good eh

hi russells, i am having a delayed reaction to your blog!! i am so jealous as it was all the places we went to and i remember them so vividly!! sounds like it was fantastic, so when are you all emigrating then??!!

love em ian dan and jack xx

We are at the airport......

Hello everyone for what I think will be my last post!

At the moment, I am sitting in the Air New Zealand Lounge (which is very posh) waiting for our flight to be called. As Air New Zealand messed us around on our outward flight, they have given us free use of the lounge which is great! The kids are playing on PS2's, Emma is in the kids room and Andrew and I are filling ourselves up full of the free beer and wine and spirits etc...., no, only joking, I've had a coke and Andrew has had an apple juice (I know, we're wild) but it is all free.

I can't believe we are on our way home. Four weeks has flown by and even though I am looking forward to seeing you all again (well, most of you....) I will miss it here as so will Andrew and the kids. We have had a wonderful time and plan to return here as soon as we can!

So, for the last time, I will say GOODBYE, and I will see you all very soon!

Loads of love

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma xxxxx

See you soon!

Have a good trip home and I am soooooo looking forward to seeing you all when you get back :o)

Hopefully your time in the glaciers will make your return to the UK a bit less of a shock temperature wise. Today has seen sunshine, sleet, hail, thunder and sunshine again!!!

From experience, I have found that the jetlag is not nearly so bad when you travel from NZ to the UK, so hopefully you will be back on the right time quickly! Mind you, as I seem to spend most of the night either feeding Oliver or trying to get him to go to sleep, you will at least have someone to call if you do find yourself full of beans at 3 in the morning.

Lots of love and see you soon,
Kate xxxx

Heading Home .............

We imagine you're now heading back in the direction of Auckland and the airport.

Just wanted to say it's been great reading your blog & following your trip around New Zealand.

Looking forward to seeing you all next week, catching up with all your news and seeing some amazing photos.

Have a safe trip home, we hope the flight back is as good as the flight there, (without the cancellation in Los Angeles !).

Take Care, See you soon

Love Ann, Tony, Amy, Holly & Ross xxxxx

P.S They both passed the Brass exam, (thank goodness, I don't think I could go through the stress of it again !).

The Glaciers

Hi everyone

We have travelled quite some way since I last posted a message. We are now in Franz Josef, which is on the west coast of the South island. This morning, we took a helicopter ride over Fox Glacier and Mt Cook. The glacier is huge! We even landed at the top of the mountain, right above the glacier, and managed to have our photo taken with the helicopter in the background. We all enjoyed having a snowball fight up there too!

Yesterday we stopped at Haast beach for a short while, which was beautiful. While watching the children playing on the beach, we spotted some Hector dolphins in the sea! There were loads of them, but a group of about 5 or 6 were surfing in the waves! It was amazing to watch, we even saw a couple of them jump in the air!
We have also been to Milford Sound and took a boat cruise there. It was amazing and the kids enjoyed the boat ride.

We are now on our way to drive along Arthurs Pass on our way back to Christchurch. We can't believe that our holiday is nearly at an end, it has gone so quickly.

The weather here today is lovely (again...!), hope it is not too cold when we get back to England.

Oh, we have also been travelling the past few days in the camper van which has been fun (well, it has for the kids). Andrew and I keep laughing at each other as we wonder why we didn't just keep to motels and the car! It's an experience we keep telling ourselves.......

See you all soon

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma xxxxx

news from malvern

AT long last we can write to you.We have enjoyed reading about your holiday and the many many things you havebeen doing .At Easter Claire,Rob and Kerenza went to the caravan , but also came to malvern,meeting up with the Ripon Ransons. William , Joshua , and Rebecca,stayed for a few days extra and we took them to Cadbury World ,they enjoyed that and knew about it from Charles and Henry.Grandad and I have been up to London to see some exhibitions and enjoyed that very much. We have also been to Dorset to see Great Nanna and Great Grandma ,they both send their love.We look forward to seeing you when you are home.Enjoy the rest of your holiday,lots of love Nanna and Grandad

Just when we were getting back to normal............

