1. What are your nicknames? Tar-Tar, Tar-Tar Sauce, Tar-Face (Thanks Sarah), Tard (Thanks Erin), Twizzlers, Tiny, Tear Bear, Stinky...I think thats all. At least all the ones that were said to my face.
2. Show and/or reality show would you like to be on?America's Next Top Model because they do such fun and interesting modeling challenges and Price is Right because it's a classic, but they would have to bring Bob Barker back.
3. What was the first movie you bought on DVD or VHS? I can only remember the first DVD and that was Antitrust with Rachel Leigh Cook and Ryan Phillipee.
4. What is your favorite scent? Right now, Juicy Couture's Viva La Juicy.
5. If you had one million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? First off, Kate, it says you can only spend it on yourself, so no house for your parents. I would pay off my student loans, buy a new car, buy a house, and of course buy new clothes. I know, I'm so selfish, but the question requires it.
6. What one place have you visited that you can't forget and want to go back? There's too many...Paris, The Dom, Milford's Sound, Hong Kong...
7. Do you trust easily? ...why do you ask? huh?
8. Do you think before you act, or act before you think? Both, at the same time. Beat that.
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy lately? The cold weather, not having a white Christmas and not being with my family for Christmas.
10. Do you have a good body image? HA! I try to though, I really do.
11. What is your favorite fruit? My mom knows this one, WATERMELON!!!
12. What websites do you visit daily? Facebook, LOLcats, Bank of America, Verizon, Joey's List, IMDB, Blogs, Google Maps.
13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? I'll admit it, I'm reading the Twilight series and I just can't get enough.
14. What is the last song you got stuck in your head? Supermassive Black Hole by Muse. Awesome!
15. What is your favorite item of clothing? Boots and leggings.
16. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy? No, I usually pour a butt load of sugar on top and eat the cereal without scraping the bottom of the bowl so I can eat all the sugar that sunk to the bottom.
17. What would you do if you found $100 laying on the ground? Get really excited because I find money on the ground to look so cool in a weird sort of way and then like most people pick it up and probably keep it.
18. What items could you not go without during the day? Cell phone, book, blanket (sets are usually cold), and lip gloss.
19. What should you be doing right now? You probably don't want to know, but I was about to go tweeze my eyebrows before I decided to actually fill one of these out.
20. Name 3 people who should be tagged. I'll let you tag yourself.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
Last week Saturday we were invited to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Dave and I quick ran to Salvation Army and were fortunate enough to find some sweaters. The party was with Dustin and Janelle Vander Haar, former Dordt students with us, and friends of his from Fuller Seminary.
We mingled and ate lots of yummy treats. We also played a game where there was one line on a piece of paper, and then we would have to write the next line and pass it along to create the rest of the limerick. The line was: When Santa took off in his sleigh... They came out pretty funny. The two best limericks won a prize. Janelle won first place and Dave won second place. We also voted on best ugly Christmas sweater. I won.
We mingled and ate lots of yummy treats. We also played a game where there was one line on a piece of paper, and then we would have to write the next line and pass it along to create the rest of the limerick. The line was: When Santa took off in his sleigh... They came out pretty funny. The two best limericks won a prize. Janelle won first place and Dave won second place. We also voted on best ugly Christmas sweater. I won.
Post Thanksgiving
On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, my brother Josh and his girlfriend Suzy drove down from Frezno, CA to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Dave and I, ok, mainly if not all Dave, got the food ready for when they would come over. We woke up bright and early to stuff the turkey, get the turkey in the oven, and even start the pumpkin pie.
They arrived around 10:30 or so, which gave us time to do a little Black Friday shopping. Yikes, I know. We first stopped at Target. It was surprizingly calm. Dave was a little disappointed that there weren't more people. He was hoping to have to do a little elbowing and shoving. They were having a big DVD sale, so we bought four new movies: I Am Legend, Hairspray, Juno and Transformers.
Next we stopped at Circuit City. After we had parked and started walking toward the store entrance we saw a line of people waiting outside. Apparently they were letting only a certain amount of people go in at a time. We waited. It wasn't too long of a wait. We didn't find any good sales.
After that we drove home to fill our empty and hungry stomachs. We had stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and who knows what else. It was so good. That was the first time Dave ever cooked a whole turkey and it was amazing. Everything was amazing.
