"geocashe this"- Art (Art about to bat during a kickball game)

Hello once again-

Our four day weekend was a huge hit thanks to Kelly. She found us this gorgeous house in Waiheke Island that was located in the hills over-looking this magnificent view of Oneroa Bay. When we first arrived everyone was in shock of how amazing the house was. We thought eleven of us were going to be living in a little dumpy house, not a little castle. The only bad side to the house was the lack of beds, but we worked it out. From our front balcony, we could see Oneroa Bay which was littered with sail boats, Matiatia Bay, Blackpool Bay, a wine vineyard, the beautiful surrounding land. It was a great place to get away and relax for a few days.

We quickly got the meet our neighbours when we soon realized we had no propane for the grill. Of coarse the five guys went to the butchers and bought a ton of meet not even checking if the grill worked. Evan and I went next door to ask then were we could get some propane and Boyd (a.k.a. the Colonel) immediately helped us out taking us to the closest gas station. When we got back, we got the grill fired us and made our self a huge feast. We eat corn, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, steaks, and a lit of chips and dip. It was delicious. Later on in the night, we started and hanging out, boozin a little when the Colonel came knocking on the door. We all thought that he had come over to yell at us for being to loud we actually he wanted to know if we wanted to go see the Comet that was in the sky. All the boys went with him to the horizon which over looked the city of Auckland. By the time we got their, the Comet had almost disappeared but we got to see the tail of it. It was a beautiful site. Billions of stars filled the sky. It was an unbelievable site.

The next day we went to the wine vineyard called Peninsula Estate. This is the vineyard that we could see from our house. We got to try three different types wine. A Merlot, Chardonnay, Rose. I had a sipe of each than passed my glasses of Eileen. I wasn’t ready to start drinking so soon. At the Vineyard we had lunch which was awesome. I had some kind of Duck Sausage with salad and bread. Great food to go with good wine. After the vineyard we sent the rest of the day by the beach. I was busy trying to set up a time to go Sky Diving, which never worked out due to clouds one day and the wind the next day. I was very upset that we didn’t get to go. I can only imagine what the view would have looked like. Hopefully I'll get another chance to go before I go home. I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and doing nothing. I soaked in the sun and enjoying my view of gorgeous Waiheke.

The night before we went home, we had dinner with our neighbours Colleen and the Colonel. We has drinks and munchies at their place before we went to this Indian restraint. I hate Indian food, so Evan, Callie, and I made tacos before we headed out. I'm really happy we did that because my stomach crumbled when the waiters brought out the food. I did enjoy a nice piece of garlic break though. I'm the bread man as my dad use to call me. After our dinner, we went back to the Colonels house for some desert. They made us Pavlova. Pavlova is basically a sugar cake a.k.a. cotton candy is cake form with cream and strawberries on top. The cream and strawberries were awesome, didn’t eat the sugar.

We had a great time if Colleen and the Colonel. We talked about the Military, both in England and in New Zealand. Both of their daughters are/were in the Military as well. We got to see cute pictures of the grand children. We also talked about life on the Island. About 9000 people reside on the Island, and with two grammar schools and a high school. Colleen and the Colonel have live on the Island from three years after the Colonel retired. They are great people and kept remaining us how beautiful we are. I told Colleen I'd thank my mom for her as a joke.

Overall it was a great weekend and a great way to meet local New Zealanders. They are very sweet and extremely helpful. Thank you Kelly for setting us up in that awesome pad. I have to go make a picture slide show for another class now. Hope everyone is doing well in the COLD. HAHAHAHA don't you wish you were here!!!

Love Michael

Miss you mom and dad!