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A Canterbury family has had an emotional reunion after spending nine months trapped on opposite sides of the Tasman, separated by closed borders from Covid-19.
Craige Ivicic hadn’t seen his 4-year-old twins since February, but the time of separation was quickly forgotten when he was spotted at the Christchurch airport on Friday night.
His mother, Jessica Ivicic, said Xavier and Jaxon immediately ran toward him. “They haven’t left his side since,” he said.
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Craige Ivicic said he couldn’t stop crying when he was reunited with his twin sons.
“Now we feel like a family. It feels like the boys got their father back. “
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The family separated when Jessica, a Kiwi, moved with the children to Geraldine, South Canterbury in February.
Craige, an Australian citizen, was supposed to follow from Perth a couple of months later, but was trapped when the borders were closed.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
The Ivicic family was reunited at the Christchurch airport on Friday night after nine months apart.
The family spent a stressful few months applying for and being rejected for border waivers before the government relaxed its rules on partner entry into the country.
But they still had to navigate the stress of the managed isolation reserve system.
Jessica said it was hard to get excited until her husband was in the country: “Anything could still happen.”
“[When] we picked him up at the airport and that’s when he sank: he’s here, he’s at home. “
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
It’s been all smiles since the Ivicic family reunited.
Craige said he couldn’t stop crying when he saw his children again at the airport.
“They had not forgotten me, their smiles were incredible.”
Their personalities have changed a lot in the last nine months, he said, they are much more brash than the last time he saw them.
But Craige is determined not to dwell on what he missed: “That’s in the past, I’m here now.
“We definitely have a lot to catch up on, that’s for sure.”
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Craige Ivicic says he can’t wait to make up for lost time with his kids.
The days since arriving in New Zealand have already been filled with milestones. On Monday she took the children to kindergarten for the first time. That was “amazing,” he said.
And on the weekend they would go to the park to remove the training wheels from the boys’ bikes.
They had been ready for a while, Jessica said, “but we didn’t want to do those special things without dad.”
“I didn’t want to call him and say, ‘Boys can ride bikes now.’
Jessica said her life had also “gotten a lot easier instantly” with Craige there to share the burden of parenting.
“I am no longer a single mother.”