Oh no,

We've just had an email from our school to say that it's closed tomorrow due to a faulty boiler !!, guess Tony will have to work from home. I was just thinking how nice it would be to get back to normal !!. I was rushing about trying to find trainers & PE kit, I can now relax again.

Hope you are still having a good time, the whale watching sounded great, & the picture amazing, how many pictures did you have of just sea before you managed to get that one ?. Is the weather still holding out for you ?. Its been a cold weekend here, snow again yesterday. Please bring back some sunshine with you on Sunday.

Looking forward to seeing you all, it seems you've been gone for ages. (I think the number of text I've used this month is down by about 50% !!)

Enjoy your last week.

Love Ann xx

Hi Monkies!

Was so lovely to hear your voices the other night!
Looks like you've been having a fantastic time! I bet you loved the speed boat! The whales photo looked amazing!
Can't wait to see you soon and hope you have lots of souvenirs and stories written down in your holiday diary!
All my love
Daddy x

Message from Mum and Dad

Dear All,
It was lovely to speak to you the other night,what a surprise.!.The whale watching sounds wonderful and the photos are great.Missing you all lots.So looking forward to seeing you all at Heathrow on your return.Hope Hugh and Gillian have had a lovely holiday as well.We are just waiting for the snow to return,it is forcast for tonight and tomorrow.Have some warm clothes on when you arrive back.
All our love,
Mum and Dad.

xxxxxxx to Charles,Henry and Emma

Wonderful Whales!

We made our way from Wellington on the 8.30am ferry to the South Island on Wednesdsay. The ferry crossing was a bit rough but we made it ok! We drove from Picton (where the ferry port is) through Blenheim to Kaikora. We stayed in a lovely cottage motel but had to leave early this morning as we had booked on the Whale Watching tour. When we arrived at the whale centre, an information screen was giving us a "sea sickness warning" due to high winds! The trips the previous day had been cancelled so we were pleased when they boarded us on a coach to take us to the whale boat. The boat took us about 7 miles out and we waited to spot some sperm whales. And spot them we did! It was amazing, two sperm whales (called Little Nick and Thaiki) surfaced at different times and could be spotted by their blowholes on the surface of the sea. We waited about 10 to 15 mins for them to dive again. When they dive, they take a final breath and then arch their back, as they do this their tail comes up out of the water which is the photo that everyone wants. We managed to take some and I have posted a photo for you to see. It was a really wonderful sight to see! After sperm whales dive, they are down for about 40-50 minutes, so while we waited for them to do that, we went a bit further in the boat to where there were lots of dolphins which are known as Dusky dolphins. They were great! Swimming along side the boat and underneath it too. Some of them put on an acrobatics display and were jumping and flipping all over the place! After the dolphins, we went back to see the two sperm whales resurface and then it was the end of our trip. We all really enjoyed it and would have liked to have done it again!

After this, we drove to Christchurch which is where we are now, staying the the Holiday Inn (kindly organised for us by Sarah Warren). We have been on the tram ride which took us around the city and we saw some of the sights. Tomorrow we are going on the gondola and for a walk around the city.

Here are some other photos from our holiday (at last....). It takes SUCH a long time to get the photos loaded so I'm not going to be able to do many.




lots of love

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma x x x x x

P.S. Congratulations to Chris and Lucy on the birth of Eleanor, and to Chris and Gilly on the birth of Rosie!

Thank You!

Thank you all for your lovely congrats, it is hugely appreciated :o)

How amazing to think you are all in Wellington, very funny! I knew you would like Te Papa, it is such a great place to take kiddies. Bella and I used to go once a week and we never grew tired of it (well she didn't...). Did you manage to do a drive by of our house?

Enjoy Kaikoura, I hope the whales turn it on for you.

