This morning the postman delivered our stuff from BT to hook up the internet. ( I say ’stuff’ because I honestly don’t know exactly what it was…just that it meant that I’d have internet at home again ) Dave managed to catch him before he went off with our parcel and got us all hooked up again in record time.  I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to sort this kind of thing out myself. Ask Spencer, most likely.

Dave has given a good overview of the time since we left Maida Vale but I’ll add some more deets and some pics as well.

The day we left the flats ( Dec 22 I guess that was)  we stopped by the house before we headed off to Wales and it was really good to see the place again.  When we came to see it with the agent I instantly loved it but oddly didn’t give it a really thorough looking over because somewhere inside me I thought it was too perfect and so kind of just wrote it off.  Silly me…I should know better by now.  It was perfect and meant to be!    I had been mentally planning where all our stuff would go and it was good to compare my very inaccurate memory of the rooms with the real thing so I could think about it over the Christmas holiday and be ready to start telling movers where to dump stuff when they arrived.

The trip to Wales was uneventful.  Our new Purple People Mover got us the distance with no problems.  The exhaust system issue does give it a distinctive sound  though and Dave will need to get busy replacing it soon.  ( It has a very “Slagathror-ish” sound for those of you who might remember the big car  we had back in ‘90…Slaggy was a good car but the noise it made lived up to its name)   Dave’s printed googlemaps directions  were good right up until we got to Carmarthen and nearish to the cottage and then it all went kind of wonky.  I’m not the best navigator and somehow I tend to get worse when the turns on the road don’t match up with those on the map.  After a bit of driving back and forth on very narrow Welsh dirt roads in the dark we found the cottage.  This was our first ” self catering” rental and it was a fabulous experience and something I’ll defintely do again.  The farm was fantastic. Really everything I wanted for Christmas.  Quaint, old, charming and cozy with animals to check out and country roads to walk and explore and then a roaring fire to snuggle up by on chilly evenings.

If we hadn't seen this sign, I'm not sure we would have found it!

The front door...a welcome sight

The cottage is a converted carriage house, lots of original stonework is still visible. I never did get to ask Fiona how old it is

Interior of the cottage

Jesse's shirt says it all! Wales is Okay!

Spence kicking back after the long trip

Terran getting some kitty love

Momma and her baby

One of the many horses living on the farm

Highland cattle are freaky and smelly. You know the 'wet dog' smell? Well, imagine if that dog was a cow

up close and personal with our shaggy friend

Aidan having fun with cattail fluff

Mud puddles and Wellies! I love the trees reflected in the puddle

Jess noticed this cool tree in the yard

One of the buildings around the cottage

Welsh signage, lots of fun!

This little piggy...

Packing up to leave Washington it was in my mind that we’d be spending the holidays without our stuff but somehow that didn’t translate to the idea that I should at least pack up the stockings and things.  Dave and I ended up finding the mankiest looking cheapo-cheapo stockings at Woolies at their big close out sale for 77p.  They are ugly but they did the trick! The kids and I had sort of feebly made an attempt at making some homemade tree decorations when we were in Maida Vale but posh flats aren’t the place for messy crafting and besides, we didn’t have our craft stuff either.  We settled on buying some baubles and lights when we got our tree at the B&Q in Carmarthen and decided that while it wasn’t like our usual tree, it was lovely in it’s own way.

Brother love in the Purple People Mover on our way to get a Christmas tree

Dave taking a break from getting the lights on our tiny tree

Introducing...Bruce ( the Spruce) named by Terran

The stockings were hung by the woodstove with care

Taija and Aidan hanging out

We had a fun Christmas and a nice big feast on Boxing Day and then decided to head out and see some of Carmarthenshire the next day.  It turned out to be the coldest day since we’d arrived but we bundled up in coats and boots and braved the wind. We had a blast reading all the signs in Welsh and Jess and I put our love and knowledge of language to use trying to figure out words and pronunciations.   Wales is just littered up with Castles all over the place so we ventured to check out a few of them.  Our first stop was Dryslwyn Castle which was built c1250. Only a portion of a few walls still stands but it was well worth the cold, windy climb up the steps to see it.

