Well we finally got internet up and running here so the blogging can start in earnest. Before we get into the US stuff we'll just leave Blighty behind with some memories of the leaving process. The number one tip for this part if to have good friends around who can help with the chaos.

On Friday some nice men came to our house and did this to it.


Literally everything, including bicycles, pillows and mattresses got put into boxes.

See if you can spot Dan hidden among the boxes.

We couldn't either :-)





Thus begins our week of living out of suitcases.

Sunday was pretty manic, Becky was sick a few times in the morning which meant I had to go to church by myself on our last Sunday. Bizarrely loads of one of the early CYFA people were there, Claire, Becky D, Laura and Matt. It was a really good service; the Welsh's had put together a photo album of pictures of people in the church past and present, many of whom had written mini essays too. Couldn't read it at church as it was a 'bit emotional'. The sermon was excellent too - only kidding, but it was good to have it done too, I don't think I'd really thought it through when I agreed to do it. There is simply so much to do that if I stopped and thought about it I'd just panic and not be able to do anything.

The afternoon was spent doing one of my favourite unwinding activities as Bill and I moved and installed 3 washing machines.

At the end of the day we had a great bit of respite as Michelle and Dave had us to stay at their house and made us extremely welcome - after the day we'd had to have a roast chicken dinner was just bliss; not sure what we would have done if it hadn't been for them.

On Monday the men came back again and put the boxes into a bigger box. Seeing the container made me realise that we weren't just moving down the road. I think Andy and I need to draw up a list of pros and cons and decide if this is a good idea after all.

It was certainly all too much for Becky who fell asleep in the garden (I think she was just trying to get out of having to help move the piano)


The men left by about 3pm which left us 22 hours to get the house spick and span ready for the inspection by the landlord. A few trips to the dump later (shifting the structural equivalent of belly button fluff) and the house was clear at least and the true extent of the damage Dan and Becky had wrought became apparent. Over the next few hours we had some extremely necessary help from Michelle, Nicky and David and finally got the place half decent (which is 10% better than it was when we moved in). The inspector came (still don't know what percentage of our deposit we'll get back) and we gave the keys back - a nice feeling as the house had been somewhat of a burden of late - plus it was a pretty shabby place.

So now we have 36 hours to pack, cancel all of our UK services (about 20 of them), sell the car, say goodbye to loads of people - we got some things done and here's a picture of us with Karen, Andy, Will and Emma to prove it.

So then came the day of the final compacting into suitcases - we have 12 check in items and 4 carry on, so we're at the limit, and that's with putting Dan's scooter in a suitcase.

Lesson #43 on international travel - Better to travel cattle class alone than business class with kids. At least in the formar case you can watch a film and not have drinks spilt all over you. Despite the perils of 8+ hours in a box with Dan and Becky we arrived in reasonable shape on Thursday, none of our luggage got lost and we managed to get it all into our minivan at the other end. Andy got the kids settled and I went off in search of something to sleep on, finding a king sized airbed which I made the mistake of buying without a pump, so we spend the evening sitting on the floor trying to not to pass out from lack of oxygen and trying to see if it had inflated at all.

Friday 3rd Aug - Day 1
We have no furniture at all, not even a chair, so all meals are on the floor at the moment.
Furniture is a priority so we spend a while going around furniture shops and trying in vain to stop the kids jumping on the beds before we reach breaking point and give up.

Over the next few days we get some chairs and resort to the use of films


and cake to placate Dan and Becky. Just to be semi-educational this photo is taken in the Southdale Mall, which was the first ever mall in America, and is about half a mile from our house. For bonus fact power, this is a Carribou coffee, much more popular than Starbucks around here, and also the busiest Carribou coffee in the whole of America is the one in my office at BestBuy.

In writing this blog I discovered over 20, shall we say 'abstract' photos. Fortunately one of them gave away the guilty party. The woods that Dan is photographing are actually part of our land, which I didn't realise before, we'll have to explore and see if we can make use of them at all.