I am really missing you and think it is about time you came home now please!!!

Lots of love,
Kate xxx

Hi from Lewis again !

Dear everyone,
It sounds like you are all having a great time.
Sooty (our cute little pussycat) is in heat (not the magazine) and is looking for a date as she is very frisky and miaowing a lot. It is cute but apparently it is painful. She is going to be speyed in 6 days time at the vets.
I have got a level 5 in my maths and science which I am very pleased about.
The doctor at the hospital was very nice and said my finger is mended and I should no more problems with it.
Me and Dad are growing mushrooms from a kit - we will cook them on pizza or in pasta when they are ready.
We are looking forward to more photos on your blog
Love from Lewis qwertyuiopasdfghjkzxcvbnm,./;'[#]
1234567890-=

Wellington

Hello again

We are now in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. Today we have been at the Te Papa Museum which was brilliant. We spent about 4 hours there and there were lots of things that the children could touch which was perfect!

Our motel is really nice, we actually have an upstairs as well as a downstairs in this one. Very posh for us!

Tomorrow, we are catching the 8.25am ferry over to the South Island. We are heading to Kaikora to do some whale watching which should be good.

Love to you all

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma xxxxx

Happy Hols

Hi Everyone,
Sounds like you are having an exciting time with your travels! Looking forward to seeing the pics at our next meet up.
Easter hols going well here, the children spent a few days in Malvern even managing a trip to Cadbury world, more chocolate!!
The boys are on a diving course this week, today jumping off 3 metre boards, looking forward to tomorrow and jumping 5 metres!!
Keep the blogs going it's fun reading the next installment!
With love from
Fiona, Mark, William,Joshua and Rebecca xx

Happy Holidays...........

Hi , Hope everyone is OK,

Glad to hear the wedding went well & that the weather was good. Louise looked lovely & what a fab background !.
I wonder how many photos you've taken so far ?, enough to keep you busy with creative memories for a few sessions I guess !

We've just been up to Yorkshire for the weekend, the kids had a nice time at Grandma's. We had to come home today as back to work tomorrow.

The boys sound as though they are really enjoying themselves.

Have a great time in Wellington.

Take Care

Love The Jones' !

Message to Charles and Henry

Hello boys,
Sounds like you are having a great time ,the quadbikes must be good fun.We are very pleased you are having a good time.Give a kiss to Emma from us.xx .I bet you both did an excellent job at the wedding.
All our love,
Grandma and Grandad xxx

Message to Charles and Henry

Louise and Matt's wedding

On Friday 28th March, Louise and Matt were married in the gardens of her family home at Mt Huia. The weather was beautiful, probably the hottest day we have had so far. Louise looked beautiful and Matt looked wonderful. I have managed (at last) to post a picture of the bride and groom!!


Charles and Henry handed out the order of services and Emma was the ring bearer. She was meant to hold the ring on a cushion and take it up on her own, but it ended up with her hanging on to my leg with her head buried in my skirt and we both took it up! Everyone said that she looked really cute though.

We are staying here for one more night (Sunday 30th) and then in the morning we are off to Wellington.

You will all be pleased to know that it is RAINING here today!! No snow though........

Hope you are all well.


Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma x x x x x



From Charles
Hi everyone!

I am having a fantastic time in New Zealand. On Friday it was our friends Louise and Matts wedding. It was very nice. Today we are going to play cricket even though I'm not that good! I have been on a quadbike lots of times and twice on a motorbike. And I can tell you, they go fast! Everyday we have been here, it has been sunny. But today it is raining a little bit. Hope everything is going well in England. Miss you all, and see you in two weeks.

love Charles


From Henry
Hello everybody!

I am having a great time in New Zealand. I am having lots of fun. I have been on the quadbike and I know how to drive it, but my dad has to do the gears! There are seven dogs where I am staying at the moment. They are called Jessie, Queen, Mop, Bonnie, Millie, Jude and Mouse.

