#anettingnewzealandadventure: The Nettings Do NZ

This was Gina’s last week in NZ and we spent most of the week around Christchurch. On Monday we enjoyed a nice run on New Brighton beach and went out of a yummy brunch while Kensley was at daycare. Tuesday we had a chill day with Kensley around town. Wednesday, I did something I swore I would never do here; I drove to Akoroa. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had worked it up to be. I was nervous about a windy portion with somewhat narrow roads and a speed limit of 100. The road was pretty quiet so it was an easy drive and I’m happy we went. Gina loved Akoroa; it was the perfect day there great brunch, beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery and we ended our day with fries at the waterfront park! Thursday and Friday we prepped for our baby free weekend away! Oh and Thursday night Caleb and I snuck out for a little date night at a super cute bar, Strange & Co. Gina, Mary and I packed up on Friday, early afternoon and made our way to Marlborough for a wine-touring weekend. I had been dreaming about this weekend since my last girls’ weekend away (Sydney). We stayed at an AirBNB that Caleb and I stumbled upon with Kensley. Alison hosted us at her beautiful vineyard home. We arrived Friday night and enjoyed some wine and yummy food; a “pick-its” board compliments of Gina-extraordinaire. I cut myself off of wine early and made my way to bed because I wanted to cherish the entire day on Saturday and that meant waking up and going for a nice run. I woke up Saturday barely able to function due to crazy nausea – I thought for sure we all had food poisoning. Turns out, it was just me that was going to endure three days of feeling horrible and being completely useless. I missed out on the wineries, lovely lunch and chocolate factory but Gina and Mary had a great time, which I am happy about. I spent the entire day in bed on Saturday and Sunday and Monday were pretty similar. Talk about a let down but I didn’t even really have time to be sad about it because I felt so horrible. Gina and I had a perfect Monday planned as her last day in NZ and I wasn’t able to participate in any of it. I couldn’t even make it out for coffee with her. I’ll be forever grateful for the time I had with Gina in New Zealand but I definitely feel robbed of our final days. I think this just means we need to plan another girls weekend in North America soon.

Caleb and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary this week! We were supposed to attend a dinner on Tuesday and that was going to be our celebration but I still wasn’t able to eat so I had to bail. Also of note this week, Kensley refused an afternoon nap one day so I thought we’d try one nap the following day – huge fail, huge huge huge fail! She continues to motor around on her feet and loves to approach strangers with waves and kisses. She tickles anything and everything thing saying “tick tick tick”. She has her daddy wrapped right around her finger and it is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Caleb tells me how sweet she is and that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. After their weekend together, her daycare providers told me that she talked about Caleb all day “dada, dada, dada”.

We also celebrated my birthday this weekend! I got out for a run with Liz and in the afternoon Caleb, Kensley and I met Liz, Andy and Harriet for a beer and some snacks. On Sunday, Caleb and I went for a 40k ride through the Port Hills to Lyttleton and home. In the afternoon, we hung out at New Brighton beach because it was 20 degrees, sunny and beautiful! Kensley loved playing at the park and in the sand. I should mention that Caleb signed up for the Christchurch Marathon this upcoming weekend. He registered and started training two weeks ago…and by training I mean he has run one 20k and one 30k but said he felt good on both.