Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch

One of our very favorite places from our trip to New Zealand was hard hit by this latest earthquake.  Sumner is a beautiful seaside suburb of Christchurch.  Half of it perches on a cliff overlooking the beach and the sea, the other half nestles along the beachfront.  Sadly, the two halves are now a bit mixed together.  The good news is that the owners of the house we stayed in are alive and well.  The sad news is that the whole neighborhood has been evacuated, and many houses, like the19th century villa we stayed in are probably too damaged to stand. 

There is a short article about our hosts and their house here.

2 months to go!

Our house is not rented.
Our stuff is not packed.
But we do have a train ticket out of here!

At the moment I am struggling with doing anything constructive, because our only potential tenant so far would be taking the place furnished, Mike has strong views about how our stuff should be stored (for free) and I have had the flu.

I think it is just so obvious that there is a last minute disorganized crisis brewing here. I need a plan....

**********************************
OK - here is a plan:

1. I will pack all the things I am taking into one drawer of my dresser.  
2. I will take everything else to the basement and pack it into boxes.  
3. I will let Mike deal with the boxes.

November 17, 2010 Disney Epcot

Today we went Epcot and we planned to meet some of Daddy's friends there. Daddy's friend was named Chris and his wife Carol and they have 2 children, a 10 year old boy named Shane and a 13 year old girl named Kelly.

While waiting for Daddy's friends we went on our first ride which was in a huge golf ball. The ride was called Spaceship Earth. In it you go to the past to see how people communicated with each other.

After the ride, Daddy friends finally found us. We headed off to go to a ride called Sorin. In Sorin, you sit in a chair that moves up like a ski lift in front of a big screen and you feel like you're soring. In the movie, at one time you go through a field of orange trees and you can actually smell the oranges!

After that, we went to another ride called Living with the Land. In it, you could see a greenhouse. It has lots of pumpkins, squash, cocoa trees, and herbs in it.

The last ride was very fun called Journey to Imagination and it was my favorite . There's a dragon called Figment who takes you through his house. His house is upside down!

I had some fun with my new friends.

Antonia

Disney World Magic Kingdom Tuesday

Yesterday was the first day at Disney. I lost my Disney pass and it wasn't a very good day for Grandpa either because he hit is knee very hard trying to get us some ice cream. It was bleeding very bad and we had to go to first aid. We went on a dumbo ride. We went on a space ride that was exactly like the dumbo ride. In the morning we went to Disney Quest. We made a roller coaster and rode on it.

Today I went to on three hyper good rides at Disney World Magic Kingdom. Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain. Splash Mountain was the scariest because you're on a boat and at the end they throw you over a 52 foot waterfall. After that we went to a water park named Blizzard Beach. Daddy lost part of his sun glasses again. I loved going down the big slide that you have to have 4 people in the boat. The wave pool is very wavy and the water was quite cold.

Maths

I hate maths,

I hate maths,

I hate maths

more than having baths.

When it comes to maths

there are no more

laughs,

horrible,

horrible maths!

Friday Nov 12, 2010

Today I got up at 4:30am in American. That is 10:30am in France where I live. I woke Grandma up at 5:30am because she said I could. We ate oatmeal for breakfast while it was still dark. When the stores opened, I went clothes shopping with Grandma.

After lunch, I went to a man called Mike Gravel's house with daddy. Last time I met him, he was gabbling on about my shoulder blades. Today he was doing the same thing... I made friends with his neighbor's daughter called Sophia. After that we went to another of daddy's friends house for dinner named Simson. He has a daughter that's 13 and a twin boys who are my age. I watched Narnia with them.

Thursday Nov 11th 2010

Today daddy and I and mummy got up at 3:30am so daddy and I could go to America. Are first plane took 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to London. Then we waited in the airport at London for 2 hours. We took another 8 hour plane ride to get to American from there. We got to Washington at 2:30pm local time which is 8:30pm at home. We drove to my grandparents house that took about 1 hour and a half. We ate dinner and by then I had stayed up about 24 hours. I was so tired!