day 5: hot pools, the beach and the movies...

haha so here is me and amy following an excersise routine that was on tv...it was fun, but we look kinda retarded.
















we put together a puzzle of the world! pretty awesome!













later we went to the hot pools...nice and warm. the weather was raining hard and it was torture to get out in the freezing cold and go change when we had to leave.












































this was in the cold pool...yikes!






























the beach was right there, so we went and had a look around, since it wasn't raining too bad. the wind was crazy though!


































this is what they call the mt. it has some long name, but it's just easier to say the mt.























it sure is beautiful!














































































it looks like it was in black and white, but it wasn't. the sun was just really bright.



















cute, amy...she was trying to take a picture






































i like my red vans! :)

our nice-looking beach hair.

attractive...we know

that night we went to see a move, so us three were crammed in the back seat. their cars are much smaller than ours. haha

claudia

i think i missed the fish face memo...

days 3 and 4

first of all, let me say, happy Independence day! haha i like how i'm only in the US for a couple of days, but i managed to be back for the fourth. that reminds me, when i was in NZ i said "hey we're gonna be back for the fourth of july" and amy's friends just looked at me like "so what?" i forgot they don't celebrate that. haha.


any who, here are some pics from Sunday June 22 and Monday June 23, which were the third and fourth days we were there...enjoy!




chelsea and aleshia (amy's NZ friends) spent the night on saturday night and it was absolutely pouring! i loved it!



so this is the valley looking out from the backyard...it flooded. if you click on it and make it bigger you can see the cows haha!




















going from left to right: august, amy, aleshia, chelsea and me, of course. we were out on the front porch while it was pouring.










star with feet! yay!














then august, claudia and i couldn't resist going out in the rain and decided to jump on the trampoline! amazing!










we got absolutely soaked!!! but it was SO WORTH IT!











































haha see we look like we just went swimming. oh and that is grass on my nose, just to let you know.














poor little flooded cows...















after we dried off a bit, we took chelsea home. this is litter ally the street she lives on. how cool is that!?!













they have a LOT of land...this is some of her property. cool stuff














since they have so much land, they have lots of room to practice driving...a manual...on the opposite side of the road! i was definitely the worst at it...i stalled like three times and changing gears was not a smooth experience with me behind the wheel. it didn't help that chelsea's dog (very cute dog), lucy, liked to chase the car and run in front of it! she was an added obstacle. haha! amy and august did better. still awesome fun! video's are below...check them out!






















now for day 4. we went shopping and to claudia's basketball game, which was fun. we also walked up to the dairy, which no, is not a place where they milk cows. (that was what i thought) it's like a corner store...similar to a 711, but a bit better.























in a store shopping.

































countdown is basically a grocery store. this was while walking to the dairy, so it was right across from the house.















also while walking to the dairy i saw this sign and thought it was funny. it's almost as if they are saying the children are slow instead of be cautious of children. haha! that is claudia on the right by the way.



that evening we went to claudia's basket ball game to cheer her on. they did great!




at least i looked happy to be there haha!







amy and i have some issues taking pictures together, but i kinda like this one even though we both look a little out of it.























one word. unfortunate...i'm talking about my face.













getting better...


















and then that....











aww finally a good one! :)

video time!

jumping on the tramp in the rain...fun fun. august i don't appreciate you zooming in on my butt. haha!

these are our driving videos of us attempting to drive an manual...i'm so thankful for automatics now!

we didn't know august was taking a video, but this is of amy, claudia and i playing with a volleyball and attempting to dance.

day 2 of NZ

alright, so i think it will just be easiest to go by day since i have so many pictures i would like to put up. i'll try to keep it interesting and i'll also try and get all my posts about NZ up before i leave on Sunday for Costa Rica...busy, busy.

so these are from our second day in New Zealand. we walked around town in Tauranga, which is where amy's family lives and where she used to live.
this is just a random picture of some shops. it rained pretty much the whole time we were there, which was neat since i love the rain. august and i were pretty happy about that!





some random store had a bunch of t-shirts that were hilarious! some not too good, but still funny. so here is august modeling a quite scandalous one. haha! august and i also managed to get into some quite awkward conversation with a guy that worked in the store. i'll spare you the details, since it won't be very funny the second time around (it was one of those "you had to be there" things). but the poor guy was probably left thinking something like "those stupid american people".



















































like how i'm smiling, but yet i'm supposed to hate everyone? haha!














































random sign, yes?































a roundabout! they are everywhere! oh, that's another thing. i thought that So Cal drivers are bad. NZ drivers DO NOT stop for pedestrians even when they are already crossing the street! they go as fast as possible without hitting the person. amy and i were crossing the street and we are about to step off the median in the middle and some guy comes out of nowhere making a left turn (which is like a right turn cause they drive on the opposite side) without looking and then upon seeing us back up, gives US a dirty look! the nerve! scary, man i tell ya.

this is a creepy picture with my hand and the background. it was getting dark and we were out jumping on the trampoline. haha














these are all from being on the trampoline. burrr! it was cold. oh yeah if you haven't figured it out yet or didn't remember, it is New Zealand's winter right now since they are on the other side of the world.















august can fly!












yeah i have issues on trampolines. haha! i could just see me flying off and going over the fence (it was a small fence, about knee high) and down the massive drop-off/incline into the valley of cows.

amy and the others went to the video store, so that is why they are missing from these pics.

happy august.















oops almost landed on top of august!

here is a video of august and me on the trampoline...it had been a long day haha! :)

the longest day of my life...

literally. i bet my day was longer than any of yours! (except all those who travled from NZ today...yesterday?...i'm confused). our flight left Auckland at about 7:15pm NZ time on wednesday July the 2nd and we arrived in LA at 12:30pm on wednesday July 2nd. trippy, eh? oh, and something that made the landing even better was the fact that immidiately after we touched down at LAX our piolet comes on the intercom and says "the Los Angles Airport has been shut down due to a bomb threat." well, welcome home. ha! oh of all the days... good thing we landed though. well, enough about my day of long day of travel and on to the trip. if i were to sum up this trip in any amount of words it wouldn't do it justice. amazing, awesome, fun, incredible...they all seem too cliche to describe it. of course it was all of those things, but so much more. in this case i think only one cliche works. that being the old "a picture is worth a thousand words". and you are promised lots and lots of pictures to come, but as for now these few shall have to suffice.

amy, me and august on the plane, ready to go

august and i with a mauri tiki man thing in the Auckland airport

this is a view from the backyard of the house...absolutly amazing...so open and green

the main hangout. whats better than a cozy fire after being out in the rain and cold?

august sleeping...how cute.

kizzy the tempremental cat sleeping. serioulsy this cat is bi-polar. he wants you to pet him one minute and the next is attacking you hand.

driveway up to the house.

house

well, basically all we did was relax the first day and tasted new foods. like a mince meat pie...by the end of the trip i was loving those pies! yummy!

i'm exhuausted, so more to come tomorrow! stay tuned! :)