Today's activities included traveling to a new city, a visit to Pancake Rocks and glow worms! We woke up to more rain as we packed up the house in Kaiteriteri. Having a baby along sure results in a lot more stuff! We were on the road by 9:30 and after a quick stop at the grocery store for lunch supplies, we were off to Paparoa National Park! The drive was very windy and curvy but beautiful views. There were mostly sheep farms as we climbed out of the valley alon...

Today we woke up to lots and lots of rain! Luckily we knew that in advance so we decided to sleep in and have a relaxing morning. We still wanted to get out and explore so we booked a tour with Bay Tours to drive us around the area and show us some local wineries, restaurants and other interesting places. Owen and Sue picked us up from our house late morning and we were off. We stopped at the smallest winery in New Zealand first, Riwaka River Estate. They on...

Today was a hiking day! We all slept pretty well after our long travel day yesterday! After breakfast, it was off to Kaiteriteri Beach to board the water taxi that would take us to the start of our hike. The weather forecasted a bit of rain and wind so the seas were rough! Almost all of us got wet just walking to the boat! Liam loved riding on the boat and bouncing on the waves! We dropped off Grandma and Grandpa Barnowsky at Anchorage Bay and the rest of u...

ORD --> SFO --> AUK --> NSN Today begins Sabbatical 2.1! We convened at the Oppermann house in Brookfield and loaded up the van with everyone's luggage. Liam wins the prize for most stuff! The amount of cargo space in a minivan is quite impressive! On our way to the airport, we received a notification that our flight was delayed. Luckly, we left early enough that there was an earlier flight we could be rebooked on! Unfortunately, this was just the...

The Dead Sea is 1401 feet below sea level so it is much warmer than its surroundings. For that we were very thankful today! The day started slow relaxing and then breakfast of fruit and cheeses on our small balcony overlooking the pool. Keely wore long sleeves and pants and was chilled. I wore shorts and a t-shirt because WE'RE IN THE DESERT! I refuse to give up hope that the desert is hot! We then headed down to the pool to lay out and read our books. O...