The Long Month of Goodbyes ~Part 2 by Henry

March 15 2012

 Hi everybody! This long month has finally come to an end. I will miss all you guys.

 I am going to tell you a few things that I am looking forward to.

 1. I would really like to go to Lego land.

2. I hope to go to Italy, France and Switzerland to snowboard.

 3. I would like to go to Switzerland and try the chocolate there.

 4, I really am looking forward to the Olympics we are going this year. We have tickets to beach volleyball, gymnastics (May, Kate and Mom) and just got tickets to Track and Field!

 5. I want to just get to London.  It feels like this month was a whole year it was so slow. I will miss all you guys - Calvin, Beck, Miles, Hal, Spencer, and Jack!  Thanks for being there for me.

March 29 2012

              We made it to London! Recently we got new scooters here! They are not ordinary Razor scooters! They are Rage and Madd brands. They have big burly wheels and meaty handle bars.  There is a skate park just across the street so when everybody is in school we ride over there and get it all to are self. It is really fun because we are alone and we have our scooters.

It is still hard to get over the fact the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car and they drive on the left side of the road. A few days ago I saw a kid in the front seat where the steering wheel is in America and I said “look mom that kid is driving. 

 Lastly we went to Legoland yesterday and it was very fun. There were 3 roller coasters, 3 wet rides, and 2 pirate ships. We went on all of them and it was very fun. We also went to an exhibit called Lego Star Wars. It was very cool and they had whole scenes from the movies made from Legos.

 In front of mini-NASA

 For Zoe-mini Holland!

 I love this pic! Henry hated roller coasters until yesterday!

 I think he LOVES them now!

Windsor Castle-we did a quick walk by but will definitely go back!

Scooting on the balcony!

Tailwhip in the kitchen!

We made it!

We made it! Uneventful flight and we left on time! My only beef with British Airways is that their planes are old. Some of you who saw Henry the night before we left, all he could talk about was the movies he was going to watch on the LONG flight...Tower Heist, Moneyball and In Time. Well guess who's in-flight entertainment system NEVER worked? Mine didn't either but I had my laptop with Friday Night Lights queued up...but he was a trooper. We chatted and then switched with May to watch Tower Heist. Kids got some sleep...me not so much.

Pete drove to the airport and met us! It was so AWESOME to be reunited after 6 weeks apart!  He is quite the driver!

Our flat is great. Small but great. Two bedrooms, two baths. Two double beds. Small. A cot for Henry. Luggage stored on top of the kitchen cabinets and really anywhere we can fit it--even in the boot of the car! It will be a long few weeks here and I have to remember to pace...easy to walk the kids and myself to exhaustion!

On Sunday after we arrived, we took a drive and showed the kids the house. The current tenants were outside and let us come in and show the kids. It was excellent! We met their kids and they are the nicest family. We also met the the family across the street - they have two girls 8 and 9! I think we will be super happy there-- it is Issaquah in England!

Will I ever get rid of the bags under my eyes completely??

Love this pic of the kids-we had so much stuff and I had to have the kids help me push all the trolleys! You can barely see May!

The folks currently renting our house recommended this cute PUB which was way hidden. We felt lucky to know about it and it was booked for Sunday lunch but we got in. Loads of hiking trails all around so folks hike and then come in for a pint!

Just happy to be here!

This is a lame picture but Pete decorated our entire flat with streamers and Welcome Home! He got us each little presents: Henry Lego books and lottery tickets, May a fedora, purse and lottery tickets and I got a map of London, a new cell phone and a granny grocery cart we named Maude!

The Davis Farewell Tour 2012-Extended One Final Week!

You're still here? Haven't you left yet? I thought they left a while ago?
Those seem to be the FAQs lately! Yes we are still here. No we haven't left yet!
BUT we are close! We have ticked off all the things to do on Pete's very detailed Excel spreadsheet he created back in October and are ready to go. We have marched past all the MAJOR hurdles in the past month and we are ALL exhausted!

1. Pete finally made it to London after his 4 day British Airway fiasco
2. I packed up house and movers came for 2 days to pack and load it up
3. Sold my car
4. Sold our house
5. Packed suitcases for the 3 of us for the next 6 weeks
6. Attended many goodbye GNOs, one goodbye gymnastics party, one bowling party for Henry and his friends, a stay in a hotel with May and Henry's BFFs
7. Packed up Pete's 1994 Land Cruiser with all luggage, ski stuff, bikes and a couple of rifles and DROVE THAT OLD GIRL to Sun Valley - drive from hell. Great weather but very uncomfortable car to drive

8. Spent a lovely week in SV skiing with the kids and hanging out with our family. Saw my folks, my brother and nephew, my mother in law, brother and sister in law and more cousins and nieces and nephews! It was excellent! The weather was gorgeous and we had some great spring skiing!