Jess exploring the ruins

Cold and windy, but worth it!

Aidan and I ducked into a little alcove along the wall to get out of the wind

The sun is so low in the sky even though it is pretty early in the day

We warmed up a bit while we drove the winding country roads of Carmarthenshire to get to Paxton’s Tower.  We all bundled up again and braved the freezing walk up to the tower.  The tower was built circa 1808-1815 and was dedicated to Lord Nelson.

up the stairs in Paxton's Tower

Dave noticed that in the wind the ancient wooden floor was moving and decided to head back down

So cool!

At this point all the little kids were feeling done with ” old boring buildings” and were cold and Spencer had twisted his ankle when he fell in a frozen deer track on the way back to the car but Dave and Jess and I were feeling adventurous, wanting to see more of the beautiful countryside and we like old, boring buildings ( even ruins of buildings) so we ventured on a little further to Talley Abbey.  This abbey was founded for the Premonstratensian order by the Lord Rhys, between 1184 and 1189.  We had a laugh at the sign on the gate directing us  that if we wanted brochures we could get them ” at the house opposite”.

The Abbey grounds

Jess checking things out

Aidan and Terran climbing the walls

Snuggled up in his new scarf trying to keep warm

A good shot of the stonework

It is hard to take a bad picture with scenery like this

Spence is heading back to the car...he's had enough

There was no convincing anyone to brave the cold any further so we headed back home for cocoa and dinner and board games and telly.

The next day I decided ( despite some protests) to venture out again and try to check out Dinefwr Castle but when we got there we found that the centre was closed for Christmas and the Castle itself was situated so far back from the car park that none of us had it in us to do the big walk in the cold again and at that point even I had to agree with the littles that one stone ruin is much like the next.  We opted instead for pints and cocoa at a 600 year old pub.   The White Hart Inn and Brewery was warm and welcoming and just what we needed.  Dave and I are lovers of a good pub and a good pint and this was just the place to be on our last afternoon in Wales.

This is my attempt at getting a picture of the high hedgerows along the narrow roads while we're driving. I was fascinated by these. They look even niftier at night

Yes! This is the place. Pints and Cocoa and a bite to eat

Dave getting our orders so he can go place them at the bar. There is plenty to look at while we wait...just look at the ceiling!

hot cocoa and fish & chips with peas for Miss Taija

Terran in his new hat, showing us his placemat

sampling the hot cocoa

Spence is warming up

somethig from the bar?

The next day Dave had us all up and organised bright and early  and on the road.  We got a teeny bit lost making our way back into London but still made it back in time to meet the movers.  All in all the move in went well.  There was only damage to a few items which we’re still waiting on getting  settled up but otherwise it was all good.  In just 2 weeks ( and a long trip to Ikea) we’re pretty well moved in and unpacked.  We’re still without a few items like a telly and a microwave which Taija is lost without.  You’d think I was asking her to build fire in the hearth with nothing but flint and steel to heat her food the way she carries on about the inconvenience of warming things without microwave technology.  How did we ever survive in the days when we had to reheat leftover mac and cheese without one??  This brings to mind the time when Spencer was young and asked me one day ” Mom, did they have toast when you were a kid”?…sheesh!

All the rooms are in order but we have accomplished this by filling the back garden under the pergola with all the crap that we don’t want or which needs to go in the shed which was full of stuff when got here and currently looks like someone picked it up and shook it upside down so none of our stuff is going in there just now.  We’ll get to that when we get to it though.  When the movers were here I told Dave ( in a moment of craziness!) that I’d be happy if we were all settled in by next January so I guess we’re well ahead of schedule.

Moving day at last!

A wall full of bookshelves in the study. They'll soon be filled!

