Domestic bliss

So the kids are proving to be quite helpful when it comes to housework... Sort of. I wonder how long it'll be before I can get them into ironing though....?

Busy bees

Well here we are in Wellington (or Lower Hutt if you want to be pedantic). It's great to be "home" though it does seem strange to be saying that when I've never lived here before!

Our wee house is fab and it's really starting to feel like home now, particularly after all Mike's hard work over the past few weeks and now that we're getting close to being unpacked.

The boys were over the moon to be reunited with their own beds (as was I if I'm being honest!) and literally squealed with delight when they saw all their toys in the playroom :) They LOVE the back garden and have spent hours riding their scooters, kicking balls, picking (and throwing) lemons and "making fires" - pulling up grass and putting it in a wooden box in case you're worried I'm raising two pyromaniacs!

Mike and I are obviously being kept busy with the boxes and attempting to get the house into some sort of order but we've also managed to buy a car (a lovely, shiny Mazda 6 wagon) and I've been spending plenty of time getting reacquainted with my cook books and trying to make friends with the oven (Shacklock, circa 1990).

One more sleep!

Tonight is our last night in Christchurch and tomorrow the boys and I will be taking "one more plane" to Wellington. It feels strange to be looking forward to leaving, but I am already referring to it as going home. Not because I love Wellington more or because I haven't enjoyed being here with family, but because wherever Mike and the boys are is home to me. (soppy I know!!)

I'm not sure why I didn't see it coming but these 2 weeks in Christchurch since mike went to Wellington have been harder than any stage of our trip round Europe. The kids have been clingy and very quick to lose the plot, not to mention total PITAs at bedtime. Right now I am lying in the dark typing this instead of packing because I can't leave the boys awake in the bedroom or they both scream their heads off.

Our Long Way Home is almost over.. But now the fun really begins! Mike has been working hard on the house up in Lower Hutt and has painted and carpeted the living room and bedrooms in preparation for our arrival. Our furniture arrived from storage on Friday so there are lots and lots of boxes waiting for me to work through too.

Stay tuned for the next chapter - kitchen and bathroom renovations and dealing with culture shock in your own country ;) I'm still getting used to all the small talk when you go shopping. It's just so weird!

THIS is why we came home

The boys and I have just got back from a weekend on Mum's farm on the Coast with Julia. From the minute we arrived the boys had smiles a mile wide plastered on their faces. They had acres of room to run wild, make friends with calves, lambs, chooks and Nellie (the dog) and also tried fresh farm milk, homemade cheese, bread and sausages all for the first time.

It truly was an idyllic weekend and we were all sad to leave this morning. Fortunately we'll be back again after Christmas for a bit longer.. AND with Daddy in tow.. Callum has a rather long list of things he wants to share with him ;)

Home. Sort of.

Yes, strange title considering we ARE home - back in the Chur and back in EnZed. But, as many of you will know (and have experienced first hand), Christchurch is nothing like the place I left 10 years ago or even like the place I last visited in 2011.

Just backing up for a second, I do have to say it is great to be home. To be here with family, spending lazy afternoons in the sun with Nana Rosie or talking shit with my Dad or drinking Uncle Mark's Bombay Sapphire... It feels like nothing at all has changed. And yet EVERYTHING has changed.

Mike and I went for a drive into the city on Sunday with the boys. It was mind blowing. When we were last here in March 2010, we couldn't get anywhere near the centre of town and I don't think we'd have wanted to go there anyway. Now, you can drive down Hereford St (I think) and see what's left of our beautiful Cathedral and try to remember what was where or which partially demolished building is which. It was strange seeing the pharmacy and Ballantynes but looking across the road to an empty lot where KFC uses to be (so many memories!)

We have been having a great time here though. We spent the first few nights with Dad and Pauline. The boys had lots of fun playing footie with Grandad (and throwing things on the roof - oops!) and an absolute ball at Kirsty's 40th on Saturday night.

We came to Shirl's on Tuesday after Mike flew up to Wellington start work on the house - our next Big Adventure. HOPEFULLY he will be able to get through most of his To Do list in time for the new carpet to go down and then the delivery of our container. It's going to be crazy, busy couple of weeks for all of us!

Welcome Home

If you've ever flown with Jet Star Australia, you'll understand why I was feeling nervous and sick this morning about checking in. Mike called the "help" line yesterday to ask about their policy on carrying car seats and strollers for children. He was told by two people (two phone calls) that the answer was categorically NO. Only infants get to take those things for free. Cue panicked weighing and repacking of three months worth of clothes, toys, books, food, gifts and junk. And two large car seats and two strollers.

After reading a couple of recent online forums and hearing from others who have flown with jetstar recently, we decided to bite the bullet and pay for another 5kg checked baggage (taking us to 95kg between three of us, still less than our flight from Paris to Melbourne) and requiring us to take the maximum carry on allowed. At around 10:30 last night I found a current jet star page claiming they charged extra for none of those things but it still wasn't clear (and still at odds with what we'd been told on the phone and with others' experiences).

When we packed up daniel's cot and added in PJs for four and all those last minute things we were just over our 95kg. We decided to leave our trusty Carrefour stroller in Melbourne for another time and hope that we'd get a nice person on the check in counter.

Next we all piled into two cars with Elly and John acting as chauffeurs. Traffic wasn't too bad despite a supposed delay on the freeway and we arrived with lots of time to spare (yay!) which was fortunate since the carparking is such a maze!! We said our goodbyes to John and Elly and waited for our turn to check in.

I was even more nervous by this stage, and the stress continued to build as the unsmiling check in girl confirmed we had 95kg luggage allowance and she'd do the car seats first.

WELL. A few minutes into the process Mike asked a question about the weight of the carseats (they seemed heavy) and finally we got our answer - they do NOT charge for carseats, strollers or portacots and you can have four of these items for free. Yes, we'd paid for approximately 25kg too much baggage. Sigh. On the bright side, something in this conversation cheered up the check in woman and she was all smiles after that.

Even more surprisingly, every single person we dealt with after that was charming and cheerful! The flight even took off sort of on time ;)

So far so good on the flight too. Mike is sitting with the boys at the mo while I have a turn on my own (yay again!), the kids have been great and the in flight snacks were half price since its the last flight of the day. Nice one.

Postscript..
Arrived in Christchurch to find stunning blue skies and warm weather, helpful kiwis and only 9 out of our 10 checked in bags. They lost the one with the kids PJs and all Daniel's bedding (and our shoes!)
Regretstar indeed.