July Updates

Well, after all of the excitement of visitors from home, reality set in. We now had 1 week until the movers arrived. This all seemed doable at the time, but then remembering that when we came here, we each had 2 suitcases plus a carry on and now the new airline restrictions are 1 suitcase. So we spent the weekend trying to sort out what each of us will need for the next 3 months, that can fit into a suitcase and weigh less than 50 lbs. There were some hard choices. In the middle of all of this, the kids were STILL in school(that is the recurring theme here) so we had to keep out a few extra pencils, markers etc as various end of year activities/projects came up. That said, Frank then had several emergency trips to Germany that week...he managed to be home the morning the movers arrives, but had to leave in the afternoon. We found out later some things that did/not get shipped from his office. But within 5 hours, our house was packed and we were back to camping with 1 pot, and everyone having 1 fork, cup, bowl and plate to their name. Having done it all before, everyone slipped right back into this Spartan living.

Now came the interesting part of selling our furniture, etc. It seemed daunting at first, but after the first few things sold, it became addictive. We've had fun posting things, watching the e-mails come in and then people show up with a van and cash and out life gets simpler and simpler.

School finally ended this week and we had lots of awards and general happiness all around. Bridget received the Math award and the Athletics award... funny, in case you don't remember that I spent the first 6 weeks we were here trying to convince them that she needed to be in a higher Math group, and, did I tell you all she broke/shattered the school record for javelin and did her own personal best by 22 cm!! Nick got his SAT's back..those big end of yr 6 exams that he had to take extra classes for all year. Well, he smoked them, getting 5's..the highest you can get. Matthew earned highest marks in his class, so all things considered we were feeling pretty proud !

Now we are vagabonds until we can get into our Seattle house on Sept.1. So, we will travel for the next few weeks. We leave on Tues for a week in Greece..never been, looking forward to some relaxing at the beach, then a week- 10 days touring through Northern England, the Lake District, Hadrian's Wall, Yorkshire and Scotland. All looks to be filled with hiking, biking and running around castles. We come home for a coupke of days..with any luck all of the furniture will be sold by then...and then fly out to Seattle on the 19th of August.

Poor Bridget has to hit the ground running, as she has her Freshman retreat starting on the 20th and then try-out week for sports on the 23rd. First Day is Aug.27th. I am sure she is up to the challenge. The boys and I will be busy getting new school supplies, clothes etc and driving by our house everyday looking longingly at it :)

I will try to post pictures of our travels, and keep you all posted on our whereabouts..so you can hide if you need to :) The clock is ticking and we can't wait to see all of your smiling faces. You will be happy to know that we are having a going away party here. Friends are giving it for us. It won't be quite the crazy Green Lake event, but we are looking forward to spending some relaxing time with everyone before we go. There have been so many great people who have opened their hearts and homes to us that we feel so grateful that the universe took care of us on this year of wild adventure!