We're loving the interesting details in our old house, like this vacant/occupied sign on the door of the loo

Trying to get the kitchen together the first night we quickly realised that the high cabinets were just not going to cut it

That's better! All we needed was 5 hours at Ikea

Taija hanging out in the kitchen looking to be fed

Dave had a birthday on Saturday. I would say he celebrated it but he refused any celebration or acknowledgment of it .  Yesterday we had a nice Sunday family outing to Brockwell Park which is just a short walk from the house.  It’s a great little park for the kids to ride scooters in and will be good for walking our dog ( when we finally get one).

Our thoughts now turn to Robbie Burns suppers at the local pub, Spencer’s upcoming birthday and a trip to Paris for Jesse’s birthday next month.

Now that I’m back online and pretty settled in I must get better at updating more often so I can spare  you, dear reader ( and myself!)  the these mondo-posts.

We made it!  Tomorrow is the last day here in temp housing.  This is the 3rd time we’ve done the ‘ corporate housing’ thing and it never gets any easier.  We find it’s the same each time-  exciting and fun at first, like being on vacation, then we fall into a rhythm and it is fine but not exciting and then in the final week or two we’ve all had enough and find ourselves longing for our own digs and our own stuff.

Today we’re packing up in preparation for Monday when we’ll take whatever isn’t going with us to Wales over to the new house and let the kids finally see it.  We’re hoping to be heading off to Wales around noon on the 22nd.  We need to make everything that is going to the house fit in one trip and then somehow make everything that’s going to Wales fit in our new car with us along with all of us which is no easy task.   Yes, you read that right…we did get a car!   Dave found an awesome Toyota Previa on Ebay and went and picked it up last weekend.  It cost just over what we would have spent for a rental for our week in Wales and now we’ve got wheels to get us to France and to do some shopping for large items that we need to replace like a TV.

The new car! Not a good shot because I tried to get it at night in the pouring rain when the kids were getting in to go to the movies, but there it is.

Terran out for the first ride in the new van.

Jess out for a ride ( also this seems to be the last pre-haircut shot of him!)

We took the new van for a spin last Saturday down to Streatham to the cinema.  We all went to see Inkheart and drove the kids by the new house and around our new neighbourhood since they hadn’t see in.  Seeing the house made them even more eager to be able to go inside and check it out!

We’ve had a a lot of fun down here in the heart of the city and seen some fabulous sites.  We managed to take in a few attractions and museums and see a few cool things.

Some highlights

• The V&A Museum
• The Science Museum
• The Natural History Museum
• A walk along the Mall and up to Buckingham Palace
• Winterwonderland in Hyde Park as well as feeding birds and squirrels there.
• St. James Park
• Trafalgar Square
• We got to see the London Eye, Madam Toussaud’s and a bunch of other stuff but haven’t fully experienced those yet. They are still on the to-do list!

Here’s a massive photo recap of our time in Westminster.

Fun in Trafalgar Square

A rare shot of Mr Aidan looking happy about this whole adventure. A pic from one of the late night parties he and Terran have been having lately.

Sir Havelock in Trafalgar Square...not having a good day

Kids hanging out on one of the Lions in Trafalgar Square. There are so many people waiting to have their pics taken here that you have to queue up.

The Nativity Scene in the Square...who knew Uncle Jay was a shepherd?

The statue of Admiral Nelson as seen from below

The full view of Admiral Nelson

Our first glimpse of the Palace Guards on our walk along the Mall on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

Palace Gates

The Canada gate at Buckingham Palace

Some of the kids walking around in front of Buckingham Palace

This shot pretty much sums up Aidan's feelings about " another day walking around looking at old buildings" Note all our shadows, that's us all standing around waiting for Aidan to cheer up and come get hot cocoa with us.

