It's Crazy Springtime in Montana!

As per usual March weather in Montana is very unpredictable!
After the last two days of sunshine and temperatures in the 60's, today it was snow and it could barely get into the 30's.
The grandkids are on spring break and have spent the last couple of days over here. Yesterday they played outside, but not today! Although, Cooper would if you gave him the chance.



Harlee and Nic got a pogo stick for Christmas from their auntie.


She has become quite the expert!


He hasn't figured out a scooter! He walks with it between his legs!


Watching the ants!


He loves Nic's little car!



We had an infestation of robins in the backyard yesterday! They are after the few remaining berries on the mountain ash tree! And Coop was shooing them away!

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Welcome Spring!

The calendar says it is spring and so does my back yard!
The thermometer was soaring today. The highest I saw was 68F! That's pretty fabulous for March! We do need some moisture desperately.
And I saw a bunch of robins out in the back yard this afternoon too!




My johnny jump ups are in full bloom


Green is appearing on the trees.


Rhubarb has poked it's way through the ground. Kirsten says it wasn't there last week.
Curtis and I took a drive up to Benton Lake this morning. Lots of ducks and swans. We didn't see any snow geese. Will post those photos later.

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Kia Ora

Kia Ora means welcome in the Maori Language! As you can imagine their culture plays a predominant role in New Zealand culture! Unfortunately, their culture has a lot of issues like our native Indians.



As we continued down the wast coast of NZ, our next port was Tauranga. This is very close to where the Hobbit movies were filmed. But not much interest to my sister or I. We elected to take a trip to the geysers and embrace the Maori culture.
First ww visited a Kiwi fruit farm. Kiwis were not in season when we were there. They are importing from Italy. Their fruit is picked from Apr.-June. But we did see the fruit growing on the vines. Quite an operation.










It was about an hours drive through rolling New Zealand country side to reach the geysers and Maori cultural center.















It all reminded me of Yellowstone National Park!
More to come!



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It's Hot Cross Bun Time!

I am suffering from jet lag! It is real! Sleeping at night is an issue! So tired during the day! But, hopefully I am slowly getting turned around.

Since Easter is just around the corner, I thought I should bake some hot cross buns. So yummy! Had some pretty tasty ones while "Down Under".




Had a police issue in our neighborhood this afternoon. Blocked off streets! Cops with guns! School on partial shut down! Always makes for an interesting time!



Also, had the little man for a while. Gave him a bath in the big tub. He scared himself in his tub putting the shower on and now won't get in his tub! But he loves nana's!




So, now that I am settling back in at home maybe I can get back into the blogging groove.

And it is tome to start going through my photos and start to print them! I can hardly wait to scrap them all.

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Let's Backtrack a Little

Our 18 day cruise has almost come to an end. Tomorrow morning we arrive in Perth, Australia and disembark!
The weather has really been superb. The cruise wonderful! I feel so fortunate to have embarked on this adventure. It truly has been a trip of a lifetime and still a couple of weeks to go!
Lots of hacking and coughing on board, so we are staying somewhat isolated and washing, washing, washing our hands!
The naturalist on board has been a delight to listen to. A educated young lady, Chelsea, who loves what she does and us passionate about it!
Today I will post photo from the Bay of Islands, which is North of Auckland. Our first port.
We got on a boat here to go out to the Hole in the Rock! Lots of little islands to sail through. And they guarantee you will see dolphins.






Once we got out in more open waters it was a very rough ride! There people that were sea sick!


They are suppose to take you through that opening, but it was just too rough! But the colour of the water was exquisite! The waters were from the effects from the cyclone over Indonesia at that time.









The rest of the outings fir the day were cancelled.





Lots of Aboriginal art!


When we got back there was an awesome craft market across the road. We have learned to buy when we see because there haven't been that many opportunities for shopping.
We had a great little lunch of meat pies at a cute little cafe. Not that expensive, either. Our dollar goes pretty in New Zealand.

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