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For those of you worried about Alice the truck, we are pleased to provide an update to satisfy all of your concerns.  It sounds like she is truly happy.

Here’s an email we received this week from her new Dad.

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So you know, Alice had to take an emergency trip to Dallas over the weekend.  I had to get there FAST, but then had to get HOME quick too, and with a full load of Ashley’s stuff from her Mom’s.

I don’t know how it is in your neck of the woods man, but here sometimes you have to be really careful buying used cars from strangers.  Just wanted you to know that she’s been EVERYTHING AND MORE than you said she was…she handled 1500 miles in about 30 hours w/out a squeak, rattle, burble, flop, or any other sound you can think of.  Once I took off the seat cover and found THAT little squeak in the seat frame, you can’t tell the difference between riding in that one or a new one.

Thanks again Phil.  Best to you and your family for the holidays, and if we ever make it “down under” we’ll look you up. J

OH…did you get the picture I sent you of Alice and her new younger boyfriend?

He’s a ported, polished, blueptrinted, race-cammed and NITROUS VTX 1800 ….lol  He’s quite popular w/ the ladies…..hahaha

I’ve attached it just in case…..

Cheers –

TJ

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Alice and her new boyfriend

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On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I went to my friend Matts house for a sleepover. On Friday they picked me up about 12pm and we went and had lunch. They had a family friend with them from Atlanta. His name is Travis. He is 18 years old. Me and Matt called him “Tall lean man” or “Giraffe” because he is so tall.
On Friday afternoon we swam in the pool at his condo. That night we met Mom and Dad at the Lighting of the Christmas Tree in Baytowne to give me back, but I asked if I could please stay the night and they said I could. When we left we stopped at Blockbuster and got some PS2 games. We got Moto gp4 and crazy frog racing. When we got back we played the PS2 till 12.30am! It was fun.

The next day we got up early and went to Matts Aunty and Uncles farm, which was in Bonifay. We had a big lunch with ham, salad, chicken & dumplings, dressing and finished off with banana cream pie.
We played football with his cousins. There were 35 cousins there.
On the way back to Destin we stopped and saw his Grandma and Grandad. They gave me a snowglobe with Mickey Mouse on it and took us out for dinner at Red Robin. Red Robin is a cool Hamburger resturant.

When we got back to Destin we played the PS2 till 12.00am.
On Sunday morning we took Travis to the Airport and then Matt and his Mom dropped me home.
On Sunday afternoon we went Christmas Shopping. I bought a remote controlled boat with some money Grannie Jill and Grandad gave me. It is so cool. Mom is worried how I will get it back to NZ but I told her I would find a way!
After that Aunty Anna bought me 2 psp games. They are Tony Hawk project 8 and NCAA Football 2007. In football I like to be Boise Bronco’s.
It is only 9 days till we go home now!

This week was the week of Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Day we went to the Wassons house. They are our friends from Church. We stayed there for some drinks. I played with Elizabeth and Bella. We played on their swingset and their electric jeep.

Then we went round to Ms DJ’s and Mr Ed’s house. They are also from Church. We had a delicious dinner of turkey, corn, stuffing, salad and sweet potato with marshmallows on top. For dessert we had key lime, pecan and pumpkin pies. I loved the pumpkin pie the best. Then we played a game called catchphrase. It is when the mini computer comes up with a word or phrase and you have to explain it to people and they have to guess what it is. Mr Paul also taught us “washers” You try to throw washers into a wooden box. There is also a plastic tube in the box and if you get the washer in that you get more points.

Then we went to Ms Susan and Mr Johns house. Jackson and I payed with Chloe while the adults watched football. Chloe is their daughter.
Then on that Saturday I went back to Chloes for a sleepover after we watched Polar Express at the outdoor movies. We stayed up till 1.00am! The next day I had a whole day at her house. They live right on the water so we played on the dock and in her boat. I had a good Thanksgiving but I am tired.

Seeings I am the only true American in the family I thought I would teach them what Thanksgiving is all about and how we do it in my Homeland!
All the Strongs were really excited about having Thanksgiving in America and from a locals perspective…..they did it well!
We started off late morning and went round to some friends house for Bubbles and Snacks. They were deep frying their turkey which the Strongs had never heard of before, but it smelled SO good and only took 40 minutes to cook instead of hours in the oven. The yummy smell drove us nuts, so in the end we had to leave and go to our Thanksgiving dinner!
We were all invited round to Mr Ed and Miss DJ’s house and there were lot of friends there. There were 15 of us all together and Mr Brandon did the cooking for all of us which I think was a HUGE effort. We had heaps of food and some that Jackson had never even heard of like sweet potato with marshmallows, black eyed peas, biscuits (like scones for you people in NZ) dressing (like stuffing but not stuffed in the turkey) and gravy with giblets in it!
We all ate till we had to loosen our belts (luckily I didnt have one on but I did have to loosen my bandana) then we had pecan pie, pumpkin pie and key lime pies for dessert. All the Strongs liked pumpkin pie. I thought it was kind of funny that they had never had it before but they said it was not a “normal” dessert in NZ!
We were all so full we sat round and played games for the afternoon.
After a while when we could move again, we went round to some more friends’ house and watched football….cause thats what you do on Thanksgiving.
It was a real good day and I think the Strongs did pretty well for 1st timers

“Goodbye Alice.”

Yes, you guessed it. Alice the truck is no longer a member of our family. As the trip across the US comes to an end it was necessary for us to part company… there is just no way we could get her into the suitcase to take her home. (Besides, I don’t think the NZ Green Party would be happy with us doubling the oil consumption in NZ!)

Continue reading Losing A Family Member

The kids are usually really excited when they go shopping for food, (as I am), but this week they had a scare when we did the grocery shop. Continue reading Grocery Shopping With a Pencil

Answer: New Zealand…..for a little while at least!

We have booked our tickets and soon we will be jet setting our way across the world and ending up in Good Ole New Zealand.

We still have a few more adventures left in us before we get home so don’t unsubscribe from our blog just yet!

To be honest we have mixed emotions about coming home. Part of us is sad that this part of our adventure is coming to an end but another part of us is SO excited about the next part of our journey and we are excited to see what God has in store for us as a family. Not to mention we are hanging out for a good Kiwi BBQ and some chippies & dip! Continue reading Where in the World will the Strongs be next Year?