Terran was having a much better time than Aidan

Playing in St. James Park

Taija riding a snail in St. James Park...not the fastest way to travel

Aidan captured this action shot of the zillions of pigeons in the "bird feeding area" in St. James Park

Taija got this beautiful shot of Big Ben as we walked up the street

Dave got this great shot of the London Eye from the bridge in St. James park while the kids were checking out the waterfowl

Another great shot by Aidan

Another look at the London Eye from across the Thames. More of Taija's good camera work

Jesse walking the busy streets of London, totally in his element

The kids checking out the War Memorial at Victoria Embankment just before we headed home for the day. Dave and Aidan made Sunday Roast

Taija goofing around at the War Memorial...such a great shot!

We had an awesome Sunday afternoon strolling around the city. We started at Trafalgar Square and made our way up the Mall which is closed to traffic on Sundays and then to Buckingham Palace.  Aidan had had enough of ‘boring stuff’ so we walked to St. James Park where we found a nice little playground and a place to get some hot cocoa and Americanos for Dave and I.  We strolled with our bevvies up through the park and eventually made our way to Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster and then on to Victoria Embankment for a quick look the Thames before heading home on the Tube for our Sunday Roast dinner made by Dave and his eager sous chef Aidan and to curl up and watch Star Wars together.  It was a great day and I think even Aidan managed to have at least a little fun. ( though he’d deny it if you asked him)

In an attempt to fill our days here at the flats Jesse and I keep dragging the kids out to “boring museums full of old stuff”  We visited the Science Museum, The Natural History Museum and the V&A ( Victoria and Albert).  I discovered that the littles enjoy it slightly more if they can take pictures so we have lots of photos from our museum visits. Unfortunately our old camera died with photos from the first two museums on it so we’ve only got pics from the V&A to share.

A carving of the initials V and A in the railing

Taija's favourite dress from the exhibit

Taija actually enjoyed this museum as it houses an exhibit of the history of fashion and she is all about fashion these days!  She had a great time running around snapping photos of all the different dresses and shoes.  I’ve promised to take her back without her brothers so she can sit and sketch all the pieces while I sip an Americano and read a magazine.  That sounds like a perfect day!

A view of the V&A from the back garden

A HUGE piece of Chihuly glass hanging in the main foyer which was so cool to see here after just leaving the Tacoma area.

a beautiful and ornately carved archway that was in a big room that looked like it was full of a bunch of stuff getting ready for a new exhibit.

A very old chair made of entirely of antlers except for the seat. The kids were fascinated byt this one!

Aidan took this cool pic of the gorgeous tiled floor

I’ve completely given up on going back and catching up but I would like to start being better about updating here so starting today I’m going to *try* to get here and do at the very least a mini update about what we’ve been up to.  Jess says he’d update more often if he had “private Internet”.  Dave’s laptop, my laptop and Spencer’s laptop are all connecting and we had the kids’ shared desktop sent in partial shipment so they’ve got that set up but in true Jesse fashion, his laptop is too archaic for it to be able to connect to this network. He’s really missing being connected but ’tis his own fault…wanting a computer that makes noise. He just said the other day how he wished it went “clang and ding”. He’s quite an old man.

Current newsworthy developments

• We found a place to go for Christmas!   We’ve rented a cottage in Wales and will be spending Dec 22-29th there.  The farm is called Cwmcrwth Farm  and looks pretty fab.  Who needs vowels anyway?  We’re looking forward to putting up a wee tree and hanging out.  The littles  are very excited about the idea of being on a farm with piggies for Christmas.  Dave is talking of Christmas goose and I’m researching recipes for sticky toffee pudding.  It’s beginning to feel just a little like Christmas.

