Roxy and Pietie ( Amherst , USA )
It ’ s a whole new world for the Coetzee-Turner family as we departed Johannesburg June 2019 and landed in the student town / countryside of the Connecticut river valley in Amherst , USA . Our journey to the Valley , was initiated by a job opportunity for our family as well as chasing the prospect of quality family time . Pietie began her career with the division I , UMass Amherst field hockey team as their assistant coach , and is in her 3rd season . I commenced my assistant field hockey coaching a with division III , Amherst college , spent a season there before taking a full time roll of looking after our children during the pandemic . I have since joined UMass Amherst as their second assistant coach . It ’ s a full family affair now , patriotic to the UMass community .
While in the States we grew our family of three to five . Scoddy , our oldest daughter , welcomed the twins Maxi and Jesse to the family . Sadly , we lost our son Jesse to congenital heart disease . He did not survive his surgery needed at the time . It ’ s a driving force to live and love on our family continuously . We grab life by the horns , and it ’ s been non-stop adventures of hiking trails , forest explorations , pond swims , winter fun , apple picking , vegetable gardening and the occasional flight to holiday destinations such as Virginia Beach and Tampa Florida .
The adjustment for us has been challenging and somewhat refreshing . The biggest - being a summer creature – has been the grueling minus temperatures on most winter days . However ,
the first fall of snow brings a whole new beauty to the freezing cold and welcomes in the winter sports . We have begun to embrace the sports of snowboarding ( Piet ) and sledding with the fun of snowman building and snow fights . Culturally we are fully engaging in the Halloween scene , pumpkin carving , Thanksgiving and Christmas tree cutting . Hot coco , matching family Christmas pjs and movies are our new December normal .
The biggest and most refreshing changes for us , is the easy accessibility to nature , the freedom to explore , slow pace and family orientated life . We are now active wild bird watchers , social fishermen , forest explorers and have even indulged in a season of forest school as a family . Both being heavy into competitive sport - Ironman , marathons , hockey and Apocalypse Cows to mention a few – we have had to adjust . We now take on quick trail runs and online strength training ( in our lounge ). Our biking commutes to work have evolved into frame attachments for the children : one on the back and one on the front . The most exciting addition is a station wagon for school runs and exploring .
The future is bright for us and our active family . Although we parents are not fully committed to achieving fixed goals as we once were , we are happy carting our children to gymnastics , soccer , hip hop dance , mini hockey and forest walks / run / bikes . Our return to the big stage will come again . Watch this space .
62 Cow and Belle | October 2021