On the 22nd we knew we would be in for a long day of driving. We were up north near Kaitaia and we were headed to Papamo (suburb of Taraunga and a 40 minute drive from Rotorua) for four days. It was a 6.5 hour ride and we survived it by listening to podcasts or the boys would listen to music on Sayer’s iPod. We found a beautiful 4 bedroom house at an excellent price since we would be the first family to stay at this particular AirBnb. I just wanted a nice place to stay at over Christmas and that wish came true. When we walked into the house we knew we would want to stay longer here. Less moving around is also easier. We arranged with the owner to stay for 3 more days. We were a one minute walk to the beach and it was a very relaxed place close enough to the things we wanted to do.
The kids were desperate to go Christmas shopping so on the 22nd and 23 that’s what we did with some beach breaks in between. At Kmart we found a Christmas tree piñata to hang from the room to serve as our tree. Shawn and I also slipped out to do shopping while the kids watched some movies at the house.
On the 24th it looked like a dreary day but we took the 40 minute road trip to Rotorua to visit Te Puia, the geothermal valley, to see the geysers, bubbling mud and a cultural performance. The geysers were stunning and the bubbling mud sounded like leaping frogs, as they say themselves. I loved the Maori performance the best though. The singing sounded like it was a Disney movie. There were a lot of the men sticking their tongues out and the men and women bugging their eyes out. They said it was to intimidate their enemies prior to/during a fight. They performed the Haka dance too which some people might know from the National All Blacks Rugby Team pregame (I had no clue but Shawn had seen it). The dreary day was perfect for this with just a few light drizzles here and there. The kids also enjoyed trying to find the nocturnal Kiwi bird in its dark enclosure. They are far bigger than we thought.
When we returned home we had a nice ham supper for Christmas Eve. The kids wanted to do a secret Santa so we all opened our $10 gifts this night and everyone was thrilled with the thoughtful gifts that were chosen for them.
The kids did not sleep in especially when one who’s name starts with a D and ends in anika could not sleep and woke up her brothers and then us before it was 6:00am. We opened presents and Santa brought boogie boards for the kids. They were ecstatic! And we thought Santa mustn’t have known the little space we had in our clown car. We had Wifesavers for breakfast and then headed off to church. After mass we had lunch and then tested out the boogie boards at the beach. There may have been a nap in the afternoon for some of us. We looked forward to a chocolate fondue for our Christmas dessert.
On the 26th we went to Skyline’s luge. The kids write more about this in their blog so I won’t say too much. We bought 3 luge’s each but quickly realized that this wasn’t enough. We waited 30 minutes to buy half price tickets ($6.50 now) to get 2 more luges each. There may have been a little bumping and grinding because “rubbing is racing” right? Sayer and Dad got tangled and Sayer ended up getting spun out and someone had to help Sayer straighten his cart out because Dad was long gone. I didn’t want our luge experience to be left on a bad note so I told Shawn he better buy another round.
Thursday the 27th was a beach day. They also happened to find out that Santa had stuffed the piñata with waaaay too much chocolate and gummies. – Renelle
On Friday, the boys went to the Paradise Valley Speedway in Rotorua, this was one of their Christmas presents. It was the New Zealand stock car championship. The racing was quite a bit different then we were used to back home. First off it was a dirt track, it appeared to be no rules racing and it was really exciting. We saw non-stop contact amongst the cars and one car flipped and another somersaulted 4 times. It was a great time! – Shawn
On Saturday we hot-wired a hotel by Waitomo so we could see the Glowworm caves. Since Danika was the only one old enough to go on the Labyrinth Blackwater rafting this was her Christmas present with mom. The boys had 3 separate cave tours scheduled. We arrived for the first cave tour the boys were to go on and the tour guide invited Danika and I along so of course we joined them. This was the Aranui cave with beautiful stalactites hanging and we each received a few drips on us which was a sign of good luck. After this tour we went for lunch and checked into our hotel. Danika and I hung out at the hotel and the boys left for their tour. It was another cave and a few minutes in a boat to view glowworms. They came back to get us and dropped us off at our rafting tour early and headed to their final tour which they will write about.
Danika and I had a fun group of 11 others with us. We got to climb through different crevices, walk through and float on rushing water, and jump backwards over small waterfalls. I absolutely loved it! Some of it we turned off our headlights and floated through the water to admire the glowworms on the tops of the caves. They looked like blue stars. – Renelle
This year we spent Christmas in New Zealand. We got a nice big house in Papamoa. Our tree was a piñata with candy in it from Santa. We also went to church that day. For Christmas I got some drawing stuff and a boogie board. Today I will talk about a few things. First, the luge. It was totally awesome! There were 3 courses. 1 – The scenic was my personal favourite. 2 – Intermediate. There were lots of hairpin corners. 3 – Advanced is a track that is more for fun. Then we went to the races. The cars were crashing in practice and there were two car flips. And finally the caves. We did three tours but I’m only going to talk about one in this tour. We saw glowworms (maggots) and some stalak tights and I thought that the tour guide was amazing. There was also a really cool entrance. – Sayer
Dec 26 – On Christmas Eve we went to the beach and went body boarding. That evening we did our own secret Santa. I had Sayer, Sayer had me, my Mom had my Dad, my dad had Gabe, and Gabe had my Mom. I got two squishes and some putty. On Christmas Day we got up early and went to opening the presents. I got from my Mom and Dad earrings, a necklace, Ferrero Roche, a wet brush and to go Black Water Rafting. From Santa I got a boogie board, some gum, a ball type thing, some gummies and an orange. Our Christmas tree was a piñata so a few days later we realized that our “Christmas tree” was pretty heavy so we went into the garage and hit it and got a lot of candy. Yesterday we went to go to the luge. The luge is when you’re on a soap box car type thing you go down a mountain on a little paved track with a bunch of turns. It was very fun. There were three different runs scenic which was longest but easiest, intermediate which was in the middle and, advance which was the shortest but the hardest run. Near the end my dad accidentally spun Sayer out. At the end we got to decide if we wanted to go one more time or have ice-cream and I had ice-cream and it was cookies and cream -Danika
Dec 30 – Yesterday my Mom and I went black water rafting. That is when you go in a tube in a cave (we went in a glowworm cave). It was fun but cold. We jumped a 2 meter waterfall you stand at the end f the waterfall facing backwards with the tube behind you and jump back while the guide pushes you. The tube helps keep you a float but you will still go under water. The glowworms look like little blue dots but really they are about an inch long and are maggots. When the tour finished we went to take off the wetsuits, have a hot shower, and have some hot soup and a bagel. – Danika
Dec 30 – 4 days ago I went to the luge and it had 3 tracks and 1 of them I couldn’t go on because I was to young it was 10 and older and they wer fun. 2 days a go I went to the races they wer dert cars and they drifted on the corners there wer 3 groups that cod not drift. 2 cars flipped 1 was a teenager or a preteen and the group bumped a lot and they bumped in practice. Today I went to 3 Cavs and 1 of them was just a normal and 1 had a boat it was short and the last 1 was a glowworms and their butt glows up. they wer basically magets they were longer then they loct (looked) and they loct like a green dot. -Gabriel
Lew Crew Adventures 
Holy cats! You guys don’t sit still. Good for you… making the best of every minute.
How is the studying coming along?
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