Once we were home just after 11 am, the work really began. The horrible part of a trip with an RV is the clean up afterwards. Stuart did the plumbing and all the outside stuff, while I took out all the clothes, food and bedding. I started laundry immediately. I would guess, in the end, there were 8 loads of laundry. I also noticed once we were home that my house was filthy. I just can’t seem to keep up, but is that terribly important at this stage? I try to tell myself it isn’t, but can’t get past the dust. Stuart decided once we returned the RV that he would put up the outside lights. So Sunday was a busy day for sure.
Monday morning Stuart got up at about 3:30 AM and left for Gallup. The kids and I got up a little bit later and I actually had to take Jack to school. Then I picked Millie up from school to take her to gymnastics. I came home and did some more laundry. Jack showed up after basketball practice. I took he and his buddies to the gym for volleyball practice. I came back to Target and tried to buy Millie some leggings for her gymnastics mock meet on Saturday, but I couldn’t find any. I went and picked her up, and had food in the car for her. When we got home Millie and I read her book for her book report. She went to bed and I took a shower. Jack got home from volleyball and had a bite to eat, then went to bed.
Tuesday morning I could feel a cold coming on. Jack had been coughing and I knew it was just a matter of time until I got it. School was pretty awful as my little boy wonder who has been doing so well actually lost the plot. He ended up scratching me and making me bleed. I felt so badly for him. He just can’t process things and handle situations, so he bottles it up until he explodes.
After school I had an appointment with an oral surgeon. I was going to have to have a skin tag removed from the bottom of my tongue, but they were able to get me in until after the new year. Sounds fun, right? I was told there was nothing to worry about and that it would be rather routine.
Tuesday evening I went and had food at my mom’s. She had picked Millie up from school because of my appointment. They, of course, went to Dairy Queen after school. Prior to going to my mom’s I did some gift shopping for the kids for their friends’ birthdays. It was kind of nice to be able to go shopping without anyone with me. Once I got to my mom’s and had eaten, Millie and I went home and showered. We read more of her book and then she went to bed. I stayed up with Jack and watched the Suns game. What a game! They beat the Golden State Warriors, who were in 1st place, which Jack assumes means the Suns are in first place now. He was so happy with the win.
I woke up Wednesday morning and felt so crappy as I had coughed most of the night. I decided I really needed more sleep so I messaged Sue to let her know I wouldn’t be walking that morning. As much as I hated to do that, I just couldn’t bare getting up and walking, knowing I would cough the entire time. She said she would just jump back into bed. Ha! Because this day was December 1, Elfvis showed up and brought the kids their advent calendars.
Once I was up and around, I felt a lot better. I did cough a bit in the day. School was school. I had gained a new attitude on Tuesday and had decided I would stop complaining and try to make the best of things. I continued in this way on Wednesday as well and it made school a lot easier. After school I had a meeting to try to help one of our students get the assistance he needed. We all agreed that he needed the testing and it would begin soon.
I left school and headed to get Jack’s meds. Then I was home and Jack showed up. I took him to Vicki’s for volleyball. I decided to go have dinner on my own. I didn’t feel lonely or weird at all. It’s a good thing to do once in a while. I then ran through McDonald’s to get Millie chicken nuggets and picked her up from gymnastics. When we got home she had a small dessert and went to bed after her shower. Jack showed up about 9:30 and I made him food. He also took a shower and went to bed shortly after that.
Thursday morning Elfvis was up to no good. But he did bring hot chocolate for the kids.
I also lost my voice on Thursday which is very difficult when you’re a teacher. Fortunately, I only have a few students in my class and that makes it easier. The day was pretty normal. My students were on task and doing their work. After school I quickly left and took Millie to get her second Covid vaccine. I then went to Casteel High School to watch Jack play in the first round of their tournament. When I arrived there were only three minutes left in the half and they were only up by one point. They ended up winning by about 20 points. The refereeing was appalling. But what can you ask for? It’s just a junior high game. Jack ended up staying for the eighth grade basketball game and helping out with the scorebook. Millie and I went home and continued to read her 264 page book for her book report that was due on Friday, the following day. She did the work while I read. We actually got it finished just after 8 PM. I picked Jack up at 6:30 PM and brought him home for him to shower, eat, and then relax for the rest of the evening.
