Snack attack

Ever miss American stuff? More importantly, American junk food? We have!

To help out, I set up a snack exchange program. My friends mail me American snacks, and we mail them back NZ snacks.

Awesome!

Unfortunately for me, this care package from Meghan Enos came at the end of my 20 week fitness challenge and the start of my Personal Trainer Mark's Hunter-Gatherer diet, so I can't have any of it, except for the Body Builder Protein Bars. It seems my body is stuck at its current weight, so I have to do the dreaded clean eating, cut calories plan. No fun!

Kids were happy to have Reese's and Poptarts though. :)

Triathalon season of spring and summer is approaching. I got a used mountain bike off Trademe for$75, so I could actually have the equipment to enter a triathalon. I haven't owned a bike since I was 13.

Mike has boarded his Boston plane headed ultimately for Christchurch again. 30 hrs of travel for my husband? No good. I am glad that he went to his sister's wedding in USA.

Flying Fox

Kiwi parks are made for fun, and this was clear when we moved to NZ. Now that it is10 months later, I can re-experience the wonder through my American brother Mike Thompson's eyes. He was amazed at the size of the super slides, the height of the rock climbing wall. Lastly, I challenged him to try the Flying Fox, our zip line at the local Bishopdale Elephant Park.

Challenge accepted! He loved it so much that he was all smiles and went on three times. He even made me try it too.

Scary at first,but fun. I did scream a bit initially.

We also helped Harry and Ben scale the rock wall. They were scared to come down, but I helped hold their feet and lifted them back to safety. See, my weightlifting at the gym is paying off.

Nice warm afternoon, and you can sense spring is just around the bend. Flowers are blooming, baby ducks are hatching. The gardens are growing a bit.

International Day and Friday Night Pillow Fight

So it came to be that Mike Fried left for a week and a half on the same day that Mike Thompson arrived at the Christchurch airport, only 8 hrs apart.


The kids were excited for the midnight pickup of Uncle Mike, even though I had to haul them mid sleep to the airport at 11 pm. It's not everyday that you get an international visitor!

Friday started with school for the kids, and a Dr appt for me. It turns out that I have an ear infection, which explains why my ears have been continuing to hurt , even now that most of my head cold is gone. Antibiotics should help....

It was international day at Zack's school, so he helped me make Mac n cheese and M &M cookies to represent cuisine from USA.

Uncle Mike came and the kids sang itsy bitsy spider in Maori and SriLanjan, and also the NZ national anthem. It was very cute!

Zack wore our American flag as a superhero cape, as many of the other kids were dressed up in batman and Spider-Man costumes or in kimonos.

Uncle Mike liked the international food spread, which included kiwi food and other stuff people brought.

Then, later in the day, we all went to Fri night services at the synagogue house. The services were cool, and we had matzah ball soup, and the kids ended the night with a pillow fight with all the Jewish kids of Canterbury. Fun!

International Mike swap!

On Thursday, we are heading to the Christchurch airport twice. Once, at lunch, to drop off my husband Mike Fried to head off on a week long trip to the USA to go to his sister's wedding in Vermont.

Then at almost midnight, I am picking up my brother Mike Thompson from the airport, as he is staying in town for 4 weeks in a flat near our house to visit and see the sights.

It is an international Mike swap, of sorts, to kick off August.

What is Mike bringing from America? Cheetos and other American junk food. Awesome!

We hope to take him around to see the sights, like the gondola and Willowbank and maybe the Antarctic Center while he is here. Maybe he will come on our overnight scouting camping trip too. Winter camping is planned for 24 Aug at Blue Skies in Kaipoi.


It will be nice to see family again after 10months of being away.

Christmas in July

Sometimes Kiwis celebrate the winter by having a Christmas in July party, so we can have a cold Christmas party instead of a Dec summer BBQ beach party.

My ladies group decided to throw a party yesterday to make holiday food and get together with friends, so we organized it.

We even brought along the dreidel game, so we could teach it to Mason and Daniel.

Mirna, originally from Bosnia, hosted the party. She didn't even celebrate Christmas as a kid growing up in Eastern Europe, so she was happy to unpack her new Christmas tree and fairy lights( string lights).

Here are some pics from the festivities.

 International smorgasbord.

 Mirna standing over the holiday banquet.

Daniel and Mason spin dreidels with the kids. Gambling with chocolate and gold wrapped lollies. Lol!

34th BDay dinner, party of 32...

Winter can be cool and rainy in ChCh, much like a Seattle winter. I was feeling downright sad and homesick at the beginning of the month, so I decided to plan myself a bday party.

I invited my new friends that I met through Scouts, girls night, and my neighbor Mel. Then I invited a bunch of people I had never met before- Newcomers to CHristchurch.

On the meetup, the RSVP list started to grow and grow. I called the restaurant and booked a table for 20, then for 28, then finally for 32 people. Madness, you say?

It was awesome! I had a great birthday party out at the Flying Burrito Bros in Papanui, with a group of Kiwi friends and a huge group of newbies to Christchurch that came through Meetup.com. There were people from England, New Zealand, USA, Sri Lanka, Canada,Australia, China, and a few other places that came out to socialize and share some margaritas and choc cake with me.

Mike and I loved the kiddo free time as well, since Analyn generously offered to watch the kids at home and rent Star Wars with them. A great night, and my first winter bday in 34 years!

American Group of Christchurch

On a 4th of July, it is business as usual in NZ. However, we got invited to a Sat BBQ with the American Group of Christchurch, so we went today on 6th of July. We met in Spreydon, and got to catch up with 25 or so other Americans and Kiwis married to Americans. We brought along a fruit salad, some Capri suns, and some Cheetos. The kids had a good time hanging out with the 4 other kids, and Mike liked talking politics and Internet with the other guys. Looks like they meet up for Thanksgiving and Superbowl, so that is cool! Best of all, they had napkins and plastic plates and cups. American classics ! I told them that I have Halloween parties and egg hunts, so the President asked me to be on the planning committee.