First Days in NH

Thursday, June 16

Spent much of the day cleaning and preparing to leave for NH. It was another super hot day, not the day to be vacuuming the entire house, but so it goes. We went to the pool in the early afternoon and then the girls had piano lessons. We had yet another random dinner of stuff we foraged from the fridge: I haven't grocery shopped or cooked all week.

Friday, June 17

Andrew came home from CA this morning and joined me in final leaving-the-house preparations. The girls both had a tennis lesson, then we took a final swim (well, final for the next month). Again, a random dinner. Andrew and I had the very fun task of putting the roof-rack bars I bought at a yard sale onto the Volvo--not as easy to install as they seemed, but we did it. Our roof bag, which on previous trips caused lots of stress by constantly appearing to be about to fly off the car, now nestles right in the middle of the roof bars and seems much more secure. We're ready for the ten-hour drive to NH.

Saturday, June 18

We drove eleven hours to NH with all four of us, Farrah, and Nutmeg. It was actually much less arduous than we'd expected. Greta sat in the third row with Nutmeg's cage partially on the seat beside her. Lucia sat in the second row with Farrah. Andrew and I sat in the front. The girls had audiobooks and shows to watch and music to listen to. Andrew and I listened to a podcast. We stopped for lunch and once more for a bathroom break. Not bad at all.

I've been worried about this journey with Nutmeg for weeks, reading probably too much online about how stressful long car rides are for rabbits and how disruptive travel can be on their fragile systems. I planned Nutmeg's journey as well as I could. She had a medium-size cage outfitted with a hay feeder, a litter box filled with hay, a water bowl that attached to the side of the cage, and her hop-n-flop. She went into her cage without any issue and didn't seem upset. She ate hay throughout the drive, some dill and treats, and even flopped a few times. When we arrived in NH and released her into the bedroom that will be hers and the girls', she ran all around exploring, pooped everywhere, and ate a salad. So much for being so stressed she'd stop eating and go into GI stasis. I'm starting to think the rabbit Facebook groups might not be the best source of information. Both Nutmeg and Farrah are exceptional travelers.

Sunday, June 19

Andrew got to celebrate Father's Day by spending a few hundred dollars on basic grocery and toiletry items at Walmart, stuff we couldn't fit into the car to bring with us since Nutmeg's cage took up most of the car space. He also had the pleasure of going to a Tractor Supply in a nearby town to get pelleted horse bedding (Nutmeg's litter) and a big bag of hay. Good times. We spent the day settling in. The house looks the same as always. Andrew found only one dead mouse. It's quite cold here, and we packed only warm-weather clothes. I feel like I make this mistake every single year.

Farrah played so much in the yard that she fell asleep in my arms that night, with her head on my shoulder.

Monday, June 20

A lovely day. Cool and sunny. We read books, played Chinese checkers, set up our hammocks, and played with Farrah in the yard. The girls played on the floating dock for a long time. Andrew grilled burgers for dinner and then we made s'mores around the firepit. 

The girls and I are all doing Duolingo Spanish this summer. Though I am phobic of actually speaking a foreign language, Duolingo is pretty fun. 

What we're reading:

Lucia - The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid

Greta - Aru Shah #5 (she's reading so much so quickly this summer--she's already racked up 2,000 pages)

Margo - just finished Happy-Go-Lucky (new Sedaris) and started Pachinko

Andrew - finished Crossroads (Franzen) and is about to start a Civil War history that has a man's attempt to grow a crop of hay on an old battlefield serve as a kind of allegory for that battle?!? The back cover summary is so insanely boring that Andrew had a laughing fit while reading it to me, fully acknowleging its absolute snooziness