Then we went to the living room, all two steps from the table, and played Apples to Apples. It was really fun. Josh technically won because it says to play to 8 points, but in the end, I had more points then him, so I consider it a victory for myself. We had some pumpking pie and then they were off.
They arrived around 10:30 or so, which gave us time to do a little Black Friday shopping. Yikes, I know. We first stopped at Target. It was surprizingly calm. Dave was a little disappointed that there weren't more people. He was hoping to have to do a little elbowing and shoving. They were having a big DVD sale, so we bought four new movies: I Am Legend, Hairspray, Juno and Transformers.
Next we stopped at Circuit City. After we had parked and started walking toward the store entrance we saw a line of people waiting outside. Apparently they were letting only a certain amount of people go in at a time. We waited. It wasn't too long of a wait. We didn't find any good sales.
After that we drove home to fill our empty and hungry stomachs. We had stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and who knows what else. It was so good. That was the first time Dave ever cooked a whole turkey and it was amazing. Everything was amazing.
Then we went to the living room, all two steps from the table, and played Apples to Apples. It was really fun. Josh technically won because it says to play to 8 points, but in the end, I had more points then him, so I consider it a victory for myself. We had some pumpking pie and then they were off.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Thanksgiving
So I've been a little neglectful of this blog in the last few months. We celebrated Thanksgiving twice. Actually Dave celebrated it three times. On Wednesday he had a Thanksgiving celebration at school. Everyone brought some food and they had a little party. He brought a really yummy stuffing that he made.
On Thursday we went to Brandon and Kara Newenhuis'. We had so much delicious food that day. Our main meal had ham, sweet potatoes, salads, some frozen cranberry thing and so much else I'm probably forgetting. After that we played a game of Celebrity Charades. It was boys against girls. Everyone chose five famous people and wrote them down on separate pieces of paper. In the first round we had to describe who it was. In the second round we had to act it out. And in the third round we could only use one word. The girls won. :)
Then it was out to the garage for some ping pong. First we played a partners tournament. Dave and Kara were partners and they dominated. Then we went on to some singles games. I played a lot better than I had remembered being able to play. Although I could only beat Dave when he used his right hand. We then went back inside and had some more snack food: chips & salsa, cheese, pickles, crackers. And last but not least, we ended the night with smore cooked over their fireplace. It was really fun and nice to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family.
On Thursday we went to Brandon and Kara Newenhuis'. We had so much delicious food that day. Our main meal had ham, sweet potatoes, salads, some frozen cranberry thing and so much else I'm probably forgetting. After that we played a game of Celebrity Charades. It was boys against girls. Everyone chose five famous people and wrote them down on separate pieces of paper. In the first round we had to describe who it was. In the second round we had to act it out. And in the third round we could only use one word. The girls won. :)
Then it was out to the garage for some ping pong. First we played a partners tournament. Dave and Kara were partners and they dominated. Then we went on to some singles games. I played a lot better than I had remembered being able to play. Although I could only beat Dave when he used his right hand. We then went back inside and had some more snack food: chips & salsa, cheese, pickles, crackers. And last but not least, we ended the night with smore cooked over their fireplace. It was really fun and nice to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
More News
It's been a few weeks now since we've been living in LA. Dave has settled into his classes and seems to have either a quiz or test every other day. I think he enjoys it though. He seems to thrive when it comes to homework and reading assignments. I find it quite amazing. I don't think I could ever do that any more. I'm done with school. Or at least I like to think I am.
I have been looking for jobs and working for Little i. I've recently been hired at Forever 21 as a sales associate. I'm not the biggest fan of that job. I could go on and on about the things that bother me, but I won't. I have also been doing some background for television shows and movies.
It's funny how we've adjusted so quickly to LA. We seem to be getting used to the heat. The other day, it dropped down to around the 60's and we both thought it was so cold. We're so LA.
On another note, my grandma died on Monday and I will be flying out to Minneapolis on Friday for the funeral. All the grandkids are going to be there except for one who is in Europe right now. I thought about no going. Money is really tight right now, but I thought it would be good if I went.
I have been looking for jobs and working for Little i. I've recently been hired at Forever 21 as a sales associate. I'm not the biggest fan of that job. I could go on and on about the things that bother me, but I won't. I have also been doing some background for television shows and movies.
