Espen's BrainBlog

WISH DAY!!

My apologies for the looong wait in between blog reports, I guess by (unintentionally) doing so, I have let you in on a bit of the waiting which Kelly and I endured while waiting for things to be official and before we could tell anyone – including the wish boy and his siblings. So with no further ado….

Wednesday morning started slightly earlier for me (that would be Kirk) as he rolled out of bed and grabbed some clothes and jumped in the rented Toyota Previa and headed off to the car rental place to return our vehicle. Except for forgetting to fill the tank, it went swimmingly. Fortunately, the rental place was literally accessed through the drive of a gas station. So after shoehorning the van into a parking space, I got to drive it 30 feet – excuse me – 10 meters and fill it and re-shoehorn. A brisk walk and a free bus ride plus one more brisk walk brought me back to breakfast and movie set preparations.

Once we had all gone through hair, makeup and costuming (not really, more like: cereal, toothbrushing and throwing on clothes…) we awaited our pick-up. We had been told that we would be picked up by a shuttle, along with the other Make-A-Wish family traveling to the set. Sure enough, at the appointed time, two matching limos pulled up – driven by a lovely, mature husband-and-wife team. We met the Ryans – Jack and his father, mother and sister – of Burnsville (yes, Burnsville, MN. Two kids from the Twin Cities wished for the same thing independent of one another in a span of two weeks) and piled into our respective chariots for the hour-plus drive out to the set.

We had a little sparkling juice and the kids enjoyed the lovely limo for about five minutes, and then it was time for iPods for them so that Mama and Papa could enjoy the ride through the countryside without having to navigate or drive. We were brought to a little ‘cafe’ that has been built at the entrance to the movie set site – basically a very tiny farm road that tees off of a very narrow country lane – where we met the owners of the farm/tour company. In addition to giving tours of their farm, they also do sheep shearing/dog herding demonstrations, so we got to feed some sheep and see a couple of dogs drive some sheep around a pen while we were waiting for our guide (for our trip to see the set of the unnamed movie, which we are not to name).  Soon, our host for the day – we’ll call him ‘Mick’ – showed up and handed out our paperwork (one set per family, where we promised never to do anything lest we be strung up by our toes in retribution), which we signed and then received our ultra-special badges-on-a-string allowing us to saunter about unmolested on set.

We were shuttled by a little bus over the ridge to ‘base camp’ – where we made our first stop. The base camp looked like some kind of music festival – trucks and tents and cables and vehicles everywhere. And by tents, I mean enormous half-city-block-sized temporary structures that they somehow erect in part of a day and then suddenly whisk away to some other location. Impressive. Mick showed us around the make-up, wardrobe and other special-effect-y tent, where the kids even got to try on some cool prosthetic pieces, which I will not describe in any detail, although if you know what I’m talking about – you can probably make a pretty good guess. Mick even took some pictures on his iPhone that he later sent us – so those of you seeing us in person can have a look sometime.

From the base camp, which was milling about with some of the 250 plus people involved (including wardrobed extras), we jumped in another little bus and went up the hill over another ridge to the actual set. Part of the reason this site was chosen was for the way that it is completely separated from all signs of civilization, including the base camp just over the ridge, and so all the camera (and the actors) see is completely natural New Zealand landscape – extremely beautiful in and of itself, without the, uhm, modifications, that had been made for the purpose of filming.

We walked over to a tent to with some chairs and two monitors to have a look at the live action happening just below us on the set. There were some chairs up front that were slightly fancier (for portable, folding chairs) that Mick said we could use, but that if the head of the studio showed up (as he was set to do sometime that day), then it would be ‘that’s all folks’ and we’d need to scoot back to the second-tier seats. As it was no one showed up, so the kids could take the front row seats by the monitors. As we were waiting for some ‘action,’ a lovely assistant brought us a tray of ‘nibbles’ and then a young man came and took our drink orders. Swanky!

As there was filming happening just below us, everyone and everything had to be absolutely silent while they were rolling, which meant keeping three young children from making noise while essentially watching a 30-second silent film over and over again. (There is no sound to the video feed – ’cause it’s noise, right? Hence the reason you always see directors wearing headphones in those DVD extras.) Thankfully, the kids were great and the fruit and crackers and cheese and sweets we kept stuffing into their mouths helped quite a bit. Mick also brought us out of the tent and around the corner in between takes to peek down at the site, and then we’d all race back to the tent when they yelled ‘rolling.’ After a bit (and our coffees and juices and teas from Sebastian), Mick brought up two remote headsets for Espen and Jack, so that they could actually hear the dialogue along with the images. Espen was sitting in front of us, but Kelly and I were sitting next to Jack, and when they started filming again after the headphones arrived, as soon as the actor began to speak Jack got this HUGE smile on his face like, whoah! this IS really happening! That was really fun.

