Final Farewells

Sadly we said goodbye to the UK in July.  It was time for our family to move on to new adventures, but it was still very difficult!  There is so much we will miss.
Here was our farewell checklist:

1. Participate in some Olympic excitement

We enjoyed all of the patriotism this summer.  With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, there were flags, street party and displays all over town.  One of our favorite events was the Olympic torch coming through Harrogate.  The kids were released from school early and although the torch went right past our house, we met the kids at school and walked to a section of the stray reserved for Willow Tree Primary School students.

Clara, Jonas and Nell loved carrying around the flag.  It was a very exciting opportunity.

 

  

And off she goes...

I also loved all the flower beds and round-a-bout displays around town.

 

2. See the Ripon Horn Blower - once and for all

We had been meaning to go the entire time we lived in Harrogate and hadn't made it yet.  One night after a long day of cleaning our apartment we loaded up in the car and drove to Ripon.  Since 636 AD at exactly 9pm every. single. night. a town crier enters the town square and blows his horn one time on each of the 4 corners.  Historically it was to protect the town from Viking invasions since it is in the middle of 3 rivers and risk of invasion was great.  They were given a horn by King Arthur to blow each night and keep watch but that horn is now retired and on display in the town hall.  They are now on their third horn.  With the risk of Viking invasion having past, the horn blower no longer keeps a watch all night but does have to go blow his horn in front of the town mayor three times and declare that all is well.  Sometimes the mayor is at home and sometimes he is at a pub, the horn blower explained.  It sounds like quite the tradition.

 

The list of hornblowers dating back to 1815.

It is unfortunate we did not attend until our final week because it was so enjoyable and the horn blower so entertaining with his talk afterwards that I'm sure we would have brought all of our guests…sorry to you all!!

3. Ate our final fish and chips

Enough said.

4. Clean our apartment perfectly so we could get our full deposit back

We spent 3 full days cleaning our apartment down to every last centimeter.  Our poor children did great helping us and entertaining themselves in a very barren home.  One afternoon we put on a movie on the laptop and made a stand out of boxes so Nell couldn't turn it off.  I'm glad they were so easily entertained and didn't complain.  Of course, big and empty boxes are always fun.

Speaking of complaining.  When we were finally done and ready to leave with every last borrowed towel sopping wet, Devin went to wash out his bucket in the kitchen sink.  He turned it on like normal and the water faucet fixture flew up into the air and water was spraying our entire kitchen.  Ceiling, window, stove, carpet and countertops were dripping!  Devin and I looked at each other trying to decide wether or not to cry or laugh.  I'm pretty sure we split it up and each took one.  I'll let you guess who did what.

We did our best to clean up the mess and leave before anything else could happen.  As it turns out, two days after turning in our keys a main water pipe burst over our bedroom and flooded the entire room.  Had we been there, it would have ruined our bed and furniture.  Tim and Louise (the owners) couldn't wait to close and be out of the house the following week!

5. Settle into our 5 star mobile home

Yes, you read correctly.  Apparently it is possible in England to get a 5 star mobile home - I've never heard of that in the states.  We tried to find housing for the 10 days between being out of our apartment and when we would fly out but everything was booked due to a few events around the area.  After a couple of days of calling around, we found a "holiday cottage" but it was out of our budget.  Devin told him what we could pay and he agreed to accept that.  So…we spent our final 10 days in complete luxury. :)  Maybe not, but it was still fun.

The kids still had school and we were trying to tie up loose ends but we still managed time for a Sunday afternoon nap (for one of us) and walk around Rudding Park.

 

6. Final gymnastics show

Clara loved her time with the Little Gym.  This was her final performance.  She made some great progress and it was fun to see how much she loved it.  As I imagine is typical of sisters, anything Clara did Nell wanted to try as well.

 

 

7. Saying goodbye at school

Some of the very hardest goodbyes were to people at school.  It was hard for Clara to say goodbye to her best friend at school.  These two got along so perfectly.

 

It was hard for Jonas to say goodbye to his dear friends in class.  They loved to play horses together (the source of the cut pictured on his lip, in fact) and many other games.  He still talks about them.  Maybe not the best of Jonas here. :)

And then there were his aides and teacher.  I cried.  They cried.  We all cried.  It was hard - similar to how I felt when we left Jonas's therapists in Maryland.  Those ties with the people that have helped him day in and day out become intense and deep.  Not only do they develop a bond with Jonas but they become some of my dear friends.  Saying goodbye and not knowing when or if we would see each other again was just so hard.  Here they are, the people who loved and served Jonas daily.  They were patient, firm, listened to each and every one of my concerns and were instrumental in helping Jonas make amazing progress.

Mrs. Lazenby who worked with him from the very very beginning.

Mrs. Farrier who only worked with him for a few months but developed a wonderful relationship with him.

Miss. Doherty, his wonderful and compassionate teacher.

We still miss them!

8. Saying goodbye to Harrogate

Our final night we walked around town and found these huge green chairs we enjoyed taking pictures in.

Then it was off to Betty's (where else) for a final meal.  Lastly, I did something I have been wanting to do for months - take pictures in the Harrogate picture frame.  We had these moustaches from my friend Mayka and this seemed like the perfect opportunity for them.  Funny thing is that two proper ladies passed by while we were doing this and, with Nell screaming, I don't think they were as amused as I was.  Oh, well!  It was worth it to me.

A pacifier was the only thing we could come up with to keep Nell from screaming which only added to the humor for me, a baby with a mustache sucking on a pacifier. 

 

But this is my favorite mustache picture...any ideas for a creative caption?

9. Make a scene at the airport

Yes, we never travel light.  BUT, moving is a whole different thing.  We knew we had to carry all we'd have for 2 months.  School would start, I needed to bring enough medical supplies to cover the lapse in services and then there are toys, clothes, shoes, etc.  Here's the run down:
3 carseats
7 suitcases
1 double stroller
1 wheelchair
1 walker
4 carry ons

We could barely move our entourage around the airport.  And then we had to re-check it all when we landed at our layover.  Fun, fun.  Here's what I've decided: things like this happen to keep me from getting too sad.  Rather than focus on leaving England I was able to focus on how difficult it was to get us all checked in.  It was crazy but it worked - even if we did have to buy an extra bag at the airport because that was cheaper than paying for overweight luggage!

We had 22+ hours of travel ahead of us which was daunting but our kids did really well.  Nell was super busy on the first flight but was relatively good.  Clara and Jonas did wonderfully!  We are now situating ourselves in Utah.  Thankfully a position was available for Devin to transfer to Utah for a few years. It was a hard decision whether or not to go to Maryland or Utah but this way we can have some time to live closer to family and let our children enjoy being relatively closer to cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents in Utah, Idaho and California.

Farewell England. Here's a sloppy kiss from Nell (one of her final kisses in the UK in fact).