We have all been riding bikes to school and KT has been riding to work as well. Since it is far the younger two are riding on the back of the cargo bike while SV has been riding her new Silver Duck after her fall. Silver Duck has been a great bike for her and she is starting to enjoy the ride. Pretty soon the younger two will start riding as well.
We went out to have a look at various furniture to see what was out there and how much it cost. Turns out there are lots of options but most of them are not particularly nice or they are quite expensive. It was an interesting experience in any case. What is better is that EV is really getting the hang of school and is doing so well. She is making friends and having fun while really learning. We are so very glad because it was a worry since she skipped kindy, but we really had no reason to as it turns out.
For her birthday EV really wanted to go to the movie theatre and see a good film. We invited Grandma Cece along too. Afterwards KT had made a brownie cake which we all had a piece, but only after EV blew out all the candles.
We were happy to celebrate EV's birthday and of course did our traditional birthday congratulations. She got all dressed up for the occasion and was so very happy. It was really nice to celebrate her and her achievements so far.
Babicka, Uncle Richie and Auntie Jeanna went to pick up Nagy in Slovakia and helped her move to California. They arrived safely and had a nice flight. A few days after they arrived we went to see them and say hi to everyone. It was fun to see Nagy here since we only just saw her in Slovakia a few months ago. We're glad she is here so we can see her more often.
We moved temporarily into our friend's house while they were away. This gave us a chance to figure out where we would live longer term and what we would do. We got comfortable there and got things set up for ourselves. SV figured out her locker for year 7 and managed to find a little reminder of home too. Generally we were ready for things to settle down into a bit of a routine.
We started settling into life in Sac meeting up with old friends and doing some shopping for our house. We still had a bit of time to rest before KT started work and the girls started school. It was good to see Setsuna again and spend some time with her too.
It was hard to believe that this was the last day of our holiday and that there was only one more flight left back to Sacramento. We were so lucky to be able to experience and see so many wonderful places and people all over the world. One of the best things about our trip was that we grew closer as a family since we got to do it together. There were of course squabbles and arguments, but these were part of the growing process and were far outweighed by the great memories we made together. A couple of statistics about our travels: 187 days. 21 flights, 5 continents, 19 countries plus 4 US states, and so many wonderful people.
On the last day in Colorado we had a lovely and relaxed dinner as the last of the storm passed overhead. There was a pretty double rainbow right outside the window, which we took to be a nice sign. Our flight back to Sacramento the following day was uneventful as we prepared ourselves for starting life there.
After a fun time in Denton and Dalhart it was time to say good bye to all of the family. We headed north to Denver to eventually fly back to our new home. One of the stops we made along the way was the Capulin Volcano National Monument where we did a little walk into the middle of the volcano. The view from the top of the mountain was actually really quite nice, but for some reason there were heaps of bugs so we didn't stand around too long. We were also going to stop in Colorado at a place called Garden of the Gods, but when we got there we got caught in a huge rain storm. So we gave it a miss and instead headed to Denver to rest and pack.
