3 weeks left

Okay so we have been a bit slack over the last couple of weeks with our blog...sorry! We have been busy then sick and now are back on track! Love Sandra

Ok now that my mommy is feeling better she can help me write our blog.

We have been super busy over the last couple of weeks. My friend Briar was on school holiday so we got to play together almost everday for two weeks! Sometimes she spent the night here with me and other times I spent the night with her I even went to Christchurch with her for 3 days!! That was a lot of fun cause her mom, Ms Karen, took us to play all over...we even got to go swimming at an indoor pool. Briar has two really cute brothers named Oliver (Ollie for short) and Harper. I really had fun playing with them as well.

While Briar was here in Geraldine we got to have horseback riding lessons!! I had so much fun! I rode a horses named witch and cassie and also a pony named buttons. I learned a lot during my lessons like a sitting trot, a rising trot, and riding by myself. I also learned how to take care of horses like making their feeds, brushing them, learning how to tie a knot in order to tie the horse to the post (you have to take the bunny put it through the burrough, under the log, over the log, back through the burrow, and close the hutch door). I also learned that you always have to care for and love your horses and never tie a horse to a fence or something that moves ONLY to a fence post. My teachers name is Nancy, she is a great teacher!

Now let me tell you about some other trips we have taken. We went to a place called The McCaully Hut. It is a public (anyone can stay there and more then one group at a time)cabin out in the middle of the hills way off the road where you have to drive through riverbeds and dirt/rocky road to get there. It was a really really bumpy ride. When we got there my mom thought it was really gross and dirty even though the cabin itself was beautiful and the views were great. There were 6 men already staying there when we got there and old food all around not clean at all. Mom agreed to rough it out for the night cause i was so excited about sleeping on the top bunk of one of the many bunk beds in there. But she was kinds crazy and wouldn't touch anything. she also wouldn't eat off any dishes there. They did not have indoor plumbing so if you need to go to the bathroom you had to use a latrine (an outhouse of sorts) but the latrine was full of waste and not clean so mom wouldnt let me use that either so that left the cold snowy outdoors. After we had been there for a couple hours 7 more car loads arrived of people wanting to stay so Shaun decided to leave cause it was too full. Mommy couldnt be any happier but i was disappointed that i couldnt camp out there for a night. So when we left it was pitch black and very cold and icy. Shaun ended up getting stuck in the snow when we first took off. So he had to dig out the car in freezing cold temps until luckily some of the people at the hut saw our lights in the distance and came to rescue us. They towed us out and we went back home. It was an interesting adventure!

Now to an even more exciting trip. For moms birthday we took a train to the west coast to greymouth (we are on the east coast). It was really pretty. We rode through the mountains and over big bridges (which my mom was scared by). Once we got there we were so excited. We checked in and unpacked. It was warmer there then in geraldine so mommy had to shed a few layers before we went out to walk around the town. We went to a birthday dinner and then back home to get a good night sleep. The next day we went to a place called Shantytown which is an old mining town. I got to go gold mining and everything! After touring it we had a picnic on the beach were there are HUGE waves! It was so beautiful! We walked around a lot and then it was time to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. I got really sick that night and had a high fever so mommy took special care of me and by the time i woke up my fever was gone and we were ready to pack up and go home. We took the train back and then mommy got sick the next day so that is about it. We are caught up now. Well we are heading towards the end of our trip. We have three more weeks until we are back home and warm. Lets see what else we will do before coming home...miss you all and love you~Bella