Sunday, April 27, 2014

Adventures Begin

Sunday 27 April 2014

I have been spending the last week in Dunedin ... the plan is that I come down to Dunedin and spend time with our children, Mack Ite and Alice and our gorgeous granddaughter Elizabeth before we head of!! Pete is still in Christchurch and will be down on May 4, we both drive back to Christchurch on May 11 and fly out on May 13. I have moments where I feel my stomach sink and I ask myself 'what are we doing??' 'are we really sure we want to do this?!' I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared ... I am!

Harriet Matthews drove down with Alice and I and has spent a few days with me ... she is my most favourite Harriet in the world. We have been reading Dreamhunter ... I love reading to Harriet. I love reading to all of the Matthews Children!


Harriet Matthews and her Tablet

I was determined to finish our book before we left ... and I did ... I am really hoping that when I get back she will still want me to read to her and we can start on the second book in the series. We had fun together ... I am pretty sure she will die when she sees this photo of herself on my blog!!

The best part of being here in Dunedin ... other than the amazing buildings ... so many beautiful old buildings ... is playing with Elizabeth ... she is sooooooo awesome and fun!!


I am having so much fun with her ... I bought the pink slippers for her on Saturday ... she picked them! She is so charismatic and so cheeky. She has the best frowning face ever! I really wish I could capture it on film but I find it so hard ... the moment passes so quickly. I am really going to miss her when I/we leave. I have loved watching Mack (our son) with her ... he is an awesome Dad ... he works so hard and tries so hard to be a good Dad ... she loves her Dad! I need to get a photo of them together.

Elizabeth & Ite (her Mum)

Elizabeth is the best blend of Mack & Ite. All is right in the world when I am with her ... how can I be sad or angry about anything when there is so much life and love going on around her.

I was told by family members to make sure I put up heaps of photos while blogging ... that people like looking at photos and not reading so much. I hope there is enough visual content to keep people interested and wanting to visit our blog more often to see what becomes of us while we are away.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

In The Beginning

This is my first attempt at recording our gap year ... that is Pete's and my gap year ... what I call a mid life gap year! We are weeks away from leaving ... I leave for Dunedin in 2 weeks and I feel like everything is moving fast now! We experience a mixture of excitement and fear ... 'what have we just done' ... and there is so much to do and money to spend before we have even left NZ. I keep having these moments of 'have I forgotten anything ... important ... like visas!! ... oops our will!'
We start in Vermont with Mike, Chris, lars and Roxcy ... we don't get enough time with these 2 cuties ... and we are so excited to hang out with them and play lots and lots!


Look what we will be doing with them ... we are going to have so many adventures on the tandem bike. Mike has bought a Weehoo tandem trailer that attaches to the tandem ... it will carry Lars & Roxcy. I am thinking ... taking lars to Karate ... day trips to Woodstock ... going over the river to buy Chocolate Milk ... lots of day trips with Lars & Roxcy right behind us in their tandem! I am sooooo excited!