Friday I felt worse than I did on Thursday. Millie couldn’t quite get her act together in the morning. So for the third time that week I drove Jack to school, then took Millie, then went to my school. When I have to do that it adds about 15 minutes to my drive. It’s very frustrating. On this day Millie actually admitted that she was being selfish about the whole situation. I do believe that’s progress.
After school, I picked Millie up after doing some shopping and we came home. Jack arrived just after 5 pm and then Stuart was home around 6 pm. We met the neighbors on the driveway for a fire pit. Our neighbors are Mormon, but will have a beverage with us. Well, wouldn’t you know, up walls two Mormon missionaries. It was classic. The kids played in either our house or theirs and went to bed much too late. It was a great night.
Saturday morning we were up and everyone was out of the house. Jack had his regional tournament to end the volleyball season and Millie had a mock gymnastics meet at her gym. Gymnastics meets are brutal, mainly because you are there for about 4 hours and your child performs for a total of about 4 minutes. At least with team sports there is constant action. Her teacher came to watch for a little bit. Grammie came to watch as well.
Millie ended up getting 2nd place all around out of 7 girls. We were so proud of her. We ended up missing all of Jack’s tournament, but his team won third place. He was pretty pleased with the day. I picked him up from the gym and took him to a birthday party at KTR which is a trampoline park. So he played volleyball all day, jumped on trampolines for 5 hours and then went to a sleepover. Apparently they went to bed at 1:30 am. Yikes!
Once I had dropped Jack at KTR I returned home and relaxed for a bit before welcoming Ken, Maytee and the girls, along with our neighbors, Mitch, Elise and their kids. We ordered take out, sat around the fire pit and really fellowshiped, discussing all things under the sun. It was such a lovely night.
Sunday morning Stuart and I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get some items for Christmas and then picked Jack up from Jaxon’s house. We came home and commenced on our Sunday duties. The kids and I decorated the gingerbread house that Elfvis had left them Sunday morning.
Jack is clearly thrilled.
The final product was not pretty, but it’ll do!
Jack was cranky and around 2:30 pm ended up napping on the sofa for a couple of hours. So this is what staying up until 1:30 am looks like at 4 pm the following day. Poor boy!
We were fortunate that Stuart didn’t need to leave for Gallup like he normally does on a Sunday afternoon. He only had to work for a half day on Monday so he decided to leave on Monday morning. We made a run to Wal Mart in the earlier afternoon and then watched football for the remainder of the day, which we have NEVER done. Stuart has never really liked football because he thinks it moves too slowly, and compared to rugby, he’s right. However, we found the two games we watched were pretty exciting.
We ended up going to bed around 10 pm. We had had a couple of late nights and needed a good night’s sleep. My sleep was a bit interrupted because of the severe cough I had developed, and laying down just exaggerated it, as it always does. Another thing that woke me up, besides my cough, was the fact that I had to investigate to see if Elfvis had gone to the North Pole and returned. Wouldn’t you know? He hadn’t! Ugh, who thought having an elf on the shelf would be such a pain?
The kids found this when they woke up Monday morning, thank goodness. I started coughing a lot after I’d woken up to find Elfvis. When I got back upstairs, I decided maybe I should go and lay in our recliner downstairs. I wanted Stuart to be able to sleep since he was driving to Gallup on Monday morning. So I slept downstairs for a couple of hours. It wasn’t great sleep, but it was sleep I suppose. Once we were up and around, we all left around the same time. I took Jack first to school and took some medication into the nurse’s office. I then drove Millie to school and then went to myself take myself to school. I found out that I was going to get another student starting in January. What is one more student? We shall see. After school I went to pick up Millie to take her to gymnastics. I stopped at Fry’s to get her refilled medication before heading to Payne Junior High for the semi finals of the 7th grade basketball season tournament. Unfortunately, most of the players forgot to show up for the game, mentally, including Jack. It’s so confuses me because when Jack played rugby he was so intense in every match. When he plays volleyball he’s usually pretty intense in every match. But there’s something about basketball that seems to show a bit of a mental block. I’m not sure what it is, and sports are not the end-all, but if he’s going to play he needs to consistently give it his all. I don’t care if he’s very good but for him to just halfway give effort is not some thing that we’re thrilled with. They ended up getting beat by over 20 points. So ended the season of seventh grade basketball at Casteel High School. He decided to ride the bus back to school and then get a ride home with Pop. On the way home Pop must’ve talked to him about playing club basketball because Jack started on that again. The harsh reality is he can’t play every single club team that he wants to play in, so he will have to decide before too long. I hope he gets some clarity soon. I’m sure Stuart and I will be helpful in the process. He took a shower and I fed him.
