Sometimes the stars line up just right...such as the opportunity for Mercy and Oak to have Noah teach their seminary class for the six months since he returned from Bulgaria.
I couldn't count the times that Oak or Mercy, or both, walked into the kitchen after seminary and said, "seminary was good today," or something similar.
photo credit: Noah *photo from several weeks previous to the Perseid shower
It was fitting that the topic of Noah's last seminary class was the heavenly signs predicted by Samuel the Lamanite: Noah had witnessed the epic Perseid meteor shower just a few hours previously.
Noah has taught the "live"seminary classes on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6:30AM. The students have the option to study online modules on the other days of the week. The class includes a few other students from the Taranaki and Nelson districts. I'll be the teacher after Noah.
Our campsite in Crayfish Bay, Hook Island. Not bad! Snorkelling offshore.
4 campsites total, a national park site.
Jan and Dave were the best camping neighbours ever. As semi-retired outdoor ed instructors, they were very excited to tell us all the cool stuff they know about the animals and fish and birds in the area. And, to top it off, Dave wore happy pants like Oak.
Jan took pictures of us, too:
kayak races
On the way back to Brisbane, we got to drive for several hours along the beach.
Driving along the beach from Rainbow Beach to Noosa Heads.
We give in to pressure from these locals to drive our rented 4x4 through a deep river. Repeatedly.
Jan said that she can smell koalas before she sees them. This koala was in a sanctuary in Brisbane.
Keeping it real:
Keeping it real: sea lice, Sage and Joyce's hair becoming pre-dreds, lots of packing up and packing down, some rented camping gear that didn't work perfectly, a few arguments, and coming to grips with the fact that Hungry Jacks is really just the same as Burger King.
Happy to be home in green NZ.
"It’s nice to breathe New Zealand air again. It makes me feel like running."
-Oak, Camp Tuhikaramea, Sunday morning July 29.
We watched The Man From Snowy River when we got back home and got a kick out of recognising the bird calls in the background.
Books
Driving around Queensland, we switched off between Harry Potter and a biography of Elon Musk.
Fourth of July: hamburgers, patriotic music, and fireworks on the laptop. Note how dark it is at dinnertime (5:30PM) and the chill in the air (Mike's hat and puffer jacket). Oak is moments from walking in the door from school.
Fifth of July: Mercy and Oak flew to UT, so Joyce and I have spent a lot of time home 'alone'. It's school holidays. It feels very different to have so much time with Joy, but we both love it.
We've developed some new interests together, such as origami, Ubongo, and reading and watching Little House on the Prairie.
The view rewarded me for taking the garbage can to the top of our lane:
Roasting marshmallows (indoors) and wrestling with the girls.
Photoshoot and weight lifting with Dad:
Saturday outing to Three Sisters. An evening pot luck with the Hillary team.
Oak's shot
Danny's farewell. The Swansons drove for over an hour out of respect for Danny. . .and to have one last chance to exclaim over his height.
The first time Jack had ever been to a church service of any kind - Charlotte nearly the same - so I appreciate them all the more for coming to hear Danny.
Danny also gave a youth/YSA devotional for our district on Sunday evening, including his first vocal solo. Mercy on the way home: "You have a legit solo voice, Danny!"
On Tuesday we drove to Hamilton for Danny to be set apart by the mission president and for Oak to receive his patriarchal blessing.
Then we drove up to Auckland, where we were extremely relieved that Danny and Sage could board the same flight for SLC as planned.
Nana and Gramps sent Noah off to the MTC a couple of years ago, and now they've sent Danny off, as well. I can't imagine anyone getting a more loving, faithful send-off. In addition, Danny received a bonus send-off from Andrew and Allison and boys!
I loved Danny's talk about COURAGE, with concrete examples from his own experiences and observations:
Courage to make decisions.
Courage to overcome fears. Make decisions based on courage rather than fear.
Courage to do what is right.
Courage to change.
Courage to be who we really are, or who we really want to be. Let others see it. Don't be a hypocrite in either direction.
The first half of the video documents the adventure racing training season.
The second half of the video documents the 5-day Hillary Challenge 2018. The 8-person Hillary Challenge team is chosen from the adventure racing squad.
0:00-0:20. The opening video is Oak's friend, Jason, running on the north crater of Tongariro. Jason's trademark, ripped-up shorts flap around his legs.
Many of the videos and time lapses were taken by Mike, who is one of the parents who can actually keep up with the squad on their training expeditions (Go, Mike!). The time lapse that Mike took at 2:33-2:37 is my favourite.
0:45 Jason drinks from a stream. Jason is wearing more trademark gear: his Milo cap with Nathan Fa'avae's autograph.
At 1:12 A girl points excitedly behind her. She's pointing out the rugby star, Richie McCaw, who took up expedition racing after retiring from rugby.
At 1:40 you'll see local coach and legend, Nick Collins, trying to learn 'the Floss' from Georgia. At 65+ years, he's another one of the adults who can keep up with the squad. His curly blond hair can be spotted in throughout this video.
In the Utah desert, where I was raised, the lower elevations are brown and the higher elevations are green. On the north island of New Zealand it's the opposite - the lower elevations are green and the higher elevations are brown.
2:48. Look for Oak, Noah and Mercy.
Hillary Challenge:
3:11 - 4:44 . The first two days of the Hillary Challenge are initiatives, each lasting 1 hour. The initiatives are physically and mentally demanding, and always race the team against the clock.
4:44 - 5:35. The third and fourth days consist of an overnight expedition-rogaine. Teams are given a map with checkpoints. The teams have 2 days to reach as many of the checkpoints as possible. The navigation is off-trail. Our team covered 60 km in the 2 days, which was more than any other team. Although this is the most photo-worthy segment of the Challenge, it is also the segment with the fewest photos because there is no access for coaches or parents.
5:35 - 6:23. The fifth day is a 50km multi-sport race: paddling, running, biking and navigation.
6:43 - 7:08. The tag at the end of the video features rare footage of the elusive Phil Hewlett, who is the team's coach and the mastermind behind many years of success in New Plymouth adventure racing.
Finally, one more shout-out to to the great partnership between Jason and Oak:
