Homecoming

While our North Island trip was amazing and fun and we were sad to see it end, it was nice to come home to our new house with improved floors at the same time. We got home on Saturday evening, unpacked, ooh'd and aah'd over our now sanded, stained, and gleaming hardwood floors, cleaned a little, and went to bed exhausted. We then spent Sunday doing some serious cleaning (it needed it) and grocery shopping as our supplies were pretty much non-existent. The house looked great after much dusting and scrubbing, and we even took all the rugs and curtains outside to beat, vacuum, and air out. So, the house also smelled better (it was a little musty after being closed up for so long, and the floors smelled like varnish).


Unfinished floors when we moved in


Finished floors

During the week, we didn't do much, recuperating from our trip, getting back into the routine of work, and loving all of our new space. The following weekend, we hit up the farmers market for the first time in quite awhile. Berries and stone fruits are now in season, so we bought raspberries, blueberries, and kakana (I think) berries, which are a tasty cross between boysenberries and blackberries. There were also tons of apricots, nectarines and peaches. It's fun to go to the market and wonder what will be new every week! As this is also strawberry and cherry season, the are street vendors selling them daily for pretty cheap, so we have had a fridge well stocked with fruit for the last couple of weeks! The cherries here are amazingly good, huge, dark red, juicy, and sweet. And the strawberries are equally as good. You can smell them just walking down the street!
We also did some work on our gardens, which was a fun new thing for us to do.
Last saturday, we decided to take advantage of our out-of-control backyard mint bush and invited our friends over for burgers (cooked on our newly acquired barbecue!), Craig's german potato salad (nice and vinegarry, complements of the family recipe), yummy brownie, pudding, and strawberry dessert (thank you for discovering that recipe Todd!), and mojitos. This turned out to be a great combination for our first gathering in the house. We managed to finish off an entire bottle of rum with the mojitos and made a large dent in the food supply.
The next day, we hiked up to a new mountain biking path that looked challenging but cool. We were looking forward to trying it out, and Craig did the following evening, with Dan. Good decision by me to not go as it turned out. Craig arrived home a couple hours later, holding his arm gingerly with a pained expression on his face. Turns out, the trail was extremely difficult and both he and Dan took some falls. Unfortunately, the last fall for Craig was particularily nasty. He described it as flying over his handle bars, landing on outstretched arms, and then with all of his weight on his right forearm which was on a log. So, looking at his arm, a fracture was definitely a possibility. Luckily, after a restless night for him, a couple of people at work determined it was not broken, applied a laser treatment to aid in healing, and after a couple days, his arm was about 95%.
So, we were able to enjoy a sunny evening midweek by going surfing. We both still stink but are showing signs of improvement. Craig actually stood on his board for about 6 seconds, a new record. And I actually got my feet on the board a couple of times instead of just kneeling. Take note that 50% of the time, my feet were on the board but I was upside down but this was deemed as success nonetheless!
This weekend is just winding down (it is Sunday night). Friday night we tried out a new japanese restaurant for appetizers of crispy squid tentacles, octopus balls, "flash" spring rolls, spicy pork, shrimp skewers, grilled meat skewers, seafood mix, and chicken something. They were mostly pretty good but small portioned so we moved on to another restaurant for pizza and chocolate cake for dessert.
On Saturday, we drove over to Queenstown to pick up a kayak for Craig. I had forgotten how beautiful that drive is, and it was nice to go over that way in summer. Previously, we had only been there in winter to ski. We ate a Thai dinner there, and walked around down by the water and in the gardens until his boat arrived. Then back in the car for a rainy drive home. Craig was dying to try out the new toy and took it out on the harbor today. So far so good, and he was excited to be back in boating action.
No plans for this week. My brother Andy arrived in Christchurch on Friday after some difficulty with cancelled flights in the States due to the freezing temps. Speaking with him on Friday night, he was tired and sunburned (big change from home!) already, and getting ready for bed at 6pm. Ahh, jet lag. He leaves for his 10 day hiking trip tomorrow (Monday) and we will meet up with him next week, which will be fun. Our first visitor!
Hope all of you in the northern states are staying cozy and warm. And Go Steelers!