It has been a week of mishaps.

 It started on the eve of our anniversary, when I scalded my arm. 

It was dumb, really. We were parked at an angle in the middle of this one horse town. I was heating up lunch (leftover beef and barley stew) and when I lifted the lid the whole pan slid… and I, like a fool… tried to catch it.

Yeah.

From my wrist to the elbow of my left arm took the brunt. I was screaming for Tony to “GET MY BRACELET OFF!!” before the skin came with it. Kids were scrambling for frozen peas, towels and a spatula to clean the mess with.

And so began two days of intense pain and a week of working around big blisters on my  wrist.

Happy Anniversary.

And then there was Gabe.

I swear my boys have taken it as a personal mission to test the healthcare system on every continent they pass through. At least this time he only required one stitch.

An otherwise quiet afternoon was punctuated with, “OUCH! Uh… Mom… I’m bleeding. A lot…” Sure enough. He’d been carving away on a piece of driftwood, magically transforming it into a wooden spoon when his very sharp, curved carving tool slipped and punctured the meat of his right hand, between his thumb and index finger.

We are happy to report that NZ has excellent healthcare. We waltzed into a random doctor’s office, presented the problem and in less than twenty minutes had been seen, sterilized, stitched and sent on our merry way. Total cost: $25 NZ. Unlike Elisha’s adventures in Guatemala, but that’s another story.

With two dishwashers “down,” the remaining kids are feeling the pinch. Ezra has the look of a man in the market for an injury; not a bad one, mind you, just one bad enough to get out of the extra dishes he’s inherited.

We also got our first ticket.

Not for picking up hitchhikers, although the police did stop, blue lights rolling, to find out what the heck we were doing with the two German girls being herded into the belly of the Thunder Pig. It was later that day, when the kindly officer pointed out that our registration is overdue. We thought it wasn’t up until June.

“Next time I have a dream about getting a ticket, I’m not driving the next day!” Tony grumbled as he stuffed the paperwork into the glovebox and we rumbled off.

Never a dull moment.

And also, I sprained my ankle.

Yep. Fell right out of the camper door over the pile of *insert expletive here* shoes and something popped. Not good.

It’s been raining, and raining, and raining. The hot springs we were so excited to hike to were more like lukewarm springs. Oh yes, and Tony is sick. He never gets sick, but he’s got a cold, or something that makes him snif every five seconds, keeps him awake at night and has reduced him to drinking tea with local honey. You know it’s bad if he’s drinking tea.

So… that’s us. And that’s why I haven’t been writing much this week. I’ve been too busy trying to keep us off the path of further destruction and get everyone well!

How ‘bout you? What have you been up to this week, in your corner of the world?