#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

I went into this week with a full heart and with a lot of excitement as Nikki and Nicole were spending the week with us and Kensley was starting her “settling” at daycare. On Monday, Kensley spent two hours at daycare and did very well. I almost cried when I picked her up and saw her sitting at the table with her friends having a snack; it was so darn cute and she looked so grown up. Nikki and Nicole arrived in the late afternoon. Once Kenz woke up from her nap we made our way for a latte and to the gardens to give them a little tour and let Kenz play on the grass. They weren’t long spotting the Lime Scooters around town and quickly jumped on them and did a scoot around town to check things out. No surprise, Nikki was instantly obsessed and quickly became a Lime Scooter Junkie; grabbing one every opportunity that she could and having absolutely no fear on those things. She even got me out on one for the first time and my forearms and hands hurt from gripping so hard. They go up to 30km/hr and Caleb has seen more than a few ortho cases as a result of injury from them! On Tuesday, the girls took off to Akoroa for the day and Kenz and I had a chill day, seeing Jacqui, Hugh and Walt. Wednesday was Nikki’s birthday so Nik, Nicole, Kensley and I went to Waipara wine region so they could do some wine tasting and we could have a nice lunch. We had a really nice day, although I did wish that I was partaking in the drinking and that didn’t have to drag Kensley along…..but this is mom life! The girls went out for dinner that night and came back to enjoy some yummy carrot cake and dessert wine. Thursday, the girls took off to Hanmer Springs for the night to enjoy the hot springs. They returned Friday morning, and I dropped K at another “settling” session and we went to Godley Head, a beautiful costal trail. On Friday night, the girls took Caleb and I out for an awesome dinner at Valentino while Sarah watched (sleeping) Kensley. Caleb worked a lot this week so it was really nice for all of us to get out

It was soooo nice to have Nikki and Nicole, best guests ever. Nikki is my oldest childhood best friend and truly the kindest, bestest, most sincere person you’ll ever meet. I want to say that I was the happiest with them here, but I suspect the award for happiest goes to Kensley. She LOVES having people around and it doesn’t get much better than Aunt Cole. Aunt Cole could and did sit and play with Kensley non-stop: songs, books, games, and just chatting. She even taught her to walk with her little trolly within like 2 minutes! We’ve dubbed Aunt Cole as the fun auntie and Aunt Nikki as the stylish auntie :P; but Auntie Nikki gives the BEST back rubs. I loved having my people here, to share our New Zealand life with them and to share Kensley with them! It makes me emotional thinking about it. Unfortunately, their time here flew by and they were off to Fiji on Saturday. Caleb was on call on Saturday so it was a pretty low-key day for us. On Sunday, we felt like we needed to get out of town so we took a day trip 2 hours south to Timaru. The drive there was easy peasy but Kensley wasn’t as keen about the trip home which made it seem a lot longer than two hours. We actually stopped and bought her fries to entertain her for part of the drive. Kensley loves most foods but she definitely is a fry lover….but really, who isn’t!?

Kensley is proudly walking around with a trolly now. She surprises us with trying to say more and more words: orange, banana, Bruce (for her kangaroo), nonstop “blue” for blueberries, raisins, Ella (our favorite barista), cheese, momma and dada (obviously). She tries to dress herself now and will sit for up to 15 mins trying to put them on. She also sits patiently and will play with zippers, and if its started she can close it. She is transitioning to daycare like a little gem but I suspect some hiccups with napping are in our future! She is looking forward to our next visitors: granny and grandpa arrive this week!