First days back

My idea of waking everyone at 9 or 10 on Tuesday morning - just 6 or 7 hours after getting them to bed - went out the window when I surfaced at that time and realized how exhausted I was. Hezekiah was also sleeping so very well that I decided to give him the solid rest he needed (and take it for myself too). He had a wonderful 8 hours of solid sleep and I benefited from that too.

Brendon was up at about 10 but the rest of us emerged just before 12 to have our breakfast / lunch. Ruth said "our meals are all mixed up". I was hopeful we would get it sorted out soon.
We had an excellent afternoon. All the holiday washing got done. All folded and ready to be packed away - the only problem now is that we never really got the clothes draws sorted before we left. So that will have to take time to get sorted. All but one bag got unpacked but a lot of clothes are in piles waiting - like the washing - to find a place. When we left all the winter things were packed up high in the cupboards and on our return we need them all down - it's been really chilly here lately.
Rachel even made dinner (bangers and mash) so that Brendon and I could get the very long grass cut and raked up. Both Lynn and Kerry had said they had wanted to come and cut it for us while we were away but it had been so wet that they did not even get a chance.
Wednesday got started at a much more normal hour as we all got to bed at our regular times last night. Sure - Brendon got to sleep in - but sleeping till 7am is really sleeping in for him. Hezekiah struggled at one point - thinking it was time to wake up - so we just kept him in bed with us so that we did not have to get up to give him his dummy. It made a very cute photo in the morning.
It was a quite morning for the younger girls. Hannah got sick in the night and was still not feeling wonderful this morning. So I put a movie on for them to watch (and kept the bucket close).
Ruth even fell asleep while watching - so she obviously needed to catch up a bit still.
We were blessed with another beautiful clear and warm day.
This allowed us to get the grass cut again. This time at the normal setting as we had to do it higher yesterday. There was still too much grass to leave it though and Rachel helped with picking up the piles in the afternoon. I think she is wanting to be as helpful as she can around the house so that she can get to go to the horse again. She went this morning for the first time and is so excited about riding. I also got another load of washing done (extra sheets and things from last night that were not a part of the plan) and thankfully they were all dry before the light drizzle we got later on. I know it has not been great for the locals to have such cooler weather - but I am so very thankful for it after the boiling hot days we had in SA.
Thursday and Brendon was back to work. We are all pretty much back into NZ time.
Rachel went off for horse riding again at 10am. I think we have finally found her "fast" button. It's amazing how much she can get done by 9am when there is a horse to ride at 10.




And just look at the weeds. This was the section we did NOT get to weed and cover with boxes and straw before we left compared to the area that was done.














It cooled off quite a bit by the end of the day and so the girls got to use their jerseys that Nana made them.