Once the scene was finished and they broke for lunch, Mick brought us over to meet his boss who was coming up after talking with the two actors who had just finished filming what was basically the first scene of the movie. The Director was very congenial and chatted with us and their staff photographer took shots of both families with him and he signed a few things for the kids. Very lovely and kind. Espen handed over our gift to the Director, whose birthday, we discovered, was only a couple of days after our visit. He seemed genuinely pleased and interested in the local movies we had brought him, and I dare say I think he just might have a look at some of them.

Once the meet-and-greet was done (did I mention that as we stood there in front of the producers ‘director’s chair’ waiting for the Director, that the composer was sitting around the corner and then the head cinematographer walked by? Crazy.) Mick walked us down through the set, where we got to look up close at where they had just been filming, and they took another few shots of us on set. We wandered around the set, and while not saying anything in detail about it, I can tell you that the level of detail put into the design and decoration of the set was incredible. Even things that would never be filmed from closer than 50 feet away had been done with excruciating detail in even the smallest items. Very impressive.

After our wander-about, we hopped back in a transporter and were shuttled back to base camp for lunch. We ate from the buffet surrounded by extras as well as crew members, all of whom were exceedingly lovely and friendly. The food was amazing, not to mention that it had been prepared in a kitchen in the back of a semi-trailer. I’m not sure how the whole crew isn’t going to gain 100 lbs. (uhh…40 kgs?) eating that stuff every day.

Mick then took each family one at a time to meet with the actors who had just filmed the scene we watched. As with everyone else involved, I can say that it was like visiting with some old friends or meeting some lovely new folk at a party. Simply wonderful people and paid Espen and all of the kids great attention, and even had excellent knowledge of the Twin Cities, despite not being from around here (or even this country…)!

After that, the actors were called back to set, and we took our leave of Mick as we jumped on to our final shuttle of the day to take us back to our awaiting limos, back with the sheep. We had a good time joking with our limo drivers about what we hadn’t seen and where we hadn’t been on the drive back. We enjoyed our plate of ‘nibbles’ on the return trip (as if we needed more food…) and got a little tour taking the scenic route home. We got to see where the world rowing championship had just been held – not quite as publicized as the Rugby World Cup, but cool all the same. The best part was driving through a number of small towns as schoolchildren were returning home from school. I don’t think it’s all too often that two stretch limos come driving through town, and as our windows were tinted, our identities were anyone’s guess. We felt very star-like.

Finally, we pulled back in to our motel and, as Jack said later, “the movie star dream ended as we pulled up to the Best Western.” The Waldorf or the Four Season’s it was not, but it was comfy and convenient. We were left to cook up our own dinner in the kitchenette, and then we Skyped Oma and Opa, as we had to share the experience immediately with someone. We ended the day with a lovely walk down by the Waikato River in Hamilton with Jack’s mother and sister (walking off some of our ‘nibbles’ from the limo ride).

Espen was in his quiet, subdued mood during much of the day, but as we were walking around the set, he and Jack were having a good time joking about all of the things they could now say they had done on the set, like, “I tripped and fell down on the movie set.” or “I jumped up and down on the movie set. ” and so on. He definitely had a wonderful day. All he could have hoped for, I think. It was interesting to watch Jack, who is 17, take things in, as he had a little better idea of the craziness of what we were allowed to experience. I’m sure Espen will appreciate it more and more as he looks back on it. As for all the adults, we were just walking around in awe and in a stupor at how surreal and cool the whole thing was. We’re still not sure who had more fun – definitely the climax of the trip.

Up next: The denouement begins…

Tuesday – or the last day with our own wheels

Our first full day in Hamilton was also our last day with our own transportation. As there seemed to be a limited number of things to do in Hamilton we had decided to keep our van an extra day and do one day trip out of Hamilton before the wish day (which also allowed us to spend the day at the luge – definitely a good decision).

