Camp Meeting

Photos are of our set up at camp meeting, our new tent and the mossie net tent.

The good looking group of young people are - from left to right - Ruby (Mitchells girlfriend), Tamzin, Hannah, Mitchell,Scott and Kyle (in case you didn't know who they were)

Well I have managed to find internet access at the lodge at camp meeting...... so I will fill you in on the last couple of days.

Tuesday morning we headed out from 'the hottest place in Canada'! That is what Lillooet is, the hottest place in Canada, and we are moving there................

We arrived here at camp meeting on Tuesday afternoon. We hadn't made a reservation, but we got a great spot under the trees, right accross from Aunty Maureen, Kim, Scott and Hannah.

We spent a couple of hours 'discussing amongst ourselves' about how to set up all the new equipment which we purchased in order to go to camp. It wasn't too bad, but it was in the heat of the day and we were all quite tired (I won't say anymore about that).

The tent is pretty decent for $110. We can all fit in it and stand up. We are lacking a number of things - like a table and most cooking utensils and frypans, pots, tea towels, ect. But it is amazing what one can borrow from people. Our neighbours are all very nice.

Wednesday was a pretty full on day. We decided that today I should drive down to Seattle and return the van which Alistar and Angela kindly lent us. We didn't want to risk Alistair leaving the country in case they didn't let him back in as he hasn't yet received the all important Permanent Residency card. So I headed out on my own - well actually I had Tom with me - he is what we have named our Nav Man. I would have been hopeless lost without him - they are the greatest things since sliced break. I recomment that everyone get one.

While I was making my way down country 4 hours, Alistair and the kids and A.Maureen, Kim and their lot all headed to Vancouver for a massive fireworks display that was to be on that evening. The plan was for me to take the bus back to Vancouver and they would collect me and I would join them to watch the display.

I arrived at the Hunts around 2.45pm. I had a quick bit to eat and tour round their gorgous property. I feel in love with the place.

at 3.30 Angela drove me back to Seattle (they live about 40 minutes past Seattle) to catch the 4.45 bus. Upon arrival they announced that the bus had broken down and they couldn't get another one so I would have to take the train which left at 7pm.

Angela was very kind and took me off to an electronics shop to look for a camera I wanted to buy (which they only sold online!). Then she returned me back to the station.

The train ride was beautiful. It followed the ocean most of the way up. I sat by a very interesting, hard of hearing, elderly lady - but i won't go into that right now.

I finally got off the train and cleared customs at 11.3opm. By this time the fireworks was well and truly over and my lovely family were waiting patiently for me. We then had a 2 hours drive back to camp meeting..............

So we fell into bed round 2am.

Needless to say when the mobile phone rang at 7.30 this morning we weren't very impressed. Once we found the phone we were greeted by Mitchell's voice. Ruby and him were on their way to camp to spend the day - which was great.

So today has been a pretty low key day. The cousins have been hanging out done a lot of laughing, talking and who knows what else...... They did do zip lineing. At this point I would like to thank Felicity for teaching our kids how to put harnesses on properly - the young lass they had at the zip line place didn't know who to put them on properly. She was putting them on backwards and upside down. Kyle and Tamzin showed her how to do it. Just as well i wasn't there or I proberly wouldn't have let them do it - but they survived and Kyle even filmed it with his helmet cam. So Felicity they did listen!

I am running out of time so I haven't proof read this, so please forgive me if there a mistakes and it doesn't make sense.

I have been enjoying the cherries - they are fantastic. I'm trying to make the most of them before they are over for the year. I think I may pay for it though - I feel a fews trips to the loo coming on................

On that note I think I better go.....

Today we hit the big metropolis of Lillooet - BC's little nugget! It is very arrid and hot. We arrived at 5pm and it was 36 degrees! We thought we were going to melt - but we didn't. One good thing about the hot weather is that is seems to keep the bugs away, so there are no mossies, which is nice.

We are spending the night here at Fountainview, then tomorrow

we are heading off to camp meeting. It has been nice catching up with

all the people here at Fountainview. They are all very friendly and all know who we are. They have taken on a number of new staff this year and we are one lot of them. They are busy sorting out housing for us all.

We got to see the house we will be living in - it is a single wide mobile home with an addition on it. It has 4 bedrooms plus a small study, so that will be good. Overall it is smallish, but we will make it cosy. Might have to sell off some of the stuff we bought though as I don't know that it will all fit in..............

It has cooled off considerably now that the sun has dipped behind the mountains - which is nice. It is a lovely evening, so peaceful and quite............

