We are getting ready to travel back to New Zealand with our family for six weeks. We plan to retake this picture, but this time it won’t be just the two of us. It will include all six of us.

​The pair of islands natural beauty are drawing us back. We traveled to New Zealand with Jason’s family exactly 20 years ago. It was absolutely magical. It has been our dream to bring the kids back with us.

It was a trip of adventures. This photo is just before we took a shotover jet boat ride which was an exciting breathtaking ride through dramatic and narrow canyons just outside of Queenstown. We also went sledging (riding river rapids on a kickboard) and bungy jumping. We traveled in a Maui RV stopping at unique hotels and lodges along the way. Jason’s family researched with books and maps and used a travel agent to plan the trip. Things have changed a bit. Jason is our travel agent and he planned it all online. We used Airbnb and are excited to stay in neighborhoods and experience New Zealand a bit more like a local. 

It is a unique island with five times more sheep than people.

We are staying among the sheep at this spot called Lavericks Bay for a couple days. It will be a lot of together time for our family of six. I am most looking forward to the natural pause in the momentum of our lives that this trip is providing us. We are always rushing. I can not wait to slow down, be together and experience some adventure too! 

Jason’s dad passed away three years ago. He provided us many memorable opportunities. He left us his love of travel but his greatest legacy to me was his love for connecting with people. He traveled not just to see new places but to meet new people. He could strike up a conversation with anyone and he did. His death came too soon in our opinion so he also reminds us to live for today. As the memorable line that Robin Williams said in Dead Poets Society, “Carpe Diem!”

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