So we traveled south from Hamilton to Waitomo (for those linguists among you, you may have noticed a lot of ‘Wai’ going on – it means water in the native Maori…) to see the famous Glowworm Cave(s). New Zealand has a large number of native species that are unique in the world, being an isolated island and all, and the Glowworm (Arachnocampa luminosa – sounds like a Harry Potter spell) is one of them. It is a glowing maggot that turns into a mosquito-like fly.

This glow maggot (the tour guide suggested that ‘glowworm’ is a lot more attractive than ‘glow maggot’ – marketing is everything) grows in places where wind will not disturb the sticky, mucous-y silk threads they dangle from their bodies to catch food, and are therefore primarily found in caves near entrances, but also in dense NZ rainforests. However, caves have the benefit of being dark all the time, whereas a rainforest visit requires staying up late and walking around a dark forest (although this can also be done as a tourist in NZ).

The cave tour is a pretty standard cave tour until you get to a shelf where you can see the glowing maggots up close where they hang from a ceiling next to a dropoff. Then you go down to a grotto where you board a boat with 18 of your best friends and are poled gondola-style into the darkness of the underground river to ooh and aah (very silently, the maggots are VERY temperamental and will shut off their lights if disturbed) at the lights above and around you. It’s a little like floating through a planetarium – definitely cool. MOST impressive was the fact that our children basically held their breath the whole time we were in the dark and didn’t make a peep.

Eventually the guide directs the boat to an overhead wire which she then uses to pull the boat out of the mouth of the cave to the boat landing. A short, but definitely unique experience.

We had our daily picnic near the stream that flows past the very steep parking lot across the road from the cave, and then headed off for a ‘bush walk’ up the nearby hill. Although ‘bush walk’ sounds really cool (and was half the reason to go tramping up the trail), it basically means a hike through a native forest with many of the fern trees that NZ is known for.

After our brief hike, we went a short piece down the road for the second cave in our Cave Duo package – almost a two-for-one thing, but more like a we-already-paid-this-much-for-one-cave-we-might-as-well-pay-a-bit-more-and-see-two deal. The second cave had the distinction of housing some cave Wetas – another NZ original, known for being one of the largest types of insect in the world, but probably more famous these days for being the namesake of the digital workshop that makes all the non-human bits and parts for the LOTR movies as well as the forthcoming Hobbit, among others.

After our cave trips, we packed back in the minivan and headed back home, passing our one ostrich of the trip (in an animal park that is part of the tourism of Waitomo – for there is nothing else in Waitomo but grazing land). With the kids plugged back in to their iDevices, Kelly and I enjoyed another peaceful, beautiful drive through the New Zealand countryside before returning to the Best Western in Hamilton to eat and put the kids to bed before we ourselves passed out.

Up next, uhmmmm, what was it, I have a hard time remembering – oh yeah! SET VISIT!!!!!

Monday – On the Move

Monday was our last day on the farm and in Rotorua. That meant gathering all of our belongings from the four corners (and two floors – emphasis on floors) of the cottage and shoehorn it into the Previa. We managed all this without too much fuss and cussing (and with the assistance of the trampoline) and shoved all of our belongings into the van once again. We took photos with and said our goodbyes to Kevin and Sue, our wonderful hosts, and headed off to Rotorua, where there was one more thing we wanted to do before heading north.

We stopped first for a picnic on the shores of Lake Rotorua on a beautiful sunny day.  Then we headed to Skyline Rotorua for luging. Yes, luging. On the hillside of a peak overlooking the town and lake, there is a series of concrete luge runs that you can ride down on three-wheeled carts. To get to the runs you ride up the ‘mountainside’ in a gondola where you get your stylish helmet and catch your cart for your run down the mountain. All first-time riders have to go down the beginner’s run to get the hang of driving the cart, so they don’t go careening off the path and over a drop-off (which is altogether possible in some places – this was not an lawsuit-proofed American attraction…).

After a short delay while Torben attempted to show he was in control of his craft so that the attendant would let him go, we headed off down the run. All the kids did really well, even if they didn’t head down at full speed. Take your guesses as to which ones went for speed, and which played it a bit more carefully. I, of course, went down the mountain attempting to control my velocity and direction with one hand on the handlebars, while photographing and filming with the other. Although some of the kids looked utterly frightened on the way down, they all proclaimed it awesome on the chairlift ride back to the top. They had such a good time that we decided to go again – the only problem being we had left our credit cards back down at the bottom of the hill in the car.  The ticket guy didn’t know how to run a credit card without the card, but between myself and the cashier at the restaurant, we figured it out and set off for a second run. Espen and Siri and I ventured off for a turn down the intermediate run while Kelly took Berit and Torben for a repeat of the beginner run. Even after Mario Andretti and I made a pit-stop halfway down to wait for Espen – we beat the other team handily after careening through the forest and tunnels and s-curves.

