i'm 1/2 an auntie!!!!!

Big news!!! Katherine's water broke at 7am (calgary) on the 23rd and she received an epidural at 2pm. I have yet to hear any news, as my phone was out of a service area when dad tried to call. I'm about to call home and find out if anything has progressed.
While all of that excitement was going on, i spent time in queensland jumping off a 109m cliff and free falling for 60m. it was AWESOME. (note: jeff, i sent pics home because i forgot my camera, and bought some. i'm hoping you can scan them and email them to me so i can post them). i ended up jumping twice. the first time just forwards with rafters underneith me whitewater rafting, and the 2nd time from a position called the chair. they strap you into a plastic lawn chair and you lean back and flip around while falling. SO SCARY. but SO COOL. i remember the 2nd jump much better. not sure if it was because it was the 2nd time going down or if it was because i was going a bit slower due to the chair?? not sure. marcy went once and i was SO proud. after a bit of psyching herself out, she just backed up and did it. so awesome to watch. they do dvd's of you so we all got to watch ourselves do it too. we then went home and calmed down over lunch and then hiked up queenstown hill. the name is decieving as it's more than a hill. it's 907m up and steep! but wicked views and a not too bad walk down. that night we went out and celebrated our not being wimps. the following day we were up at at 'em with a fine start to the morning with fergburger at 10:30 am (i had a "southern swine" which is a buger w/ avacado, tomato relish, aioli, lettuce, tomato, red onion and bacon, but i also added cheese. and marcy got "holier than thou" which is a tempured tofu which has coconut and satay sauce, cukes, onion and lettuce. both were amazingly delicious).
then we drove to wanaka where we looked at a beautiful photo display along the river and went to this puzzle museum. jeff - you would have LOVED it. SO COOL. we laughed a ton and it was a good way to spend an afernoon. we weren't really aware of how far it was to fraz joseph, so we didn't leave there until 4pm and it turns out it was a 4 hr drive. on the typical nz on-a-cliff-and-twisty roads. only an hour of driving (very slowly and cautiously) during the dark. but we finally got to see lots of live possums. we just went to our hostle and crashed. the hostle was so great! for $24 a night we had a 4 share room with an ensuite bathroom AND kitchen and they had a free hot tub and free homemade vegetable soup! what a deal. the tub and soup were really handy last night. we did a day hike of the franz joseph glacier. we went higher than any other group has gone and went through deep and narrow crevices that were bright blue because the ice was so dence. quite cold in those, but otherwise a beautiful, warm sunny day.
today we just woke up and made our way back to christchurch. we're meeting up with a friend we made in melbourne tonight and our flight is out at 7am on monday morning. so tomorrow evening and night will be spent at the airport. boooooo.
that's all the news. hope to get lots of news from home. i'm off to try to call about the BABY. yay!
miss you all. love. xoxo