We started saying goodbye by getting together with our longtime university friends who reside in or near the K-W area. It was an exciting time to catch up with each other's news and to be "sent off", so to speak.
The next weekend, we went to Belleville to be with my parents and visited my good friends Ginette and Jason Mack and their three girls.
Emily was very scared about one aspect of our move. The flight. So, when we left my parent house, we pretended they were going on a flight. Paul sent them through the garage as if it were the gate. I greeted them at the car and helped them to find their seat and put their carryon bags in the overhead compartment (the roof). Paul did the flight attendant spiel, we got in, closed the doors, Grandpa did the flight baton actions, we pretended we were being pushed back, taxied out to the main road and took off! Now, knowing that Emily loves the feeling of acceleration was a bonus for us. We explained that it felt exactly like it did in our car, but better. She grinned. For days after, she thanked us for showing her what the flight would be like. She even stated that she wasn't scared at all anymore. Whew!
One important goodbye for Nathan and Emily was their last night at Zone Out. Emily really likes her bud, Emma.
Nathan LOVED his Science group.
Emily wasn't so keen on pictures of her classmates, but was more interested in racing around the halls!
On Friday, April 11, we smushed 20 or so people into our living room to wish Paul happy birthday before we left on Monday. He was well celebrated. Oh yes, thank you everyone for the easily packable gift cards!
The next morning, I ushered the kids out to have breakfast at McD's with a few of their friends. The purpose was two-fold. I wanted to give them their own going away party. And I wanted them out of the house while the packing team came in. When we got back, we brought them some Tim's and were amazed to discover that the basement was all packed, the kitchen was 75% finished and a couple of them were just about to start packing up the bedrooms. By 1pm, the team had left. We were packed.
We spent that evening with Paul's parents, Ana and Caspian, but Mom Hills was soooooo sick. We hope that she still enjoyed the time together. We sure did!
Sunday was a bit calmer, with a goodbye moment in front of our church family and some time in the evening spent with three families who've become very dear to us over the past year.
My parents and brother spent Monday with us, as the movers waited on the closed 401. They got to our place eventually and worked at an incredible pace to get everything in the truck by around 3pm. We relaxed and spent time visiting our neighbours and saying goodbye to some very special friends.
Dean Kennedy arrived with his Sienna version of the airport limo and chauffered us to the airport. The kids went with the grandparents. He stuck with us, pushing the second luggage cart as we waited to get the cat kennel x-rayed, as we tried to change seats, and even waited while we went through security. Dean, if you're reading this, THANK YOU! It really meant a lot to Emily and I to see him still standing there just before we walked through the metal detector.
Those were the days of goodbyes. It was really a blur and I know I haven't captured much of the feelings of those last days in Ontario. I'm not sure we were feeling much. Our exit was fairly quick and there wasn't really much time to feel anything but excitement and anticipation of change intermixed with brief instances of grief.
The second evening, Nathan got the Flames jersey he'd been asking for and put it on right away!:
The next evening, he decided to show off his exceptional skills at dressing himself for bed:
The happy play-doh-ers:
This week we got a handle on the LRT which runs through downtown. We went to the zoo, the downtown shopping mall, the indoor garden and the public library. We took some time today and explore a bit of the +15 walkway. We also noticed that the beautiful stone building across the street from our condo building is 101 years old. I also notice that the sidewalk marker at our corner is 1912. It's hard to see the history here, as it is masked by the modern elements so often.