After our strenuous luging (it was actually quite a workout for the arms – before the first run I saw a father and son wearing gloves, and I scoffed. After the first run – I understood), we jumped back in the Toyota to head up to Hamilton, where we would be staying for four nights around our wish day. We had no real idea what exactly our accommodations would look like, and since we didn’t have a lot of food on hand, we decided to just stop and get some food before checking in. However, even with our mobile internet, choosing a place to eat in town you’ve never been to, in a foreign country, and with four tired children – is not easy. Therefore, we decided to go the safe, if boring, route of something known, i.e. something American. We found a Pizza hut not for from the motel, and headed for it. However, the interwebs isn’t always up-to-date, and our Pizza Hut was no more. After driving by its supposed location twice before deciding it was not there, we headed to the next Pizza Hut, which then turned out to be a take-away only. So, we ordered up a couple pies and whisked them off to our motel room, where we thankfully had lovely kitchenettes and were able to make a lovely dining area for all six of us.

The motel was great and had two connected rooms, one of which had a second sleeping room attached so that we had enough beds for each of the kids to have their own, with the boys in one room, the girls in another, and Kelly and I separate from all of them (yeah!). So, after pizza, the family settled in and I ran to the Pak N Sav for some vittels in preparation for our trip to the caves the next day. All in all, for a travel day, not too bad.

Next up: Glow Maggots!

(sorry for the delay...)

Sunday, AKA Rugby World Cup Final Day

So, we began the national holiday with a fresh, farm-cooked breakfast, courtesy of our hosts Kevin and Sue Rooney who realized on the first day that we had kind of booked through their B&B site, as opposed to their Holiday Home site – the difference being that one included breakfast, and the other didn’t. So Sue brought us over a couple of trays with juice and bacon and pancakes and more food than we could think about eating. It was lovely. I started out the day with a visit to the fields to get some pictures of sunrise, and ended up with some lovely shots of my new best friends, the calves. Or at least they thought I was their new best friend until they figured out I had nothing for them. Still, they and the sheep in the field below were quite photogenic. [The sheep are for you Hannah Hansen!]

After breakfast we all went down to the nearby field to watch the calves being fed from a little machine hauled behind Sue’s four-wheeler called, I am not making this up, the CALF-A-TERIA. The kids got a big kick out of it, and we had a lovely time discussing and learning about the area around the farm and some of the history and so on. This is why we love B&Bs (not to mention it’s hard to find accommodations for 6 of us any other place…). After our lazy morning we decided to get active and . . . go sit in some thermal baths.

On Kevin and Sue’s recommendation, we headed to the more ‘local’ of the nearby baths out in the country that are fed directly from a boiling spring. The spring boils out water at about 200 degrees Fahrenheit that flows down a narrow little valley, heading for a nearby stream. On its way down, they pump out some of the water, spray it up into the air to cool it down and then use that runoff to feed and heat the nine various pools at the complex, all built into the side of the hill overlooking the boiling stream valley.

Each of the pools varies in temperatures from the splash pool, at a very lovely 98.6 degrees, to the very toasty 107.6 degree ’sit and soak’ pool. Take your guesses as to which one the children liked best, and which one yours truly gravitated towards. We drifted between pools, taking a break for a picnic lunch poolside before dropping back in, for about three hours of heavenly relaxation. It was a relatively cool and overcast day, so it was perfect for cozying up in a hot pool.

After getting all pruny (Torben looked like a 100-year-old man), we clothed ourselves and hiked up the little path to the source of our enjoyment. We took photos and video, but I think neither does justice to standing there overlooking this freshwater spring that is literally cooking and boiling below you (not to mention the beautiful vegetation and hillsides surrounding it). We could happily have just gone home and called it a day (and probably fallen directly asleep as well), but we had made plans to do a ‘hangi’ dinner in Rotorua that evening.