It's funny how we've adjusted so quickly to LA. We seem to be getting used to the heat. The other day, it dropped down to around the 60's and we both thought it was so cold. We're so LA.
On another note, my grandma died on Monday and I will be flying out to Minneapolis on Friday for the funeral. All the grandkids are going to be there except for one who is in Europe right now. I thought about no going. Money is really tight right now, but I thought it would be good if I went.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
LA Apartment
Well, I arrived in LA on Monday morning with Erin. We have no troubles for the most part. On the last mountain pass before entering Los Angeles, my car started to overheat so we pulled over at the next rest area. Unforunately that was the end of our car troubles, the next day it overheated again and wouldn't start. We had it checked out and learned we need a new head gasket which isn't an easy task for the mechanic, so it would cost $1000. My car will now be parked in the driveway for some time until we get the money to fix it.
We now have our apartment all set up. Pretty much everything is put away and in it's place. We live a few miles from Dave's school and Josh gave us Marc's old mountain bike, so he will be using that to get to school. We also got a bunch of Josh' furniture that he had in storage, so we were able to furnish our apartment with that.
Free dresser on the side of the road.
I would like to paint the bathroom...as well as pretty much everything else.
The living room. James Dean was able to fit in my car. I was very happy.
We bought the washer off of craigslist. I have a love/hate relationship with that website.
We now have our apartment all set up. Pretty much everything is put away and in it's place. We live a few miles from Dave's school and Josh gave us Marc's old mountain bike, so he will be using that to get to school. We also got a bunch of Josh' furniture that he had in storage, so we were able to furnish our apartment with that.
Free dresser on the side of the road.
I would like to paint the bathroom...as well as pretty much everything else.
The living room. James Dean was able to fit in my car. I was very happy.
We bought the washer off of craigslist. I have a love/hate relationship with that website.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Warolins
During the last week of August all my brothers and myself, plus our significant others or girlfriend, were home. The main thing I remember when everyone was home was...eating. We ate so much. We were always eating.
We went to a Mariners vs Twins game in Seattle. We did the usual stop to Ivars for some wonderful fish and chips. Unfortunately for Dave, the Twins lost. But it was a fun time.
We played Settlers of Catan and added on the Cities and Knights version. We went to Boulevard Park and ate. We went sailing, except it wasn't true sailing since we were on a catamaran. Who knows if I even spelled that right. We went to Lake Padden. We ate some more.
It was the first time in a long time and probably the last time for a while that all us kids and spouses and grandkids will be home all at the same time. It was fun seeing everyone again.
We went to a Mariners vs Twins game in Seattle. We did the usual stop to Ivars for some wonderful fish and chips. Unfortunately for Dave, the Twins lost. But it was a fun time.
We played Settlers of Catan and added on the Cities and Knights version. We went to Boulevard Park and ate. We went sailing, except it wasn't true sailing since we were on a catamaran. Who knows if I even spelled that right. We went to Lake Padden. We ate some more.
It was the first time in a long time and probably the last time for a while that all us kids and spouses and grandkids will be home all at the same time. It was fun seeing everyone again.
The Kraayenbrinks
In mid August, Dave and I flew out to South Dakota to visit his side of the family. The flight out there was an interesting one. We arrived in Seattle to fly to Denver. It was announced that the flight was overbooked and they needed people to offer to be bumped. We were in no huge rush, so Dave went up to the counter and came back with two free round trip tickets to anywhere in the 48 contiguous states. We were also supposed to fly first class for our flights, but decided to fly standby and was able to get there sooner.
We had a great time. Dave showed off his awesome cooking talents, much to the pleasure of his mom, who I'm sure enjoyed the short break. We checked out his mom's huge garden which provided many of the needed vegetables for our meals. I was amazed at how big it was and how much food it kept producing.
One day we went boat, I think on the Platte River. The kids came with and we went tubing. Dave had a fun time trying to tip people over or jump on their tube. I preferred to watch. Dave also went knee boarding and showed off his 360 skills. We also went fishing in the same area the next night. Eli caught the first fish and then I caught the next two. Those were the only ones for the night.
After a few days we drove down to the Dakota Dunes to visit Nathan and Briana. We played a ton of games of Settlers of Catan with Nathan. We also played Guitar Hero. I was so much better than the guys. And then we did a lot of floating down the river on one of their friends boats. It was a nice relaxing time.