Here is a picture of Tamzin in 'chip heaven'. These are some of the chips Glen bought home from work for the kids - I can feel the kilo's going on.......... here is my friend Yvonne - and her beautiful flower pots.......... thanks for the great time Yvonne (and Glen).

An Enjoyable Weekend

This is the key chain I made at the bead shop and the bracelet Yvonne made - it was fun. It was hard deciding which colors to choose....

It is now Sunday night and we have come to the end of a very enjoyable weekend. Saturday was spent doing not much at all. We enjoyed another delicious tea which Yvonne and Glen made for us. They really have spoilt us with food and drink. I can feel the kilo's piling on!

Glen works for Old Dutch which makes potatoe chips. Everyday he has bought home boxes of out of date chips - the kids think they are in heaven. They can't decide which flavor to try.

This morning (Sunday) Uncle Ralph drove down from Mackenzie (2 hours away) to have breakfast with us. It was nice to catch up with him. After we had hashbrowns and waffles we went up k-not hill - which is a beautiful park. We spotted our first chipmunk - which I was excited about.

Uncle Ralph had Delwyns little dog with him which they are looking after. Kyle enjoyed cuddling her and pretending it was Missey!

This afternoon we took Glen & Yvonnes boat out on Ness Lake for a ticky tour. It was lovely crusing round checking out all the beach houses. Some of them were pretty impressive.

This will be our last night here with Yvonne & Glen. Tomorrow we are off back down south. We will be stopping in at Fountianview tomorrow and spending the night there, then we plan to head to camp meeting in Hope. We may not have much access to the internet over the next few days, but we will see.

Thanks again to those who have commented and sent emails, it has been nice hearing your news. Have a good week.

New Glasses

Here we are enjoying our jug of root beer. These are my new fashion 'onion rings' glasses!

Friday was a lovely warm day. Yvonne took the day off work so we could go do some 'girly' things. We spent the morning preparing a macficient lasagna for tea, then we headed out shopping.

She took us to a bead shop - pandora type beads. They had some really lovely ones. They had a really neat key chain which you could make with beads. It appealed to me so I had to make one. I will take a picture and put it on here later.

Then she had booked the 3 of us (her, me and Tamzin) in for a pedicure. That was a nice treat. Tamzin thought it was great - bit hard deciding which color to go with though.

About 7pm we discovered that my cousin Wayne had come down to Prince George to get his truck fixed (they live about 2 hours away), so he came round for the evening. It was great to catch up with him - he hasn't changed a bit. Stories where flying in every direction.

Uncle Ralph is planning to come down on Sunday to have breakfast with us - so that will be nice. He has decided not to go to camp meeting after all now.

Well today (Saturday) it is meant to get to 27 degrees - it's a bit windy at the moment, but I guess that will help to keep it cool. Not sure what is on the agrenda for the day, probably not much, maybe a walk or a drive (I favour the drive!).........

A slower day

Thursday was a much slower day. We spent the day wondering the shops. Didn't buy too much.
Spent some time checking out all the electrical things we will have purchase - toaster, kettle, food processor, iron, vacum cleaner etc. Which ones do you buy!

Tamzin got a laptop bag and Kyle bought an external DVD drive which him and Tamzin will share.
Had a nice feed of peroge's for tea last night - they were yummy.

This morning we are off to take the van in to get a tow bar put on it. We were suppose to met up with Ralph and Maureen (my uncle and aunt) as they breezed through on there way down to camp meeting, but seems they have had some vehicel troubles and are still in Mackenzie. So since they are running 2 or 3 hours behind schedule I think we will just see them next week down at camp meeting.

Yvonne has taken today off work, so we are off to do some 'girly' things with her. Will leave Kyle and Alistair at Canadian Tyre or Costco.

Hope you like the spaces I have put into the blog - someone (who shall remain nameless) requested that I put in more spaces to make it easier to read!!! I am wondering if perhaps they might need glasses..........lol

Have a great sabbath.