9. I flew to London from SV to meet Pete and house hunt. Spent a week looking at some real stinkers but we eventually found the one! We found a 5 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom house in the town of Twyford. It is situated between Henley on the Thames and Marlow. 5 minute walk to the train, schools and town. 30 minute train ride to London and an 8 minute train ride to Pete's office. Across the street are 5 lakes with trails all around them for mountain biking and walking. The schools are excellent!. Pete and I had a great time throughout the week. We had several great meals, we walked a ton, finished setting up our banking, toured the schools and DROVE his new car! It was delivered the week I was there and the first day we just sat in it and played with the navigation system. We drove it around the block one time each and then it sat in the garage for 4 days. On Sunday morning, early before anyone was out, we took it out for a spin. We drove it to our new town and on a semi busy road. Pete did great and then it was my turn. My stomach was in knots the entire time and my hands were sore from gripping the steering wheel so tight! But I did it and I know I can do it so watch out England! We also were able to take the train into London for night at a hotel, dinner with the fabulous Grimsteads and saw Wicked on Saturday!

 10. After the nerve racking driving morning, I flew back to Seattle (after a 5 hour delay and a plane change on British Air-not winning points for the Davis family).  My rock star MOM put the kids on their first solo plane trip from Boise to Seattle the next day! They did great. All sugared up at 10 AM as I think they ate all the candy they got at the candy store on the flight and Henry had a Coke too. Oh well. They made it safe and sound.

 So finally finishing up the week, seeing friends, tying up the last loose ends and saying goodbye.

 View from our flat in Maidenhead

 Super cute pub in Wargrave on the Thames - 10 minute drive from Twyford

View from the super cute pub. Apparently we can join the Wargrave Boating Club for the summer and have use of their canoes, kayaks, skiffs and punts (I don't know what that is?) Why didn't I bring my SUP ??

We leave on Friday. This is it. The Farewell Tour is over. See you in London.

The Long Month of Goodbyes - by May

Well it's been a long month's wait, but I am ready to have tea with sugar cubes and teacakes! We have had to stay a lot places like Maya's house, the Porters, a hotel with my buds, Perry and Hadley's house and my Uncle Will's and Rye's house. We have said goodbye to a lot of people and are done with school! Yippie!

We made it to Sun Valley after a long drive!

When I get to London, I really want to go to Italy (Milan) and meet my Mom's friend J.J. who writes about fashion. Maybe she can take me to a fashion house where they makes dresses? I love to draw dresses! I also want to go to Paris and climb the Eiffel Tower and also wear my beret! One more thing I want to do is find a 4 leaf clover in Ireland. It was really hard saying goodbye to all my family and friends but I know my cousin Kate is going to go to the Olympics with us! I am so looking forward to that!

Moving Day!

I am sitting here at my computer watching the mover guys pack ALL my stuff. So weird. The lead mover guy said that I was the most organized move they have ever done and it will be a piece of cake! He was shocked at how little stuff we have but I think we have a ton of stuff!

I have never been professionally moved before. They really do everything for you! Pete and I have lived in 4 homes together and we have always moved ourselves, with friend's help (Tom Bice, you might have helped with EVERY move I bet!). When Pete and I moved from our first rental house to our first home we bought on Queen Anne it was pouring down rain. Pete had his PINK pick up truck, and we loaded it up with the mattress and his log bed he had hand made himself. Again, POURING RAIN. I followed him as we drove from Eastlake to Queen Anne. At the intersection of the Fremont bridge, in front of the Nickerson Street Saloon, he popped the clutch, and the entire mattress and log bed pieces flew out the back into the middle of the intersection. I was a bit behind and came upon this tall man, swearing up a storm, trying to negotiate traffic and the rain and get all of this back in his truck! We arrived to our brand new, soon to be newlywed, home and end up sleeping on the floor, with the heat turned up to 90 degrees in order to dry the mattress. So I am sold on this professional moving stuff. I almost feel bad sitting here typing, Facebooking and texting! But not really.

 Pile of stuff for the boat container shipment (arrive in 5-6 weeks)

 Pile of stuff for air container shipment (arrive in 2-3 weeks)

 Mover guy #1 busy packing up the kitchen

Sun Valley Staging Room

Driving all this to SV with road bikes on the back of the Land Cruiser.

Suitcases full of clothes and shoes for kids and I, ski clothes (aka bulky!), carry on bags, sleeping bags, and a ton of other random crap, etc...



Meanwhile, Pete is trucking along in jolly old England working his butt off. When he arrived his new boss was on vacation and so he just got settled, caught up on email and put his head to the grindstone. All weekend he worked on a presentation that he gave yesterday in Dublin! So cool that he has already jumped on a quick flight over to Ireland (and stayed at the Four Seasons Dublin apparently)!



Whew, what a week this has been! Kids off from school all week, Pete finally left on Monday (only 3 days later), finishing touches on packing up the house, sold my car, shipped Stella off to Colorado and had a tiny glitch with Pete's car. I don't think I ever sat down until today to type this up!

