Calm before the storm...

While it continues to seem very unreal, the "working" part of our "working holiday" is quickly coming to a close. March 25th is my last day- that means only TEN work days left for Julie!!

On Saturday, my mentor/supervisor/friend Rachael and her adorable little family came over for lunch and a frolic in the yard.

The only problem with the "yard frolicking" was that our dear cattle- who had temporarily roamed freely in our yard- left steaming piles of hind-end juice scattered about. YOU try and avoid cow patties while prancing around with a 1 & 5 year old.

(John is pointing out that Lowell had placed his foot directly in cow dung. That was one of FOUR squishy little landmines that Lowell set off that afternoon).

Everyone (but me- ew) seemed particularly taken with the giant caterpillars. Niamh (pronounced "Neeve") and Jamie weren't even put off by the surprisingly large black circular "gifts" that the caterpillars left on their hands (are you sensing a THEME for this particular afternoon? It starts with 'P' and rhymes with "boo").

HERE'S RACH! She's the most brilliant speech therapist that ever walked the planet. She is 99.9% the reason why I've been having an amazing work experience here in NZ.

It's a good thing that we have a little foot tap connected to our house. GOOD BYE COW MANURE AND CATERPILLAR DROPPINGS!

Li'l Jamie spilled the bucket of clothes pegs, and voluntarily began picking them up and putting them away. The kid is only 21 months old... I was very impressed!

GOT MILK?!

Shortly after Rachael's darling family left, Lowell and I rushed to North Auckland for a colleague/friend's BEACH WEDDING! It was a small affair, so we weren't invited to the whole shin dig, but Amy sure did extend a little invitation for us to casually stroll along the beach at the same time the wedding was taking place.

We witnessed Amy and crew begin their jaunt to the ceremony location.

This is what Amy always looks like- so beautiful, bright, and sunny. I'm going to miss working with this spunky physiotherapist!

They walked down the beach...

...then made their grand entance up the stairs at a beachfront restaurant.

We followed Amy (at a reasonable distance) this far, but then just played the role of creepy papparazi and pretended we had been invited to the whole thing. See look... they're practically right behind me (PS- they're the ones on the balcony in the far off distance).

This weekend was the calm before the storm. The delightful low key time with kiwi friends comes just DAYS before Dave & Lori (Lowell's sister and brother-in-law) arrive (yeay!). While they are here, Marc & Kylie will return to Auckland, then my parents arrive on March 21st. So many exciting things happening! Now everything would be just PERFECT if saying "hello" to all these fun people/experiences didn't mean saying "good-bye" to the people/life we have come to love...