So, after a brief pit stop at the cottage to change clothes and regroup, we headed to the edge of town to Te Puia, a Maori cultural village that is home to the areas main active geyser, as well as the Maori carving and weaving schools, where they teach younger generations their traditional crafts. Before our dinner we got a brief tour of the village, where you can see some recreated traditional buildings, a visit to the Kiwi house, where we did see one Kiwi, or at least its backside for a bit, a boiling mud pot (not as good as the previous one) and then off to the big ol’ geyser, which is truly impressive. The silica base that has built up due to the eruption of the geyser is some 10 meters, or 30 feet above the creek below into which it drains. It shoots about 100 feet into the air and has two smaller geysers alongside it. After the geyser were the carving and weaving schools and then it was off to our ‘dinner experience.’

The main attraction of the evening is concert of traditional Maori song and dance and war games followed by a hangi dinner, which is cooked in the ground. Originally this was done using geothermal heat, and then expanded to putting the food over coals and covering it all up to cook. Although Kelly and I were a bit underwhelmed by the performance (we’ve seen more impressive in Hawaii), the ladies got to go on stage to Poi dance (Kelly and Siri), and the men went up to do the Haka war dance (Kirk, Espen and Torben).  The kids very much enjoyed it, which was really the point of the whole thing.

The meal was done basically as a buffet, so you really didn’t get any sense of the uniqueness of how it is cooked and it wasn’t really what the kids were looking for. (We were also a bit shocked that with the price we paid, we were required to buy anything other than water to drink.) This was also really the first and only time we saw American tourists (an entire tourbus full), and we were grateful to be sharing our table with some Indians who had recently moved to Auckland after a short stay in Australia. The desserts were delicious. which kept the kids going for the last event of the evening.

The nightcap of the show was a return visit to the geyser in one of those Universal Studios/theme park tramtrains to view the eruption lit up at night. As impressive as the geyser was in the daytime, it was very cool to see it illuminated at night and we got to sit and watch it while sitting on geothermally heated rocks and drinking cocoa. Not a bad end to the evening. We then packed up the sleepyheads into the van for the short jaunt back to homebase to shuttle them into bed.

Once the kiddos were tucked up tight, Kelly and I sat down on the couch to catch the rugby match. Kelly managed a few minutes before passing out on me (literally), and I was able to watch most of the tense second half, waking Kelly in time to watch the last two minutes and victory. While we were more than happy to see the favored All Blacks beat the French, we were mostly relieved that we wouldn’t be spending the next 6 days with a bunch of depressed and angry Kiwis. So, for that, we thank the rugby crew.

Next: Luging in New Zealand!

Day 2 Day 3 Saturday

We managed to sleep more or less until the correct time on Saturday morning and had a lovely breakfast of Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles, Honey Nut Cheerios that weren’t quite Honey Nut Cheerios and some relatively bitter OJ. (I opted not to buy the $11 box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch imported from the States…) Upon advice from our hosts, Kevin and Sue, we had decided to head south to a geothermal park called Wai-O-Tapu [Waters Sacred] that has all sorts of collapsed craters, steaming pots and even a geyser. We only had to hustle a small amount and pull one or two children off of the trampoline and away from the lambs to get on the road in time to make the ’scheduled’ eruption of the park’s geyser.

We made it with a few moments to spare, although it’s not as if the Lady Knox Geyser is exactly Old Faithful. You see, due to the fact that it can erupt every 24 to 96 hours, they have a little trick to ‘encourage’ its regularity – kind of like feeding it bran every day. Apparently, prisoners (or ‘workers’ as our later Maori guide liked to call them) doing their laundry by the hot water of the geyser accidentally dropped their soap in to the spout and after a fair bit of foaming, the geyser shot up. So, in order to please the tourists these days, the park personnel regulate the eruption by adding a soap-like substance down the spout and then giving us their little spiel whilst the bubbles begin to flow like an anthill with rabies. Apparently the soap breaks the surface tension between the two layers of water – the cool water sitting on top of the superheated water below, and once they begin to mix, you get steam and then kablooey! It’s all relatively impressive, if somewhat externally ‘regulated.’ It shoots about 30 feet or so in the air and impressed the gang quite well.

