In Oct 2012, we took a leisurely stroll through Thun, Switzerland. It’s a very picturesque town on the northern end of Lake Thun (30 minutes south of Bern). It is an old city, and boasts not only some original medieval streets, but also a medieval castle overlooking the city!  I’ll let the photos do the talking: We’re suckers for covered bridges, and Thun had a very beautiful...

If you’re looking for a resource for LDS (Latter-day Saint) Trek prep activities, I have some helps for you! If you’re looking for a script for an activity, here’s one I put together with the help of other resources I found online, and then edited to fit our needs. For our activity, we met on a farm/ranch with the youth, leaders and “ma’s and pa’s”. We invited everyone to come in their trek-wear,...

Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to share our experience with Chinese New Year in Rotorua, New Zealand! Admittedly, New Zealand gets flooded with Asian tourists over the Chinese New Year. We found busloads of Chinese groups everywhere we went, and we sometimes found it humorous to watch what excited them the most. For example, in the evenings we saw buses drop off the busloads at the local...

After leaving Rotorua, we drove to Taupo, which is located centrally on the North Island. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand, and the town of Taupo, on its north end, has a population around 24,000 people. It’s known for being a center of volcanic and geothermal activity—but unlike Rotorua (which is stinky), Taupo is not stinky, and is well known known for hot springs! It’s not nearly as...

This summer I had the opportunity to speak at the inaugural Family Adventure Summit, which was held in Penticton, BC (Canada) over Labor Day weekend in 2017. I was asked to speak on “Repatriation”…which is a fancy (albeit ugly) word that means “the return of someone to their own country.” We returned to the US four years ago after a very deliberate 180. We had sworn we’d never live in the US...

After a 3 1/2 hour ferry crossing from the Southern Point of New Zealand’s North Island (Wellington) to the Northern tip of the South Island (Picton), we sought out a fun destination that would reward the kids for good behavior on the ferry, as well as fill some extra time before a long drive to Nelson. Picton is a small town with a population of only 4,000-ish residents, and although it gets a lot of through-traffic, it isn’t...

Did you try do read that out loud? If not–I dare you to try!! Paraparaumu!!! Need some help? Here goes: Par-uh-par-uh-ooo-moo Simple, right? Kinda catchy, even! Well…we spotted it on the map, and decided we were headed to the Paraparaumu region after our visit to Taupo, and then Napier’s Art Deco Festival. When telling locals our plans, we were a bit confused when instead of saying Paraparaumu, they used the name...

While driving through Hamilton, New Zealand, on the way South to Waitomo—we drove right past the LDS Hamilton New Zealand temple! It stands on a big hill on the outskirts of town…seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It overlooks 86 acres that it shares with the former Church College of New Zealand (a Church-operated school for 12-18 yr old students that permanently closed in 2009). The friends we were traveling with offered to...

We were tickled pink when we were able to find a last-minute vacation/”bach” rental in Hastings, NZ become available during the nearby Napier Art Deco Festival that attracts visitors from all over to enjoy their 125+ events over a February weekend! It turned out to be a superb location–perched on the edge of a vineyard, and in a quiet location without traffic or noise. The host was amazing, and let our kids help feed her...

…you just might have to give them some more…and more…and more. Am I right?!! While in the Hastings/Havelock North area, we were advised not to miss Birdwoods Gallery. Trip Advisor reviews confirmed this recommendation, and so we really couldn’t say no! We peaked inside the Birdwoods Gallery, which featured beautiful artwork and crafts from New Zealand, as well as Africa. The owners have spent a lot of time in Africa,...

We enjoyed the Art Deco Car Parade and other events at the Art Deco Festival in Napier, New Zealand on Saturday, and knew we had one more event we couldn’t miss! After attending church on Sunday in Hawkes Bay, we returned to downtown Napier to watch the Soap Box Derby, where children and their fathers race their homemade boxcars down a hill! It is a VERY well-attended event, and we were lucky to get a even a tiny view at the very end...

One can be quickly overwhelmed when looking at all the offerings of the Art Deco Festival schedule for their yearly February event in Napier, New Zealand. This festival brings in tourists from all over the country (and in our case, beyond), and truly has something for everyone! While we wish we had booked in time to get our kids in a street-tour of the earthquake history, we ended up instead just enjoying the free entertainment offered...