You were only waiting for this moment to be free....

My first few days have been relaxing and slow. It has been nice since I traveled 24 hours to get here. Fortunately, the flight was on of the best of my life.

Flight one from Mobile to Houston was fine. I ended up sitting by myself. I was reading Pope Joan and just relaxed and read the entire trip. Flight two Houston to L.A. was one of the worst flights ever! I ended up right next to the bathroom. I tried just to read, but there was so much going on. Every other second, the bathroom door was banging shut and someone was trying to pass some one else. There were several butts thrust in my face, several people holding the back of my chair and knocking into me. There was one throwing up child and over anxious parent who was complaining because she had to buy the crackers. This torture lasted three hours. Since it was almost a completely full flight, I did not say anything, but this flight had me primed to fight for a good seat the next flight. In L.A., Jennifer picked me up and we went out for a lovely Italian dinner. We sat outside, talking and laughing. It was fun, but much too short. Then, back to the airport. We packed into the plane at 11pm and I saw that I was going to be placed in the middle of 25 screaming teenagers on their first ever flight. I immediately turned to the flight attendant begging for a different seat. Thank heavens there were two seats directly across from me that were empty. They were in front of the exit door. I was able to move. It was great because I had plenty of leg room. I was able to sleep about 10 hours on the flight. It was sheer heaven. It was not perfect sleep, of course. But, still, it could have been a dreadful 14 hours. I woke up when I saw the sun. I pretended like it was a normal morning and I brushed my teeth, changed back into my jeans, put in my contacts, etc.

It was only really sunny on Thursday so far. Then Friday and Saturday it rained. I took a drive to the beach. What I am loving here is that even the winter is beautiful. The sea was crashing and gray, but it still held a certain beauty. See pictures above. Then, this afternoon the sun came out. It was unreal. Steam rose from the valley. I took a walk to the top of the hill. The sun was shinning on the water, which looked turquoise. The fields were sparkling. There were so many shades of green on the trees and fields. In a way, NZ this time is reminding me of Ireland. I did not have my camera with me on the walk, but I plan on taking a lot of pictures, so do not fear, you will see what I am talking about.

This is the picture of the beach that Jenny's house faces. It is Maketu beach. I went to play on it this morning with Johnny, Quintin, and Clint. Then we went for a coffee for the adults and ice cream for the kids at the Seaside Cafe. It was lovely.