After the geyser, we headed off to the main part of the park to do the walk-around. Nothing quite so dramatic as the geyser in there, but a number of interesting, quite smelly sinkholes (which we preferred to call ’stinkholes’) with varying colors, depending on the different levels of minerals steaming out. The most impressive feature is the ‘Champagne Pool,’ which is a 65 meter diameter, 180 degree pool that used to be a volcanic crater. Although it is apparently 62 meters deep, the top is crusted over, and a walkway extends right across the surface on one side. The edges have a rainbow of colors from the different minerals – pretty cool (and steamy!). The kids were generally impressed with all of this, and enjoyed the running about aspect – with the exception of Berit [shocking, I know!] It has come to our attention previously, and was quite evident here, that our little princess has QUITE the delicate sniffer. As such, the sulphur-y-ness of the place did not quite suit her, and she and Kelly finally made a quick scuttle toward the exit while we dawdled a bit.

After a quick peek through the gift shop while waiting for a sprinkle to abate, we headed off to the carpark to eat our sandwiches in the ‘van’ as it was ‘too stinky’ for Princess Berit to eat on the lovely covered deck near the entrance. After our repast, we made a quick stop to the mud pits just outside the park’s entrance. To be quite honest, I think we all could have spent the entire time we were at the park standing at this site watching the mud boil and spurt and make the most pleasing plopping and glopping noises. I seriously wanted to pull up a deck chair and lay back and chill out. For full effect, you’ll just have to request the video when you come to visit.

Then it was off further south to Lake Taupo, a lovely little lake resort town sitting under the North Island’s three main peaks, one of which, I might add, is the inspiration for Mount Doom. It is, however, not Mount Doom, as it is a sacred site that cannot be photographed, so it just so happens that the fake digital Mount Doom just looks alot like it.

Unfortunately for us, when we arrived in Taupo, the skies were still completely overcast, and all we could see over the lake was a lovely island at the south end. So much for Mount Doom. We did walk through a lovely flea market/artist fair/gypsy gathering with some of the most interesting vehicles.

So, we wandered through the fair, did a little souvenir shopping and the kids played at an interesting playground (while a family in the background practiced their cricket) until it started to spritz on us a bit and we decided it was time to head out. After a quick grocery store pitstop, we headed out of town, where we stopped at Huka Falls, where the mighty Waikato river empties Lake Taupo and heads north to Auckland and the ocean. It’s not Niagara Falls, but it is a pretty impressive rush of crazy blue water that you can get quite close to. Fortunately, the rain held up while we took a peek and got a ‘few’ pictures.

After waiting for a tour bus full of Japanese tourists to clear the bridge, we crossed back over and returned to our Previa, plugged the children in and headed home to our cows and lambs and some trampoline time. Given it was our first ‘full’ day in NZ, the crew held up quite well on the new time schedule. After a lovely cottage-cooked meal (I believe it was spaghetti), we all headed rather quickly in the direction of sleep.

Next up: Relaxing in boiling water and Haka!

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again here – as y’all have gone through all of the icky stuff with us and Espen, you also deserve to hear about the good stuff, too. To that end, we introduce you to the first of the ‘Espen’s Make-A-Wish Trip of a Lifetime Travelogue” entries. We thought all of you would like to hear about how the trip was and all the cool stuff he/we got to do. (It also happens to be helpful to us to document it before it all just seems like some bizarro dream we had…) So, with no further ado…

Days 1 and 2 (or 1 and 3)

After a lot of laundry washing, electronics-gathering and general running-about-the house, we were ALMOST ready enough to sit for a minute and wait for our ride, but not quite. Our Limousine arrived right on time to load our multiple bags (18 or so, including all carry-ons), and whisk us off on a brief but posh trip to the airport. The trip was already declared to be ‘the BEST trip ever’ during these first few minutes, so off to a good start.

Alaena, our Make-A-Wish coordinator, met us at the airport and assisted us in getting our luggage unloaded and ushered us into fancy people quick lines to check in our luggage. Not only did we get free checked bags – we could have had TWO. Talk about living like rock stars! Alaena got a pass to bring us off to the gate, and then arranged for our seats to be rearranged together, as we were scattered in four rows. We then took our leave of her and were off to LA, after Alaena arranged for a quick pre-flight visit to the cockpit.

The generous iPod loans of our good friends Mike Mason, Allegra Duncan Lingo, Christine Dufour Iverson and Angela Schneider were put to good use on that first flight and we heard not a peep until we landed in LA, where we took a little walk to the international terminal, ate a very mediocre meal and set about trying to keep the children awake. A movie or two on the laptop kept everyone but Espen conscious until it was time for pjs and boarding.