• We found a house!! This is a huge relief. We are out of temporary housing on Dec 20 ( hoping for an extension here or else we’ve got to move to a hotel for a couple of days).  We get the keys to the new house on Dec 22.  The plan is to go over there and drop off the stuff we got in partial shipment and any extra luggage and then head off to Wales for some Christmas Cheer.  The house is unbelievably fabulous, everything we were looking for.  I spent a lot of time creating a clear vision of what our ideal home would be like and then “leaned in”  ( as my dear friend Karen would say).  All my holding the vision seems to have worked a miracle yet again and we’ve found the perfect place.  It has 6 bedrooms, a study, a double reception, a fabulous bright conservatory/dining room and an extra prep kitchen. The loft has been converted to a wonderful master suite with opening skylights and a balcony ( for quiet morning coffee*sigh*) .  We’ve got a large ( by London standards) back garden and even a teeny front garden and a driveway.  To top it all off we’re in an area with a wonderful home schooling group, very active and so far ( over email) very welcoming and fun.  Dave’s commute and our trips in to central London for fun are made easier by being in Zone 2.    Our plan was to live as close to Dave’s office as we could reasonably manage but I never expected that we’d be this close.  I am holding a lot of gratitude in my heart and feeling amazingly good our new home.   It was only the sixth house we looked at and Dave and I found it on our trip down to Lambeth on a Saturday when we hired a car and left the kids home so they haven’t even seen it.
• Our stuff cleared customs today- which means that we’ve been able to schedule delivery for noon on the 29th when we get back from Wales. There was some concern that we’d be coming back from Wales to an empty house so this is very good news.  Delivery on the 29th and 30th and then unpack just enough on the 31st to do some New Years’ Celebrating and housewarming.  The rest of the unpacking can wait for the dreary January days.
• I’ve been spending some time at Jivamukti London and having a great time.   My practice was suffering with all the madness of moving and it feel so, so good to be attending classes again.  I love the energy of practicing with others and the inspiration of working with new teachers.  I arrived last week to attend my first class and as I was signing in I was overjoyed to hear Steve Gold’s So Much Magnificence playing. ( go, right now…cllick the link and give it a listen!  I love his rendition of Om Namah Sivaya and Anne Emilie’s harmonies are just too lovely )   Such an powerful song!  I’ve sung that song with Steve and Anne Emilie at Satsangs at Three Trees on many occasions and it was a great full circle moment for me to be standing there humming it in London.
• We’re thinking of buying a car.  We’ll have to hire one to take us to Wales and it would be handy to have one when we go to France in February for Jesse’s birthday so we decided that if we can get one for around what we’d pay to hire one then we might as well buy one ( heck, we’ve got a driveway!). Dave has been scouring ebay and has narrowly missed winning a couple. I’m confident that the right one will come along before the 20th.

I think that’s about it for now.  I you asked Aidan the news he’d tell you that England sucks or the he hates England or something like that. I’m going to encourage him to do write here about how much he hates it here. We’ve got plenty of ” Aidan looking grumpy” pictures to accompany it. 

This morning while all the kids were still asleep ( all still a bit off due to jet lag it seems and sleeping later than usual) I managed to sort out the camera and find the cord to attach it to the computer and get the pictures off of it. Hurrah!

I have pics from Hallowe’en and our Federal Way hotel stay that I’ve been meaning to get posted here and now finally I can.

There is a huge gap in the updating of our journey between when we left Washington and today and it feels as though I’ve missed the window to catch up on all of that. I think Dave had some idea of going back and chronicalling the insanity of the flights and our arrival at some point and so I’ll leave it to him to back track ( which is funny due to his hatred of ‘backtracking’ ).
We’re getting settled in here pretty well. Just in the past few days the kids seem to be starting to sort themselves out. For the first week Aidan wouldn’t sleep and was constantly grumping about how England is “dumb” and he hates it here and why did we make him move etc. etc. but since Sunday he seems in better spirits.

The flats are great, no complaints. The neighbourood, while not where I can see us living permanently is perfectly nice and convenient to shops and the Tube which is nice. The kids’ flat is right next door and we spend the day going back and forth. I’m extremely grateful for the second flat simply because it means we have a second washer/dryer. These machines hold approximately 8 items and take hours to complete the wash and dry so laundry is a bit of a chore. If I had to do it in just one machine I would never manage. We must see about getting larger machines in our house if it doesn’t have them because doing laundry in these teeny combo-machines will just not work as a long term thing.

