Day 145 - Rainy Days, New Connections, and Finding a Rhythm

Woke up to drizzle this morning, so it was a slow start. The usual routine kicked things off, coffee, checking work emails, and trying to get things moving again on that front. It’s been about six months since my survey board interview, so I’m pushing to line up the remaining plans I need and get some momentum happening.

We headed up to check if Emmett’s 9:30 tennis lesson was on, but no luck, cancelled because of the rain. The pool was still closed too, so that ruled out a few options for the kids.

Kia and I decided to make the most of it and head to the gym. The kids went down to the Fun Academy, which I still somehow manage to call the wrong name every time. Kia smashed out a quick half-hour session before heading off to her class, and I stuck around a bit longer. Got in about 45 minutes of strength work and then jumped on the indoor bike for 15 to 20 minutes.

I did a bit of a VO2-style ramp, nothing too serious, just enough to feel it. Definitely a long way off where I was when I was riding a lot back home, but it felt good to move again.

After that, I went down to the Fun Academy to catch up with the kids. They’d already teamed up with another boy and were deep into air hockey. I ended up chatting with his dad for a good hour. They’re from the UK, travelling in a campervan, and have been on the road for a similar amount of time to us.

It’s always good meeting families doing something similar. You pick up little bits from how others are travelling, what’s working for them, and what’s not. Their son got along really well with Maddie and Emmett, so that was an easy win. He’s doing some cooking classes here too, which the kids are keen to jump into.

We all walked back together after the Fun Academy closed, then settled in for lunch.

Just before the afternoon kicked off, Kia spent some time working on getting her kinesiology business back up and running remotely. She was looking at reaching out to past clients and people she studied with to line up a few test sessions and get things moving again. You could see the shift straight away, she’s getting excited about it, and it feels like something really positive to add into the mix while we’re away. It’ll be good for her to stay sharp and build a bit of momentum again.

The afternoon kind of took care of itself. The rain eased off, but the sun never really came out. Didn’t matter though, the kids were gone most of the afternoon, just roaming, playing, doing their thing with the other kids.

I got stuck into a bit more work, sent out some emails, put a post up looking for freelance work, and actually had a few responses come through. So that turned into a bit of back and forth, which was good.

Around three, the Norwegian family organised some games for the kids. Perfect timing. Everyone was starting to look for something to do, and it brought everyone together. The kids ran around for an hour doing organised games, and then just kept going, making up their own for another hour after that.

I ended up playing ping pong with the Norwegian dad and another dad from Israel. Safe to say I didn’t win a single game. Not even close. Definitely something I need to work on.

By then it was getting late in the afternoon. The kids were still going, parents were hanging around chatting, and it just had that easy, community feel about it.

Eventually we called it and headed home to sort dinner and wind things down. The kids were still out roaming until about 8, and we had to go track them down and bring them back.

A lot of the other kids here stay up pretty late, but we’re trying to keep some sort of routine. Even then, it’s still pushing past 9 by the time they’re in bed. By the time Kia and I get a bit of downtime, we’re not getting to sleep until 10:30 or 11 most nights.

The upside is we can sleep in when we need to.

Rainy day overall, but one of those good ones. Good conversations, new connections, a bit of training, the kids doing what they do best, and a few new ideas starting to take shape.