Addendum to Birthday Bonanza

Now the silly pictures haven't uploaded.....don't look at these prior to reading the blog below!!

Birthday Bonanza!!

ARGH!! I just sat down and wrote a lengthy blog(what's new) on this topic....and it is lost somewhere in cyberspace...argh!! I hate that...now I'll be trying to remember all the witicisms that came naturally in that blog and it'll sound unnatural in this one!! Anyway...enough whining...hopefully Ollie will continue to sleep for a little bit longer and allow me to finish writing this one for the second time.
I am sitting at Kate and David's house..Ollie is upstairs in Noah's crib...so, from this you can assume that we made the momentous journey back from NZ and have arrived safe and sound!! A MUCH better saga then the trip there...but still a saga nonetheless however, I will save that for another blog!! I will also blog with some photos..including some scenery shots for those of you who have made comments re: the fact that the only pics that I have been uploading are of Ollie which could have been taken anywhere...we have accumulated over 6 discs worth of photos so I am sure I can find one or two without Ollie in!!

Now...back to the topic at hand!!

My birthday 2006...25 again

First of all....it needs to be said that I think divorce may be in Adam's and my future (now...don't stop reading here and head to the comments section and say something that you will regret after reading on.....). The reasons for this are not because I have spent the last four weeks trapped in a rather small 4 berth campervan with Adamski...nor is it because there were arguments over driving (I didn't even make a comment when he smashed the top of the camper into a rather large and unyeilding tree limb) nor is it due to navigational arguments (no matter what Adam says...pointing the way you want someone to go is just as effective as saying left or right)...nor (and this is a big one) is it because I lost count of the number of times I was subjected to Adam singing the Paddy and Max theme song over and over and over and over (I'm sure you are catching on) again! I think Adam may have come close to beating Dad's "Oh Holy Night" record! No folks the real reason divorce may be in Adam's future is because after only two years and four months of marriage he was willing to pay someone to throw me out of an airplane at 12000 feet. He even asked the guy if we could get it half-price if I only used half the equipment!! This certainly begs the question: if he is capable and willing to purchase something so drastic after only 2yrs 4 mths...what will birthday presents consist of at 5,10 or 40 years of marriage??? Now I must admit...this gift was still better than his original gift idea...get this Adam's idea of a good gift idea was getting fit (for me)...wow..what a great gift...I get to nag(unsuccessfully) him to go to the gym and to stop stuffing his face for yet another year!! Now that I guffawed at that gift idea he has been eating fish and chips daily since!!

All joking aside....yet another one of the "Things I must do before (hopefully not as) I am dying" has been completed!! Adam knew that I have said in the past that I have to jump out of a plane before I croak...so, when we were in NZ, land of bungy jumping and all forms of adventurous/extreme sport opportunities he suggested the idea. Immediately I said "no way" thinking logically and practically...can't be taking risks now that I am a Mummy etc (I knew this is what you would say Mum and Dad and this is why you only know now) however, I knew that I was going to do it one day and nowhere could the scenery be as stunning. So, off we went to book the jump. We drove to the actual airstrip where the company with whom I would be jumping was situated and we met with one of the skydivers (basically I wanted to be sure it was a legitemate, safe, meticulous looking place) prior to putting my life in their hands. I wasn't so sure about the decisionto go with this company when we had to drive through a field of cows to drive over the patchily tarmacked runway, and walk to the outhouse that was the official "office". The fella was a complete dork!! (for want of stronger words but this is a PG site)....when I jokingly said, "Yes, my husband assures me that you have only had ten deaths this year so far" (an actual comment Adam made) to me I would immediately recognize this as a feeble attempt to add humour to a serious concern re: what is the safety record of your company. The fella's response was all wrong when (without looking up from whatever he was doing) he said, "We haven't had any deaths yet this year"....WRONG ANSWER BUDDY!! The correct answer is...put whatever it is you are doing down...look up and say, "we pride ourselves on our safety record...we have never had an injury nevermind a death"...that sir, is the correct answer!! So, we booked a jump for the next day at 10:00!!