I made some pasta and put it in a hot pot to take to Millie when I picked up Millie from gymnastics. Once we got home, she showered and I showered. She went to bed and shortly after, Jack went to bed. I stayed up and coughed for a while, and then hit the sack.
Tuesday at school was pretty uneventful. Jack went home with Andrew after school. I picked him up after getting Millie from school. We came home and did absolutely nothing. It was glorious.
Wednesday Millie wasn’t feeling so hot but I drug her to school anyway. She didn’t have a fever so I wasn’t terribly worried about her. The nurse called mid morning to tell me she wasn’t well. So fortunately I could send Grammie to go and get her. She spent the day at Grammie’s, most likely being spoiled rotten. Jack had his end of the season pizza party and then went to a basketball training at 3D Hoops. This is the club his friend Andrew plays with. He had gone home with Andrew after school again and went to the pizza party with Andrew. I picked him up from pizza and we went to the gym. He really liked it. He then declared that basketball was his love and he wanted to join that club team. I told him that would mean he couldn’t play club volleyball. He said it was fine and he understood. So, here we are again in the club basketball scene. The thing I liked about his new coach, Coach Wirth, was at the end of the skills training he talked to the boys about the important things in like and what they should be grateful for. He stated that he was grateful for the person of Jesus Christ. He went on to talk about his relationship with Jesus. It was very encouraging and inspiring. It made me feel good inside and Jack felt the same about it.
Thursday I did some grocery shopping and then picked the kids up from school. Debi brought by her Christmas coffee ring and then we chilled for the rest of the evening. The kids packed their things for Grammie and Pop’s for the weekend as Stuart was picking me up in Albuquerque and we were going to drive to Santa Fe for a getaway. I was playing hookie!
Friday, I got up and took the kids to school. I got home, did some laundry and took the kids’ bags down to Grammie and Pop’s. They picked me up to take me to the airport. I flew to Albuquerque where Stuart picked me up. We drove to Santa Fe for the weekend.
We checked into our room, freezing our butts off, and headed to a local gastropub for dinner. We walked down to the plaza and up some stairs to another pub. It was so cold outside, but a great getaway.
We got back to the quaint little place we were staying, showered and went to bed.
Saturday morning we were awake early. We went for our free continental breakfast. I had a bagel and lox and it was delightful. 
We walked around town and did some shopping. We went to the farmer’s market. We had lunch at a place on the plaza. We did some more shopping and I bought a boiled wool coat from a shop on the plaza. It’s so cute and warm.
We came back to our room for a bit of a rest. We then headed out to dinner at Herve’s Wine Bar. We had a charcuterie board and bacon wrapped dates. It was delicious.
We walked around downtown after dinner. We kept our masks on outside because it kept us warmer.
We got up Sunday morning and had breakfast. We checked out of our place and headed to Meow Wolf, which is an interactive art museum. The theme was House of Eternal Return. So when we first walked into the gallery it was a house. Then there were secret rooms and hidden worlds behind closet doors. It was super freaky and every individual who contributed to the art work in this place had to be high when doing so. It was magnificently unique.
We drove home the 7 and a half hours. When we arrived, the kids were home and had showered. Jack was so glad to see us as he didn’t want Grammie to study with him any longer for his midterm exams. Both kids went to bed shortly after we got home. I started the mounds of laundry and then Stuart and I sat down to watch television.
Monday I was off to school with the kids while Stuart did some of the last minute things we needed to do before leaving Friday for England. Monday after school I had a staff meeting. So Stuart was the Uber driver for the evening. He picked Millie up from school and took her to gymnastics. Pop picked Jack up from school and then was able to take Jack to basketball that evening, while I went to look at Christmas lights with Liz and her friend Melissa. This was Liz’s first Christmas without her dad and they used to go look at Christmas lights every year. So she wanted some friends to go with her, and I happily obliged. We went to Agrotopia to see their lights. They were epic!
