Tauranga/Mt Maunganui

That's Mt. Maunganui in the background

Hiking around "Leisure Island" - love that name!

Hiking around "the Mount"

Bouncy pillow at Papamoa - Julia's favorite thing from vacation!

Some tears were shed as we left this spot...

The Redwoods at Whakarewarewa Forest

These were truly amazing and our walk was peaceful

and the smell was wonderful...

reminded us of the Black Hills we know and love

Silver Ferns

Huka Falls by Lake Taupo

Views on our drive home along the Desert Highway

We had a great holiday but it was nice to get back "home" to our beds and sea views.  It's funny how Wanganui has become a comforting place to return to in this year of adventure...