#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

This week marked the arrival of Kensley’s grandma! My mom arrived Thursday and Kensley couldn’t be happier to have another visitor. It’s quite interesting to me how much she loves new people. On Friday, I had Sarah come over in the morning and I took my mom to Godley Head where she did a walk and I ran. Sarah is back to school as of this week so insert my sadness here! Friday night, I went out for a little girls’ night with Kayla and a few of her friends, two of which are Julia and Hannah who I see regularly with their little girls. I felt so human to throw on some lipstick and chat with girls and have a few a drinks! On Saturday morning, I got out run with Liz while my mom watched Kensley. My mom, Kensley and I then walked to the Christchurch Market (~40 mins each way) to check it out as I’ve never been and have been told it’s pretty good. That evening, because I was out on Friday, we enjoyed our typical Friday night pizza night and some wine. We opened a Pinot Gris from Wet Jacket, a Central Otago wine that we picked up during our trip in November, and we all really enjoyed it. Caleb was signed up for another kayak down the river in preparation for the upcoming Coast-to- Coast so he was gone for most of the day on Saturday. Overall, he’s pretty discouraged about the (70k) kayak portion of the race. His kayak (yes, that he bought) ended up getting a crack in it on the Saturday run. This race has become a bit comical to both of us because of the logistics and cost; why can’t these things be a little more straightforward and not so darn expensive. Anyways, he felt his options were to duct tape his kayak and hope for the best or rent a kayak for the day (at an outrageous rate). It was a no brainer to me, just rent the darn kayak; and he is! On Sunday, our plan was to take my mom to Akoroa for the day but Caleb found out last minute (very last minute) that he was on call so we checked out more of the city and the gardens and will hopefully be able to fit it in sometime during her visit. The drive to Akoroa is a bit too intense for me with windy, narrow roads and aggressive drivers so it’s somewhere I’m not willing to drive.

This week was also a big week because I committed and booked my first trip away without Kensley and Caleb. I have been talking about it for months now with Mary and she came over and we bit the bullet and booked. Nikki and Nicole will be in Sydney, Australia for a few days and we are going to fly there to visit them! I’ve had mixed emotions over the past few months while preparing for this and I’m sure the mixed emotions are going to continue and intensify as the trip quickly approaches. Kensley and Caleb will both be fine, but I don’t want it to be rough for them. I still feed Kensley morning and night so once the Coast-to-Coast race is done (this upcoming weekend! Woohooo) we are going to try to prep her for momma being away!

Kensley is getting quicker with her crawling and stronger with her standing. We finally got some gates and let me tell you, she was not happy to see the one that blocked the stairs. She went straight to it first thing in the morning and pulled herself up and screamed with anger. She loves to have us hide (so proud to find us) and she loves when we chase her. She is mimicking more and more sounds and continues to love to sing us songs and dance. She wants to climb every tree she meets and impresses me on her ability to shimmy around them. Her latest trick is blowing kisses, which she likes to do to whoever she meets. Her typical greeting these days is a wave followed by blowing whoever a kiss. She still hates lying down for her diaper changes or to wash her hair in the tub (it’s just easier for me to lay her down) but I’m learning that if I ask her permission that she’s responding a bit better. She loves having her grandma around and brings her books nonstop to read to her. She also can climb the stairs in no time now (supervised of course).