New Zealand June

June was such a strange month. It started out SO great, and went downhill real real fast. We started out the month visiting one of our favorite spots: the Bay of Islands. It was a tad chilly, but that meant we had the whole place to ourselves. We found the most awesome hotel right on the beach and lived it up.

Ana is by far our most enthusiastic beach child. No matter where or what the weather is, she gets on a beach and can't stop running, leaping and dancing.

Elsie is the sand lover of the family and will roll in, dig in, and eat the sand for hours and hours.
Cam usually spends beach time trying to avoid Ana knocking him over. He also likes to search for shells for about two minutes. Then, he whines to leave.

Great beaches, and gorgeous scenery. Man I miss that New Zealand.

We splurged and rented some kayaks for an hour. Jonah was planning on kayaking to Blenheim across the sound, but we talked him into just visiting some close little islands. Lucky.

One of the tiny islands had a beach COVERED with sea glass. We got a few handfuls for Jonah's sister Saydi who loves sea glass, but they've been buried in my luggage since June and I still haven't given them to her! I'm so rude.

I know we took Elsie on the kayaks, but I can't find her in any of the pictures.

Oh, there she is.

The kids were a little worn out from our crazy weekend.

Although winter was upon us, the girls still spent most of their days outside (and still in their pajamas at noon, I might add).

Then, on 17th June, while we were all at Cam's school for his big poetry reading assembly, Ana fell on the jungle gym and broke her arm, which immediately damaged her main nerve and pinched the circulation to her hand!

But, they have great socialized health care in NZ, and after two hours surgery and two days in the hospital (which was all free), Ana's arm was put back in place. She was very very brave and courageous through the whole thing. She was mad they had to cut her shirt though.

She ended up with three pins and a cast for four weeks. She still has no movement or feeling in two of her fingers and half her hand, but all signs show that it'll all heal up within a year.

A couple days after we got home from the hospital, we found an abandoned lamb in the flock! My kids generically named her Bambi. But, she was cute and learned to eat well enough after a couple days and ended up being a strong, fun little lamb.



A few days after that, our landlords went crazy and demanded drug money and threatened me with a baseball bat, so we quickly told the police and tenancy board and moved our stuff out of their cold, damp house and sold all the animals. And that was June. Here are some of our chickens that we sold:

I had been raising this polish rooster for a few months and had to sell him just as he was getting handsome. Dang it!

Here were to be his future wives.

Also, here is some fancy New Zealand soap.

Bambi got adopted by our super awesome neighbors. She was happy, because at our house, we made her sleep in a box. At their house, she got her own stall in the barn.

The only reason the cuteness doesn't overwhelm you is because the curtains are so hideous. Okay. More New Zealand July coming soon!