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.
After feasting on the free BBQ the kids settled down to make Japanese lollies. It was a good activity as they all had various kits to make different gummy lollies. They enjoyed it, especially when they got to eat their creations and it kept them occupied for quite a while.
Most of us got tickets to see the Melodrama at the theatre in town. A local production of a bad guy trying to steal the oil rights from an orphaned lady. The fun part was that audience participation was encouraged so we oohed, ahhed, booed and laughed throughout the production. It was good fun and was just the right thing to do. The theatre itself was really pretty and made the experience all the more enjoyable.
In the morning of our last full day in Dalhart we saw the XIT Parade which conveniently went right by the house some of us were staying in. We all met there and set up chairs to watch. It was actually quite a large parade and most of the participants were throwing out lollies for the kids. Although the most memorable gift was a sack of potatoes, definitely reminded us of Halloween. After the parade we all made our way to Uncle Tommy's house one more time for a big family lunch. It was unfortunately also time to start saying our good byes as people started heading home.
