Too Fast

I've been thinking about blogging for about three weeks now. I'll see things that remind me, or make me think: "I should blog that", but for some reason, the actual blogging has not taken place. We have been really busy, and, for the most part, sick. I guess the sickness is pretty self explanatory, but the busyness of late has been more than the usual.

Allow me to explain. Back in March, my younger sister was up from Melbourne and we were all having family dinner. It was a Friday night. Parents, us, Fiona, Sarah, her Steve and Hugo. The topic of Christmas came up. Fiona had realised she would have time off this Christmas and asked about our plans. It was a strong likelihood that Sarah and I (both married), were going to be spending Christmas with the in-law sides of the family, not in Brisbane.

So Fiona announced she wouldn't bother coming up then, but travel somewhere else. At which point my parents said they would also travel, since no one was going to be a round. And suddenly, in the strange commotion that is a loud semi-Greek family having dinner, we were talking about a white Christmas and Sarah was looking at air fares.

By the following Monday, people had begun to book. In less than a week, everyone was going.

Unbelievable.

In fact, we had organised air fares and accommodation in about two weeks. Then it took me a good three months to get my head around the fact that we were actually going. Passports were organised and the months ticked closer. (Honestly, the passports have so far been the funniest part; getting the girls to stand still for their photos. They took it so seriously, and I was dying of laughter as they over compensated with every movement. "Don't smile" was translated for Rachel as "scowl at the camera". "Sophie, tilt your head up a little" meant "look directly up at the ceiling with your entire face". Words can not describe how hilarious it was; they were just trying so hard.)

Then Steve came home from work one day and said he'd been asked to go to Seattle for six weeks. I can't say too much, because details are not finalised and there are some NDA's floating around, but suffice to say, I'm so proud of him and the work he has done to be selected to go. I pretty much have the best husband in the world. He was even leaning towards saying no because it would mean leaving me alone with the girls for six weeks. Such an amazing opportunity though.

So we re-looked at our travel dates. Now, Steve was going to be flying back from Seattle on a Sunday, and we would all be flying out to Budapest (on an extremely long 24hr flight) the following Friday. It just didn't seem like a great idea. So we looked at options and all of a sudden, we are extending our two week holiday by a week to include some time in the US.

What is this madness!?

It is madness. I still can not get my head around it. 2017 was supposed to be relatively quiet year!

Anyway, we've spent the last few weeks now planning not only for a white Christmas, but also time in LA and trying to figure out what it will look like to have Steve gone for six weeks. If the three weeks away with the girls wasn't complicated enough, it's even more complicated knowing you have to plan most things before Steve leaves so you can do it together.

We also have some small trips planned before we go too, can you believe it? We've had one already - heading up to Bundy for a long weekend for strawberry picking with friends. That turned out a little differently to what we expected but was a generally lovely time.

Our other getaway is for Steve's mum's 60th, which is at the end of October. Actually, Steve will leave for Seattle from there, so we have to pack a beach suit case for all of us, a Seattle work suitcase with whatever else fits for Europe for Steve and then I've got the left over suitcase with the rest of the Europe things in it at home. Can you see how this is more busy than usual? I'm so looking forward to that weekend though, with Steve's mum and John, Aroha and the kids too.

I think next year will have to be a quiet one, because this year is racing towards the end and it's all happening just a little too fast for me. Anyway, I'll endeavour to be a little more on top of things in the weeks to come. And really, when Steve is away, I'll have no excuse right? Because I'll have loads of free time in the evenings for productive things like blogging. :P