The Air New Zealand flight was lovely, with personal entertainment systems filled with more shows, music and games than you could watch in several flights. By the time they served us a meal and things got dark enough to sleep, our kiddos started to drift off sometime after 1 am their time. After much restless sleep (I don’t think Torben’s body was still for more than 5 minutes at a time…), we sort of awoke for a yummy breakfast and some more entertainment before descending into Auckland.

After all the passport and inspection nonsense, we were met briefly by our NZ Make-A-Wish contact (who happens to be from England…), and then it was off to get our rental ‘van’, a mobile data connection and a NZ mobile phone for connection purposes. Then came the magic trick of stuffing the 18 bags and 6 people in a Toyota Previa and trying to remember to drive on the left side of the road after very little sleep.

We grabbed a quick second breakfast (feeling quite hobbit-y) and headed off to our farmstay some three hours away – enter the iPods for the second time. The scenery is, as every visitor will tell you, absolutely spectacular. My first impression of the countryside was – “Well, why would you film the Lord of the Rings anywhere else?!” Kelly and I could easily have spent our 9 days happily driving up and down the country and looking out of the windows.

Thankfully for the children, we did NOT do that, but headed for our destination as directly as possible [navigating by Google maps with aforementioned mobile data connection, as no GPS was available], with a quick stop for a ‘lunch’ of ice cream before reaching the dairy farm where we would be staying for three nights, just south of Rotorua. The farm has a darling cottage next to the main house, with two stories, three bedrooms and enough beds for each kid to have their own (with the bonus that the parents were on a separate floor!). There was also, importantly, a trampoline to jump around on, three lambs, a few chickens (and fresh eggs) and 250 dairy cows to keep them interested.

So, some of us settled in and explored whilst Kirk ran off to town to gather provisions for dinner and beyond. With a little napping on the car on the way to the farm, the kids managed to stay awake through some quesadillas before we packed them off to beds for the first night. Kelly and I managed to stay awake just long enough to make a plan for the next day before going unconscious in a horizontal position for the first time in several hours (or a couple of days, considering we had skipped Thursday and gone straight to Friday). Needless to say, we did not attempt to stay up and watch the Rugby World Cup consolation match [Australia defeated Wales 21-18, for the record].

Next up: Geysers and Stinkholes, oh my!

Tonight we had visitors from Make-A-Wish who informed Espen, after a treasure hunt through the house led him to them on the (workshop-light-illuminated) deck, that he has received his wish and will be traveling to New Zealand. In less than two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Espen reacted like a true Scandinavian, which is to say not much at all. He was basically speechless, and will be soaking it in for the next few days, we suspect. Kelly and I have known that it was going to happen since August, as they needed to start checking on our schedule for everything. Since that time, we’ve basically been able to tell NO ONE – for almost 2 MONTHS. Needless to say, we’re glad to be ungagged.

Did I mention that ALL 6 of us are flying to New Zealand, i.e. the other side of the world, in less than two weeks? The dates have only firmed up in the last couple weeks, and the day of the ‘meet-and-greet’ with PJ is still up in the air, as scheduling is a bit tricky.

So, anyway, the ‘reveal’ was a clue hunt through the house that the volunteers put together using the riddles from the riddle game played by Bilbo and Gollum in The Hobbit that the kids had to decipher (with the help of the book) before moving on to the next one. The last clue pointed them up and out of the basement to the deck, where the volunteers were waiting with balloons, banners, an Izzy’s cake and the final note (from Gandalf, naturally) stating that Espen got his wish and would be going to see PJ (as I’m going to start calling him, since we’re so close now).

Espen had no clue during the whole hunt, which was fun. So, we know that he will meet PJ on one of three days scheduled, and beyond that things are a bit foggy. We’ve arranged to have a few ‘extra’ days on our own, since they’re flying us there, we thought we should make use of it. So, we’ll do some traveling at the outset and then head to where the filming is happening to wait on our meeting. A friend who forwarded Espen’s letter to PJ to an acquaintance whose husband works with him (who managed to get it to PJ, we were told in July), also apparently has a restaurant where the cast eats ‘daily,’ and would like us to stop by and say hi. Ummm, okay! So, it will be an adventure in many ways, as it will be the most unplanned trip halfway around the world we will probably ever take.

We promise to bring you all along through the blog, as you’ve all earned it for following all the not-so fun stuff previously. We’d be happy to take any and all suggestions for things to do/see on the north island. We don’t think we’ll make it all the way south to Wellington, but will try to see some of the major sites in the northern portion of the north island.