I then went back to the campsite and proceeded to the internet cafe to spend over 2 hours (ollie woke up then and needed feeding) on the safety of skydiving and the specifics of the company with whom I was jumping....for those of you who want to know...you are much less safe in your car then jumping out of an airplane!! That night....I had multiple dreams (in the sparse amount of REM time I had that night) of me jumping out of the plane and realizing I wasn't really attached to the fella that was supposed to be the professional Tandem Instructor!! So, if you ask me if I was nervous I would have to say that the anticipation of the event made me extremely nervous!!! However, once I got to the "office" and met with "Big Rod" an unfortunate name for this man especially given the PG nature of this blog and therefore my inabilty to make comment on this title....he was "big Rod" as he stood over 6foot3 at least and there was another skydiver named Rod with the company who I can only assume was referred to as little Rod! Anyway, big Rod was a lovely fellow who allayed all my fears in several ways:

1. He was older then me by several years....therefore, I had to assume he has survived previous jumps.

2. He admitted to having lost count of the number of jumps he had made in his 25 year history of skydiving.

3. He passed his mini-mental status examination and admitted to no suicidal or homicidal ideation therefore, I assumed that if he wanted to live to see another day and I was attached to him...I too may live to see another day.

Thus, with this reassurance, I was able to settle my nervous energy and enjoy the scenic flight and the jump. The company with whom I jumped was quoted in the lonely planet travel series book saying something like "one cannot imagine a more stunning site" to skydive. We were in the south island over the southern alps at Fox Glacier thus, I was able to see the glacier, the Tasman Sea, Mt. Cook (NZ's highest mountain) etc. The slogan for the company was (oh yes and this was quoted to me by the first fella from the company that I mentioned previously)"if you've got the attitude, we've got the altitude!" Yes thanks for that...very clever again...not altogether reassuring!

I cannot put into words what moving yourself to the open doorway of an airplane flying at 12000 feet is like, nor can I adequately describe what free-falling for 45seconds at 200km/hr is like...all I can say is...it does not feel like you are falling, it is very cold at 12000 feet and it is phenomenal!! It must be experienced!! To prove that I was not looking green or petrified and to prove also that I really did jump...I have included the pics below. I also have a DVD that was attached to "Big Rod's" wrist as we jumped that I will be more than happy to show anyone who would like to watch it!! Ollie and Adam made a documentary of their own as the "ground crew" which Adam states is really the tougher of the two jobs..again..the unsung hero!! He and Ollie were there to greet me at the landing site...Ollie wasn't too bothered that his mother was falling from the sky as I found him taking the opportunity to eat the grass while Adam was busy photographing the event. The DVD is a must see because Big Rod interviewed me at the end and gave myself, Adam and Ollie a "High Five" prior to singing me Happy Birthday...and Ollie (who we have discovered sometimes does make strange) broke into one of his huge frowns followed by a heartbraking crying episode in his Dad's arms until the completion of the festive song!! I am sure he will appreciate seeing this footage over and over again as he grows to become a big macho man!!

Anyway folks...that is the promised birthday blog....I will save it now so I don't lose yet another one to cyberspace. I will write another blog in the near future to update you on the rest of the NZ trip and of course the journey home (which was more of a saga then the journey there believe it or not).

Take care,

Rachael

ps....to the Grandparents reading this blog...I have shown the DVD to Ellie and she said excitedly, "Can I do that, Can I jump out of an airplane?" ...and she has watched the video 3 times allready!! I will not take the blame for her jumping out of an airplane in the future!!

Addendum to Free at Last

Well folks, I have managed (I think) to get some photo's for you. I am unable to write much since Ollie is up and not too happy about sitting here in the internet cafe!! We are all well. Ollie is much much better....finally back to his usual happy self. We took the ferry over to the South Island yesterday and he could only spare 45mins for sleep since he had a crowd to entertain and win over with smiles!! We are currently in a place called Kaikoura where Adam went whale watching....spent a fortune and saw one whale!!! I couldn't believe it!! You remember our $40.00 trip in NFLD Dad...we didn't know which whale to look at! Anyway, he did get a single photo of the lone whale so I thought I had better put it on for all to see!
Right...I'll put these photos on now and be off/
Until next time!!
Rachael, Adam and Ollie

Free at Last!!