Yes, that is me as the gingerbread man. I thought I would never get up from there. Ugh!
Stuart picked up Millie from gymnastics and then he and I had dinner when I got home. Both kids showered and went to bed. Stuart followed shortly after the kids, but I stayed up for a bit to watch some television.
Tuesday morning we were out the door at our regular time. After school Stuart picked Millie up and I met them at Tumbleweed Park for her first Running Club Race.
She was really ready for the race.
This was the end of the race. She was given moral support from her friend, Brooklyn. It was tougher than she thought it would be for sure, as can be seen by the grimace and tears. But she got second place in the 4th grade girl catagory. She was very pleased with herself after she was able to breath again.
Pop had picked Jack up and taken him home so he could study for his midterm exams. When we get home, we fed the kids. Liz came for some back porch conversation, as did our neighbors, Mitch and Elise. We stayed up way too late, but had a lot of fun as we always do.
Wednesday Stuart was up at 5 am and decided to take his Covid test that was required to fly. He gets so nervous about things like this. He came up negative, as did Jack. Millie didn’t have to take it because she is under 12 years old. I intended to take the test after school. Stuart convinced me to take it in the morning and he would take the kids to school for me. He just wanted me to get it over with so he could have a bit of peace of mind. I, too, came up negative. So the reality of our travels was coming to pass.
Jack only had a half day because of his exams, so Stuart picked him up at 12:15. Apparently, the traffic was manic and they ended up staying in the pick-up line for over 15 minutes. At the same time I was dealing with a student who was throwing a chair at me and running around the room. Stuart then took Jack to get a bean and cheese burrito and headed on to collect Millie from school. Both kids were booked in for a dentist appointment. They were home just after 3 pm and the news was quite good. Neither had cavities, but the dentist said Millie had better start working on pulling some of her teeth or they would have to pull them for her. She has no room for all the expected teeth. Stuart ended up taking Millie to gymnastics and was home just after I was. Jack had wanted Stuart to take him to basketball and watch him, so he did. They also picked up Pop for the adventure.
I picked my mom up at about 6 pm and we went to a Christmas store called Ivy and Sage. It was really cute, but they had a LOT of product for the middle of December. I ended up getting a shirt and my mom bought Stuart’s mum a little gift for us to take to her. We then went to get food for Millie and picked her up from the gym. When we got home Millie showered and had a popsicle. She went to bed shortly after Jack got home from his practice. Jack ended up going to bed at 10:30 pm.
Thursday was my last day with students. My class did a lot of crafts. In fact, we did a snowman craft that I had done with my para’s son about 20 years ago. She brought his ornament in as our example. It was so cute. After school I picked Millie up and we headed home. Stuart and I then went to get Liz to take her to the airport. The only reason I went was because it was at 5 pm and because there was more than one person in the car on the way back we could drive in the carpool lane. When we got home Elise and Mitch came over. Mitch brought his dad who was in town for Christmas.
Friday I got up to walk with Sue but decided against it because my stomach was a bit upset. I still don’t know why, but as the day went on I got to feeling a lot better. Stuart finished up cleaning the house and packing, while I went to school for a few hours. We had breakfast and had our three favorite things gift exchange. It was fun! After school I went to the store to buy some paper towels so Jennifer wouldn’t run out while she was housesitting. I also decided I needed a few more pairs of socks for our trip.
We left for the airport at 1 pm. Elfvis had stuffed himself into a bowl and written a note to tell us he would like to fly on the plane with us rather than just meeting us in England.
We had a beverage before flying to Vegas.
We then had a 5 hour layover before our flight to London. We walked around the airport with a whiney little girl who was clearly hangry. We ended up eating at California Pizza Kitchen. We then went to set up camp at our gate. We played two games of Uno and then decided to get on our phones for a bit. We had stuck the Uno pile on a pizza box on the floor between all of us, so it wasn’t terribly comfortable playing Uno at the gate.
