From the Mountains

Hello to everyone!!

Well we are here, and settled and loving it.

Of course sorry it has taken so long!! I am waiting to connect my broadband internet access so I can upload some photos but still haven't managed it.

So it is just writing today.

We have been here 5 1/2 weeks now, so we have settled into our new/old environment.

The kids are mostly enjoying their new school. I know Jacob is but I'm never quite sure with Dominic. If he has one bad day life is terrible, but he is doing fine and his school work is coming along well so he can't be doing too badly.

There are about 5 others boys that they play with outside of school as well as at school. And the great thing about Mt Cook is that it is safe for them to go off and have an adventure without adults tagging along all the time. So they have been playing in the bush and down by the river and even with a Playstation 2 which is exciting because we don't have one and I am not keen to get one any time soon!!

So it all reminds me of my childhood so many years ago on the farm. But in this day and age I have one advantage and that is a set of walkie talkies so I can talk to Jacob any time!!

So far winter has been very kind to us. When we arrived there was snow on the ground which had been there for 4 weeks already and it was cold, so very cold. -10 when we were walking to school. But that all washed away with some rain and slightly warmer weather 2 weeks after we got here. I pretty sure everyone was sick of me saying "Man it is so cold" about 20 times a day.

But luckily there was enough snow for us to go on the school ski trip. This was fantastic, the first time for all of us on ski's. We all had lessons so it was great. The kids really took to it and by the end of the day they were flying down the learns slop and even taking on some little jumps. Dominic was built for speed!! He didn't care for technique and practicing turns he just went fast. We also went ice skating so that was fun.

Dominic is very excited about his upcoming birthday, we have been counting it down for about 6 weeks!! We are going to Christchurch this weekend to meet up with Bernd, so I am sure they will all have a fun filled weekend that we can write about next week.

So we are all well and surviving the end of winter, hoping for a couple of more big snow dumps before spring starts which I am sure we will get being here in the mountains.

As soon as I get the internet sorted out I will put some photos on here.

I hope all is well everywhere in the world and we would love to here what everyone has been up to lately!

That's all for now.
Everyone take care and lots of love from us in New Zealand.