After a crazy few weeks of packing, end of year activities, Christmas parties and farewells….(okay and tennis too), we are now just sitting in our bums at my friend’s bach (North Island kiwanese for summer home, in South Island it’s call a crib). Originally it was supposed to be me, her and our kids, but when the weather turned bad and her son was invited to a mate’s birthday party it became a family getaway for us. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my friend Cherie. She and I always laugh our arses off when we’re together. And our kids get along beautifully. But these past few days have been a gift like no other. It’s actually given us a taste of what it will be like on our caravan. Kinda…

To get a true taste of what that would be like, we would have had to jam all of us and our stuff into one room and used that space to cook in too. So no, this bach is not even close to the roughing and toughing it we will be doing in our ‘luxury’ aluminium box, but we have had to relearn to live and work together. My darling husband got to experiment with working remotely with the kids and me in his space. To his credit, he has not barked at us once. Were the roles reversed I think I would have lost it once or twice.

The first day we got here I was so tired that I let the kids go off and play with knives, but by day two we set the travel rules: no television and kids only allowed devices for 1/2 hr at the end of the night. It’s been magic. Yes, my son did drive me crazy with all the noise (talking, singing, mumbling, humming) he makes, but other than that, it has been SO good. We have talked, laughed, and reconnected. I have been impressed with my daughter’s wit and it has given me great pleasure to see evidence of how my son has grown up this year. It has been so nice to just be, just be a family.

It’s nightime, the kids are in bed with their books and I am sitting here on their deck, drinking a glass of red, typing away and I can hear the ocean in the background. It’s magical. Thank you K & C!!!