#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

Our big news of the week is that Poppa has arrived!!! Preceding this, we did very little because Kensley had a full body rash that I’m pretty sure was a viral-something (maybe a much milder form of what I had the previous week) and I didn’t want to expose any of our friend’s kids to it. Prior to the rash appearing, we did get to see Jacqui, Hugh and Walt for coffee which was a nice addition our week!

We picked Poppa up at the airport on Thursday afternoon. Kensley seemed to immediately recognize him, giving him big smiles like she does on facetime, which of course, made Poppa cry. He even brought her little stuffed animal kitten “Cuddles” with him because he always shows her the kitten on Facetime. We got home in time for Kenz to go down for an afternoon nap and then we took Poppa out for our afternoon routine of lattes at the Boatshed and a walk in the Botanic Gardens. Poppa was pretty zonked after his long travels so he went to bed pretty early to try to catch up on some sleep.

On Friday morning, Poppa and I got up early to do a quick run before we packed up the car to head to Queenstown! This was a 6 hour drive that ended up taking about 8 hours with rest stops and extra stops to check out the beautiful views along the way. Kensley, again, was a little star in the car. She was a bit fussy for the last 45 mins but she LOVED having Poppa in the back seat with her…we will have to rethink our seating plan for our road trips in the future because of this, I think. Mary met us in Queenstown and stayed the weekend with us at a beautiful Airbnb we rented. Seriously, we didn’t want to leave because it was so nice. I kept saying that if it was my place, I would never be renting it out to strangers!

Saturday morning was an early one for us all because it was race day in Queenstown! Poppa was doing the 10k and I was doing the half-marathon. Mary dropped Poppa off at his start and Caleb and Kensley dropped me off at my start; we both ended downtown Queenstown where Caleb, Kensley and Mary were cheering us on. Poppa got a PB at 1:05 which I thought was pretty darn great for just having traveled for 30ish hours. Poppa says he "ran happy!". No PBs for me, but definitely one of my most proud moments, completing this half marathon. My initial goal was 1:45, which I reset to 1:50 and then I ended up coming in at 1:52. I felt pretty steady throughout the run and finished feeling great so I really can’t complain. Interestingly, Kensley was up 4 times that night (which rarely happens but second bottom tooth is coming through) so I was feeling pretty discouraged (and angry – why is this always the case!?) that morning. Training for this run, while recovering from pregnancy and delivery, breastfeeding a baby, and moving across the world, was no joke. It meant early morning runs before Caleb went to work, no matter how little sleep I got. It also meant pushing through some aches and pains (and leaks) that still exist since having Kensley. While my body might not have been 100% ready for this, it is what I felt needed to stay happy and positive and be the best version of myself for Kensley, Caleb and I. The route was absolutely stunning, the weather was amazing and having Kensley and Caleb run along side me for 200ish metres at the end was unbelievable! To top it all off, the morning went really smoothly for Kensley and Caleb in his opinion. Is it bad that I only thought about them once on the run and my thought was “is it bad that I’m not thinking about Caleb and Kensley?” but then I got really excited and felt like crying when I thought about seeing them at the finish line so I think it evens out. Following the race, we did a quick walk around downtown Queenstown and had a bite to eat on a patio. Then we made our way back to our place to relax and celebrate with some Thai food, bubbly, wine and beer that night! I picked up a bottle of pinot noir called “Roaring Meg” ($35ish) from central otago to celebrate the run; and Caleb, Mary and I all agreed that this was one of our faves! Mary brought the bubbly which was a super fun treat to celebrate with!

On Sunday morning, Caleb met up with his buddy Benj, in Queenstown for a run up a trail leading to the top of the gondola lookout. Caleb met Benj on his kayaking course and he was in Queenstown because his wife was running the race as well. Then Caleb carted Poppa, Mary, Kensley and I around for some Central Otago wine tasting (wineries: Amisfield, Wet Jacket, Chard Farm) and a visit to cute Arrowtown for lunch! We had a relaxing Sunday evening because we were all pretty zonked and our roadtrip was to continue on Monday.

Kensley’s highlights of the week are definitely playing with Poppa, having a bath in the big tub at the Airbnb, and that her second tooth (bottom left) has just cut through her gum!