Old Travel Report

Traveling by plane is different than by car. I didn't have a sewing project or something like that when I went to Nashville for a week over Easter. Of course I had my computer. I am trying to organize my files and since I recently had found an old unfinished travel report I decided to finish it.

Well, what I had found was the German writing of our 2002 New Zealand trip. I had probably written them for my parents. So the job to do: translating and adding photos.

And here it is. Unfortunately I can only upload files up to 10 MBs. So the PDFs can not be in the "best" version but have to be in the "good" version. This means the photos are not as sharp as they could be. See the tears on my face?
This report is the first one in two languages though, German and English!


New Zealand 2002 - part 1     (visiting friends near Auckland, but mainly South Island)

New Zealand 2002 - part 2     (the business trip part)

New Zealand 2002 - part 3     (leaving NZ and visiting Tahiti on the way home)



When I emailed the files to James he was very excited. We had both forgotten so much. So nice to get reminded and "re-live" it. I just wished I could put it up in better quality. Sorry.
Hope you will enjoy it!

Back home

Yes, it was very nice to spend time with Helen and William. Thursday to Thursday.
Allegiant non-stop RIC to BNA. Very reasonable. The rented car not so much. But here it is and it was easy and convenient to just pick it up and be at the house in 10 minutes. William liked the red car.

First thing on the agenda: re-arranging the guest room. I will sleep with William. Helen and William have moved into the townhouse until their house is fixed. Ben is at the farmhouse.

Good Friday

William was at the farmhouse with Ben so Helen and I went shopping. The disadvantage when you lose weight is that you need new clothes. Helen has lost a total of 80+ pounds and looks stunning. We were very successful and enjoyed lunch at a sushi place. The appetizer was an avocado salad. I think James would like it too with soy sauce etc.

Saturday

Ben brought William to the townhouse on Saturday evening. We were very happy that William was  with us on Easter Sunday. Bedtime means more reading. Btw that quilt is an "I spy..." I made for him a few years ago. The week went so fast that we never got around to play that.

Helen had given William an Easter gift which hangs on the Wall. The note says that it needs a photo with him and his dad. It was my job to help William to select a photo. He picked this one from Ben's facebook because the dog Jack had to be in it.

Easter Sunday

Service at Helen's church is at 9 am. Rather early but we made it. The service was very nice. William was very nervous to miss the easter egg hunt but we told him that that was happening after the potluck and there was plenty of time.

The church has 3 or 4 picture windows on each side. I noticed that the Sunday school children had colored the symbols in the middle and they were posted next to each of the windows. What a great idea.

I also noticed that the crosses on the entry wall were new. I love that idea too. They were all so different. You immediately wonder where they are from and what story they would tell if they could.

Potluck was very nice and over. We sat with another couple and their sun Alex which was very nice. But the egg hunt was way too quickly over for William. It's not about the candy for him. The boys took all the sweets out of the eggs and the empty eggs were left in a box in the church. 

In the afternoon William and I made the "rabbits in the grass" as I had promised him. He enjoyed that.

And later again the question came about his chocolate bunny. Well, if it's gone it's gone.

 And of course .... FaceTime with Papa.

Drifter does not seem to feel well. Helen thinks he has an ear infection and she made an appointment for Monday. In the meantime William tries to comfort him.

You can't be in two places at the same time. It would be nice if that was possible but since it is not ... the next best thing is photos. Our church has the ringing of the bells at the first and last hymns on Easter. 

Afterwards there was an egg hunt and photo taking too.

Tuesday 

Last week William had three days of third-grade testing. This week too. Helen had made a star of encouragement each day last week. Today Helen, Ben and I each added another to it. He finds them in different places and then adds them to the front door before he leaves for school.

He wanted to ride in the red car. Omi picked him up from school and we went to an ice cream place. I think it might be his favorite because cartoons are playing on several TVs. 

The test didn't seem to be a big deal to him.

He loves to read. But it's not easy to get him to bed which the school said it was especially important on these test days and there are two more to come: Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday

William needed something to leave his stuff (instead on the floor). I had found this shelving unit at ALDI. Helen wasn't sure whether she wanted it but decided "yes" since it was the last day when I could either return it or assemble it.

William helped me. He turned every screw. 

Adding the feet.

Decided what to put where.

Helen had errands to do. So William and I went to HomeDepot. He picked out two flower pots, dirt, plants and seeds.

Next to HomeDepot is Olive Garden. We had a nice dinner. He loves the unlimited bread sticks and salad. His spaghetti we took home in a box.

We had to hurry home. Omi needed to fill the rented car up with gas. And we needed to plant the pots. Salad seeds joined the tomato and giant sunflower seeds joined the basil. Mommy was surprised and happy. A little garden at the townhouse. 

William picking out bedtime reading.

What else? While I was there we also played games. This was a new one Papa had just ordered and I brought it from Virginia. A friend in England with two granddaughters had recommended it. I had read it on her blog. This one is the junior version of the USA. There seem to be a lot of versions. I like it a lot. This day William beat me fair and square. 

