So tonight was a night to try new things. This afternoon our uncle Sekope and cousin Sina picked us up and took us to the Glow Worm Caves in Waitomo. It's about 45 min from Hamilton where we are staying. It was pretty amazing, but sorry no pictures allowed inside the caves. Then we went to Langima'a's for dinner. She had this big octopus that she bought for Dad because it's his favorite. But apparently it's Sarah and Petesa's favorite too! They LOVE it. I tried it for the first time and... it tastes like mushrooms. As much as I love mushrooms, I can't eat that again I don't think! Petesa tried golden kiwis for the first time. They are delicious! And last but certainly not least, Sarah learned to drive on the wrong side of the road! Haha wrong to us I guess. Langima'a and Sekope taught her. She loved it = )
Everything is fine with us in New Zealand. Dad made it to Tonga today! He is happy and his whole family is happy too. He told Heikodi that Grandma was sleeping with his airplane pillow and picture album. We are all so relieved that he finally has left LA! Friday is my birthday... my first international birthday! They are having a pig roast at Langima'a's. I'm very excited. Our family is just so so loving and easy going. They welcomed us with open arms, and we all feel right at home. More later.
- Maria

We made it!

I'm writing this while sitting in our hotel room in Hamilton New Zealand! We finally made it Saturday around 1pm New Zealand time. Sadly, all four of us are not together anymore. Dad was not allowed to fly with us because he doesn't have a visa to get into New Zealand. Because he uses a Tongan passport he needs a visa. SO, we flew on without him and had no trouble with our international flights. Don't worry though! We left Dad in good hands. His friend Bernie, who is such a nice, calm man, took him in, and that's where Dad is now. He will fly out to Tonga in a day, and get to spend two extra weeks there. It's nice that he and Bernie get to catch up as well. He keeps telling us not to worry about him and just enjoy our time here with our family.

As for us, we were picked up in Auckland by our aunt Langima'a, her husband Sekope, and some of our cousins! Langima'a looks exactly like dad! They are so loving and friendly, and I know they are going to take good care of us. It was so great to finally meet them. We will probably go to dinner at their house tonight and meet the rest of the family. My dad's brother, Hekodi, lives here too with his wife. We will post pictures of our beautiful cousins, aunts, and uncles as soon as we take them.

The cutest thing so far was our little cousin Siosiana singing Ave Maria to Sarah and me in the car. She is Langima'a's 5 year old granddaughter. I'm sure you will see a lot of pictures of her! Until then.... malo e lelei!

-Maria

Still in the States

Greetings from LA! We should be in Fiji by now, but sadly we missed our international flight. We landed in the middle of an awful storm in Chicago, and they wouldn't let us off the plane! We sat there for 2 hours and just barely made it to our delayed flight to LAX. We showed up at the gate with 2 minutes to spare. SO, we didn't get into LA until 11pm and our international flight was at 11:30.

Right now we are in the Hacienda Hotel at LAX which is very nice. We got a great discount from Air Pacific because we were delayed passengers, and it wasn't our fault. We've got a few pictures of us at the hotel. So hopefully we will have no problems catching our new flight that takes off at 11:30pm tonight. The people at LAX were really helpful and said we should be fine. We should arrive in Fiji by 5:10am and our connecting flight to New Zealand is at 10am.

For now we are just relaxing and enjoying being off the airplanes. Dad's old Tongan friend Bernie is coming to visit us! Petesa and I have never met Bernie, so this should be fun!

Props to the USA soccer team! We hope New Zealand keeps winning so we can celebrate with them when we get there! = )

-Maria