Indiana & Atlanta Spring 2012

 Fun to see how much Isaac has grown!

 On their new porch...we saw the house being built from foundation up.  Goes so fast!

 View from the new backyard.

 The dining room and kitchen windows.

 Dave & I in front of the new house.

 Jen & Abby on Mother's Day

 Abigail with her cute pigtails.

 Uncle Dave taught frisbee lessons, then Isaac taught me and now I throw straight!

 Cleaning up before going in. This is so cute to me, and funny that Dave is one of the kids.

 The view from Brian's lake house on Lake Apalachia.

 Skink on Brian & Julie's porch, pretty exotic looking.

 Dinner at Tonya's in Atlanta with Philthy, Karen & DJ.

 Tonya's back porch.

Ethel, Tonya's cat and I spent a lot of time together!  We had a relaxing spring house sitting while Dave's parents were in Florida.  We got to spend a couple weeks with them, Jen and the kids once they all got back from Florida and then took a mini road trip to Atlanta to visit Tonya & Phil, our Antarctic friends and Brian & Julie at their lake house.  It was a wonderful spring!  Now Dave is headed to Alaska, I to Reno and we'll meet up in a few weeks again on Dave's two weeks off.  Love to you all!

New Zealand 2012!

Dora & I in downtown Napier, enjoying the sun and passion fruit & blood orange gelato.
The gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers near Napier was incredible! Couldn't believe how close we were allowed to get, and the trip out there in an old tractor & trailer was great.
Aquatic Centre with Tia. Hanna loved it too, it was a day out with aunt Ildi & Uncle Dave.
Cape Kidnappers.
The tractor ride out, and Hanna's suspicious looks :):)
Uncle Dave, always the favorite!
Gelato after the Aquatic Centre.



Why are you in the boot aunt Ildi?


At the finish line of Tibor's bike race.


Baby gannet.



Three happy hikers: Phil, Tonya & I on the amazing Banks Peninsula 4 day backpacking trip. So much variety in scenery and wildlife. Amazing trip!
Uncle Dave and the girls.


The garden and bath house at one of our huts on the Banks Peninsula hike. Our favorite.
Looks like a rata or flowering eucalyptus, on the Banks Peninsula hike.
Too many gorgeous cliffs and clear blue seas, lovely grasses and sea birds...aaah.
Lots of sheep on the hike too, at the cabins we stayed as most of them were owned by farmers.
Little blue penguin being taken for a swim, she's blind and being rehabilitated at the wildlife center where we went kayaking on the Banks trip, day two of the hike.
The perfect lamb at the wildlife refuge.

Such a beautiful hike and we had perfect weather. Just an hour or so of misty rain.
One of the cows on the hike; we crossed lots of ranches.
Blue heron in Akaroa.
Project ReStart in Christchurch is shipping containers converted to stores and cafes in downtown on Cashel Street where all the stores were ruined by the earthquake. It's hip, fun and packed on the weekends. Dimitri's Souvlaki is there, which is why we went several times.
Fern trees and lush spots on the Banks Peninsula hike. Lots of beech trees too. Very pretty!
Star-gazing hut where Dave and I slept the first night of the hike. About the size of a dog house with only a large mattress inside. It was awesome!
Being taught proper croquet by an expert in Akaroa.
A wonderful group of people to share a house with in Akaroa for the week, we had a blast!
The first morning of our hike with Tonya. So luxurious, we ate steak like kings drank wine, slept on the softest mattresses, played cards and then saw the most incredible things ever.
View from the porch at the rental house in Akaroa. Spent most of our time on that porch.
A hike with the girls in Hanmer Springs. It was wonderful to spend the weekend there with Connie and Emily, waiting for our men to get out of Antarctica, meanwhile talking long forest walks, sitting in the hot springs and eating the yummiest foods.
The lighthouse near our rental home in Akaroa.
We had an incredible month in New Zealand this spring, a well deserved one and one which flew by rather quickly. I left Antarctica a few days early to celebrate my friend Emily's 30th birthday and to have a girls' weekend in Hanmer Springs. It was wonderful. When the boys and the rest of the crew joined us we went to Akaroa to the house we rented together for the week where we talked, ate so well and stared at the beautiful view. We then hiked the Banks Peninsula 4 day backpacking private hike which is near Akaroa, and took in the prettiest coastlines and bays, fur seals, penguins, terns, owls, super lush fern gullies, waterfalls, flowering trees, ranches with sheep and cows and gorgeous grasslands. It is definitely one of our favorites, and one we've been wanting to hike for a long time but hadn't gotten around to doing. We had a day in Christchurch to see the gardens before we went up to Wellington to see my family for 11 wonderful days. We spent time in Wellington but also had a lovely trip up to sunny Napier on the coast where we rented a house together. We took a trip to see the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers, which was incredible, checked out downtown, took the girls out to the aquatic centre, went to the springs to soak, ate lots of ice cream and enjoyed catching up and reading. It was a blast, thank you guys so much for everything! We love you!!

Rest of Our Antarctic Season

Ivan the Terrabus; we took it to the airfield for our flight out.

Ildi with Pedro the Emperor Penguin. He chose to molt at our fuel pumps at the halfway point to the airfield so whenever we had a fuel transfer (twice a week, we got to see him up close).
The penguin liked being by our fuel pump for some reason, even though it was loud.
The research ship Nathaniel B. Palmer in port.
We got a very in dept tour of the fuel tanker after we finished unloading it.
Our fuel tanker and the fuel hose from it across the mush pier (only one guy fell in the crack).
6'' collapsible fuel hose from the ship to our metal pipelines is how we unload it, several fuel lines at a time, millions of gallons, 24 hours a day for several days.
Seems the end of the season went by quickly and was full of work. Unloading the fuel tanker was fun for us because Dave and I were on the night shift with our good friends. After that week of 12 hour shifts came the hose pickup (the 14 miles of fuel hose out to Pegasus airfield). That again was 12 hour shifts and really cold temperatures, but we did it in record time. Then more ships to fuel and fuel to transfer between million gallon bulk tanks. Pedro the Emperor penguin was a highlight because he chose to molt by our pump so we got to see lots of him. And I did see some whales in the bay. It was a physically demanding season, but a fun one that I would call my McMurdo favorite. Really good people and lots of fun events. At the last minute my boss said that they had room for people to leave a couple days early so my friend Emily and I jumped on the opportunity to have a girls weekend in Hanmer Springs, since our boyfriends were wanting to stay until the end. Pics of that soon...love you!

Penguins

Dave and I on our nightly ride, Delta Scharen, the fuel delivery vehicle. We have been on nights for a month, fueling the C-17, and the buildings our at the airfield. Night shift just us two, really pretty sunrise colors.

One of the molting emperors on the road to the airfield. They are all standing alone, fasting and molting.

Penguin with station in the background. This one was out at the airfield.

Mt. Erebus in the fog, and not blowing out it's usual volcanic smoke.

A quick month, very peaceful with just the two of us. The tanker ship gets in Saturday morning and then we'll be on 12 hour shifts pumping until all 6.5 million gallons are offloaded. Our South Pole Traverse friends just got back yesterday. Seen whale breaths. Saw adelie penguins from far away and hope they come back again soon. Really heartbreaking news from home with Grandpa being sick. Looking forward to seeing him, and all my family. Love you guys. Ildi