I miss you all, see you later.

from Henry

To the proud parents

We would like to add our congratulations to Kate and Paul who we are sure will read this message.Hope everything is going Ok for them.To all of you in NZ it sounds like you are enjoying the beautiful weather.We are both well,hope the wedding goes to plan and we look forward to hearing all about it and seeing some photos

Lots of love,
Mum and Dad xxxx Extra kisses xxxxxxx for Charles,Henry and Emma

Well Done Kate!!

Dear Harrison Family

CONGRATULATIONS! We are so happy for you! I'm sorry I haven't posted a message to you before now but we are staying at our friends house who are in the middle of wedding plans, so I can't really sit here whilst everyone is runnung around doing jobs!

What a lovely name, Oliver Andrew. I hope you are all well. Sounds like your labour was fast, luckily you got to the Lister in time eh?!

I'm soooo looking forward to seeing Oliver (and you of course...).

I have bought a cable to post pictures of us, but it is only dial up here so it might take a long time. At the next place we visit, I will be going to an internet cafe and publishing some pics!

Love to everyone who is reading this, thanks for all your posts. Sorry to rub it in, but it is BOILING here today.........!!

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma x x x x x

Catch up from the Warrens

Hi All,

Sounds like you are all having a fantastic time, can wait to see the photos............ well as long as there is alcohol and a take a way involved we would love to see the slide show !
Just back from the Rugby tour - it was arranged later in the year this time to try and avoid the bad weather we had last year, but as you already know we had sub zero temperatures and 4 inches of snow. The Sunday matches were cancelled due to the weather but the under 9s played the under 10s in the snow and great fun was had by all. The other activities went ahead as planned - all outdoor for the children with the parents settled in the bar for the day.
Just about over the hangover.
Two long weeks of holiday still to go with not much planned and although the sun has been out today it is still bitterly cold.
Looking forward to the next installment of the Russell's travels.
Love, best wishes and a Happy Easter from Sarah, Keith & Matthew xxx

Oliver Andrew Innes Harrison Arrives!

Dearest Russell Family,

Yes, we did it!! Oliver arrived at 1:49pm on Easter Sunday weighing in at a respectable 8.9 pounds after a 3hrs 50min labour from start to finish :o)

So much for the 11/12 pound wopper that the midwife thought I was having.

The arrival was a bit dramatic as we had to get the ambulance to come and get me as we couldn't get the car out of our road with all the snow. My labour was very quick so we ended up going to the Lister as if we went to Cambridge I would have been giving birth at the local petrol station.

Due to this being a public forum I will not go in to any more detail of the whole birth thing but suffice to say I will NEVER be doing that again. More importantly everyone is fine and we are all back home feeling a bit spaced out and tired!!

Love to you all.

Kate xxxx

lots of snow!!!!

gday there cobbers!!! oops wrong country. Sounds like you're having an amazing time, 8th best beach in world eh........not as good as blackpool which has been upgraded to no.7.?
We are just about to leave snowy norfolk-its about 6in deep in good fluffy white stuff and mum and dad have given us a flask,blankets, shovel, ice picks, crampons, ropes, emergency food rations and a gps system. we think we'll be ok but we are in jims car-not that mine has the best reputation .
Hope you had a good easter with your top beaches and your sunshine.....hope your eggs melted!!!
will sort out account when back in manc and will add own blogs for you all.
Take carexxxxxx mum and dad say hi-both are well but aching............knees and backs!!!! makes you wonder doesn't it.
Enjoy xxxxx george, jim, mum and dad xxxxxx

Happy Easter boys!

Dear Charles & Henry
Missing you lots and lots!
Hope you've had a lovely day today and hope to hear from you soon!
All my love,
Daddy xxx

Snow in Hitchin on Easter Sunday.

