New Zealand | Part 1

new zealand new zealand,

where should i start?!

in one word

AWESOME !

we just completed our first (non-child) holiday in 7 years.

it was amazing,

i'm really not sure why we have waited this long.

we went to new zealand for 8 days and explored some of the north island.

it is one of my absolute favourite places to visit in the whole world.

i always come back super energised and at peace with myself.

we left our boys behind on the 16th october and lived up every moment.

i even got to have an real nap on the flight

- it was bliss from there.

we arrived at auckland at 2:45pm and headed straight at Taupo from there.

it was a 3 hour drive but a beautiful 3 hour drive seeing the real raw new zealand country side.

we were lucky enough to pull up and watch the sunset over lake taupo as we pulled into our "cute romantic country cabin feeling" motel.

we had a beautiful (non-interuppted by children nagging they want to go home) dinner and got to eat proper adult food.

we woke up and went for a walk along Lake Taupo,

where we almost literally froze our be-hinds off.

the wind coming off that lake was ridiculous.

we could see a beautiful snowcapped mountain in the distance

and the lovely husband that i had knew i had to go to some exploring of it and he drove an hour and a half more south so we could go and hike it.

our car was super super SUPER old school,

so we came to this bumpy road that was going to lead us to the beginning of the track and we honestly didn't think the car would make it there in one piece,

there was a couple of times we wanted to turn back but we kept on going

and i'm so glad we did,

the view was beautiful.

after doing a short hike we headed back into Taupo to see Huka Falls.

these are some powerful rapids.

you could feel the cement bridge we were standing on move as the water raced down to the waterfall.

the colour was the mose beautiful aqua you have ever seen.

my camera couldn't capture how beautiful and vibrant it was.

we then headed on to our next stop Rotorua.

we did this with a little mid-stop at Kerosene Creek.

this was on my bucket list to do ever since we booked our tickets.

it is a natural hot spring in the middle of a national park.

once again we came to a road with big rocks all the way

and we thought there is no way the car will make it,

but we persisted and i'm so glad we did.

it was beautiful,

to be in the middle of nature in a natural hot spring was an experience i'll never forget.

the water temperature was perfect i could have dived right in

(and i don't go into the beach until it's like 45 degrees.)

this also made our skin and swimmers stink like Rotorua.

(anyone who's been there totally gets what i'm talking about)

we headed to our hotel in Rotorua.

if you are ever in Rotorua stay at the Arista Capri.

hands down the BEST service i have ever had.

jevan was knackered by the time we arrived,

so we had a shower and tried to rid our skin of the stench and then headed to dinner.

i had indian for the first time and it was DELISH.

we then came home and crashed out like we had been up all night with a newborn.

Primary Presentation | 2016

today was the day the boys had been practicing for.

they had their annual primary presentation

- it's my favourite sacrament meeting out of the whole year.

these moments as a mother is one of those you don't forget.

they get you all sorts of teary and proud.

i was super proud of my two older boys today.

they did excellent.

you could tell when it was bracky's favourite song they were singing,

he sung his little tone deaf heart out.

makai was nervous about getting up in front of lot of people

but he conquered his fear and stood up there and said his part clear and confidently.

my boys are my greatest example in life.

they always make me want to be better and do better.

they will never know how much i love them and how proud i feel to call them my sons.

and yes,

we did cut zayden's hair.

Charles Darwin Walk

yesterday we did my birthday adventure.

it was a beautiful day for it as well.

we embarked on our first legit hike.

our little boys walked 3 hours,

and were champs about it.

we did the charles darwin and wentworth falls hike in the blue mountains.

this hike is perfect to do with kids.

there is plenty to stop and see along the way,

so the boys were kept interested the whole time.

we went across old bridges, new bridges, we found caves, we walked across skinny wooden walk ways, we found animals, (braxton) found lots of new flowers he had never seen before, we hugged trees to see if we could fit both arms around them, we threw rocks in the water, we got wet from the waterfalls, makai and jevan got one of their shoes soaked, we ate lots of chocolate to keep us energized and we tried to scare each other along the way.

their favourite thing was to get to each bridge to find tadpoles or fish.

my favourite memory from this went something like this

braxton climbed up on the bridge and told us he found a lobster.

jevan and i both were all "oh ok braxton, sure there's a lobster in the water"

when we asked him where it was he told us it had gone in the shade.

jevan and i both again " oh ok braxton, sure it's in the shade"

saying it in the MOST sarcastic non-believing voice you have ever heard.

jevan started heading off and i tried to hurry braxton off the bridge when,

would you believe it a lobster looking animal crawled out from the shade.

i was all "JEVAN THERE'S A LOBSTER"

we laughed so hard.

a good lesson for us to learn about listening to our children.

this was my favourite holiday adventure to date.

i love outdoors, being in nature and sharing that love with my boys and them loving it back was a perfect way to spend it.

and today we are all suffering that love of hiking in our bum and thighs.