A WEEK ON LAKE MICHIGAN

Before the big move we had planned a week at lake Michigan with my kids and grand kids. Leanne flew in from London for the festivity, we were also able to have her sister Kim, her man Jim and his son Zack join us. The house was a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house that sat on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Charles and his family stayed in his camper while the rest of us were in the house. The kids picked a room that was the "kids only, no adults aloud" room. The rest of the house was suppose to be ours but the kids seemed to have the run of that also.

The kids enjoying the lake

Coach found some shade.

The house was close to Silver lake dunes so many trips were taken there with the Jeeps. Damian and Sandra brought one along with Heather and Keith, Damian also brought about 8 dirt bikes. One that he rode in the dunes and a few that the kids were able to ride a bit on the lane going to the house. 

 One day a group of us rod on the Mac Woods dune ride, this is a picture was taken at the top of a hill overlooking Silver lake. On the ride we sang Christmas songs (the trip was our Christmas presents to the kids)and Heather did a few cheer-leading cheers. The driver liked our group (she was a cheer leading coach) and stopped and made us do a cheer.

A game of Left, Right, Center. 

and a pic with Leanne and I with my kids the last day.

Weeks apart

Leanne and i have not seen each other since June 25 when she went to London to start her new job. This Saturday she will fly back over the pond for our planned family vacation on lake Michigan.  Lee has had a hectic few weeks, issues with the house we rented, a day when the tube (subway) went on strike and all the joys of learning the in's and out at the new work place. Our air shipment arrived and a week after she was there. After putting stuff away she said i better hurry up and get over because shes taking all the best spots for clothes.

Her commute is about 45 minutes and she is getting in the grove of going to and from work. A few times the line she takes has had issues and had to take other lines and a bus. She is a lot better at direction with subways and buses, it must be from all those years when she worked in New York. The day the Tube was on strike she ended up walking home because the lines to the buses were just to long. It was over 5 miles and she was able to see more things that we'll check out once I'm there.

This past week I have been visiting family and friends from my home town. Coach and 25 (our dog and cat) have been doing fine. The move does not seem to bother them so far. Saturday we will be heading to lake Michigan to the house we rented. While we are there i have to take the dog and cat to a local vet to do the paper work to fly over.  This has to be done 10 days before they fly and is the reason we didn't do it sooner.  

The Move

So those of you who are wondering "what all did they have to do for this big move" I will try to explain most of what we did.

After Leanne got her offer most of you knew we had to fly to London to find a place to live. We were there a week and did not do any sight seeing at all. We mainly checked out the area we would be living, where we would be shopping and also where we could walk Coach.
After getting back to the states we had to decide what we would take over and what would stay. We had one shipment with a 750 pound limit that would go by air. This would arrive to the place our new place in England in 5 to 10 days. The next shipment would be by boat and would take 6 to 10 weeks. There was a container we were allowed but we never got close to filling it. The house in England is not as big as the one in Charlotte so there was no reason to take a lot of stuff. Everything else was put in storage.

Our new house in England is in Holland Park, just west of Kensington gardens. Its a three story condo, they may call it something else over there. The first floor is the kitchen/dining room, second floor is the living room and the third floor has two bedrooms. It is smaller than the Charlotte house and has less storage. So when we were deciding what to take a lot of stuff had to be put in storage. The good news is when we get back it will be like Christmas when we open the boxes. Happy to see what's in some of the boxes and wondering why we kept stuff in other boxes.
As of today Leanne has received the air shipment and the shipment by boat should arrive the week I get there.

Address changes, visa's, all our medical records for us and the animals. There was also the paper work to send Coach and 25 over. We had to purchase shipping crates for the both of them. They will fly over the same day as me and after they go through customs they will be delivered to our house. Once they are in the house and out of there crates Leanne and I will be able to relax.