Bring it! American Gothic Goes Arctic

One of the more popular sites at the Arctic Center was the "Storm Room". Careful native kiwis, the temperature drops. Tourists were given proper attire to guard themselves from the harsh elements. Winds swirled. Celsius readings reached dramatic proportions. People huddled in makeshift igloos, others stormed toward the exits. We Vermonters just laughed and enjoyed our temporary sense of bravado. Vermont winters had prepared us well. This little Arctic swarm simulation was nothing more than a Morrisville minute in February.

South is Cold?

Upon disembarking from our high flyer, we followed blue footprints to the infamous Antarctic center at South Island. Did you know that Christ Church was the launch site for arctic explorations? Bully for you if you did.

Christ Church Explorations

Who knew Easter could be so much fun? I always thought Easter meant tortuous priestly sermons, salty ham cooked real flesh like, uncomfortable church clothes that did night shifts in the cardboard factory, and of course, the chocolate egg hunt where I learned to despise aluminum foil. Nah! Could be. Could be. Not this year. We flew with the clouds to Christ Church. Our first visit to the South Island.

The Grinning Tour Guide

After a full day of interviewing area middle level principals about their programs and practices, Dr. Penny is all smiles with family and friends at the Auckland Zoo.

Lower Order Primates

While Marc and Penny visited schools in Auckland, the boys were squired away in classrooms filled with students and teachers that they did not know. They hung in there and were great sports. As a result, the late afternoons were kid choice times. One afternoon involved a visit to the Auckland zoo. Clearly the boys were more entranced with climbing structures than the inmates. Imagine.

Lighting the Way

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Explorer Penny needed a day out of the city so the boys were packed into the van (called people mover here) and headed out to Cape Palliser. The plan was to visit a light house there. Climb its 250 steps. Enjoy its spectacular views of the bay and the seal colony living there. Oh yeah. We brought a picnic lunch too. Well...there are no interstate roads in New Zealand. Outside city limits there are lengthy stretches of winding roads. A stretch that would appear on paper to be a 30 minute drive, in reality will take at least one hour. Of course, our route to the lighthouse involved driving through a mountain pass. The name? Hell comes to mind. It doesn't matter. At one point, Marc exclaimed in terror,"let me out. Now. I'll walk."He later decided it would be better to be riding in the van with his family as it traversed off a dirt path masquerading as a roadway, down to certain awful death in the rocks below, than to watch it happen to his family and live with the guilt of abandoning them. Two plus hours of driving brought us to the lighthouse steps. Alden refused to climb them. A bit steep they were. Marc bravely opted to stay with Alden while Penny and Drake hit the steps and took in the view. Naturally, we got lost on the drive home. We were tricked. A sign that read, "Alternate Route", should have said, "Alternate Reality". Twenty minutes later we were hopelessly lost. Alden melting down in a prolific temper tantrum but Penny and Marc laughing at their situation and picturing the nice glass of wine they would eventually enjoy. They did. FYI: The boys point to one of many seals swimming in the bay.

City Limits

Last week the family flew to Auckland, New Zealand's most populated city. Standing proud here is the city tower, the tallest point in the Southern Hemisphere. Marc did not have an opportunity to test his theory that continual height climbing tests do not cure his phobia but further soil good trousers. Alas, the Auckland tower remained a point in the distance. Instead, Penny and Marc visited schools while the boys (much to their chagrin) attended one while their parents were away. Of the schools we visited, we were certainly impressed with the commitment and integration in technology, student learning and professional development. That said, Marc was quite startled by an effusive principal that during an intensive small group discussion, removed a pen from his shirt pocket (a nice Parker pen, mind you!) and proceeded to stick it in his left ear, twirled it a bit, removed and then did it all over again with his right ear. This procedure was done while he continued to pontificate points about his school. Needless to say, Marc will never borrow at pen from that school!

Boys Night Out

Here we are flashing our tickets to attend the Chaplinopera at a local theatre here in Wellington. The show consisted of three classic Chaplin shorts from 1917 accompanied by live orchestra and singing. Alden enjoyed the first film. Wondered why another started playing after the first one ended and definitely wanted to go home during intermission. In his defense, the prints of the film were not sharp so it was difficult to discern the finer details at various times. Drake attended the opera with his classmates. Pretty cool to look over from ours seats and see Drake "messing with his mates" during the performance.

A Tree and his Dog Video

For those of you that enjoy watching dogs climb trees. Your wait is over. Seamus, Irish Terrier of many talents can be seen here dutifully climbing a tree for the want of a treat.

The Ugly American part deux

Marlon Brando isn't around anymore so somebody's gotta pick up the slack. Here the Ducharme boys take turns holding up the Civic Ball in downtown Wellington. We wore black so, "it's all good". Cheers.

FYI: Sometime in the early 1960's (Mikey, help me out here) Marlon Brando starred in a film called The Ugly American, the title had less to do with his physical appearance and more to do with his unattractrive persona. I mention this here less you think that I am dissing my own boys-just moi.

Getting Schooled

These photos show Alden receiving instruction on the finer points of Skate Boarding from his friend McKenzie. As you can see, he is attentive, all ears, while she makes a difference in his skill and life. Though 3-4 years older, McKenzie enjoys teaching and showing Alden what she knows. Good stuff at the skate park.

Penny and Alden join the All Blacks

We know that wearing black shirts, black pants, leather jackets, black boots black, black, black is the urban "thang" but Kiwis really do dig black. One case in point, their two national teams, Rugby and Cricket are called the "All Blacks". Uniform colors? They're not white or blue bozos. They're black. Wearing black here in Wellington is more than just some dark urban form of fashion expression. It's a cultural identification. At least, that's one Vermonters observation. Mind you, this said observer was not invited by his college Sociology teacher to further his studies in the field. Anyway, here's Penny and Alden doing the All Black-Urban-Kiwi thang.

And the Point is?

There she goes again. Penny extends that pointer finger to let Drake know that he is indeed looking at layers of volcanic rock. While Alden was off with friends visiting the Wellington Zoo, Marc, Penny and Drake spent Sunday afternoon exploring the "bush walk" at the Te Papa museum. Being experienced cave dwellers and thermal explorers, we discreetly thumbed our collective noses at the respective replicas displayed in the museum. Nevertheless, Drake had a great time exploring the many rocks displayed in the bush exhibit. Disregard his solemn countenance, he's actually quite contented.