Waiting Waiting Waiting

Wednesday we spent the day waiting, waiting, waiting - trying to sort out Social Insurance numbers, BC medical and drivers licences - we finally got finished at 3.30. Lots of waiting. But having said that, we were very blessed that we had all the papers we needed to do it all. We thought that Alistair would be the problem, but it apairs that it is me that causes the delays. Filling out forms as to why my things have been 'dormant' for so long, trying to do name changes from Magee to Smith etc. They 'stole' my NZ drivers licence yesturday, which I was very sad about. Apparently up until 3 weeks ago, us kiwi's would have to sit the Canadian driving tests to get a BC license. Well 3 weeks ago they changed it and now they have a reciprocol (can't spell it) agreement with NZ and we can just change over to a BC license without doing any tests - which is great - except you have to 'surrender' your NZ license. Fine for me, but the endorsements Alistair has on his, like his heavy traffic and bus one won't carry over (has to sit them here). So I am wondering if we give his license up here when we come back to NZ and change it back to a NZ one will those endorsements get put back on it, as they won't be on his Canadian one. Does that make sense. Anyway, i guess we will have to find out somehow. He didn't change his over as we have to have that magic little Permanant Residency card which we are waiting for to come in the mail.
Kyle can't drive here till he is 16, but there may be a chance that he can just change his NZ restricted to a Canadian one when he turns 16. Will have to wait and see.
The kids were very patiant sitting in the van waiting for us to get through everything. Today they have asked if we can go to Walmart and do some fun shopping! I guess car shopping wasn't fun - I think the novilty wore off after the 2nd or 3rd car salesman.
So we are about to head off into town and hit the shops. I was hoping to get some summer clothes but they already have all the winter stuff in the shops - I can't believe it. (well that was in Costco any, that is the only shop we have been to so far).
It isn't such a nice day today, cloudy and cooler, might have to take a sweat shirt along just in case it dips below 25 degrees!................

Here it is

Well here it is - our new van. If you double click on the pictures I think they will come up bigger.

Some of you have asked for the 'stats and facts' on the van so here goes. It is a Hyundai Entourage 07, has 50,000kms on it. It is a 7 seater. Has captain chairs in the middle. It has a DVD player, power sliding side doors, heated seats, power windows for the passangers (middle row), has 3 way air conditioning - one for driver one for front passanger and one for the back. It has a 3.8litre engine in it - and it goes really well. On the 8 hour trip up to Prince George it got up and went really well. Before you knew it you were doing 130kms! We are pleased with it, not sure that the seats couldn't have been a bit softer, but when you sit for 8 hours most things get uncomfortable I guess. We told the kids that they weren't allowed to watch the DVD player coming up, they had to look out the window. Well when Alistair got in the back to have a 'snooze' him and Kyle decided they better just try out this DVD player (with the infer-red head phones), so they spent the next hour laughing away watching Hogans Heros (which Alister and Anglea kindly lent us). So much for looking out the window! It was good to see.

We are now in Prince George staying with my frined Yvonne and her husband Glen. They have kindly let us take over there baement. It is nice not to be squished into a tiny motel room trying to find room for 8 suitcases!

We will stop here probably till early next week.

We went to Costco on Monday and got a 'Costco Card'. That was exciting. Found alsorts of great things to buy but thought we better wait till we have a house to put the stuff in. Tamzin did buy a laptop - which she is very excited about.

The Tom Tom - or Nav man, we got has been great. Not sure how one does without one really. Tells us all sorts of info - even what speed we are going and what the speed limit is for the piece of road we are on - pretty cool really.

Today we are off to sort Social Security numbers (like an IRD number), sort out drivers licences and get on the BC medical plan. Plus a wee bit of shopping here and there!

The weather has been wonderful - lovely and warm. Their summer is only just getting going they say. It has been a very cold and wet June. They had frosts here in PG at the beginning of July.

Well I best get going for the day. Thanks for the comments and emails, we love getting them, gives us a 'boost'. We are slowly catching up on some sleep and feeling a bit better.

Have a good day, I will think of you all when we are eating bagels, cherries and blueberries.....

Andrea I am dying to hear about this 'pink hair'....... seems I am not the only one who wants to know!

Success!

Well we have finally found a van to buy.
We have purchased a Hyundai Entourage. It has all the bells and whistles (which just means more things to break down!). It isn't silver - so I am very happy. I have an aversion to silver, but this country seems to love silver vehicles, so there are heaps of them. Anyway, it is a smokey blue colour. I will post a picture of it in the next day or so.
It took us all day to do the deal, then about 5pm we headed out of Vancouver up to Hope and stayed with Norm and Laurie for the night.
We are now on our way to Prince George. We have stopped in Hope to check the emails as Laurie doesn't have internet.
Tamzin bought a mini laptop yesturday from Costco. We look like yuppies here in the internet cafe with 3 of us on laptops. Alistair is feeling a little left out! He thinks he needs one too - don't think he would know how to turn the thing on............... but he says he could sit at it and pretend and look good!
Better go, we have a 7 or 8 hour trip ahead of us. Kids think they will be watching DVD's on the player in the van - I have news for them - they will be looking out the window to take in the sights.....
Catch you all later.

