9 sleeps...

It's been a very busy day today, just carrying on getting the house sorted.  We put up Kate's shelves today so she could sort and empty the box of things out of the room that will be Ian's.  I also finished sorting through my wardrobe and bedroom shelves; the only things left hanging up are to go in the suitcase next week!  The mantelpiece is also clear so Fi can put up her own ornaments and photos if she wants to.

Kate and I also had a wonderful time this afternoon sharing a farewell high tea at Martha's Pantry with my Hutt Valley High School friends Jenna, Ria, Hayley and Gemma.  Thanks for a lovely afternoon girls!

All this has been done while dodging raindrops.  Clearly Wellington is setting out to show us the things we won't be missing!

Counting down - 10 sleeps left at home

It is starting to get real now, although there still seems to be a lot to happen before we go.  February has been a busy month with a number of milestones.

We had our 20th Wedding Anniversary on 15 February.  It seems strange that after 20+ years together, we are finally going to get to spend a year together - just us.  Hopefully this is the start of plenty more wonderful years together and not the start of driving each other crazy.  Thanks to Jared for starting work at 6.30am that day, we got to witness this amazing sunrise from the Wellington waterfront - we are surely going to miss this place.


Kate has also been busy.  She has taken the bull by the horns and proceeded to publish her book herself - in electronic format.  This means that for the bargain price of US$1.99 you could have your own copy of her first published work "Blackmoon".  It is teen fantasy and a page-turning read.  She really does have a knack with words and an interesting imagination.  It's at Smashwords.com - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/134303 and you'll find it for your Kindle, Ipad etc.

Four weeks to go

We are now just four weeks out from departure.  This seems like so little time and I started panicking about how much there was to do in such a short time - then I made a mental list and realised that actually I have done most of it.  So maybe the next four weeks will go quite slowly and allow us to spend time with our children and friends.  Yeah right.  Somehow I expect that these last four weeks will simply disappear in a blur, and while most of me is so excited to be going on this adventure, I am also beginning to realise just how much I will miss the kids. 

Just waiting

So many of us think being endlessly on holiday would be wonderful - and it's true that it's great to know I have time to do the mundane things like cleaning the house, keeping up with the washing and ironing, getting meals ready without frantically rushing etc. (actually that sounds suspiciously like being a housewife.  Hhmm.).  But it's also true that I really miss being at work. All my friends and colleagues are back at school today, catching up, sharing news, checking their class rolls and planning interesting classes (I hope!).  I wish I was too.  I know that in just over a month, when Grant is finally on holiday too and we have the excitement of travelling together and seeing all the wonderful new places neither of us have ever seen, I'll look back at this post and wonder what I was thinking!  Right now, I'd rather plan classes than clean the bathroom!

Trial run

I just need to practice including pics with my comments.  This one is to remind me of how beautiful my home city is.  This view was taken from Wright's Hill in my suburb.  Grant and I were getting some walking practise in before we start walking the rest of the world!

Counting down

We are a little over 6 weeks from departure now. I know the list of things to get done has got shorter, because I have done things from the list! Still, it seems as though there is still a mountain of tasks to get through before we can leave. Six weeks seems pretty short all of a sudden.

Next milestone

Well, it's 2012, the year of the excellent adventure. And we now have airfares booked and a proper leaving date. It's starting to get close enough to panic us into doing some stuff, like clearing the spare room ready for the kids'new flatmate, painting the garage, tidying up the garden ( although that one does seem a little futile, we don't hold out too much hope that the kids will really keep it up). At the same time, it's very exciting, and it's getting hard to wait!