4 Weeks on the Move

It was 4 weeks ago today I said goodbye to sweet Baby Nina and headed off on my Down Under adventures.  Oh man. It was so hard leaving her, knowing she was going to change so much in the months we were separated.  It seemed like I could actually feel a little piece of my heart break off as we had grown so close in the months I was there.  But I am happy to report that, despite time difference challenges, we have been able to FaceTIme several times and every single time she perks up when she hears my voice and looks at the phone and babbles.  Earlier this week it was so sweet; I asked her to go get a book to read and she toddled off to her bedroom, returning with one of the two books we had read over and over when we were together.  (Here Babies, There Babies in case you are wondering.  I highly recommend it as a gift and bonus, it is by a Canadian author!)  When she gave it to Emily and crawled up on her lap Emily began to read it to her but no!  Baby Nina wanted her Naja to read it to her!  Isn’t that the cutest??  Now it was a little hard for me to see the words but luckily enough the content isn’t too complicated, so I was able to fudge it and she was completely satisfied.

So what’s it like being on the move for a month?  You know, I look at photos from our early days here and I’m like “Wow, that seems so long ago!”  Some of it is a blur, so many places, so many houses, so many activities.  Lucky for my memory jogging the geography has changed quite a bit from place to place so that has helped me remember the various stops.

Living in a new house all the time is exciting and frustrating at the same time.  We generally stay 3 nights in one location and are always excited to see what our place looks like.  We have booked three bedrooms everywhere so everyone gets a little place to call their own.  Some of the homes have been ooh la la and some have been adequate while others land somewhere in between.  One place had 3 bathrooms (luxury!) while a few have had one (schedule demanding).  Sometimes I have had a lovely queen bed and, in 3 houses, I have had bunk beds.  (To be expected when you book a 3 bedroom house that at least one room will be set up for children.  I am totally ok with sleeping in a room decorated with teddy bears on the wall.)  Some bedrooms are really set up for guests while others have the bare minimum.  I am now excited when my room has a night table.  If it has a dresser to put stuff on I have really hit the jackpot.  (Nothing ever gets put in a drawer or hung up; I would be leaving things behind at every house if I did that!)  We have given feedback to several owners that their bedrooms need hooks, especially in homes where the bedrooms are small; mirrors (really, when there is one bathroom for 4 adults, and it contains the only mirror in the house, there are bound to be logistics issues), floor fans (when the temperature rises and there are no screens on the windows (normal) we North Americans need help to cool down at night!  Bedside lamps don’t exist in many of the rooms I have slept in (I guess that’s what happens when you are relegated to the kids room!) so bedtime reading has been (happily) replaced with Netflix watching (has anyone else watched the Murdaugh mini-series??  Wow.  That is one helluva family.  And I don’t mean that in a good way!)

Some kitchens have been beautifully stocked, with all sorts of pots and pans and matching dishes and cutlery.  So nice. Kind of makes me wish I knew people to invite over for dinner so we could entertain them in style.  Other kitchens seem like they have been furnished from a dollar store, a mismatching combo of cheap products with only the bare minimum for cooking.  And there was that one house where we really think the family lives there and just clears out when there is a booking….

Okay, have to scram.  I am writing this after midnight and tomorrow looms large and full as we pass our last day on the South Island. 

From me, the happy adventuring retiree in beautiful oceanside Nelson, New Ze