The Final Countdown

The Final Countdown

Tonight is the last night in our Canadian home for an entire year. We have spent the entire day getting through the remainder of our still growing "to do" list and anticipate continuing throughout the night.

Anyone who has had a 17 month old can attest to how much more can be accomplished when child is either sleeping or being babysat by others. Our incredible neighbors, Jan and Laura, surprised us today by coming over to play with Fenton while we madly packed everything. We were amazed at how much was accomplished in such a short time and know that we would still be packing late into the night if they had not made such a kind offer.

Fenton must know that something is happening. His toys have slowly disappeared throughout the week as we methodically boxed things up to store in the garage.  Tonight his bath was with only those bath toys that we plan to take with us -  a set of plastic cups that he loves to stack and knock down. It’s actually surprising to see how much fun he had without the typical variety of amusing objects to play with.  Variety is certainly the spice of life, but Fenton was just fine without all of the stuff. Greg played so many songs for Fenton today knowing that he will be without a guitar for an entire year - unless we decide to buy another one (or maybe the Turners have one!).  We received a typed letter that included a gift allegedly from Fenton. We have no idea who cleverly crafted this card but would like to publicly thank the hilarious imposter who mysteriously hooked us up with enough New Zealand currency to get by for the first day of our vacation.

We can safely say that today has been the most exciting day for us yet. The reality has certainly hit. We gave our keys to Alex and Anita who will pick up the Turners from the airport. Most of our belongings are no longer in the house and it is no longer our home. We have put so much effort into making it a warm, inviting place for our exchange partners that we have displaced ourselves. This has not been a sad feeling, rather an exciting one. We are truly on an adventure! Rather than panic or feel melancholy, we have been on cloud nine.

All of our belongings are packed in 4 bags. Heather’s and Greg’s clothes are in one bag, Fenton’s belongings take up two bags, and there is a third bag with Canadiana. Of course we will also bring a Chariot child carrier and a baby carrier backpack. Including another two bags to carry on, we will have 8 items. Yikes! We hope that this will all fit in the camper van that we will rent to tour New Zealand for three weeks after our 3 day chill out session in Rarotonga (Cook Islands).

Tomorrow morning, Fenton will likely wake us up between 5:00 and 6:00 AM as he does every morning. We will need to wash the bed sheets, take apart his crib and convert it into a couch, put a few more items in the garage and pack the rest of our belongings. Kirsten and Darrin will take us to the airport for our 12:30PM flight - thanks so much!!!!! After stops in Calgary and Los Angeles, we will embark on a 10 hour flight to Rarotonga. When we get there, we will begin our vacation and have absolutely nothing to do but relax on a beach and play with our son. Does life get any better?