Thanksgiving Menu

I have spent all morning deciding what delicious things to eat for Thanksgiving... the best part is that we did Thanksgiving shopping yesterday... So now I have to find things to go with the food that we already bought! Yep thats how I roll...  

so after much flipping of the Martha Stuart Pages 

This is my menu... 

Dry Brined Roasted Turkey (stuffed with apples & onions)

White Wine Reduction Gravy

Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Cornbread, Bacon & Leek Stuffing

Baked Artichoke Hearts

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Deviled Eggs

Spicy Sautéed Green Beans

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie with Fresh Whipped Cream

Right now I am making turkey stock out of the neck and giblets of my freakishly large turkey... I feel really bad eating this obviously massed produced bird and when I move back to the states vow to raise my own or eat wild turkey. And just finished making my cranberry sauce that will hold fine in the fridge till Thursday. Tomorrow I start the dry brine on the freak bird and make the pumpkin pie, Wednesday I make the apple pie... and everything else on Thursday...

 ITS GOING TO BE SOOO GOOD!!!

And Derick and I both have off work on Friday! BOOYAH! Now all we need is a fire place to cuddle in front of and sleep off our food coma!

New Zealand Trip Day 3: Bungy Jump

Bright and early the next morning Derick and I walked downtown to the bungy jump headquarters. I did was doing my jump on the Nevis Bungy... which is a 134 meter 8.5 second free fall... that is over 400 feet. They bussed us up to this canyon where the jump was located... I WAS FREAKING OUT!!!

Here is where the magic happens... they take you out to the platform in the middle of the canyon that you jump off of... 

  
This is out on the platform looking down... Still freaking out!

 

In the chair getting the bungy strapped to my harness and legs... SUPER FREAKING OUT! I was really afraid that when it came down to it I wouldn't jump and just be a big pansy!

I told the dude... just tell me when I get to the edge of the ledge cause I don't want to look down... but he just kept saying... scoot forward... keep going... keep going... AND THEN I LOOKED... oh my gosh I almost died... getting all the way out on the ledge was the hardest part!

 And then everyone counted down 3, 2, 1, JUMP and I just jumped... I didn't even have to think about it... jumping was the easiest part... but I really wanted to look epic doing it so I made sure I did it right... 

 

With a super awesome swan dive!

And I just fell like that... parallel to the ground... almost the whole way down... felt like I was flying! I had so much fun while falling... except that I couldn't breathe!

It was a long way down!

After we got back from Bungy Jumping we met the Wentzels ate super delish burgers at Ferdburger... and  drove to the "Gateway to the Fiordlands" Te Anau. We stayed at a cabin out of town called Glacial Rock. Our kitchen was stocked with fresh Milk from their dairy cow and eggs from their free range chickens! AMAZING! and the views!!! This is me on the back porch of our cabin!

Right out our back door... 

After we settled into our cabin we explored the town a little bit... watched a film called "Ata Whenua: Shadow Land" at the tiny local movie theater: Fiordland Cinema. It was a gorgeous short film of Fiordlands World Heritage Wilderness that few get to see set to music. It was "filmed across extremes of season, climate & terrain" so we got a really good idea of what this amazing place was like all year around in places normally unreachable by humans! To see the trailer click here!

After the movie we went back to the cabin and cooked a delicious dinner of venison, lamb & beef local from the butcher in town, and fresh vegetables from the market! AMAZING!

New Zealand Trip Day 2- Queenstown Gondola & Luge

So the next day we flew from Tokyo into Auckland, and then took a domestic hop down to Queenstown... our plan was to start at the bottom of the country and drive all the way back up to the top! So we picked up our rental car and made our way to our first Hotel. We stayed at the Rydges Hotel & Resort, the same hotel that the Lord of the Rings Crew stayed at while in the area. The hotel was situated on the shores of Lake Wakapitu with maybe a 7 min walk to the town center. We got upgraded to lakefront rooms when we arrived so we had a sweet view of the lake and the town.  

View from our room during the day!

View at night!

