Moving Months

With the beginning of August we had to pull out the moving boxes and start sorting and packing, selling and donating,...

Mid-August the moving truck came and picked up our 4 Euro-Palettes which we had piled up in our garage.The truck brought it to the harbor where it was loaded into a container and taken by ship to England. Though it seems like a pragmatic thing to do, it is always a quite moving moment, because you wonder whether and when you will see your stuff again. So the motto was: Let go and trust!

For the remaining two weeks we lived in a nearly empty house, living out of suitcases,...

and sleeping on the floor,...

(Theda spontanously fell asleep during nap time, we didn't make her sleep on the floor for two weeks, we had enough matresses!)

... and then we had to say Good Bye...

... to beloved things too big or too fragile to take with us...

... to Seattle by taking one last boat cruise through the city...

 the famous Seattle house boats

 seems so unreal: Mt. Rainier behind the lighthouse

 Olympic Sculpture Park

... and by eating one last icecream in downtown...

... saying Good Bye to wonderful neighbors...

... and great friends.

At the end of August we step on the airplane looking back to two years in Seattle which were extremely inspiring and enriching for all of us. We look ahead and we have no clue what is awaiting us - the only thing we know for sure: it will be another adventure!

 on the way to the airport - luckily we had a friend who has a little bus, so that we could all fit in including 6 suitcases plus hand baggage

... and back in Europe, Sunke headed straight to Norwich, England, to start sorting things out, while I spent two weeks in Germany, seeing friends and family and sorting through our stored boxes and packing boxes for England.

 good to be with family

 taking the train through Germany to see more friends and family

... and finally packing more stuff (I couldn't believe that we stored so much stuff for two years, that we filled an entire long "Sprinter") and driving to Norwich...

...where Sunke had been preparing things and waiting for us.

Before the big packing started

... we enjoyed some beautiful summer weeks in Seattle and surroundings and got to experience some special things we hadn't seen before like being part of the 4th of July celebration, going to an Indian dance competition called potlatch, spending a weekend with good friends in the Hood River/ Columbia River region,...

Celebrating Independence day on July 4th at Gaswork Park in Seattle

Witnessing an Native American Potlatch

... and spending a wonderful weekend in the Hood River/ Columbia River region driving through the desert east of the Cascades

... having a view of Mt. Hood (south) and Mt. Adams (north) at the same time. This was torture for Sunke as he attempted to climb Mt. Adams just one week earlier, but had to turn around because of poor weather conditions - now we could see Mt. Adams in sunshine and blue sky all weekend! But Sunke is already planning his next try next summer :-).

... and mainly it was a lot of kid's fun as there were 7 kids together all weekend

Besides special weekends and events, we just really enjoyed being in our yard, in our neighborhood and with friends. The weather was wonderful. Nearly no rain, blue sky, sun... Theda and Jonte enjoyed swim lessons in a nearby outdoor pool, Jonte played soccer and Theda took a dance class - pretty much until the very last week of our stay.

... and the kids are setting sails and are mentally preparing for our big move across the ocean back to Europe... from now on we need to determine what we keep, what we leave, who will take what we leave, what needs to be packed into boxes for the ship, what needs to go into the suitcases ... and where will we live once we arrive in Norwich, England???? ... and everything needs to be done by the time we board the airplane...