Sandboarding Video of the Boys

Bay of Islands, New Zealand (from Mathijs)

Kayaking and Sand Boarding
We went kayaking and is was so cool! Mom and I were in a kayak together and I paddled most of the time. My mom said I did better than her and she probably wouldn't have made it so far without me! It was so beautiful on the water.
We also went sand boarding. You ride down huge sand dunes on a slick bottomed bogie board. It was really fun but really really hot on your feet. My feet felt like they were on fire! When we got to the top of the dune, it was a big relief because it was so tiring walking up that steep hill. But it was also a big scare because when you looked down, we couldn't see the bottom of the dune because it was so steep! When we went down, we got lots of sand on our faces! It a good thing we had sunglasses on! We had an great time! Mom is working on our video. Look for that later.

Auckland, New Zealand

Well, we made it to Auckland and it is BEAUTIFUL! It has definitely made it onto my list of favorite cities! It has all the charm of a big city without the excess population that usually comes with it. It was so odd to walk down the busiest shopping street and not even rub shoulders or bump into strangers! The temperature is around 75F (25C) and absolutely perfect. The city is surrounded by crystal clear blue water, sailboats, tropical green islands and tons of dormant volcanic cones. We have had a lovely time walking the streets and exploring beautiful areas with lovely beaches and views. We even discovered a new favorite food... Korean pancakes! We found a very popular street vendor making them and they are yummy! They are a yeasty, thick pancake filled full with cinnamon and sugar. YUM!

Rubber Trees in Thailand-post from Ash

We saw some rubber trees. Here’s a picture. Did you know rubber comes out of trees??? The people cut diagonal slits in the trees. The rubber runs down the slit into a spout and lands in a coconut cup! Sometimes you can see it hanging in sheets and drying in the sun. The rubber is used for making lots of stuff. They can make tires, rubber bands, erasers, bouncy balls, gloves, and lots of other things!

Mathijs' Snorkeling Adventure

I had a great time snorkeling! It took a long time for the boat to get there. We snorkeled at 3 different places and the last two were the best. I saw sword fish, blow fish, and 2 sea snakes. My Uncle Maarten told me they were the most poisonous snakes in the world! I think I also saw an eel. There were so many colorful fish and really big colorful corals. It's surprisingly noisy under the water. I LOVED snorkeling and can't wait to do it again!

Snorkeling from Ash

I went snorkeling yesterday. It was BEAUTIFUL! Other people went scuba diving and we were the only ones snorkeling. We are too little to go diving. I saw beautiful fish and coral reefs. The fish were very colorful like a rainbow. We did not see any Nemo's but we did see some of his friends! Nemo is too deep in the water. I can't wait to snorkel again in the Great Barrier Reef! It's like swimming in the aquarium. It was so beautiful. I am thankful I did not see any sharks because they did say the little ones live where we were swimming around!

Riding zip lines through the jungle canopy

This is just a quick post to go along with the video. We really enjoyed our 'play' time together this day. It was so beautiful looking at the forest from a birds eye view. The trees themselves are huge and gorgeous. Platforms were made between trees and their were over a dozen zip lines of differing lengths and 3 repel lines. It was hard to tell how high we were because a lot of times there would be a canopy of leaves below us. Sometimes we were able to get a peek though the leaves at the floor and we were VERY high! This forest is a coffee and tea growing area and we got to see first hand the coffee and tea trees and how the local villagers pick them. Many of the trees are growing on such steep hills that I wouldn't even consider walking down them... and they are harvesting their crops without any difficulties!