North Island Day 20

Rachel must have been the most excited about our staying in a Motel for the night. She was thrilled with her lovely bed and appreciated so many little things. Brendon got a photo of the three girls sitting outside and Rachel said it felt like they were sitting at a train station (a scene from Narnia stimulating her imagination).

The office building. Even though this was not the original plan it was a special part of the holiday.

Unfortunately my back went into spasm this morning - between my shoulder blades - something I had never experienced before. We ended up going to the Emergency Room at the hospital after phoning around for options. I could not even sit or stand at first but Brendon got everything packed up and then slowly got me into the car. After a pain killer and anti-inflammatory the muscles started to relax and we could finally hit the road. At least now we have some anti-inflammatory in the medicine chest. It really is a horrible pain, and to be so immobilized with spasm. I do thank the Lord for the medication that is available now days to help things like this.

We had 240km to do today. Making our way back to Palmerston North and then we retrace our steps home. It was lovely to drive through Stradford - the town where our friends in Taihape used to stay. We got subways for lunch there and were thankful to see Ruth eating a bit more than the last 2 days. Her feet are also not as painful which we are thankful for.

Such a beautiful mountain. Rachel was asking about volcanoes and what would happen if it erupted when there was snow on it. We had quite a bit of conversation about it all and had said to her that we did not know when the last volcano actually erupted. Within about a week of getting home from holiday she would be able to have many of her questions answered when the volcano in Iceland erupted.

Thankfully in Palmerston North we stay in a flat and so it was easier to keep Ruth away from the boys. She will be contagious for around a week, so we just want to be careful. Hannah really took to building the blocks that are always here for the girls to play with. She would put one on at a time. And if you gave her two joined she would separate them and then stack them to the tower one by one.

Rachel actually came in from playing with the boys to have a look at the tower as it grew.

And grew.

We were surprised that it actually stood on it's own. Well done Hannah - a lovely tall tower.

And as she built it - she got to knock it down. Such fun. :-)