Skulstads in New Zealand: Crazy New Year Happenings

Cate at Sumner beach with Erik, Ben, and Mags in background

It's been awhile since our last post. There are plenty of reasons. Life has been utter turmoil since just after Thanksgiving. December 20th was the last day of school and the beginning of Summer Vacation. BUT since it's December, it was also Christmas shopping/cooking season! And we had a week long camping trip planned for between Christmas and New Years. But then all that was screwed up. About a week before school got out, we got a call from our property management company that our rent was going up more than $400 per month starting in Feb. So, we decided that the house was not worth renting at $2400 every 4 weeks! But there is a huge housing crunch here. Erik summed it up by saying that getting a rental house is like interviewing for a job with 50 other highly qualified people. We waited until after Christmas and then, having cancelled our vacation, started our house search. We started by looking in the school district we were already in but couldn't find anything at all. We ended up searching all of Christchurch and even in the Selwyn district West of town. We looked and looked. When we found one that we liked but that would add 20 or more minutes to Erik's commute, we were outbid. Yep, people set an asking price for their rental but it's such a tight market that you go to the open house and then you write on your application how much MORE you're willing to pay. We lost out on that one after bidding more than $400/month higher than asking! I was about to give up hope when Erik got a call from a guy renting his house in Sumner. It was smaller than what we wanted but it was one block from the beach. AND it was LESS than we were prepared to pay. So we asked to rent it and the landlord said he'd already had offers but "I like the look of you." Sigh of relief! And some excitement about our new village, Sumner. That lasted at least a day.
Then, we started to think about the physical move. We had enough stuff to fill our 5 bedroom house and were moving into a 3 bedroom house! So then we started the long process of what my Mom always calls "de-junking" but this was extreme. Like we got rid of the piano. Not because it was "junk" but because it simply wouldn't fit. We also sold some other furniture and toys and tossed any clothes we could live without. Erik and I were going from walk in closet to regular closet with sliding doors. After that, it was packing and packing and packing! And then moving and moving and moving. It took three loads in the largest truck Erik could rent. The only thing that made it work was that some very wonderful friends helped move us. And one amazing friend helped me pack the kitchen on moving day and clean the new house before we moved our stuff in. Another came over to the old house and finished packing the last things - like toys and cleaning supplies. Erik and I haven't moved ourselves since Caty was maybe 3. Let me tell you that packing and moving with these three running rampant was horrendous. I wish I had taken some photos of the move to post them but I don't have any. I think the camera was packed at some point! :)
Did I mention that these activities completely overwhelmed our Summer and we didn't get to do anything much which was really disappointing since we waited all year for some decent weather to go do some traveling. Also, Cate and Ben and Maggie had to change schools. Again. So there was choosing and enrolling (enroling if you're spelling it Kiwi-style) in a new school, shopping for Cate's new uniform, finding a new preschool for Ben, getting him enroled (doesn't it look weird with one L?!), saying goodbye to his teachers and friends he just adores and who he was expecting to start first grade with in March. So he'll be at his new school in Sumner for 8 weeks and then will start at Cate's elementary school. In NZ you start elementary school on the day after your fifth birthday. So kids start year-round. He's excited to go to elementary and has started a series of visits to elementary to meet his new teacher and check out the playground and kids.

Caty's new school uniforms (hat is required outdoors)

I just gave up with Maggie. I'm keeping her home again for a while. She used to go to Ben's preschool for one day a week but I don't really care for the one he's at now so I'm looking around before I start Maggie. She likes staying home with me. She yells: NO SCHOOL! If you even talk about sending her to school. Life is good at home I guess.
Now, once we were moved in and mostly unpacked - which took about two weeks, we were able to really enjoy life by the beach. We probably even have a few good weeks of sunny weather before Fall really sets in.
A warning to friends: we no longer have a guest room! But don't let this stop you from visiting, there are some cute bed and breakfasts in the neighborhood. :)