An Action Defined

To Foster:
1. to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage
2. to bring up, raise, or rear
3. to care for or cherish.

For 6 wonderfully blessed weeks I was the proud mama of 5 absurdly adorable kittens. When I first got them the were only five weeks old, sickly, dirty, and in need of some TLC. I immediately went into mom mode and made five trips to the vet in the first week. There were feedings every four hours (that means getting up at 2 am!), five different antibiotics twice a day, and lets not even start on the chore of cleaning up after them....

However, I loved them at first sight. I never once questioned why I was doing it or whether it was worth the sleepless nights or if it was worth the emotional roller coaster of wondering if all of them would pull through. Even now, when I am still feeling pangs of sadness from missing them so dearly, I am looking forward to doing it all over again. Why? Because there aren't words to express the joy I felt as they each grew into their own little personalities and the love I felt when every time I walked in the room, I had five little purring balls of fuzz clamoring to get on my lap, shoulders, head - whatever was available.

So now that they are at the adoption facility waiting to be adopted into their forever home, I just wanted to take a moment to memorialize them for myself... my first batch of what I hope will be many foster babies.

Meggy - The Dirty Faced Feisty Runt:

Lucinda - The Ladylike Escape Artist

Opal - The Motor

Tux - The Lover


Sprocket - The Beast


I love them all dearly and wish that I had a home big enough to keep them all. I will have to settle for knowing that I did everything in my power to give them the best start possible and that another person will love them just as much as I do.

Mt. Cook National Park, part 2 - The Helicopter

We arrived back to the hotel - tired, hungry, and sunburned from our morning hike. Before we had set out for the hike, we had asked about taking a helicopter flight up to the glaciers but were told the weather conditions weren't ideal but to check back later. So, as luck had it, the clouds had cleared and instead of resting, we immediately hopped in our car to drive to the helicopter pad for our scheduled flight!

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about this whole thing. I had never been in a helicopter and the only thing I could think to compare it to were those little puddle jumper planes that I loathe. However, this was nothing like I thought it would be. It was surprisingly smooth and felt very controlled.

We had an hour to fly around the range and eventually over to the west side to the Franz Josef Glacier where we landed right on the glacier and got out to walk around. It was so peaceful up there and not nearly as cold as I had imagined it would be.


On the way back we flew a little further west and were able to see the Pacific Ocean: This glacier is one of only 3 in the world that comes this close to a coastline (where there is a rainforest, no less!).

The rest of the ride was just as stunning. We flew between mountain peaks to see glacial lakes and snow capped tops. All in all, an activity I would certainly recommend to anyone that makes a trip to the area!

Mt. Cook National Park - Part 1, the hike

So for our second destination in New Zealand, we ventured to the Mt. Cook National Park, which is part of the Southern Alps range that runs the length of the South Island and contains the highest mountain in New Zealand - Mt. Cook. It's also interesting to note that approximately 40% of the park is made up of the 72 named glaciers that are still moving, melting, and evolving the landscape around the area. As a matter of fact, 70% of the entire country's electricity is supplied by the water running off of the glaciers! Maybe I'm a complete dork, but I thought that was fascinating.

When arriving at the park, you only have two choices of where to stay - The Hermitage, a luxury hotel or campgrounds at the base of the mountains. Now, I'm not the campy type, so this was one accomodation decision that was very easy for us! Here is a view from our window on to our balcony and beyond:


Day 1 was primarily spent on the balcony of the hotel bar, drinking local beers and playing Uno. I maintained my lead but was punished for this with my disappointing food experience. You see, I need a good bowl of mac & cheese at least once a week to keep me happy. I had yet to see one on a menu until the hotel bar pulled through with a glorius offering of fresh baked mac & cheese. The excitement that built up in that 15 minutes of waiting was nearly too much for body to handle. The disappointment that took over when they brought it out to me with chunks of ham in it was almost enough to make me leave the God forsaken country and come back to America, where we know the value of purist Mac & cheese. Anyway, they couldn't make it without the meat and I had to sustain myself on beer, salad, and fries.

Day 2 started out with a hike up to the Terminal Lake of the Tasman Glacier. The hike itself was a 3 hour easy hike with a few steep climbs with a lot of photo ops. A couple of things to note when looking through these: 1) I hate bridges, 2) I didn't come with appropriate hiking clothing (mainly b/c I don't OWN appropriate hiking clothes) - so jeans and a top I wear to bed had to suffice. In the first picture I had just come over the edge of a hill and noticed what was going to be the death of me in approximately 10 minutes. Cassidy laughed and said he had noticed it quite a while ago but neglected to tell me just so he could relish the very moment when I did finally see it on my own. See how happy he is crossing the bridge? Me, not so much.









All finished with the hike! I was so happy not to have any more bridges to cross (there were 4 crossings in total) and excited to head back for a much deserved rest and some food! However, the universe had other plans in store for us... on to Part 2.