Hello again all!!
First of all....if there are any typos it is this silly computer!! All sorts of keys stick! Anyway I was going to insert a few photos but discovered that I cannot as they have the cpu locked away! I will send some more when I get to an internet cafe!
Well..what a couple of days we have had. As I mentioned in my last blog...Ollie has been somewhat unwell....well later that day after I had written the blog...he was working a little harder to breathe and the doctor in me didn't like the fact that I didn't have my usual tools around me to do a proper assessment...so we decided to head over to the Taupo hospital. Apparently 50 000 people are serviced by this hospital and it was much....much smaller then the Goderich Hospital!! As it turned out we were right to bring the little man in as (for all my doctor friends reading and of course Grandad Bernie who probably has heard about this on "Trauma Life in the ER" his O2 Saturations were only 89%, he had a low grade temp and sounded and looked like he was working a bit too hard to breathe. The Doctor there had not heard of Dexamethasone for Croup....so, we tried a saline mist and no improvement (surprise!!)...so, into the ambulance Ollie and I were piled and back up to Rotarua (they have no pediatric beds in Taupo) to see the Pediatrician. Poor ole Ollie wasn't too impressed with the prongs that had to be stuck up his nose to increase his O2 levels!! Up until last week he never bothered with anything if we put it on him..ie: a hat...now of course int he land of no ozone he has decided t adopt that familiar kid trait of refusing to wear any head coverings...apparently facial applications suffer the same fate!! Anyway, he fell asleep in the ambulance and then only occasionally remembered his nasal condition. Most of the time he would remember it was there when he was busy trying to clear his schnoz of its excessive excretions....so, we had snot from neck to eylids and of course ample volumes on my shirt!! Anyway to make a long story short, we were admitted to the hospital....received our dexamethasone...got very little sleep owing to the noise factor but....quickly recovered and were sprung free today!! We are hanging around Rotarua for a few days until Ollie is 100% instead of moving on too early since they now know us here! Ollie was a real trooper in the hospital...you'll see by the photos when I can post them that despite his discomfort he was still able to charm the pants off all the nurses with his little smiles!!
Well folks....that is it for now...when I get to a proper internet cafe I will send more photos!
Hope you are all well
Love
Ollie (aka the happy wheezer) Adam and Rachael

News from NZ

Well folks,
I am sorry it has been a while!! This one is likely to be quite short too. Dad and Ollie are asleep under a tree in the park in the camper! I did sit down for over an hour the other day writing a blog...only to have the computer crash and lose all the work that I had done!! Was not very happy!! That is why it has been a while!
In the previous email i gave day by day details as to our journey....not going to happen this time! I'll give the brief synopsis instead (which I am sure most of you would prefer anyway!). So, since we last blogged...we left the North (or as north as we got) and headed to the coramandel. We went there to meet up with some friends (Jim and Tammy) that we met on our honeymoon in Thailand. They travelled six hours to join us!! The weather was a bit lousy....it rained alot of the time (actually has done until the last three days really) however, we got enough sun through the cloud for Adam and I to now have peeling faces!! It's not hard to remember to put on the sunscreen here...since that big hole in the ozone seems to sit just above our camper!! Don't worry...Ollie is slathered every morning (with 50 block no less). At the Coromandel..we stayed in Hahei our campsite was amazing as we backed directly onto the beach. One day there were Dolphins swimming in the bay with the swimmers...Adam was petrified of course so he took photos from the shore. One baby Dolphin swam right up to one woman and jumped out of the water in front of her..imagine that!!
After the Coromandel, we headed south and stayed for two days in Papamoa beach...one day lazing and one day off to mt. manganui for a stroll around its base. After papamoa it was off to Rotarua for two days went to see Tap-0-waki ( I think I have that right) Thermal area...quite neat...lots of photos. Now we are in Taupo. Don't think we'll be getting up to much here however....Ollie isn't very well. My diagnosis is croup. He scared the life out of Adam yesterday when he woke from his nap crying and on every inhalation he had that classic bark. Adam noted that his "chest was collapsing" as he inhaled and promptly handed him to me to "fix"....anyway, don't worry everyone....he seems to be doing much better today although he is quite miserable!! So, we'll be laying low and trying to get him well recuperated. We are off to Havelock North tomorrow to visit Tammy and James at home...handily James' Dad is a doctor so, if Ollie is no better then we'll have the right connections!! Anyway...going to try and upload a few photos for you....wish me luck.
Hope all is well at home. Ask big cousin Ellie to add Ollie to her prayers since he is a bit poorly!!
Blog again soon...
Rachael, Adam and a Snotty Ollie