Right after we got into town we headed up to the Skyline Gondola on Bob's Peak. The views were amazing! This is looking down on Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables Mountain Range.

 From the top of the gondola we headed to the luge track. We had to take another smaller lift to the top of the luge and then of course luge back down... we went twice... since I heard once was never enough... 

This is looking at the luge track, there is a beginner and advanced course... everyone had to do the beginner first, I was a little disappointed looking at the track cause it looked so easy... but is ended up being SO fun, you go SO fast, I almost died a couple times... Derick and James had alot of fun racing!

After the Luging and Gondola, we walked around town and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we then were off to bed tired from traveling all day and I had to get my rest before 

BUNGY JUMPING the next day!

New Zealand Trip Day 1- Tokyo

We were flying out of Tokyo for our trip to New Zealand but Derick had some stuff to take care of in Tokyo so we ended up going down a day early and had some extra time to hang out! We stayed at the New Sanno Hotel  a hotel for military members that offers super good rates in the heart of the city. While we were there we went to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, a  garden that was created as an imperial garden in 1906! 

Not only was the garden beautiful they were also have thier annual fall chrysanthemum exhibition... what they can do with these chrysanthemums is crazy!

Ozukuri (thousand bloom) Bed

 They create this massive dome shaped chrysanthemum plant by a unique technique of pinching and training.  You can tell how but these are cause that is Derick standing by the plant in the background.

Kengai (cascade) Bed

This is a training technique where they try to make small flowered chrysanthemums to look like wild  chrysanthemums flowering on a cliff.

Ichimonji (imperial crest) and Kudamono-giku (spider) Bed

These things were as big as my face... and super perfect. 

Ogiku (large-flowered) Bed

These were definitely as big as my face... look at one compared to this old Japanese man taking a picture with his phone! 

fall... sigh...

I love fall, so does Derick. We did not want to miss all the fall leaves since we are leaving TODAY for New Zealand, so yesterday we went out with our friends the Nation's to see the leaves in Oirase Gorge... it was SO worth it!

Kuji Sea Cliffs

My friend Kate took me rock climbing at the Kuji Sea Cliffs. I did my first lead climb. 

"Lead climbing is a climbing technique used to ascend a route. Lead climbing is an advanced aspect of rock climbing and is not often practiced by novice climbers, and involves a lead climber attaching themselves to a length of dynamic (elastic) climbing rope and ascending a route whilst periodically attaching protection to the face of the route and "clipping in" to it. The lead climber must have another person acting as a belayer. The belayer has multiple roles: holding the rope in the event of a fall, and paying out or taking up rope as the climber moves."

The scarry part about lead climbing is you have to climb above the spot that you are clipped into until you reach the next clip. On this climb there were spots where the clips were maybe 10 feet apart, so if you fall 10 feet above the last clip you really end up falling 20 feet before your belayer can catch you! Dont worry Mom, Kate let me wear her helmet!

Here is Chris doing the same rout I did as a lead climb. 

It is rated an 8... or  5.8... I dont know. 

I think the coolest part about this area is that the ocean is crashing in on the cliffs as you are climbing...

 it was so epic feeling!

Here I am climbing a 10a... but I am top roping it, which means the rope connected through an anchor at the top, so I cant really fall... hopefully a couple more times top roping this route and I will be able to lead climb it!

Beachy Beach

Some pictures of one of our many family excursions to the beach... well, we left Sabastian at home... but he hates water anyways! 

I am going to be so sad when we don't live by the ocean anymore, especially a  freaking awesome ocean with great surf, great sand, and NO PEOPLE!

 I have a new found love of feathers... Someone told me once they were full of nasty bird bacteria... so I was always scared to touch them... but I have changed my mind and I always come home with at least one!

Kona loves her beach time! Her life is SO hard! 

I love our beach time too... my life is SO hard!

Derick... well... his life is SUPER hard!

Look at Kona's face! She loves to play fetch... especially when water is involved!

The waves don't even phase her!

I love how in this picture Derick is looking at Kona and Kona is looking at Derick!