The term “Saga” might be a bit exaggerated when it comes to the packing required to go camping for two weeks, but it’s not that far out of the ballpark. I spent much of last week shopping for and assembling food (during Milo nap times). We pulled together our clothes on Friday and I had Milo’s and my stuff together neatly in a suitcase until Milo hauled it all back out onto the floor. He was quite pleased to pose for a picture with the fruits of his labor, the little squirt!

Jeremiah masterminded the car pack job. He’s been a stickler for organization in this trip’s car pack, for some unknown reason. He even got an ancient “chilly bin” (cooler) on Trademe to keep some food cool, and the usual miscellaneous bags for the rest of the food were replaced with banana boxes. The seat next to Milo is completely filled up to the roof, which makes me appreciate (with a grimace) the family minivan…. we aren’t quite THAT old yet. After a full day of driving from Christchurch to Nelson (what would have taken us 5 hours nonstop before Milo) the organization had broken down a bit and car-trip detritus floated around our feet–candy cane wrappers, knitting projects, books on CD, water bottles, toy cars–all pervaded by a slight hint of upchuck from the inevitable effect of windy roads on our son’s stomach. Tomorrow we start on the Abel Tasman trail, leaving the car to stew in the sun for 5 days. We’ll see what grows when we return.

Classic New Zealand combined, lambs grazing the vineyard floor. We actually don’t see sheep under the vines that often, so we thought it was a cute photo. Plus we had already stopped a dozen times today, what’s one more to snap a picture?