To say that we arrived home and hit the ground running is putting it mildly. Because of my having booked our family holiday so in advanced it meant that my kids missed the first week back after a three week winter holiday. I know, I’m bad. Due to this poor planning, I was on a mission to get my kids back to school as soon as possible. Soooo, on the morning we arrived, yes after a gazillion hour journey, I sent them to school. Yep, we arrived at 5am, were picked up by my in-laws, had breakfast, showered, and off my cherubs went. Please do not tell the authorities, but I came home a took a nap! STOP! Do not call the authorities I said. To be fair, the two of them slept on the plane, whereas I did not. I spent most of the flight being kicked by them so they could get comfortable on the sky couch. Also, I left my phone on in case the school called to tell me either of my children had fallen asleep. See I am a responsible mother!

This being our first year in NZ we have been met with a few surprises. The school system is somewhat similar to that in Australia, but there are a few differences. One of them is the School Cross Country Races. In Australia the kids had a fun sports carnival starting in Year 3. No scores were kept and the distances were just across part of the cricket field.  But here, Year 1 students and up are expected to race cross country. Year 1 ran 1.5K and Year 4 ran 2K. All students are mandated unless there is a doctor’s note.

We had an idea this was coming because on the day we left for our holiday there was a homework assignment for Lana to run 10 times for 10 minutes at a time while on holiday. Unfortunately, I got the note while we were on our way to the airport and her running shoes were at school. Although she did log about 150 hours swimming in the pool, we only did about 3 workouts. Okay, so maybe I am a bad mother.

So day two of being home I go to pick Nuno up from school and he says, “Mom, can we go on a trip again?” To which I respond that we are going to Portugal next year. He then replies, “No mom, I want to go away not this Friday, but next Friday. I want to leave the country.” The date he was requesting we not be in town coincided with the date of the upcoming Cross Country meet! So I respond, “Training didn’t go so well.” And he says, “No mom, it didn’t. I hated it. It was horrible.”

Lana was not so excited either. On the day of the race she was all good to go until we headed out the door and she broke down. And let me tell you it ain’t pretty when that girl gets upset. She doesn’t just cry. Nope, she argues. So every sympathetic, sweet, supportive thing you say is met with an argument. People, we have a lawyer on our hands.

So it was with great pleasure that we arrived at the school and saw Lana looking like this.

She was in among her friends and actually looked excited.

The course was not an easy one. And it was a cold day. One of the coldest on record. Oh, and did I mention the mud? The mud where kids where losing their shoes before having to run up the hill?

So it was about this point where we caught up with her. This point where we were being dutiful parents attending a Cross Country Race cheering our daughter on. It was this point where she laid into me telling me off. Yep, that’s her walking up the hill, telling me I lied. That this is NOT fun, that this is horrible….

How do you answer to that? You don’t. You just clap, smile and continue to cheer. And she kept going and finished the race. She was 13th out of 13, but I think deep down she was still proud of herself. It is her sweet friends and teachers cheering her on that pushed her through the end of the race. Well done Lana!

Nuno spoke to his vovo the morning of the race and informed him that he expected to win because in his words, “I am speedier.” Not wanting to discourage my son, but still prepare him for what was sure not to happen, I just reminded him that the purpose of the day was to work on one’s fitness level not necessarily win the race. Well he went out there and gave it his all.

The woman in green is my friend Joss who was cheering Nuno on. It was actually very cute seeing the parents shouting out every boy’s name not just their son’s. And the boys all ran their little hearts out. Especially Nuno….