Hi,

Hope the sun is still shining for you.
We woke to snow this morning, even the Easter eggs came second best, it was quick breakfast & then out to play in the snow !!. (Even the sledges came out !)
It's now lunchtime & thawing fast, so we're now inside eating eggs instead. (not me, I'm drinking wine, (as usual !)

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF YOU !!

Take Care

Ann, Tony, Amy, Holly & Ross xx

Hello from Hitchin

Hi

You seem to be having a great adventure - what a brilliant experience.

You will be glad to know that term finished well, Greek Project handed on the very last day, and Jerusalem Joy a big success with Mrs Brown shedding tears of relief.

Now we are enjoying the sleet and hail storms and zero temperature. Ellie and Daniel are settling into the school holiday mode, having spent yesterday being "bored" (to be said with dull teenager voice). Ellie, Aoife and Megan did a sterling job serving at the 3pm Good Friday service (lasted over 2 hours) but Daniel fell asleep half way through!

I am trying to finish a work project that I should have done last Thursday when kids were at school, and Declan is loosing patience with me, so I am hiding in the attic. We are off to Rotherham tomorrow just for 24 hours, weather permitting.

Keep us up to date on the adventure

Chrissi, Declan, Ellie & Daniel

We've moved to Taupo.....

Hi All

Sorry I haven't been in touch for a few days, I haven't been anywhere with a computer! We had a fabulous time in the Coromandel. Our friends there have a holiday home right on the beach which was divine! We went to a beach that is listed in the Times as being the 8th most beautiful beach in the world...tough eh?!

We then moved south to Tauranga, where we visited a place called Kiwi 360. You sit on a trailer type thing and it takes you around the kiwi plantation and explains how they are grown and stuff. It was really interesting to learn what goes into growing this fruit!

From Tauranga, we moved on to Rotorua, or known here as rot-a-rua as it smells of sulphur! We went on an amphibious craft that travels on land and water which was brilliant. This morning, we went on the Skyline Gondola (cable car) in Rotorua. At the top, there are 3 luges you can go on. Basically you sit on a little cart and hurtle down these concrete tracks at a really fast speed, quite safe I'm told.......We then watched some sheep being shorn(?) at a place called the Agrodome, just outside Rotorua. They showed us 19 different breeds of sheep and we saw the sheep dogs at work too.

We have now arrived at Taupo and we are staying with friends of Andrew's mum for 2 nights before we head off to the farm where Andrew's best man lives.

I'll sign off now, I hope you are all well. As soon as I can, I will try to put some photos on here for you all to look at, otherwise you are in for a really long slide show when we get back......

Lots of love Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma x x x x x

message via mum and dad!!!!

hello there, hope you are all having a wonderful time in kiwi land!!! just arrived at mum and dads and just had a lovely hot cross bun.......however it is pouring down/sunshine/gale force winds/snow forecasted......whats weather like there? Jim says hi and thanks you for his card-he's just popped to the loo!!!
tried to register myself on here but it ain;t having it at the minute so i'll try again soon. Dad said you'vr got two msgs from them as the senile dementia is setting in now......take care and i'll sort out my account when i get home.
Have a belter, love to everyone xxxxx George and Jim

Hi from Mum and Dad

Dear Rachel,Andrew,Charles,Henry and Emma,
We are glad to hear that you arrived safely .The flight delay seemed to work out well in the end with you all having a good sleep.We have just got back from Portugal,the weather was good but I bet not as good as yours.You all sound like you are having a great time and we look forward to hearing more of your adventure.Georgina and Jim should be arriving soon for the weekend.
All our love to you
Mum and Dad xxx

Dear Rachel,Andrew,Charles,Henry and Emma,
Just worked out how to get into this.Glad you arrived safely even with all the disruption.We had a great time in Portugal with good weather but I bet not as good as yours.It sounds like you are all enjoying yourselves We hope you are over your woozy spell.Waiting for Georgina and Jim to arrive for the Easter weekend.We hope they arrive before the snow.We send our love to all of you and look forward to hearing more of your holiday.
Allour love Mum and Dad xxx

Nothing yet....

