Jesse Palmer in the house!

Jesse is a dear friend from way back- since kindergarten...he stopped here for a few days before going to work in the South Pole- he "volunteered"to help me put a window in....

Jess and I were marveling at the places we have crossed paths on the globe- NZ is definitely the farthest from West Chesterfield! Upon his return from the Pole we hope to do some kayaking somewhere in NZ ( although we are trying to convince him to be our "Manny" for a little while)....

"I have a knife in my right hand."

Kayaking and Gondolas

So, we are novice bloggers- as in, we don't post very often- working on that.

I had the chance to join a NOLS group in the Marlborough Sounds for 5 days- weather was beautiful for the most part.  Here are some photos

kayaking in the marlborough sounds 

paddling back by myself after leaving the NOLS group

finally teaching in the field...

nice classroom

purge your inappropriate thoughts- this is a legitimate re-entry: the cowboy crawl

leaving the group to go home.

 We have been busy getting ready for our first Southern Hemisphere Christmas- weird.  It is full on summer.We took a gondola ride and then hiked down to the town of Lytelleton to the farmers market and then took the bus back.  Was a fun little adventure.

Ella showing her index finger off.

2 teeth!

We had a great trip to Mt Cook last weekend (I broke the camera, so we don't have photos yet).  We also bought a car!  For under $2k USD- it is seemingly in a good shape for a 2000 subaru.

That's all for now-