We haven’t done too much sightseeing because the kids have all been too tired/grumpy/sick/miserable to want to go do anything. The big boys would gladly be out doing things but it is no fun if it means dragging grumpy littles along with us. Now that their sleep schedule is settling down and they’re starting to eat again ( waaaay too much Hallowe’en candy combined with being shuffled off to grandma’s and the constant upheaval of travel had really messed with their already sketchy eating habits) they’re in better spirits and are interested in going out and about. We’ve got a nice sunny day today and so are heading out to the Natural History Museum this afternoon and then to meet Daddy down by his office. Luckily I’ll have Spence and Jess along to help me find my way, I’d be lost ( literally!) without them.

We took some good pictures of our arrival here, our flats ( and the flats in Mayfair that we were shuttled to on the first night in London due to a power outtage at our building, but that’s another story for another time) but those seem to have gotten loaded onto Spencer’s computer the other day and I can’t access them so they’ll have to wait. Posts, pics and updates shall just have to be like our life these days…all out of order.
For now, here are the shots from Hallowe’en in the Hotel

Things have been so crazy getting ready the past couple of weeks that I haven’t had time to check in and post about what is going on.

I’m posting from our hotel room in Federal Way while the little 3 and poppa are down enjoying the small but empty pool. Yesterday the movers arrive to start packing so we’re well into the thick of things today. The bigs are spending the next 3 days with friends so they’re not stuck squished in the hotel rooms with us. They’ll join us again after Hallowe’en fun with Alex and Peter and then after a wee bit of sleep be off to the airport with all of us on at dawn on Saturday morning.

The big stuff that happened this week:

1. Luna and Cloudkit found a new home! This was the biggest stress for me. I just couldn’t imagine what we’d do if we couldn’t find a new home for them. I posted to every homeschool list I was on as well as Craigslist and even enlisted friends to post to everyone they knew for me but to no avail. Last week our wonderful friend, Helen came to the rescue and posted to her homeschool lists for us. I’m not sure what promises she made or what enticing things she said about our furry friends but it worked. On Saturday Luna and her boy went to their new wonderful home up north. There were plenty of tears but we were very relieved to send them off with their new family. We’ll miss them so much. It was wonderful to have them with us and so special to have the experience of watching Luna give birth ( mental note to clean the carpet in our closet when we have the carpet cleaner.

Sweet mamma Luna

Sweet Cloudy Kitten all grown up

The Kitten pile...one of those little guys is Cloudkit.

2. Dave’s car sold! Yippee Yahooo!! That’s all I need to say about that except perhaps FOR SALE 2006 Ford Econoline Van- 12 passengers- great shape ( aka The BeastieVan) for the low, low price of just $12,750! ( yuppo, you guessed it. We’ve still got the van. I would really, really like to see it sell before we go but on the upside it came in very handy today when we took a huge load of trash to the dump and another to donate at the charity shop.

3. As previously mentioned, the movers arrived yesterday morning to start packing. I’m always amazed at how fast and efficient and friendly the crew is. They returned this morning to pack and start loading and tomorrow they’ll finish up.

Here’s a little photographic documentation of our week…enjoy!

We’re down to the final push and excitement is building. Movers arrive to start packing on Oct 28 which gives us only 14 days to do all the things left on our list including finishing up the painting. We’re down to only ONE room and 2 stairways to paint so by the weekend it should be over and everything should be moved back into the proper rooms.
The benefit of all this painting is that we’ve cleaned and purged as we went along which means no creepy dust bunnies and icky things found lurking behind kids’ beds when the movers come to pack. We’ve already found and eliminated all of those as we went along!