The journey to London was quite uneventful. Millie slept the entire journey, Jack slept a few hours, but Stuart and I mainly dozed off and on. We all watched some movies to pass the time.
We landed on time and headed to customs where we were passed through without trouble. The next hour and a half we waited for our luggage. It was irritating as it seemed all flights were waiting for their bags. When we finally got our bags we walked out of the airport to find our taxi driver. He then took us to a drive through testing place to clear us for Covid.
An hour and a half later we were at Stuart’s mum’s house. We unpacked some things and then had some spaghetti. I helped to clean up and then got the kids showered. They went to bed sometime around 11 pm. Stuart and I followed shortly after. I woke around 1 am and Jack was awake. Apparently jetlag had set in. I made him turn his light out and told him to lay in the dark until he went to sleep.
Once we were all awake on Sunday, Jack reported he stayed awake until 4 am. We then knew Jack was going to have a rough day. Breakfast was just cereal and we all sat around most of the day waiting for our test results to arrive. We had to stay quarantined until we got a negative result. Jack had a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, which could have backfired on us, but he could not stay awake, so we chose not to fight it.
We completed pulling these playing cards out of packets to place them in a book that Grandma had for the kids as entertainment. It was like a baseball collectors book, but with Disney movie characters. We all enjoyed playing with it.
The thing about England in the winter is that it gets completely dark by 4 pm. It makes everyone quite tired. Around 7:30 pm we got the news that we were all negative and would be able to go out of the house from that point on. We were so excited to just go into the local grocery store, Sainsbury!
We had a roast dinner of chicken, roasted veggies and gravy. We went to bed around 10:30 pm. Sadly, jetlag had hit Millie and she ended up not going to sleep until nearly 4 am, or at least that was what she reported. Seeing how she slept the following day until 1 pm, we assumed she was telling the truth.
Stuart and I slept until nearly 9:30 on Monday morning and Jack wasn’t awake until nearly 11 am. As Millie was still asleep, even though we tried to wake her, Jack, Stuart and I headed, on foot, to Sainsbury’s for a few things. We needed some gifts for our nieces and a gift for Stuart’s grandma. Because we couldn’t carry all the items home, Grandpa picked us up about an hour after we arrived at the shop. We were home and then decided to wake Millie up. If she slept much longer it would be difficult to get her to sleep that evening. She was a bit cranky when she found out we had gone to Sainsbury’s without her, but she got over it quickly.
In the afternoon we chilled. We ordered a Chinese meal for dinner and afterwards we played the card game ‘Oh Heck!’ It’s an all time favorite. We headed to bed around 11 pm as Stuart was going to get the hire car the next morning to drive to Birmingham to pick up Hope. Millie had said she wanted to go but I speculated when we woke her up at 7:30 am she would change her mind. But she didn’t. She popped out of bed and Stuart and I rode with Barry to get the rental car. We were going to list me as a licensed driver. It turned out to be way too expensive so we decided against it. Stuart and Millie took off to get Hope while Grandpa and I ran errands for Grandma. We came back to the house where Jack and I played rummy and drew Christmas cartoons characters from YouTube. He then decided to play games on Stuart’s computer while I played some games on my phone. Stuart arrived home from Birmingham around 4:30 pm. Millie had slept an hour and a half on the way home. Hope came in to say hello to everyone. We sat around and talked for a while. We then started the kids’ murder mystery called Who Sleighed Santa?Dinner followed and then we played a round of Oh Heck before all turning in for the night.
Wednesday morning Stuart got up to make lasagna. We all headed out of the house around 9 am. Stuart went to Eastbourne with the kids to get Granny and I walked into the Town Centre for a time away from the house.
This was what I found in town.
When they all got back, Stuart came to pick me up at the shopping centre. We headed back to the house and had dinner around 2 pm. Hope opened her presents before our late lunch. We played Articulate before Granny went home. The kids watched their next clue in The Who Sleighed Santa mystery.
We had a Google meet with the Richardsons and O’Reilleys for beverages. It’s was a bit of a laugh. We spoke with them for over two hours. We do miss our UAE friends tremendously.