I can't even fathom that the moving truck will be here in 4 days. It is crazy. We are pretty bare bones here right now...things in piles, trying to eat down the pantry, no vacuum cleaner (borrowing one for now-thanks Jess), TVs all going by Monday (it's gonna be ugly -Henry will have Xbox withdrawls for sure) and one more week of school for the kids! Thought I would let you know our schedule for the next several weeks before we leave:

Feb. 28 ~ movers come
Feb 29 ~ house closes
Mar 4 ~ driving to Boise
Mar 5 ~ driving to Sun Valley
Mar 11 ~ Jen goes to UK for a house hunting trip
Mar 18 ~ Jen home to Seattle
Mar19 ~ kids home to Seattle (first solo flight!)
Mar 23 ~ see the Hunger Games and all fly to UK that evening!!

Nothing says jet lag like 3 international flights in 12 days!

Here is a picture of May when she found out Pete's 1st flight was cancelled

The letter May wrote to our friends the Lyles.

They are taking care of Stella while we are gone.

I have assigned Pete homework this weekend to send me a blog update! Let's see if he turns in his assignment on time!

Also, I would like to thank all of my friends who have helped out the past few weeks with play dates, carpooling me and the kids around to various car dealerships and sports practices, borrowing trucks and vacuums,babysitting furniture, babysitting and watching my dog (sorry about the carpets Kelly!) Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Sometimes it does take a village ( I hate that saying BTW)!

We got this!



Packing up and Heading Out

We are getting down to the wire with one week to go before our house closes and the moving vans arrive. Last weekend we had our Door to Door storage pods come - we loaded them up with all the things we were NOT taking to the UK. So many people have asked how we are deciding what to bring and what not to bring? Are we bringing our car? Stella? Where are you going to live? How do you decide? First let's answer the questions:

1. Homes in the UK are MUCH smaller than they are here so we need to be aware of what we are bringing...but is that stopping us from bringing our big ASS sectional and another couch? NO! Not sure where all of our stuff is going to fit. But I will say we are only bringing about half of our stuff.

2. Not taking cars...too big. Also from what we hear it is helpful to have the steering wheel on the other side of the car which makes driving on the other side of the road more like driving here...huh?

3. Stella...sigh.That was a tough decision but in the end we decided to have her go stay with our great friends, Kelly and Dave, while we are gone. We figured with the amount of travel we would like to do, she would end up in a kennel a lot and we just don't have the network of people over there who would be willing to watch her. I am going to miss my running/hiking buddy so much. Stella leaves for Vail (swanky, she will feel right at home) on Feb. 23.

4. Not sure where we are going to live at this point. I will meet Pete over there on March 12 for a 5 day house hunting trip. Microsoft's office is located about 30 miles West of London so we are shooting for somewhere in between. Towns around there you may have heard of are
Windsor (near Windsor Castle), Ascot (horse races), Henley on the Thames (rowing mecca of the UK), Marlow, Sunninghill/Sunningdale and Virginia Water. Going to visit will be great as I have no idea whether a town I "like" is Issaquah like or could be the equivalent of Tacoma/Federal Way (sorry friends fro Tacoma!). We will definately be renting so anything goes- a flat, a suburban close (cul-de-sac), rural or more city living...who knows. We are game for anything!
Back to the storage PODS. Pete was able to put one of his best skills to use that weekend...packing. He can pack anything...as suitcase, a car trunk, and now a storage pod. He inherited this valuable skill from his father, Big Bob Davis. That man could pack ice into a hot oven. So I thank my father in law for passing a long this skill as it was invaluable for getting all of our S^%t into the POD.

So now my job is to separate our remaining stuff into piles...what is going to Sun Valley for the 1-2 weeks we are there, what is going by AIR to the UK (2 week arrival time) and what is going via SHIP (5-6 weeks arrival time). Need clothes/shoes for skiing in SV, sleeping bags as we squat at friend's houses after our house closes, clothes for the UK when we arrive, and things for the kids to do as there will be no TV/XBox hook ups for quite some time.


As of today, Feb. 20, Pete has not left yet! It's a long story, but the gist is that he was to leave on Feb. 17 on a one way ticket to London. Flight delayed three hours and then ultimately cancelled. Rescheduled for Feb. 19 at 2 AM. Sounded suspicious and it was. He arrived at the airport to find a lot of people waiting to check in to British Airways but no British Airways gate agents. No agents = no planes apparently. So back home by 1 AM. He is now scheduled to go out today, Feb. 20. Fingers crossed. We have all said goodbye to one another twice now and at this point I think we all want him to get started with the first part of our new adventure. We will miss him a ton but as Henry says, "I am just thinking of this as a business trip. One that we get to go on to visit and end of staying." So adaptable that kid! Safe travels to Pete!