A Valentine's Day to Remember

Little did we know last year when we were busily staking down our roots with our finally completed "year's supply" and the birth of our fourth child, that we'd be living halfway across the world a short 6 months later. Last fall, Darren applied on a whim for this "long shot" position in Canberra, Australia. He casually mentioned it on the phone one day as we were discussing his application for a position in England (which had been our plan since the beginning.) When that "long shot" actually materialized, along with the England job, we were torn but found we couldn't pass it up and thus began the preparations.

Organizing a move halfway around the world with a nursing newborn and 3 kids in 3 different schools with 3 different schedules is tricksy. And Darren had plenty on his plate fixing up the house and selling cars and such. Fortunately, they provided the men for packing and heavy lifting, but all the prep work fell to little old me. It was choppy at best. Basically, I put off the big, icky stuff (like organizing/downsizing) and zeroed in on the fun, easy stuff like using up all our coupons/memberships/gift certificates that had accrued over the years. Nothing like a good "use it or lose it" to get us out there to Boondocks and IMAX and Children's Museum and doggone ChuckECheese. All that fun mixed in with birthdays and baptisms and holidays and tonsillectomies left the month of January to really get down to business. Which is when I learned of the outrageously specific "restrictions" that the country of Australia enforces upon its entrants. Namely, anything to do with plants or animals, to include baskets, pencils, shells, stone, dirt and all food. Even toothpicks made the list. I went a little nutty rummaging through every last drawer/shelf/closet/bin to remove silly things like bamboo salad tongs, craft sticks, feather dusters, and puca shell necklaces. Bless those kind souls who helped me scrub every last shoe & bike/stroller tire of any dirt clumps to avoid hefty quarantine or disposal fees. I about cried having to sell or give every last canned good and pantry item I'd slaved to acquire affordably. But it was worth it in the end! Here's a look at our intercontinental adventure.

 Clearing out the house was bitter-sweet. We'll miss this lovely home and our cousins across the stream out back.

 Fortunately, our California cousins will be coming soon to replace us here which we're all thrilled about.

 Never cleaned more in my life. We're talking days of hands & knees scrubbing: window frames, baseboards, light switches, vents, walls, the works. Enjoy, Hancocks!

Our staging area got a little tight. If you look close, you'll see I've got a little buddy with  me.

 Hello duffel bags! Dare had this great idea to get a bunch of sturdy, Kirkhams bags for the haul.

 Made it easy for the kids to spot them on the baggage carts as the plane was loaded. Goodbye my Utah mountains~ :(

 They looked forward to the plane ride almost as much as the destination.

 This little trooper was like a machine on the layovers - she volunteered to haul the heaviest load of the bunch and rarely slowed down.

 Two four hour layovers were just about right, actually. Funny thing is, they STILL didn't bust out any of the games and activities I packed their bags full with. Coulda just brought their pillow pets and called it good. Go figure. (Heading straight to the airport from their parties at school with their requisite bags of valentines candy probably had nothing to do with it...)

 This little angel was 100% brilliant. While I was napping and the kids off roaming the airport with Dad, here she is at 11pm rolling around having a blast. (I choked down this forgotten RESTRICTED bag'o'carrots in record time deplaning in Sydney.)

Dad was at his wits end pre-board so he slipped 'em a little melatonin - within 5 minutes they were sawing logs in the terminal. Made it tricky to get them ON board, but we scored big-time with 2 empty seats by us.

 Charmed everyone who passed our rows. Cried a total of about 5 minutes during the 29 hour escapade.

 A spectacle, to be sure. They breezed us right through customs probably to avoid a scene - yes!

Little did we know what blowout was stewing in this bjorn until we unstrapped her for security. Wowsers. Lucky attendants won't forget US anytime soon.

And that's all I got. I misplaced the camera after this pic so didn't capture the boarding or deplaning on the tarmacs of Sydney/Canberra in a warm, refreshing summer downpour. It was a classic end to a really long, but surprisingly pleasant (other than losing our ipod touch) voyage.