Thursday morning we got up and headed to Maresfield to see Grandad and Grandma. This was going to be the first time Hope had seen them since she was really little. I asked her if she was nervous. She said she was a bit, but was also excited. I told her not to worry, they were very excited to meet her and whatever transpired 15 years ago had nothing to do with her. I told her that sometimes there are adult issues that deep into kid’s lives, but really has nothing to do with the kid.
We got there just before lunch, had a tea and some snacks. Grandma took the kids up to the craft room to make these gnome ornaments.
Then Jack helped Grandad make burgers and the kids ate those. The adults had lamb sandwiches which were yummy. After lunch, the kids played a couple of games while the adults sat in the conservatory and chatted. And I totally forgot to take any pictures. I’m so irritated with myself! We left for Highwoods around 4:15 pm. When we got back we had ham and eggs, then worked on our latest clues for Who Sleighed Santa? We had an early-ish evening as Stuart was driving Hope back to Birmingham the next morning, Christmas Eve, where traffic would surely be manic at best. Friday morning, Christmas Eve, we were all awake just before 8 am to see Stuart and Hope off. Hope was very quiet. I suspect she was a bit down about leaving us. We had a fantastic time with her. She and Millie get on so well. Millie adores her. Once they had left, the kids ate breakfast and got dressed. Grandma had some wrapping to do so the kids and I took a walk up to Sainsbury, which was lovely.
Once we were in Sainsbury we got some drawing paper, some sharpie pens and a dozen eggs.
We decided to have a coffee and snack before returning to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
This is the hill we walked up to get to Sainsbury and the hill we walked down to get home. What a view!
Once home we decided to watch YouTube for some drawing tutorials. We drew an elf on the shelf, Rudolph, and a cartoon cup of hot cocoa. The kids had a lot of fun doing it. Stuart got to Birmingham in record time, but coming back was not quite as quick. Once he was home we called my mom and dad, as they had requested us to do so. Every year for as long as I can remember, my parents have written poems for us to present ours or the kids’ presents. This year they wrote one for just us. They gave us a very generous monetary gift, which was totally unexpected. They said they decided that they had plenty of money and they could spare some for each of us. My parents have always been very generous, but this was above anything I would ever expect. It made me cry! After the shock of that gift, we listened to our last video of Who Sleighed Santa? and were no more informed than the day before. I’m terrible at murder mysteries.
We had dinner of salmon en croute, with table presents and good conversation. The kids sat out the usual for Santa and went to bed around 9:30 pm.
Reindeer food, mince pie, carrot, and a shot of whiskey for the jolly ole fellow.
Christmas morning I was awakened at about 3 am. Our Ring, in Arizona, was going off. We had a visit from Santa. Clearly Santa knew we would be in England for Christmas and decided to come a bit early to deliver their large present to the house. I was able to go back to sleep, but my heart did miss a beat when I saw him at the door. I knew the kids would be excited the following morning.
Stuart and I woke up at 8 am, having told the kids not to wake us up until after 7 am. But to our surprise, the kids were still sleeping. I got dressed and came downstairs for a cup of tea. The kids finally surfaced just before 9 am. We let the kids open their stockings before eating breakfast. We had gammon and eggs for breakfast and then the kids opened their Santa gifts and we showed them the video of Santa at our house. Jack and Millie were then in charge of passing out all the gifts under the tree. They got way more than they needed or asked for, which is always the case. We are definitely blessed. At the end of the presents we had a scavenger hunt for them. At the end of the Disney clues in the hunt, it was revealed that we were going to Disneyland the last weekend in January. Yes, it’s true, I am taking general leave days to take my kids to Disney. We ate our Christmas dinner in the early afternoon. We had every food imaginable. It was delicious but there were tons of leftovers. Christmas afternoon we spoke to my family and then the evening was spent relaxing as the kids were enjoying their gifts.
We woke up on Boxing Day and did our usual, had coffee and a bite to eat. There was food and other things in the day, but no major movement or activity for the day. We did play games, which the kids really love.
On the 27th we met Barnes, Anna, the girls, Giles and Jen for a walk in Bedgebury. It wasn’t raining at first, and then it started ‘pissing down’, as the English would say.
We ended up buying wellies before we met at the park. There was mud everywhere.
