The Farm

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Homecoming!

Between school and preschool activities and organising the move, November seems to be flying by!  The best part has been Kent arriving home to live after nearly two years of going backwards and forwards to PN.  The children have been basking in the additional parental glow, and Kent has enjoyed making school lunches, doing the school run and generally getting back into the rhythm of the household.  The only hiccup being Fraser getting firmly evicted by Dad from Mummy's bed after his usual dash in at 4am!

We have thrown ourselves into completing the house so it is able to be tenanted.  While there is still a great deal to go, we have knocked off a few big jobs including glass splashbacks finally being installed in the kitchen after two years of patchy GIB, and a new wraparound step to the front deck!  We now just have some exterior painting (over the front bricks on a whim), a bit of landscaping and a general tidy up outside to go and that will end three+ years of renovating (for now!).  Before and after photos can be in the next post!

We have also managed to shed most of our surplus gear through our favourite 'online auction site'.  The caravan sold in less than 24 hours so Kent was very happy about that!

All had medicals and dentals completed, including the dogs who had to microchipped.  Getting Leah to sit still for the required dental bite-wing x-ray was near impossible, but we got there in the end!  The children ran around the military medical centre with such 'joie de vivre' they were promptly declared fit and healthy before they collapsed the doctor's office chair again (by pulling the levers) and scattered all the little white things from the large bucket in the waiting room (as is standard in all military medical waiting rooms) any further!!

The seafreight has been sent (see picture below). Notice all the important things like 4-5 hot water bottles, the pet electric blanket, toys-toys-toys, a giant inflatable aeroplane, and the Christmas tree (already decorated)!  The children have now had very few toys and books for two weeks and they have been quite content (maybe we don't need them back after all?).  'Gone to Australia' is now the perfect parental response to any inquiry into the disappearance of a beloved item!!

We have also finally been allocated a house (always useful that, when you are three weeks away from arriving lock, stock and barrel!), and we are thrilled with it.  It has a large backyard so dogs and children can be safely entertained.  The only hitch is we can't organise any utilities in advance as we must have the tenancy agreement and an Australian bank account in place first!  Even the school enrolment can't be completed.  So we will just be very busy when we arrive and possibly camping out powerless for a few days (the dogs only have a limited time in kennels as they are all full the following week due to Christmas holidays).  The local zoned school has excellent reports, both nationally and from other families who have attended it, so we are very happy indeed.

This month the children have had lots of activities on.  Leah experienced her first Halloween and we ended up with a school Halloween Disco, a trip to RNZB's 'The Nutcracker' and a local Light Party all in one weekend, and all requiring some form of dress-ups!  Here is a picture of them in their Light Party getups (Mum had lost motivation by then so Leah is self-created Purple Girl and Fraser is Spiderman).  Note Fraser's new buzz haircut (we are now waiting for it to grow back to his hobbit hair)!

Anyway, that is us for another month.  Next week we have airfreight to pack and after that we will be literally camping in our own home.  Thankfully we have lots of junk to get rid of that we are able to use until the last minute.  Hope to catch up with some of you in person before we go!

Final mention must go to the Pike River Miners.  Sadly, a national tragedy.