RIP CeeCee, Welcome Home Avril

Summer Vacation 2013

At the beginning of the summer, right as we found out we were pregnant and MrMoo was going on a trip to Australia for a family wedding this happened:

The car that we had saved months and months and months for was clipped as a big bus ran a red light. Thankfully the damage was minimal to the eye and MrMoo was perfectly safe, but the car was a write-off.

There went my dreams of road tripping around the South Island for our summer holiday. 

We appeased my disappointment  and a little stress of not knowing if we would be covered by insurance (thankfully the bus had a security cam which proved it was in the wrong), and then subsequent difficulty at finding a new car by planning a Stay-Cation!!

 It was a way to convince myself that even though we didn't have money, or a car, we could still enjoy MrMoos time off work and still make the most of it.

A(nother) list was written, this time with ideas and things around Christchurch that we could do together as a family. The list included things we already loved doing and things we had never tried before. We aimed to do at least one of them a day. We decided each morning what we would do depending on what the weather was like and what we felt like doing. We still planned (with ideas), but we were flexible and it worked best that way.

MrMoos fortnight off work was full of adventures and family fun. I fell in love with Christchurch all over again, and looked at my family through rose-coloured glasses.

We went to animal parks, swimming pools, drives (a friend who was away lent us a car!), walks, beaches, cafes and restaurants and berry fields. Most of it was new to us, and many were Christchurch's best kept secrets. I'll be sharing a few high lights later on in the week in my 2013 Summer Series. Most of what we did was for free, or costed very little.

And you know what? We found a new car! Her name is Avril, she was found at the very last minute, late at night, and before you knew it MrMoo was on a plane the next day to collect her. This buying a car business is cut throat stuff. We were sick of getting our hopes up for a car that was taken from our grasp so we made a quick decision and it payed off. We ended up getting a little extra money from insurance than what we payed for CeeCee and had a little in the bank so were able to upgrade our car a little and bring her home from Auckland.

She and MrMoo arrived home safely and the next day we went on a family trip to Akaroa for a few days over New Years.

[This week I'm reminiscing in my 2013 Summer Series. I had a great summer but most of it wasn't blogged about due to morning sickness. Here's my record!]