Firsts.....

Well another day is over.

We had a few firsts today!

Alistair and the kids smelt a skunk for the first time - they didn't like it at all. Poor skunk was squished on the road and Alistair ran over it, so the smell stayed with us for quite a while!!!

Another memorable incident that happened today took place at a car yard we went to. We had just finished test driving a van and the salesman told me that he would park it. Well on his way to park it he smashed into another brand new car!! Upon his return he told us that he hadn't done that very well and that he got a bit close to the other car. That was an understatement. It was all we could do to stop laughing - poor man. And no we didn't buy that van.

We are a bit over car salesman. We visited 5 different dodge dealers today - who all informed us that their yard was the biggest in British Columbia. Their all liars - but we knew that anyway. In the end we were taking bets as to how long into the sales pitch it would be till they told us they were the biggest dealer this side of the black stump!

No, we didn't find a vehicle today. Tomorrow is another day.

The kids have been very thankful for Alister & Angela's van which came equipped with a DVD player and a whole series of Hogan's Heros. This has given then an escape from listening to all the salesman's 'dribble' (as Alistair calls it).

Tonight I enjoyed a magnificant piece of blueberry pie. I have never seen such hugh blueberries. Today while driving to look at a van, we drove through acres and acres of blueberry farms. I wished Alistair would have let me stop and buy some - maybe tomorrow. He was on a mission and it didn't include blueberries... I did manage to sneak off a buy some Okanagan cherries - which I might add, he enjoyed very much (we we all did), now all I have left is a bag of cherry pips........

I introduced A.K.T to fries and gravy tonight - it was a big hit. Luckily the fries were bottomless - which means they kept refilling the basket for free. Not so good for the waistline.

Alistair is telling me I have to go to bed, perhaps he thinks I need more beauty sleep.......

Go Slow

We had a very slow start yesturday. We are very thankful that we have sabbaths so we can just stop, take a breath and stop rushing about. We didn't emerge from the motel till 12! It was nice to sleep in and just go slow.

We headed off to Stanley Park - which is a massive park in downtown vancouver. Once we got there, we had another sleep, then went for a wonder. We even managed to find a geo cache. Here is a picture of some totem poles we found along the way.

The weather was great.

Today we are car hunting again. They don't seem to wake up very early here on Sundays, so the car yards don't open till 11. Probably just as well, as it is 9am and the kids are still sleeping........ Alistair and I are ready to go.

Hope you all have a good start to your week.

Car Hunting - day 2

Here is what we found in our car shopping today........ Lamborghini Gallardo. Kyle was very excited. Tried to convince us that thi

s is what we should buy - not sure where all the shopping would fit, mind you if we bought one of these there would be no money left for shopping!

Alistair was sad today as the Lincoln Navigator had to be returned. It was such a nice vehicle. We were in a bit of a quandry as to what to do about a vehicle as we didn't find anything to buy (anything we couldafford to buy - the Lambo was nice but out of our price range and a little impracticle.)

The Lord answered our prayers today - Alister & Angela Hunt called us this morning and offered us the use of their van till we found something to buy. It was definatly big enough for our luggage. So Angela drove it up (3 hour drive each way) and delivered it to us, then she hopped on a bus and went back home. We are so greatful to them for this - it really has taken the pressure off making a hasty decision.

We made our first purchase today - a Tom Tom Navigation System - it is great. We couldn't have done without it today. They are so much cheaper here. Kyle has got it all sorted, he is loading the sabbath music onto it so we can play it through it tomorrow while we drive around. I have no idea how it works, but he does, so that is all that matters - it even tells us where the closest Tim Horton donuts is, so it was well worth it!

We have moved motels. The one we were staying at was booked up for the weekend (we only booked for 2 nights) so we are now out of down town Vancouver and are staying in Coquitlam. We are looking forward to a slow day tomorrow. Not doing much other than sleeping and taking it easy. We are so blessed that God has given us a day off every week.

Day 2

Our first full day as Canadians was a tiring one. We spent the morning doing 'banking' things then hit the car yards! Now we are more confused than ever. We saw from the very best minivans to the very worse!

We were all very tired last night, so will be going at a slower pace today.

On todays agenda is - you guessed it, more vehicle shopping................

The sun is shinning and looks like it will be a lovely day.

Here we are

We arrived safely in Vancouver. We got motion sickness tablets for Tamzin which seemed to help on the second flight. Mitchell, Arron and Ruby met us at the airport. We caught up with Carol, Sarah and Katie for a few minutes before they headed off to Carol's fathers place.

