Day 134 - Family Runs, Schoolwork and Small Wins on the Road

Day 134 started the way most of our days have lately, rolling out of bed around 8, coffees in hand, easing into it. But for once, everything aligned. No rain. No convincing needed. Everyone was keen to run.

It had been a few days of wet weather, so just seeing clear skies lifted the mood straight away. Maddie was pumped to wear her new running outfit she’d picked out, Emmett was keen to keep ticking off his runs on the spreadsheet he and Kia have been tracking, and I was just happy we were all getting out together again.

We stuck to our usual rhythm, mixing 200–300 metre runs with 100 metre walks, and knocked out about 2.2km. Nothing crazy, but it’s building, and more importantly, it’s consistent. That’s the main thing right now.

Back home, Emmett and I did our usual quick dash to the shop for fresh bread rolls, then I got stuck into cooking omelettes for everyone. Simple, but it’s become a bit of a routine now and just works.

After breakfast, we split into roles. Kia jumped into content mode, working on Instagram and YouTube, while I set up the kids’ schoolwork and sat down with them to get through it. They’ve been doing really well with it lately, getting stuck in and staying focused, which makes a big difference to how the day flows.

At some point we realised we needed cash, mainly because we’ve got no dryer at the place we’re staying and nothing is drying inside. There’s only one ATM in town and of course it wasn’t working, so we had to jump in the car and head about 20 minutes to the next town over.

Maddie and Emmett came with me, and it turned into one of those drives that ends up being more enjoyable than expected. Google Maps took us through a maze of back streets and narrow roads, but it was actually pretty cool. The town itself had a great feel to it, with a big church right in the centre and a tall bell tower overlooking everything. Proper old-school Italian vibes.

The first ATM we tried wasn’t what we were after, so we had to track down another one, but we got there in the end. Mission accomplished.

Back at the house, Kia was deep into washing and doing the back-and-forward to the laundromat to use the dryers, which was the whole reason for the cash mission in the first place. Meanwhile, the kids and I kicked the soccer ball around out the front in the little courtyard area, but after hitting a few too many cars, we figured it was time to move.

We headed down to a big open paved area near the beach and had a proper kick there. Plenty of space, maybe too much space, because the ball was going everywhere. Emmett ended up doing a heap of running chasing it down and completely cooked himself, so we called it after a while and headed back.

By the time we got home it was around five. The kids had had a solid day. Good run, productive schoolwork, a bit of adventure, and plenty of movement.

We let them settle in with a movie while I started dinner, kind of half-watching and half-cooking, going back and forward between the two. Kia was still upstairs working on video edits, but earlier in the afternoon we’d all recorded voiceovers for an intro video we’re putting together. We’d written a script and each of us read parts of it, and when she called me up to listen to the rough cut with the video overlay, it was actually really good. Funny, a bit raw, but it feels like us. Keen to see how it comes together.

Dinner turned out great, movie was a hit, but the kids have been pushing bedtime a bit lately and it’s been catching up with everyone. So tonight we pulled it back and made sure they got to bed early. Felt like it was needed.

If the weather holds like it did this afternoon, with the sun finally coming out and the wind dropping off, we might head back to the grotto tomorrow for a swim and try to get Maddie jumping in again. But we’ll see how the morning plays out.