Hi lovey!

Glad you are having such a fab time and the good old Kiwi sun is turning it on for you :o)

Just wanted to let you know that all is still quiet on the baby front. The head is engaged though and I have had acupuncture to try and speed things up a bit (very painful). It is meant to snow on Saturday, so I am rather hoping that he doesn't decide to come on his due date as I don't fancy trying to get to hospital on a cold, dark and snowy night!!

I miss you lots and lots.

Love Kate xxx

Hi from Lewis

Hello Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma
Sounds like you are having a great time
Quad bikes sound great
Looking forward to seeing some pictures
Have a great easter
Love from Lewis x

Hello sunbathers....

OK, so its a bit warm there, we get the message. It's freezing here. Good job you did all that shopping for Summer clothes, sounds like you need them,with the sun shining over in N.Z
A very quiet wednesday today, missed our usual wednesday coffee. !!, (only kidding Andrew !)
Looking forward to the kids breaking up from school tomorrow, 2 weeks of not having to get them up in the mornings .... bliss !!

What have you & Emma been up to whilst the boys have been farming ??, I bet Charles & Henry think its great !

Great to hear your news.

Enjoy !!

Love Ann x

Tea glorious tea!

Hello you sunbathers!!

Sounds like you're having a fantastic time and we are just sitting round at Fiona's house cursing the lot of you drinking tea and celebrating the rain!

There is not much happening and we are all thinking about you and enjoying the blog..

Keep it coming and take care.

Love from Fiona, Sue, Erin, Chrissie and Marcella
aka The united tea drinkers

Off to the Coromandel...

Hi there everyone. Oh how we wish it was raining here, we are just going to have to put up with 25 degrees full sun today and spend tomorrow on Coromandel beach. It's a hard life....

We are having a fab time, the boys were helping out on the farm we have been staying at. They have been on the quad bike and a motorbike over some of the 40acres of the farm! The farm has cattle and sheep.

I'm sure the boys will post some news soon, but they are enjoying themselves so much that they haven't asked to use the computer at all, which makes a refreshing change!

I will try to add some pictures soon, but I haven't found a computer yet that I can use the SD card from my camera. I forgot to bring my lead for the camera to connect to the computer.

Love to you all, will update after the Coromandel.

Rachel, Andrew, Charles, Henry and Emma x x x x x

Police in Ickleford......sounds intriguing......

Hi Boys! :-)

Hi there boys!
Sounds like you are having an amazing time and I hope you do some posts on this blog yourself like Matthew did!
Seems like you had a bit of extra time to fill out some of your Holiday Diary with your delays! Haha.
Uncle Mark had a very nice 40th Birthday party just this weekend. Nana wasn't feeling very well so her and Grandad didn't make it but everyone else was there. William, Joshua and Rebecca had lots of fun.
Shernett and I are missing you lots and look forward to hearing lots more about your amazing holiday soon.
Daddy
PS: I hope you are trying LOTS of new food whilst you are there!!! x

Sounds fab

I cant believe your there and holidaying. The trip sounds like it was just right..we never have that luck! Well you missed all the excitement in Ickleford..police on our doorstep all weekend but have gone now..dont want to scare all your readers but will fill you in when you get back. We are all well and enjoying all the rain and wind. Wouldnt have it any other way really. Who needs the beach and the sun! Oh Jerusalam Joy thats what I say! Take care lovelies! And keep us posted..

Love from the Ickleford ..cant actually say mafia now after the weekend!

Andy Marcella Katie and Anna

A Day in Auckland

We are going to spend most of the day today in Auckland. We are going to Kelly Tarltons Underwater World, which is meant to be fantastic.

The weather here is beautiful, really sunny and it's only 8.50am!

The children and Andrew feel fine, I still feel as if I have been on a boat for ten weeks as my head is really woozy! (Is that a word...?)

Any way, better go and catch some rays........