I’m still looking for homes for Luna and Cloudy but I’m positive that the right home will come through for them this week. Those vehicles still need a new owner as well so if you’re looking for a 12 passenger van give us a holler.

I’m still looking at houses in London pretty much every day, just scoping it out, familiarizing myself with areas and really solidifying in my mind what it is we want so that my vision of our dream house is clear and I can focus on making it happen.

We have our temporary housing set up. The company is renting us two 2 bedroom apartments at Europa House in Westminster so yes, that means that Taija, Spence and Jess get their own posh flat in a lovely area of London. Movin’ on up, indeed!

We did some quick calculating and discovered that we’ll be moving into our new home on or around Dec 21. Hopefully our stuff will have arrived by then but there is always the chance that we’ll be moving into an empty house! We discussed options and decided that rather than try to do Christmas in an empty house or a house full of boxes we’re going on a Christmas Vacation! All the kids seem to have a different idea about where they’d like to go. Germany and France seem to be the leading contenders right now ( although I think someone suggested Switzerland as well). What it will come down to is where we can find a good furnished vacation rental for the week at a good price that we can get to easily. We may end up in Ireland or Wales. I’ll be happy with anything… a Christmas vacation in Europe with my super fab family. Man, life is so good!!

That’s all the boring news for now. I am so eagerly looking forward to being done with the ‘work’ and onto the fun and adventure. It will be so good to be back in the old Country for a little while to see and hug family and friends, I am counting the days.

Dracofrax the leopard gecko joined our family in 2003. He was a Christmas gift to Jesse. He, along with Avalon the cat made the big trip by plane from Ontario to Seattle with us. He lived in Jesse’s room getting various levels of care until last year when Jess decided he really wasn’t cut out for pet ownership and said he was ready to find him a new home. I decided to take him as my pet since I’ve always really liked him. He moved out into my office and has been living here with me ever since.

Now that we’re facing another huge move and are looking into all the rules and regulations for bringing pets into the UK and our pet total is up to 3 cats plus the lizard we made the decision that Draco should stop his wandering ways and settle down here with a nice family in Washington.

I posted on our homeschool group email list to see if anyone was interested in adopting him and got an overwhelming response. Who knew homeschoolers were so interested in lizards?

A nice family whom we had met at homeschool gymnastics in Renton when we first moved here came last week and picked Dracofrax up. The kids took some pictures of him. I must give them some tips with the camera if they are going to be the family photographers.

Aidan and Terran showed a sudden interest in the poor little guy they’ve been totally ignoring for ages. I held him and introduced him to his new family. He didn’t say so, but I am positive he liked them.

Goodbye Dracofrax. I’ll miss you

This weekend is devoted to the rather large job of getting the House ready to move. There is a ton of decluttering, cleaning and purging to be done before we go and it is difficult to even know where to begin. I have no great love for any of these tasks and so procrastinate by holing up with a nice beverage and my laptop and hunting for our new Home.

Yesterday we began the arduous task of cleaning out the garage in order to make space for all the stuff that needs to come out of the house and eventually be sold at a yard sale or donated to Goodwill ( Help the Wretched as Jesse calls it).

I’m not sure how a family who moves so often and purges each time we move manages to accumulate so much crap but we always do. We most definitely fill up whatever space we’ve got. That’s one positive about moving to London, we’ll be forced into a smaller space so we’ll just have to keep less junk around.

Dave and I spent a few hours decluttering and reorganizing out in the garage and then I took the teens off to Teen Movie Night. I got to hang out and visit with friends. It made me appreciate how many wonderful people I’ve met here. It will be sad to leave them. I do hope that all the folks who have mentioned that they’ll come and visit us really do come! I’m not sure where we’ll put them in our tiny space but we’ll always gladly squeeze in friends and family.