Thursday

Time to go home. The alarm rang it 4:30 am. I slept on the downstairs sofa because I didn't want to wake anybody up and sneaked out at 5. I had to return the rented car first. I did a stupid thing. I had not looked at my papers and drove into the Budget place. The attendant tried to scan the car and said "Ma'm, this is not our car". Really? I look at my papers. OMG, how can I be so silly? Wrong place. I had to find my way out again, full circle around the airport and in again. This time to Dollar. Yeah, they wanted it.

I did have plenty of time though, was the fifth in line at Allegiant and they had not even opened the counter yet. After that everything went fine.

The plane landet even a little early and James was waiting for me. When we walked towards the baggage place this picture was in front of us. Difficult taking a photo walking but I could not resist. So cute. We wondered what would happen at the escalator. The boy with his iPad just jumped off.

Helen mailed this photo to me since I missed the 6th and last day of testing. I hope William took all this encouragement to heart. He is a clever boy.

Happy to be home, with James again and close to Sarah and her bunch (by the way she went back to work two nights ago but is still very sore). Needless to say that now I miss Helen and William again very much. Sigh.

Update

It was very unfortunate that Sarah broke her arm but I am happy to report that under the circumstances things are going ok. Sarah as always deals with it. Life goes on. Wade grills when possible.

And they went with their oldest to register him for Kindergarten. Already? He is excited.

Palm Sunday. We are always a bit early for the service so I took some photos on the church grounds. The dogwoods are blooming too. So gorgeous. 

I was very happy that I was able to check some things off my to-do list which were long overdue. I made new feet for Jemima Puddle-duck to take to Helen. The birds on my otherwise finished a long time ago row-by-row quilt have finally eyes. And my amaryllises made it back into their pots. After my knee operation they ended up in the garage and were neglected by me. When we a few days ago  cleaned/organized the garage (another overdue got a check mark) I found some with big buds. We will see how they fare now. They look pretty good.

These are not the only doors which still displayed the Christmas cards. What can I say, I like them so much. But now I have taken them down. Forgot to take an after-picture. Didn't want to came back after Easter and get greeting by them. That season is over. 

Re-arranged the sunroom. I might like it much better this way. 

And then Maundy Thursday James brought me to the airport and of I went with Allegiant Airways non-stop to Nashville. 

It will be so nice to spend time with Helen and William.

Caleb's spring break

Since we spent a whole week with William when he had spring break, its only fair if we spend at least one day with Caleb. He loves special one-on-one time without his younger brothers. Don't we all love special one-on-one time?

We picked him up on Monday April 1 to spend the night. Helen had sent a lego box with us for him. He immediately went to do it. It didn't take him long. He must have had lessons from William.

He is an early riser so we went to Jamestown Settlement. This is what the website says:

"Relive the experience of America's first permanent English colony.

Near the site of the original colony, Jamestown Settlement tells the story of 17th-century Virginia, from the arrival of English colonists in Jamestown in 1607 to the cultural encounters and events that planted the seeds of a new nation. The world of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, comes to life through film, gallery exhibits and outdoor living history."

Caleb was impressed. We could go on one of the three ships which are replicas of the original ships the first settlers to America came over in 1607. It took them 5 months.   

I think he was most impressed with the Indian village. He listened to every word.

If it only wasn't so lousy cold. We have a year membership so we don't have to feel that we have to see everything. We can come back. Back to the entrance and to lunch in the cafeteria.

On the way home. Do you think we might have worn him out?

A few days later we could see how much attention he had paid. He bugged his Mommy to make a bow and arrow with him. He had been told in the Indian village that those boys got one when they were 5 and had to practice every day instead of going to school. 

She google, they got the material at a lumberyard and he loves his new self-made toy.

Finally, finally. Spring has sprung. More sunshine. More warm days. Less rain. Our redbud is in full bloom. So pretty.

And who did this?

On Sunday afternoon had a church ladies' meeting I had won a geranium. Gorgeous! I planted it outside in one of our planters. What a pleasure.

Can't resist showing you this! I have a thing with license plates. Not myself but just trying to figure out what people tried to say. Some are very clever. I am not sure l like this one. A bit far out.

And now the latest family news. We were lucky that we were around. Tuesday April 9 at 6 pm Sarah called in tears. It was her last real day being in her "off"-time (first nightshift Wednesday evening) and wanted to take the boys on a bike ride, riding herself too on Wade's bike. Unfortunately right in front of their garage she fell and her arm hurt. She had no idea whether something was broken because she could wiggle the fingers but was in a lot of pain. Of course we were there in less than half an hour. I stayed with the boys, James took her to see a doctor. Yes, an x-ray showed a bone cracked/broken just underneath her elbow. It was immobilized with a splint and she was sent home with the advise to make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor in the next few days. 

The unfortunate thing was that this was one of the rare nights when Wade had to be out of town. So, James left me to sleep there and went home. Next morning at 7 am their nanny arrived as scheduled (when Sarah has to work night) and James picked me up again. What else are parents for?