Merry Christmas from the McVeys, Nielsen's, Johnson's and Craig's

Everyone is very busy this month so I am posting on the blog to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from all of us.  Next year we will start the new year right, and post the news of our families and activities. Since we are the ones that are so far away, here are some of the exciting things we did in November. I can only post a few pictures, if I posted all of them, it would take you forever to look at them all. So here is just a sample of the fun things we did with Mollie, Paul and Lilah.

We went to Hobbiton in the pouring rain. But we were there, so had to do the tour, and it was well worth it.  The tree in the center of the picture is on top of Bilbo's house.  As we walked through the "Shire" it looks just like the movie.  They were still building the Green Dragon Tavern while we were there and it should be open now.

On the way to Wellington, we stopped in Rotorua, Thermal Springs, and Castle Point. This is Mollie, Paul, Lilah and Tom climbing the rocks around the lighthouse at Castle Point. The Pacific Ocean is in the back. Then on to Cape Palliser, a seal colony and the Pinnacles.

While Mollie, Paul and Lilah were in Wellington, we had the best weather we have had since being here. These pictures are from the top of Mt Victoria overlooking Wellington

 It is summer here after all, so a trip to the Botanical Gardens, which were in full bloom.

 On Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, we hosted a senior couple Thanksgiving Dinner. There were 25 of us. Lilah is at the head of the table way down at the far end.  The feast was wonderful. Everyone pitched in with the food, some of the couples drove 5 hours or more to spend time with everyone. Tom made all of the paper chains we decorated with.

 After Thanksgiving we all went to the South Island to tour Abel Tasman and Golden Bay.  We took a water taxi up the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park. It was truly beautiful.

Mollie, Paul and Lilah dropped us off in Westport and we come home and they traveled on further south.  I understand they had a wonderful time. We had to get home to be in Wellington for "The Hobbit" peremire.  It had to be one of the most beautiful days that we have ever had. There were thousands of people and the stars come out to watch the movie. 

Believe it or not, we did work in the Archives and have been very busy there. We feel very blessed to be here in Wellington and serving the people with the digitizing of their probate records.