Rachel xxx

Oh how lovely! You are making me homesick!! Despite the delays, it sounds like you had a great flight and your clever kiddies did their mum and dad proud.

I went to the Takapuna campsite a long long time ago and I have great memories of it.

Hopefully you are not finding the kiwi accent too hard to understand having had the pleasure of listening to Bella and me over the last 6 months :o).

Give a big hug and a kiss to all the family from me and I will await your next update with eager anticipation.

Kate x

GREAT!

sunday
To Charles & Henry
glad you are having a good time unlucky about the flight though everyone at school is fine.
I went to watch Arsenal yesterday 1 all against middlesborough.
hope to see you soon.

Matthew


To the rest of the Russells,
Sounds awfull - on a beach when we are here in the pouring rain ! Rugby was cancelled this morning due to waterlogged pitch so lucky Matthews got to do the cubs Palm Sunday church parade instead.
Now back at home finishing off the Greek project.
Look forward to more news from you

Keith & Sarah

Sounds great ........

Glad to hear the flights went OK. You could never get on a flight without there being some diversion or delay !!! (wait until I tell Judith & Sara !!). Sounds as though you are already having a great time.
You'll be glad to know its raining hard in Hitchin (another wet & miserable Sunday !!).

Have Fun, Take Care

Ann xx

We've arrived!

At last, we have made it! Our plane landed in Auckland at 10pm Saturday evening. Flight was fantastic. The kids were brilliant, they made a couple of friends who they sat with during the flight so they were chatting all the time.

Today (Sunday) we have spent the day with our friends Andrew and Bridget. We went to Northhead in Devonport and spent the afternoon on Takapuna beach. We are staying the night in a cabin at the Takapuna campsite, it's fairly basic but it is right on the beach.

Emma has just fallen asleep so we better go and put her to bed!

The Story so far........

Our flight was a bit late leaving Heathrow, so it took off at about 3.50pm. Flight was great, kids were brilliant.

When we arrived in LA, we were told that our flight to Auckland had been cancelled! Something minor like a dodgy engine.........., so we had to wait about 2 hours before our accommodation was sorted and a coach took us to a Hilton hotel. We have stayed overnight and the coach is coming in about 20mins to pick us up and take us back to the airport. We should arrive in Auckland about 10.00pm their time on Saturday 15th, which will be Friday morning England time.

It has actually worked out really well, all of us had a great night sleep and are ready to face a 12 hour flight!

I'll keep you posted......

Are you there yet ??

Hope you are all OK, was thinking of you with 3 kids on a 24 hour flight !!!

Remember its supposed to be a holiday , not a nightmare !! (I'm sure it will be fab !!)

Have fun & take Care

Tony, Ann, Amy, Holly & Ross xx

Thinking of you...

It has just gone 2pm and assuming all is running to plan, you will probably be jetting off in to the sky around about now... I hope the flight is not too dull and the kids stay glued to their personal TVs for the entire trip (when they are not sleeping soundly of course ;o).

Nearly There

All packed now, just need tomorrow to arrive……

Totally jealous

Hello Russell family aka lucky ducks!!

Not that I wont see you at least twice a day in the playground between now and thursday, but just wanted to give you even more abuse for having a holiday!! I also think you may be off to bognor for a few days and just trying to sound exotic!! So will want evidence of the four weeks including a slide show.

Love from the Ickleford mafia!!

Two days to go!

Dear all,

Have a safe journey and a great time!

Love from Rob, Charlie + Lewis xxx

Only One Week To Go!

Only one week to go now until we jet off to New Zealand for the holiday of a life time. During the past week, all the children have had a sickness bug so thankfully that will be out of the way before we are sitting on a plane for 24 hours!

We are mostly sorted, the cats have been booked into a cattery, we have cancelled the milk and begun to sort all our clothes out.

We have created this blog mostly for friends and family to see our progress whilst we are away, but please feel free to add to it if you would like.