We also drove back up to Yankton for the Kraayenbrink Camp Out. Dave stayed and talked with family while I went geocaching with his dad. For those of you who don't know what geocaching is, it's kind of like a treasure hunt. In short, people have placed all these different boxes or cylinders or whatever and you have to try and find them with your gps system. You may think it sounds kind of silly, but I loved it. I had a blast searching for them. We found 3.
We stayed for about a week in the Midwest. And I don't know how it happened, but for some dumb reason, I completely forgot to take any pictures. On our flight home we offered to be bumped again, but our flight wasn't quite full enough. But they put us in first class because we were nice enough to offer. It was awesome!
We had a great time. Dave showed off his awesome cooking talents, much to the pleasure of his mom, who I'm sure enjoyed the short break. We checked out his mom's huge garden which provided many of the needed vegetables for our meals. I was amazed at how big it was and how much food it kept producing.
One day we went boat, I think on the Platte River. The kids came with and we went tubing. Dave had a fun time trying to tip people over or jump on their tube. I preferred to watch. Dave also went knee boarding and showed off his 360 skills. We also went fishing in the same area the next night. Eli caught the first fish and then I caught the next two. Those were the only ones for the night.
After a few days we drove down to the Dakota Dunes to visit Nathan and Briana. We played a ton of games of Settlers of Catan with Nathan. We also played Guitar Hero. I was so much better than the guys. And then we did a lot of floating down the river on one of their friends boats. It was a nice relaxing time.
We also drove back up to Yankton for the Kraayenbrink Camp Out. Dave stayed and talked with family while I went geocaching with his dad. For those of you who don't know what geocaching is, it's kind of like a treasure hunt. In short, people have placed all these different boxes or cylinders or whatever and you have to try and find them with your gps system. You may think it sounds kind of silly, but I loved it. I had a blast searching for them. We found 3.
We stayed for about a week in the Midwest. And I don't know how it happened, but for some dumb reason, I completely forgot to take any pictures. On our flight home we offered to be bumped again, but our flight wasn't quite full enough. But they put us in first class because we were nice enough to offer. It was awesome!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
1 Year Wedding Anniversary
July 21st, 2007
I'm a little late on posting this blog, but whatever. We kind of celebrated our 1 year a few different times. We both worked on July 21st, so we hadn't planned anything special. I surprised Dave that night by cooking dinner for us and having a romantic candle lit night. I had also rented Phantom of the Oper which was the first movie we ever watched together and Walk the Line which was the movie we saw on our first date.
That Saturday I had planned a wine taste test at the local Mills Reef Winery. It was cold and rainy that day, so it wasn't very busy. The people were extremely friendly and informative, which made the experience that much better. We tasted about 15 different wines. I have to say this, I hadn't eaten any breakfast that day and after tasting that much wine, plus being the lightweight that I am, I was quite woozy at the end. We bought two bottles to take back to the states with us and had lunch at their restaurant. From there we drove to the movie theater and saw The Dark Knight. It was completely sold out. Luckily I had gotten our tickets beforehand. Unfortunately we came very close to the actually movie time and ended up sitting in the very front left corner of the theater. It was ok. I still really enjoyed the movie.
Then just yesterday I felt like trying on my wedding dress, just to see if it still fit. I asked my mom where it was and found it upstairs in our attic, shoved into a plastic bag. We hadn't quite gotten around to putting it away nicely, so it was a little wrinkly. I tried it on and amazingly it fit.
I'm a little late on posting this blog, but whatever. We kind of celebrated our 1 year a few different times. We both worked on July 21st, so we hadn't planned anything special. I surprised Dave that night by cooking dinner for us and having a romantic candle lit night. I had also rented Phantom of the Oper which was the first movie we ever watched together and Walk the Line which was the movie we saw on our first date.
That Saturday I had planned a wine taste test at the local Mills Reef Winery. It was cold and rainy that day, so it wasn't very busy. The people were extremely friendly and informative, which made the experience that much better. We tasted about 15 different wines. I have to say this, I hadn't eaten any breakfast that day and after tasting that much wine, plus being the lightweight that I am, I was quite woozy at the end. We bought two bottles to take back to the states with us and had lunch at their restaurant. From there we drove to the movie theater and saw The Dark Knight. It was completely sold out. Luckily I had gotten our tickets beforehand. Unfortunately we came very close to the actually movie time and ended up sitting in the very front left corner of the theater. It was ok. I still really enjoyed the movie.
