Trampolines, Painted Shirts and Dancing in the Rain

This past weekend was our last free weekend to do whatever we so desired. Once again, it’s weird to say “last” because it doesn't feel like I should be going home in three weeks. In spite of how sad I am to even really start thinking about leaving, I do miss my family. And I know that my mom loves to shop. So in honor of my mom I went shopping all day Friday!

Originally all Brooke really wanted was a bathing suit and I wanted a clock. But we just got sucked in, you know? We walked past a store at the mall that we’d seen some things that we’d liked a couple weeks before and, miracle of miracles, this time they were on sale! So one thing leads to another and next thing you know we’re stopping in every store we see. We even took the bus back to another shopping center with this really cool store of homemade New Zealand crafts. At the end of the day Brooke never found her bathing suit. She did find a very cute skirt though. And I know you were all wondering. Yes, I found my clock.

We arrived home just in time to fix dinner, but were surprised to hear a phone message letting us know about a YSA dance that night. So after dinner Phyllis graciously drove us over to the Pilling’s home where the dance was to take place. Sister Pilling had asked in her message if we could arrive a little early to help set everything up. Perhaps they gave up on us coming because everything was set up by the time we arrived and we were there close to 45 minutes early. It was alright though because Brooke and I arrived just as the sun was setting and it was an incredible view from their back porch. They live in a beautiful area and have a huge yard! And you’re not going to believe this, but they have…not 2, not 3…but 4 trampolines! How cool is that?

We sat on their couch and chatted with the DJ as he set up all his equipment. After an hour or so we began to get worried that no one was going to show up. But around 9 (about an hour after the dance was to start) people slowly started to trickle in. It was so fun once everyone showed up! Apparently it’s coolest to arrive two hours late for events like this. Too bad Brooke and I completely missed that memo.

Once a large group had arrived we walked around and talked with everyone. We jumped on the trampoline a few times and talked some more. After a little while of standing around Brooke, Kirsten, Emily and I thought that maybe we should dance since the DJ was playing music and all. It was only us for a while. I started to think that maybe it wasn’t typical of people to actually dance at dance parties in New Zealand. Maybe that is something they only do in the States. It did take a while but eventually people started joining our circle and pretty soon there was a giant circle. (It’s good to know that the traditional Mormon-dance-circle is also universal…haha.) It was a lot of fun! It even started to rain and people just kept dancing. I guess it had completely poured at the last dance party and people were hoping that it just might happen again. It didn’t end up pouring, but it was just enough to get us a little wet.

 

After a while it got a little cold and the party started to die down. Most everyone stood around and mingled and it was fun getting to know everyone. Bronson was kind enough to drive all four of us home. Brooke and I laughed because it was probably the latest we’ve stayed out in a while! We were so tired.

The next morning started out really slow. It was wonderful. We didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything in particular. Believe it or not we actually went for another run. (I think we’re breaking records here!) We tried out a new route and it was even better than the one we’d tried before! Less uphill and more flat. Once we’d come back and gotten all ready we had to decide where to go. In the end and after a lot of looking online at various places and bus routes, we decided to just go up to Takapuna Beach for the day.

It was a little chillier than we had hoped for a beach day so we spent most of the time walking around the little shops. We had both completely forgotten that it was St. Patrick’s Day and happened to run into a huge party in a small pub that had attracted a big crowd. There was a lot of music and Irish dancers out front! They even had security guards keeping an eye on things. It was so cool to watch! And the music was so pretty. We were about to leave when they started playing Cotton Eyed Joe and we just had to stay to see the Irish version of that.

We eventually found ourselves on the beach. In spite of the cold, windy weather we couldn’t stay away. The tide was so high! We hadn’t ever seen it so close to the wall and the waves were pretty big for a little beach. 

We took a couple pictures and then walked until we ran into the little ice cream stand we’d eaten at on my birthday. We decided to share a double scoop, but didn’t plan it out very well. Our differing tastes got the better of us and we ended up with passion fruit mixed with honeycomb chocolate. I don’t know if I’d recommend that combination to anyone. They were great separate though!

As we were slowly making our way back to the buses we stopped by a playground with the coolest tree I’ve ever seen. Naturally, we had to take some pictures:

We came home to a little surprise. Phyllis had ordered pizza for the night! She ordered three! For just the three of us! It was wonderful. It tasted very American.

After dinner Brooke and I decided it was about time that we painted those steal-of-a-deal shirts we bought last weekend at The Warehouse. They’re still a working progress, but we’ll have perfected them by this Thursday, don’t worry.

That means only 3 more days until the Hunger Games!!!! I am so excited!!!!