My generous mother has shouted all of us four girls and their families for a week in Fiji. That’s 8 adults and 5 kids. We are all really excited and it is great to have a week away together.

An early start for an early flight. We arrive in Nadi, Fiji at 11am. It takes a while to get bags, car all sorted and we go off to get some lunch. it wasn’t great but I think we are grateful that we are fed especially all the kids.

We go off and do a food shop before heading to our Airbnb. It is a whole house with a pool, close to a mangrove estuary in Nadi. The house easily fits us all in. There is even two kitchens, which we only utilise one of but it is handy having an extra fridge and lots of plates and cups.

The kids are straight into the pool. I join in too and it is rather busy keeping an eye on them all. I am pleased with the temperature it isn’t too hot. Sitting at 29 degrees and dropping to 20 at night.

The next morning we get an addition to our group. Keelans (Sarah’s husband) father arrives from America. It is a good surprise for the two kids. He is with us for the week.

A few of us head off to the local markets to get some fresh goodies. Rowan wants to cook a meal with all the stuff you can’t get back in NZ. The markets are huge and we spend hours getting lots of goodies. We end up splitting up so there is a lot of double ups but I am sure we will make our way through it. We got some more exotic fruits like soursop and star fruit. The pineapples are unreal, extremely sweet and tasty. It puts our fruit back home to shame. Rowan grabs enough food for us all for the next two days as a lot of things are closed on a Sunday.

We actually ended up going to the market twice today. I tried to capture the fruit bats, but they were flying too fast for me. There are heaps of cane toads about. The kids are loving seeing all the frogs and bats. We are keeping on top of the bug spray as there has been an increase of dengue and malaria in NZ from people coming back from the islands.

I noticed smoke earlier and assumed someone was having a fire and thought nothing of it. About half an hour later the Airbnb hosts came by to replace a gas cylinder and I went upstairs and I could see the flames from the balcony. I got everyone to come up and take a look. Rowan switched into gear and got us all to grab our passports just in case we need to evacuate. The fire is a bit close to comfort. Rowan and I end up going for a walk to see what is happening. The fire truck is here but they do not appear to be concerned at all. They are just keeping an eye on it and will only put it out if they need to. It is sugar cane fields that are on fire. It is normal practice to set them alight before harvesting. But unlike Australia where there are fire breaks there is no such thing here. We were all relieved when we saw the fire going in a different direction.

Lazy Sunday. No real plans today, we just hang around the accomodation. Kids are living in the pool. Rowan, Keelan, Fletcher, Lucian and I go out to try fishing. We end up under a bridge near a gated community a short walk away. We are there an hour when security shows up and tells us we are not allowed to fish here. In that time Keelan catches a large Barramundi. They tell us where we can go fishing, so we head that way. It wasn’t an issue at all, they were apologetic and so were we. We ended up fishing with a couple of local kids who we taught how to use a fishing rod. I think they thought we were a bit silly as Lucian got his lure stuck on a boat and they went swimming to unhook it for him.

Our evening changes from easy going happy times to worry. Nana is in the north shore hospital having tests done and mum gets a phone call to say she needs an operation now. There wasn’t really a choice, one was palliative care for a few days or the surgery. Yes the surgery does come with risks especially being 94. It is a huge shock and it was rather nice that us girls were all together when hearing about it. Trying to get our heads around it was impossible when just a few days ago she looked great. The surgeon waited while Nana made a quick decision to go ahead. They operated on her bowl as there was an intrusion that needed to be removed and there was uncertainty that could only be known once they had opened her up. Luckily it was a quick 30min operation that went very well and was better than what was feared. Mum decided she wanted to go home and be there, Rowan and I decided to go back too. I wanted to be there to support mum as well as Nana. My aunties have husbands while my mum doesn’t have that support.

We left the rest of the family to carry on with their holiday while we jumped on a plane Monday morning. We arrived in the hospital midday to see her bright eyed, no bushy tail yet. I couldn’t help but worry this is exactly what happened to grandpa, he came out good, got pneumonia and passed away. Wanting the nurses and doctors to keep a good eye on her and they did. They really kept a look out for infections and a close look on her lungs as she still had build up from pneumonia and already been on two lots of antibiotics for it.

Like taking a pet to the vet, Nana bounced back in true fashion and was out of the hospital after just four days. What a rock star! There is a bit more recovery to go and my mum and her sisters are putting things in place to make sure she is looked after.

Mums cousin Clinton took us out on his beautiful yacht for a few hours on Friday. We all had a great time and I think Clinton loved having an excuse not to go to work.

On Saturday morning we had a catch up with the rest of the Fiji crew to hear about the rest of the trip. I avoided looking at all the photos the last few days as it was hard not to be there. But I am really happy they had a great trip and I don’t regret coming back with mum.

Nana has been at my aunty’s house in Okura for a few nights while all the extended out of town family is in her home. With 7 kids, including three babies and 6 adults it wasn’t a full house but it is a lot when you’re in recovery.

We have been taking a few kids on our early morning walks.

I had a chance to see my bestie Sarah and her two kids at her place. It was great to see her, the kind of friend where it could be days or years since you caught up and it doesn’t matter.

Rowan and I also had a chance to catch up with his cousin Lynne who is out in Stillwater. We ended up having a great dinner and staying the night.

Sunday, Nana is on her way home and we head out of Auckland to spend some more time with family in Cambridge. The boys want Rowan to take them fishing!