Then just yesterday I felt like trying on my wedding dress, just to see if it still fit. I asked my mom where it was and found it upstairs in our attic, shoved into a plastic bag. We hadn't quite gotten around to putting it away nicely, so it was a little wrinkly. I tried it on and amazingly it fit.
We couldn't find the veil. It's hiding somewhere. Probably shoved in a plastic bag in the attic.
Oh the wrinkles.
And of course the purple shoes.
We also got the cake out from the freezer today. It got a little smooshed over the years. It was still yummy though.
Friday, August 1, 2008
3 Countries in -3hours
Our last days in New Zealand were bittersweet. It was sad to leave all our new friends, but it was nice to get back to family and friends back home. We met so many wonderful people that we will never forget. Thank you all for your kindness and love. It was an amazing experience that we will always cherish. And cell group, we absolutely love the scrapbook.
We made one last trip to the Mount before we left. It was a beautiful sunny day.
The next day we drove to the airport in wind and rain. After checking and just barely getting all our luggage successfully through security, we stopped at a few stores to stock up on L&P before the flight. We bought three 20 oz. bottles and shoved them into our already too heavy carry-ons. The flight was only delayed an hour and soon we were on our way home. Our flight took us to Los Angeles where we would have to go through security again and recheck all our luggage and then to Vancouver where we would have to go through more security again. I think our total flying time came to 15 hours. My mom, sister-in-law, Jen, and her 14 month daughter, Samantha, were waiting at the door with a nice big sign that said, "Welcome Home Dave & Tara." Samantha hadd helped Jen paint it. They felt the need to wave it around as much as possible. :) It was a nice welcoming home.
We made one last trip to the Mount before we left. It was a beautiful sunny day.
The next day we drove to the airport in wind and rain. After checking and just barely getting all our luggage successfully through security, we stopped at a few stores to stock up on L&P before the flight. We bought three 20 oz. bottles and shoved them into our already too heavy carry-ons. The flight was only delayed an hour and soon we were on our way home. Our flight took us to Los Angeles where we would have to go through security again and recheck all our luggage and then to Vancouver where we would have to go through more security again. I think our total flying time came to 15 hours. My mom, sister-in-law, Jen, and her 14 month daughter, Samantha, were waiting at the door with a nice big sign that said, "Welcome Home Dave & Tara." Samantha hadd helped Jen paint it. They felt the need to wave it around as much as possible. :) It was a nice welcoming home.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Dave's 25th
That's right, Dave is younger than me. I'm such a cradle robber. :) Anyways, it was Dave's birthday on July 17th. I tried to make it special for him. In the morning I made blueberry pancakes. I had forgotten to get more maple syrup so Dave made some really yummy blueberry syrup. After breakfast we headed off to Matamata for a tour of the original Hobbiton movie set from Lord of the Rings. It was so much fun. We had a great tour guide who was tried to be funny, which made her funny and told us lots of interesting trivia and facts.
Welcome to Hobbition.
It's kind of dark, but the large tree on the right side of the picture is where Gandalf rides into Hobbiton and the kids come running out asking him to shoot off a few fireworks.
The bottom right area of the photo is where they built their specially grown garden with chemically enhanced plants to make them bigger and better. They purchased a green house in Auckland to grown all their vegetation and then flew the plants down to Matamata.
I'm a hobbit. I might actually even be too tall. That's right, me...too tall. Ha!
Dave would never been cast as a hobbit.
The famous "party tree". This is the tree where they had Bilbo's birthday party.
The Party Tree in all it's glory.
There were a total of 37 hobbit holes when they filmed, but only 17 were preserved afterward.
The famous Bag End. Which is the only Hobbit hole you can enter. All the rest are fake.
The lake that the bridge was built across.
It's kind of hard to see, but there are red markers where the bridge was built and yellow markers where the bar was. I forget what the blue markers were for.
This picture shows the bar and part of the bridge on the right from when they filmed.
While filming Hobbiton scenes, Peter Jackson lived in one of the neighbors houses. They had to sign a contract saying they could not tell anyone he was living there. How cool would that be?!