Getting through immigration went well. It took us about an hour. Most of that time was spent waiting to be interviewed. Amazingly enough we were the only european people there, all the others immigrating were asians or east indians.

We had organized a hire car for when we arrived. When we went to get it Alistair decided he would quite like the Lincoln Navigator thank you very much - so thats what we got. It is hugh! It has all the 'bells and whistles'. Kyle is in heaven (so is Alistair). I think it was a bad move really as today we are going to buy a car - a $5000 car, I don't really think it will compare to this!

We had tea with Connie and the boys. It was nice to catch up with them all.

We were all very ready for bed last night - slept like logs!

Today has dawned lovely and sunny. The kids have filled up on bagels from the hotel breakfast and we are ready to hit the shops - actually we are all ready to go back to bed! But we have places to go, people to see and vehicles to buy.............

Farewell New Zealand

Here are the crew that came to see us off at the airport (less Andrea, Holly & Steph as they had to leave early).

After a mad panic on Wednesday morning, we finally made it to the airport. Got ourselves checked in, then spent our last few minuets with our 'well wishers'. Thanks guys for taking the time to come and say farewell.

It was extremely hard saying good bye to you all. Thanks for your love and support - it means heaps to us.

We are now sitting in Los Angeles Airport waiting for our flight up to Vancouver. The flight over to here was pretty good - except Kyle never slept a wink and Tamzin vomited about 6 times. She seems to get airsickness - she is not looking forward to climbing back on the plane in a few minutes. The ear plugs we got her worked really well for the blocked ears she always suffers from while landing. She is usually i tears, but this time the tears weren't for that, it was from the vomiting....

Well we better go climb about the next plane.

ta ta (for now)

Well our final full day in kiwi land has drawn to a close. It has been a very exausting day - both physically and emotionally. Spent most of the day in town doing last minute things. This evening we took the last of our things out of our house. I must admitt that I felt quite emotional seeing the house completely empty - it doesn't seem real.
This evenings challenge was to pack what seemed like, car loads of things, into our 8 suitcases. It was all too much for me so I had to call in 'back up' - Mom. She is the worlds best packer. We got it all in, with some room to spare - Thanks Mom.
During the evening, numerous family members dropped by to wish us well and give us a kiss and a hug. It was lovely to see them all and for them to take time out to come and say good bye. It was hard saying good bye. I must admitt that i am feeling emotionally drained. I have a feeling that tomorrow won't be any easier.........
Well it is almost 1am and I know 5am will come all to fast so I best be off to bed.
I am looking forward to the new chapter that is about to begin for our family - but I am also very sad, sad to be leaving behind so many near and dear family and friends........... aren't we lucky we have the internet to keep in touch.
If I don't get a chance to say farewell before we fly off into the wild blue yonder tomorrow, I will say it now - ta ta (for now).

Packing the Container

Blessed

Well I find myself sitting here enjoying yet another meal prepared for us by our near and dear family and friends. It is a wonderful Vegetable stew and rye buns which was lovely prepared at the 'Monday Cafe' on Hampton Downs Road. Food always tastes soooo much better when someone else has made it for you.
Yesturday Mom was able to give me some much needed help with all the last bits and peices that seem to 'appear' around the place. We made great progress in clearing away those 'squirrel nests' (as Dad calls them). Where would I be without you mom!
We are somewhat overwhelmed by all the help and generosity we have received from people over the last few weeks/months. It has made me aware of how even the little things can make such a difference to a person. It has made me give myself a talking to, telling myself off for not being as ready and willing to help others as perhaps I could have been at times.
I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who have helped us get through the last few months. You will never know how much we have appreciated your love, encouragement, support and food. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives..........

Special People

We have had a great weekend, spending time with family and friends and eating lots of great food. I am beginning to realise how fortunate we are to have the friends and family that we do. I think I sometime take these things for granted and just think that is how it is for everybody - but it's not.
I want to thank God for each and everyone of the special people we have in our lives.....

Well this is the last 'full' week we have till we leave NZ. Still so much to do, but we will get through it. It's all the 'little' things that you think you'll do just before we go, that we are onto now - and boy, are they taking some time to get through!

Pictures

I am still sorting how this blogg thing works. I am trying to get a handle on how to upload photos, so have picked a random picture to upload.....

Music Exams

Well after months of preparing for there music exams, last week was the day to sit the exam. Kyle sat grade 8 violin and Tamzin sat grade 6 cello. Yesturday we got the results........... they both passed. What a relief. Life round here has been a bit hectic over the last few months - so well done guys for being able to get such good results dispite all else that has been going on......