As J.R.R. said, “The road goes ever on…”

p.s. Thanks, Stephanie, for the title.

that we used to have a kid with a brain tumor?

Espen had his 6-month MRI this morning and I think we only uttered one sentence about the brain tumor, or lack thereof, at the oncologist. So all is well regarding the tumor, or not tumor.

However, he does have a pesky artery that seems to have dilated a little bit more than last time we checked. Our oncologist is connecting with our neurosurgeon as well as the head honcho at the U of M to discuss what their level of concern is. The basic jist being that he should have an angiogram in the coming months so we can more clearly assess what it looks like. There are two options to fix it – it’s basically an aneurysm by the way, or could turn into one, however you want to put it. They can put in a coil through his leg or they can go in through his head and put bands around it. When and what they would do remains to be seen.

While explaining it to Grandma Sherry, she wondered if it could burst. Espen said in a very dramatic voice “There she blows!!!” so he’s taking it in stride. As long as he can sleep through any of these procedures and the procedures fix what they need to fix, he’s good. Basically the fact that we know it is there and can watch it puts us light years ahead of people who don’t know they have them.

The first words the oncologist said to Espen were “Espen, you look FANTASTIC!” And he really does. I’m attaching two pictures – one from last summer and one from this summer. You can see that he looks like his normal self again. He also feels great. He’s got the energy to do everything he wants and even initiate crazy outside play with his siblings. He’s still ready to go to bed by 9, which we are not at all opposed to, but other than that, is totally normal.

Enjoy the rest of summer. We have a trip to Michigan planned next week to visit friends and get us through that last week of “What can we do? What can we do?” We’ll update as we find out more. For now, I think we should come up with a good name for the wayward too-stretched vessel. I read a story once about a guy who had a massive tumor in his abdomen. He named it Kevin.

Before...

After!

You know things are going well when Espen has an MRI and we hardly remember to share the results. So, here you are….

The cysts are now officially GONE! Excellent news. According to his oncologist, we are not yet allowed to call him tumor-free because some residual hard tumor does remain. It has shrunk in size however since the last MRI fairly significantly. It will hopefully shrink more, but at least a small part of it will likely always remain because if you think way way back to the original surgery, part of the hard tumor had calcified and could not be removed.

We saw both the neurosurgeon and oncologist yesterday and like to refer to the neurosurgeon as the calm, level-headed guy, and the oncologist as the worry wart. He’s said himself that he gets paid to worry, so I guess we’ll let him. The difference is clear in that the neurosurgeon refers to the leftover hard tumor as “a little schmutz” and the oncologist says “We still need to watch it.” Naturally, we will watch it, but Espen is now clear to not have another MRI for 6 months! Exciting.

Most other parts and pieces of Espen’s life are swell. He is now down to just under 90 pounds. He went out with his grandparents this evening for his birthday and he pulled out a pair of jeans that he had purchased before school started, then had to stop wearing about 2 months later because they didn’t fit. He put them on today and needed a belt to get them to stay up. He’s very, very excited about how his body is changing and is quite happy to show himself off to anyone who asks (or he’ll just inform you). I never thought I’d be so thrilled to see a kid checking himself out in the mirror.

I was reminded yesterday of how far he’s come when his oncologist who I knew was thrilled with his weight loss, said “I am really happiest with how well he’s done cognitively considering how big the tumor (mostly cysts) were and having had major surgery and radiation to that area.” It could have been very different. We are very lucky.

In other news, the kids are winding up their Spring Break, a contractor has started working on finishing up the house, and Siri is on a new anti-aniety med that has returned her to her old happy self. She’s on a streak of falling asleep by herself and sleeping in her bed all night for 8 nights in a row. For perspective, between August and early March, we had to stay with her until she fell asleep, and had to return to her room in the middle of the night and just sleep there so she’d go back to sleep. It is really really really nice to sleep in our own bed again.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed for some normalcy for a while. It would be nice to enjoy a pleasant, happy Spring. Espen got a pogo stick for his birthday and the other kids have had their bikes out. They are ready. So are we.

You apparently crossed your fingers hard enough, for Siri’s anti-anxiety med seems to be working. I hate to jinx it by saying it, but she had a great weekend and has been her normal self so far this week – getting on the bus with little problem! She’s still not sleeping all night, but she is going back to sleep rather quickly, leading to an overall more rested kid.

So for now, we’re at least heading in the right direction and making some forward progress!