The party tree was very large. We were told the Alexander's (the owners of the farm) had planned on cutting down the tree at one point, but the little boys said they should keep as nice place for the sheep to get out of the sun. Good thing they kept it.
One more look at the lake.
This hill is where Sam's house had been built. It was turned back into a hill later.
So little.
It was so green. Because we came during the winter it was incredibly green and lush. When they filmed the Hobbiton scenes for the movie, they had planned it during the summer and New Zealand was experiencing the worst drought in 14 years, so they built an underground irrigation system under the areas of the pasture that would be filmed.
Our guide told us that they have a lot of people come dressed up as elves, hobbits, Gandalf, etc. One time a 7 foot Germany man came dressed as a hobbit and said he wouldn't leave because this is where he belonged. It took them until 7pm to get him to finally leave.
This is what a hobbit hole looks like if they wouldn't update the painting and so forth. But they have to call in the original makers of the hobbit holes to do all the repainting and reparing to keep it authentic.
The party tree and the green grass area where the tent, tables and chairs were set up for Bilbo's party.
The have not been contacted yet about whether they will film there or not for the next installment of the Lord of the Rings series.
Inside Bag End.
The famous circle doorway.
Before and during shooting there was a no fly ban placed within 500m of the area in order to keep the secrecy. If you were caught flying over the area, your pilots license would be taken away and no more flying for you.
They cut down an Oak tree near Matamata where each branch was numbered and chopped, then trasported and bolted together on top of Bag End. Artificial leaves were imported from Taiwan and individually wired onto the dead tree.
Dave's legs seem to have gotten shorter.
After the Hobbiton tour they had a sheep shearing demonstration. I had never seen this done before. I was the only one in the room. Isn't that little sheepy so adorable?!
He just sat there.
Getting a haircut.
I think he was a little embarrassed.
And then we got to bottle feed the lambs.
Hehe.
One last look.
After Hobbiton we drove out to Katikati to go on a walk. I thought I was taking Dave on a walk he hadn't been on, but apparently he had already done this one with his friend Andy. But anywho, on the way there we got a flat tire. Gutted! But we were able to get it changed and hiked the short trail. At the end was a very large Kauri tree. It is a large native tree to New Zealand that sheds it bark therefore keeping parasitic plants from accumulating around the base.
The tree is this wide!
This is a picture Dave took of the tree when he was there before. So much for surprising him with a fun new hike adventure. 
The cake box was just so pretty I had to take a picture of it.
Beforehand, I had arranged for our friends to meet at our house and surprise him. When he walked through the door and turned on the light, they all yelled "Dave" and had spelled out his name with their bodies. He was very surprised. During dinner I had been texting them, telling them where I had hid the key to get in and Dave kept asking, "Who are you texting?" I told him I was arranging a movie night with one of my friends. He found it strange that it took so many texts to get that figured out. Little did he know...
We played a game of "Super Charades" as our friend Alex has named it. Everyone writes down ten names. It could be a cartoon character, actor, singer, politician, etc. Throw them all into a bowl and mix them up. There are three rounds. The first round you just describe who the person is. Go around in turns until all the names have been guessed. Put them all back in the bowl and mix. Second round, you can only use one word to describe the person. It can be quite hard if you just say, "blonde". Put all the names back in again. Third round, you have to act out the person. We all had a blast. After that we ate cake and ice cream and ended the night. Happy Birthday Dave!
The hundreds of sheep that were already on the farm did not look "Hobbiton" enough, so they brought sheep with black faces from the states.
If you remember in Lord of the Rings, at the beginning where Frodo is sitting by a tree and Gandalf rides up in a cart, the big tree on the left is where they shot that scene.
Here is a closer look at the tree. Can you see the resemblance?
The road in this picture was constructed by the New Zealand Army in order for equipment and crew to reach Hobbiton.
Welcome to Hobbition.
It's kind of dark, but the large tree on the right side of the picture is where Gandalf rides into Hobbiton and the kids come running out asking him to shoot off a few fireworks.
The bottom right area of the photo is where they built their specially grown garden with chemically enhanced plants to make them bigger and better. They purchased a green house in Auckland to grown all their vegetation and then flew the plants down to Matamata.
I'm a hobbit. I might actually even be too tall. That's right, me...too tall. Ha!
