#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

Week 29 was full-blown with Kensley’s grandma visiting and Caleb off to The Coast to Coast race! Kensley’s grandma was here all week. On Monday, I met Jacqui, Walt and Hugh for coffee. They were heading to the hospital for an appointment so we had Walt over for the afternoon, which made Kensley pretty happy! That evening, we had Colby over dinner. Colby is Nikki’s friend from the USA. She has been traveling around for the month in a camper van before she starts a new career at Nike in Portland. The next morning, Colby and I made our way to Godley Head for another fun run! It was so nice to have a running buddy again! Kensley hung out with Grandma, which she loved. Then we checked out a daycare for Kensley! She is going to start once a week to help socialize her a bit and get her ready for daycare when we return to Canada and this momma goes back to work. I was pretty happy with the daycare so she will hopefully be starting in the next few weeks. Her little friend Isabelle will be starting there as well. Wednesday was a holiday here, Waitangi Day, which commemorates the first signing of New Zealand’s founding document in 1840. That meant Caleb was off. He had to meet with his Coast to Coast team, so unfortunately, we couldn’t head to Akoroa. Instead, we made our way to Lyttleton in the afternoon, which is a small port town just outside of Christchurch. We checked it out and enjoyed some fish and chips that we all loved!

Thursday morning, bright and early, Caleb was off to The Coast to Coast race. That meant it was time for the girls to have fun! Kensley, Grandma and I hopped in the car to head to Hanmer Springs. This was after I realized Caleb took both sets of house keys with him to the west coast, but I sorted out another set with our property manager. I was pretty happy because this was the first longish (2hr) trip I drove myself. We got to Hanmer and went straight to the hot springs, which we all really enjoyed. It was cool day, mid to high teens and a bit grey, so it was a really nice day to be in hot springs. Then we checked out the cute little shops and had an early dinner. I got Kensley settled in bed and my mom went back to the springs for some more relaxation. We made out way back to Christchurch on Friday and in the afternoon Kensley and I took Grandma to New Brighton Beach to check out the pier. Saturday morning was Grandma’s last morning here so I enjoyed a run and her and Kensley had some one-on-one time. We dropped Grandma at the airport and made our way home as Sarah was coming for the afternoon with Kenz. Sarah came over and I provided her with a written novel on Kensley’s routine as this was going to be the first attempt of having someone else put Kensley down for bed. I was a bit stressed about this but I really wanted to see Caleb finish The Coast to Coast. Turns out, Kensley was a little star and went to bed without any tears. She cried a bit when Sarah offered her the bottle earlier and didn’t take it but slept through the night so I’d say it was a big success! It also makes me feel better about my upcoming weekend away. We went for a beer and some fish and chips before we made our way home to greet Liz and Andy who we had over for a few drinks! Sunday was a chill family day for us!

Now onto Caleb’s race! He did amazing, of course; he’s our superman. It sounds pretty intense, 243km from the west coast (Kumara Beach) to the east coast (New Brighton Beach) of New Zealand. You can do this as an individual or team, one day or two day event. Caleb opted to do the two-day event. Day one was 2.2km run, 55km cycle and 30.5km mountain run. Day two was 15km cycle, 70km kayak and 70km cycle. He was definitely most stressed about the kayak just because of his lack of experience kayaking. He says day one he pushed a bit too hard on the first run and bike ride so as soon as he started the mountain run his legs began to cramp and he knew it was going to be a long run. Note that he hadn’t done a bike to run transition at all during his training. He said the run was pretty rough and so was the terrain, he was slower than he anticipated but finished that day in just over 7 hours. He took the rest of the afternoon to recover and by day two was ready to rock it again. He felt ok on the second day, the first bike ride went well and the kayak went better than he thought in the technical section but he was slower than he had hoped. He fell out of the kayak a few times but doesn’t feel he wasted too much time getting back in. He cramped in his hands and his abdomen, which he hasn’t experienced before. He felt strong the first 50km of the last cycle and had gotten in with a good group, unfortunately, he didn’t have much left and lost them for the last 20km. I was super pumped to see him come in on his bike at the end and I think I gave him some extra energy for his sprint to the end (as he wrestled and elbowed his was in front of an older lady :P). He says the logistics were the most complicated thing he’s ever experienced. About a month ago we realized how crazy it was going to be for Kensley and I to try to be his support crew so he joined a team (for a hefty cost). But honestly, it was money well spent! This team had everything sorted out for him, a luxurious tent and food set up, no worries about any of his gear and it sounds like some good company on this adventure, as well. In total, Caleb finished the two-day event in 16:09:16 and finished 93 overall out of 258 doing the same event. There would be a lot of things he’d do differently if he tackles this again (maybe I’d join him) but overall, he’s happy with how it went!

Last, but definitely not least, Kensley had a great week. She absolutely loved her time with her Grandma, who would do anything Kensley wanted (like supervise her climb the stairs over and over again and read her 100 books in a row). She is babbling so much now and can tell us what sounds a pig, cow, bee and doggy make. She loves to stand at the window, which she can now see out thanks to a little growth spurt. So far, she has only thrown a shoe out the window but I have a feeling there will be more causalities (no screens here and we live on the third floor). She went through a stage where she forgot how to roll off of her back and we’ve realized how easy that made life for us. Diaper changes have gotten really interesting. She flips herself over and takes off laughing as we chase her.