Uncle Giles took a selfie after we warmed up in the cafe with hot chocolate and mulled wine. We played games when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
On the 28th we headed over to Grandad and Grandma’s again for a curry. We got to chat more with Jen and Giles, who is Stuart’s step brother. It was a good day. We got back to Grandpa and Grandma’s just before 5 pm. Grandpa had actually gone to meet up with Jen and Giles in a pub. When Grandpa got home we played Flip Uno, a game that Hope had bought Millie. It’s a fast action, highly entertaining game. Millie went to bed around 10 pm, Stuart followed and took a shower, while Jack and I stayed up for another hour or so. We talked a bit about his new club basketball team he is joining. He seemed very excited for the whole experience.
On Wednesday, Stuart and I went to Sainsbury to get some last minute, needed items for our trip back to the states. We bought things that are hard to get in Arizona.
We went to Eastbourne for one last visit with Granny. We took Stuart’s grandmother for lunch at a very wonderful Italian restaurant. Prior to that, we went to her flat and had a cup of tea. She told stories of schooling during the war. It was so interesting to listen to. I told her I hoped she had recorded these stories somewhere. She is quite fascinating.
After lunch we took Audrey back to her flat and went back to Hastings for a game of Monopoly Cards. This is also a good game that may become a favorite.
Thursday morning we got up to do our PCR tests to get the clearance to fly on Friday. We all tested negative so the flight was a go. We headed to Ashford just before noon to meet up with Cathy, her two girls, Kayleigh and Claire, and our friend Tiff. These are all people we met in the UAE and hadn’t been able to say a proper goodbye back in March 2020.
We spent some time shopping at the outlets in Ashford but the rain got the best of us. We decided to call it a day around 4 pm. We headed back to Grandma and Grandpa’s for an Indian curry meal and some last minute packing before our departure the next day.
Jack and I were the night owls again on Thursday evening. The alarm Friday morning was set for 7 am, but I woke up much early in anticipation of getting everything in the cases. Stuart took the rental car back and then we finished the gathering of ‘stuff’ to safely store in our luggage. Then we waited. Those are the worst hours, the anticipation of the hired car to take us back to the airport. I hate it. Stuart gets sad, his mum gets sad, and consequently everyone is kind of sad.
Our drive to Heathrow was uneventful. We got checked in and headed for a bite to eat. We ate at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant. We then went to our gate and waited for the departure. When we got on the plane it was not completely full, so that was nice. The 11 hour flight to Las Vegas was very uneventful. We had a couple of meals and watched a few movies. We tried to keep everyone awake so that we could get back on a regular sleep schedule as quickly as possible once we landed back in the United States. Millie, however, slept for a few hours. Once we landed in Las Vegas, we went through customs and then realize we could not re-check our bags until the following morning. So we were relieved that we had decided to book a hotel room for the night. We got a cab to the hotel room and then we went to the gas station to get some food for the kids while they showered. We came back and had a shower, ate a bite and went to bed. The kids had a bit of difficulty going to sleep, and it was just a bit irritating.
Unfortunately, none of us slept very well. So we ended up waking up at about 5:30 AM and going back to the airport. We had some breakfast and waited at our gate for our flight to load. It was about a 40 minute flight to Phoenix. Pop picked us up from the airport and took us back to our house. We unpacked all of our bags, got some laundry started, and were able to have a visit with Grammie and Pop. Grammie and Pop then went and got us some food to eat while we continued to unpack. And then we let the kids open the presents that we had left under the tree for them.
Grammie and Pop went home and we spent the rest of the day tidying up and getting things back to where they belonged. Stuart took down the outside lights, which was a bit sad. Stuart and I watched some television while the kids sorted out their new items from Christmas. We decided to order Chipotle for dinner. Our neighbors, Mitch and Elise came over around 7 o’clock. Mitch had just had a really cool tattoo put on his arms. We had a good catch-up, and then they went home and we went inside because we were freezing. Jack and Millie had gone up to bed a bit earlier and that is when I discovered that we had potentially left Monkey, Jack’s stuffed animal, in the UK. This is Jack’s comfort stuffed animal. He may be 13 years old, but he loves that stuffed toy. So once we were in bed I was a little distressed about where Monkey was. I decided I would just get up the following morning and message my mother-in-law and see if it was at her house somewhere. What a way to end a holiday!
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