Dave would never been cast as a hobbit.
The famous "party tree". This is the tree where they had Bilbo's birthday party.
The Party Tree in all it's glory.
There were a total of 37 hobbit holes when they filmed, but only 17 were preserved afterward.
The famous Bag End. Which is the only Hobbit hole you can enter. All the rest are fake.
The lake that the bridge was built across.
It's kind of hard to see, but there are red markers where the bridge was built and yellow markers where the bar was. I forget what the blue markers were for.
This picture shows the bar and part of the bridge on the right from when they filmed.
While filming Hobbiton scenes, Peter Jackson lived in one of the neighbors houses. They had to sign a contract saying they could not tell anyone he was living there. How cool would that be?!
The party tree was very large. We were told the Alexander's (the owners of the farm) had planned on cutting down the tree at one point, but the little boys said they should keep as nice place for the sheep to get out of the sun. Good thing they kept it.
One more look at the lake.
This hill is where Sam's house had been built. It was turned back into a hill later.
So little.
It was so green. Because we came during the winter it was incredibly green and lush. When they filmed the Hobbiton scenes for the movie, they had planned it during the summer and New Zealand was experiencing the worst drought in 14 years, so they built an underground irrigation system under the areas of the pasture that would be filmed.
Our guide told us that they have a lot of people come dressed up as elves, hobbits, Gandalf, etc. One time a 7 foot Germany man came dressed as a hobbit and said he wouldn't leave because this is where he belonged. It took them until 7pm to get him to finally leave.
This is what a hobbit hole looks like if they wouldn't update the painting and so forth. But they have to call in the original makers of the hobbit holes to do all the repainting and reparing to keep it authentic.
The party tree and the green grass area where the tent, tables and chairs were set up for Bilbo's party.
The have not been contacted yet about whether they will film there or not for the next installment of the Lord of the Rings series.
Inside Bag End.
The famous circle doorway.
Before and during shooting there was a no fly ban placed within 500m of the area in order to keep the secrecy. If you were caught flying over the area, your pilots license would be taken away and no more flying for you.
They cut down an Oak tree near Matamata where each branch was numbered and chopped, then trasported and bolted together on top of Bag End. Artificial leaves were imported from Taiwan and individually wired onto the dead tree.
Dave's legs seem to have gotten shorter.
After the Hobbiton tour they had a sheep shearing demonstration. I had never seen this done before. I was the only one in the room. Isn't that little sheepy so adorable?!
He just sat there.
Getting a haircut.
I think he was a little embarrassed.
And then we got to bottle feed the lambs.
Hehe.
One last look.
After Hobbiton we drove out to Katikati to go on a walk. I thought I was taking Dave on a walk he hadn't been on, but apparently he had already done this one with his friend Andy. But anywho, on the way there we got a flat tire. Gutted! But we were able to get it changed and hiked the short trail. At the end was a very large Kauri tree. It is a large native tree to New Zealand that sheds it bark therefore keeping parasitic plants from accumulating around the base.
The tree is this wide! This is a picture Dave took of the tree when he was there before. So much for surprising him with a fun new hike adventure.After that we went to town and had dinner at the Horny Bull. We shared a fajita plate for two. It was delicious. I was able to get him a free piece of cake for his birthday. Little did he know I had a huge birthday cake waiting at home for him as well.
The cake box was just so pretty I had to take a picture of it.
Beforehand, I had arranged for our friends to meet at our house and surprise him. When he walked through the door and turned on the light, they all yelled "Dave" and had spelled out his name with their bodies. He was very surprised. During dinner I had been texting them, telling them where I had hid the key to get in and Dave kept asking, "Who are you texting?" I told him I was arranging a movie night with one of my friends. He found it strange that it took so many texts to get that figured out. Little did he know...
We played a game of "Super Charades" as our friend Alex has named it. Everyone writes down ten names. It could be a cartoon character, actor, singer, politician, etc. Throw them all into a bowl and mix them up. There are three rounds. The first round you just describe who the person is. Go around in turns until all the names have been guessed. Put them all back in the bowl and mix. Second round, you can only use one word to describe the person. It can be quite hard if you just say, "blonde". Put all the names back in again. Third round, you have to act out the person. We all had a blast. After that we ate cake and ice cream and ended the night. Happy Birthday Dave!
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