On this lazy Sunday morning Dave brought me coffee in bed and I got to do my morning house hunt snuggled up in bed with my love. Today’s hunt unearthed more than half a dozen promising looking properties. There were 2 or 3 which Dave and I both really liked the look of. The area seemed good, there was mention of decent shops and pubs around. Dave did a bit more sleuthing and discovered that commuting would be a bit hellish from Kent. So, even though it seems that Kent has the largest number of promising houses in our price range we shall have to move on and look elsewhere.

My searching skills are improving, I’m finding it easier to understand the house advert jargon and I am even noticing that I recognize place names and am getting a good feel for where the different boroughs are. I search with my handy London for Londoners book by my side and use it as a reference guide to each borough and what it has to offer.

I don’t have any delusions that all this searching is going to find us a place to live and it is my fully expect that we will have to wait until we get there to do some proper hunting but this makes me feel as though I’m doing something productive and it is more fun than cleaning the garage.

I’m hoping to get the kids involved in some major decluttering and purging this week. With any luck Aidan will finally agree to let go of all the outgrown toys and pajama pants with the knees torn out. In he meantime if anyone out there has a fabulous 5 or 6 bedroom house to let with a decent sized garden under 1500 pcm and close to Camden. Do drop us a line!

“Life is either a great adventure, or it is nothing”- Helen Keller

The Coons Clan is on the road again. From the GTA to a bus on an organic farm, back to the house and then to Washington State and all the splendors of the Pacific Northwest and now we’re headed to take on Europe! London called to us ( it had been calling Jesse for a while), it took a bit of time for the the Parentals to put their manifesting joojoo on the task full time and make it happen but in June we heard the call again and answered.

It has been a great 2 1/2 years here in the Seattle area. We’ve made fabulous friends, hiked Mt. Si, explored the city, learned about Robertsonian Architecture and met Princess Wilhelm. We explored low tides, Pike Place Market and the Toilet of the Future. We ate gummy snakes, fresh puffed rice cakes but declined the sea cucumbers, preferring to just check those out at the beach. Luna had kittens and we added another kitty to the family, bringing to total to 3. We hosted tie dye day and Teen Nights. Taija had Super Girlie Sleepover ( only to be outdone by upcoming Super Girlie Sleepover II – Tween Takeover!!) As always, the local homeschooling community was welcoming, friendly and filled with interesting, creative folks we are glad to have had the chance to get to know. I found a Yoga home away from home at Three Trees Yoga and a teacher at Whole Life Yoga. I became a Yoga teacher and started a business. Dave became a sailor, , learned to play the guitar and tried Yoga. We both discovered the goodness that is Pacific Northwest beer. Jesse got glasses and made a good dent in the selections in the King County Library system, and found people who like to play long, involved board games with him. Spencer honed his circus arts skills and his website designing skills ( I still owe him for my websites!) and dented a windowsill with his nose. Taija made 20 new best friends, took up figure skating and is rockin’ out on her pink electric guitar. Terran found lots of creatures to check out, got even more freckles, was the most improved climber at his rock climbing class and learned that he loves Algebra. Aidan lots his first teeth, grew like a weed, learned to ride a 2 wheeler and got the hang of reading.

It’s been a great run. Washington has been good to us and we’ll be sad to leave but as always after a few years we start to feel the wanderlust again and it is time to move on to new adventures.

The idea of adventuring in Europe has been tickling at us for quite some time and so when all the manifesting worked and everything lined up perfectly we knew the time is right and we’re going for it.

Not all the members of the family are thrilled about moving. Taija has made it well known that she does not support the idea. We’re all a bit sad to leave the friends we’ve made here but Miss Taija more than the rest of us combined I suspect.

We have so much to do in the coming weeks and months and so many new things to see and do. I’m hoping that here we can each post what part of the experience is most important to us. Expect, dear reader, to hear some tales of woe from the girl child. I’ve promised her that she can have her say.

Spence and Jess are working on the website design so watch for some fun changes in the weeks to come. Until then, I leave you with what has become the theme song of this adventure. Has there been a Clash resurgence or are we just hearing it more now because we’re tuned to it?