Long Beach

Yesterday we explored Long Beach's Belmont Shores. They had a bunch of specialty shops like a Teacher's Supply store (yes of course we went in) and a tiny little gallery called Wow Wow. It also had a Gap (mom just had to go into the Gap), and we ate lunch in a little Italian eatery called Buona Gente. Then we drove down to the shoreline and parked next to the widest beach I have ever stepped foot on. No wonder they call this place Long Beach! We then took some pictures above and below the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier. I know it's not the world famous Long Beach Pier, but hey we couldn't find the tallest longest wooden pier in L.A. County.

Tonight at 11:30 pm (pacific Time) we will be flying to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, switching planes in the middle of the night and then off to Buffalo N.Y. arriving at 10:30 am Sunday morning.

So that means I won't be updating this until I get home!

Back in L.A.

that's right I am back in L.A. We arrived in LAX at 10:30 am (Pacific Time) even though we left at 7:30pm (nz time). We arrived before we left! My mom, Dad, and I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and saw a few famous paintings and sculptures as well as a very interesting print from Picasso. We also spent a lot of time in the HHR we finally got to rent! We are staying at the Comfort Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. We will be leaving for home on saturday night and arriving in Buffalo sunday morning.


till next time...

Targa Rally Car ride!

I got to ride in Hendrine's rally car!!! It was really fun even though all we did was ride on the motorway from her place in Churton Park to Porirua and back. It was a lot of fun, and I'm still beeming from it!!!

other things we did today, Doug suggested that we go see Craftworld in Porirua, and Mom wanted to go to the botanical gardens and look at the big rose garden there.

So Mom, Dad, Hendrine and Uncle Al piled into Hendrine's Subaru while Yolanda and I got driven around in Doug's Starlet. Molm, Dad, Uncle Al, Yolanda and I went to The Terrace and took the cable car up to the botanical gardens while Hendrine and Doug drove up to meet us at the top of the hill. We spent a little time in the Cable Car museum before driving over to the rose gardens. they have tons and tons of different roses there and a bunch of different tropical plants in a greenhouse. anyway after the botanical gardens we met up with Sam and his girlfriend Sarah at the Flying Burrito Brothers downtown.

That's it for today, so keep frosty, I'm leaving for LA on thursday at 5:30

Happy New Year

Yes indeed it is finally 2007 and I am now 26 years old. We (my parents and I) are now just winding down and getting ready for coming home, so we are spending the nights here at Hendrine's. Well for that reason and because Yo and Paul should be getting a new roommate any time soon so mom and dad needed to clear out of the extra room.

Anyway I may not be updating much any more, because we won't be doing much, but last night I got Doug hooked on the show "The Barefoot Contessa" on Food Television. Uh oh, It's on right now... gotta go!

Alone time

So here's the thing, my parents went away for a couple nights to get some alone time together. They went to the Kapiti Coast yesterday. (if you remember it's pronounced Cap-it-ee but you say it fast). And since Paul and Yo wanted a little alone time as well, I got shipped off to Hendrine's house for a night or maybe more (not quite sure yet, I'm not much of a planner.) So, right now I'm sitting in Doug's room typing on his computer, and missing home just a little.

Besides the homesickness I'm doing quite well and I'm looking forward to my birthday in 2 days. Maybe I'll get a ride in Hendrine's rally car.

Merry Christmas

Ok, so I'm late, so what. It's been hectic, and this is the only chance I had to update. Earlier today (alright yesterday since it's after midnight here right now) Mom, Dad and I got dropped off by Yolanda's flatmates downtown Wellington at Te Papa (yup we went to the free museum again!) and we met up with Hendrine, Doug, and Uncle Al and then went to the Egypt exhibit in Te Papa. It was excellent, even for the NZ$10 pricetag. After that we went all over the place in Te Papa. We got to see the tiny Precious Metals exhibit, the sculpture garden and heaps more stuff.

Anyway, I got a lot of little presents for Christmas and I'm looking forward to my birthday (dec 31st if you didn't already know).

so until next time, keep frosty.

dec 23 and Christmas Eve

This and the last 2 posts were after the fact. I've decided to try and type up a post every day whether or not I can access the internet and update the blog. This way I can tell you what happened, and not forget what it was. Like in the Bay of Islands, I forgot several days, because there was no internet that I could easily use for an extended period of time. Anyway, in the bay of Islands (which was almost a week ago now) we had gone to Waitangi (why-tang-ee) which is the birthplace of New Zealand as a whole nation. It was excellent and I have a few pictures, but I don't think it's a good idea to post them right now.

Anyway, now that we're back in Wellington, I need to talk about December 23rd. We drove all the way from the Coromandel Penninsula to Wellington. That was all we did on the 23rd.

Today, Christmas Eve, we will be going off to Hendrine's for a little get-together, and after wards possibly PRESENTS! Or maybe not.

Till tomorrow, Keep it frosty