The End....

Yet again I am a few weeks behind, but so much has happened. Finally I did get round to sorting out and packing our bags from our lovely house on the prairie.

However before doing so we had a day out with Noo, Lexi and Harry at the Medicine Hat Spectrum Festival which was held in the old part of town. The weather was baking so ice cream was definitely order of the day. Harry & Fraser loved seeing the monster trucks which were parked up in the closed off street and then it was off to the petting farm and a quick pony ride for Tegan and Fraser. All the children loved stroking and holding the animals and it was hard work getting them out to look at everything else going on. We had arrived slightly later in the day so just missed the performances on the stage but we were all very happy to meander around in the sunshine. After a lovely stroll around the festival we finished off with the children cycling lovely pedal tractors that a local company makes out of disused metal such as sewing machines etc.

As we would be in the UK for Fraser's birthday we took 6 of his friends out bowling for the evening after school. Everyone started off quite keen for the 5 pin bowling but soon just wanted to go and play in the softplay area, leaving Noo and I to finish off the bowling. The bowling alley provided some hot dogs and chips (crisps) for everyone and I had brought along fruit and then the all important birthday cake. Once this had all be eaten it was back to running around and getting hot and sweaty. Fraser had a lovely time and it was really important that he had a party with all his close friends.

The week leading up to our departure from Canada was extremely busy. The Friday night friends invited us round for a curry dinner which was amazing and good entertainment. Chris had to leave early as he was on the prairie at 4am the following morning. Sunday was the Spectrum Festival, Monday Fraser's bowling and Sam T very kindly had a girls lunch for me - yet again more delicious food. Wednesday Chris finally came off the prairie and had a night of drinking with the boys - apparently he really had to as it was his last Xray Template. Thursday night we moved out of our house and in with Sam & Andy so that we could finally finish the house ready for 'March Out' on Friday lunchtime. Thursday was also getting Jinx to the vets in the correct timescale for her necessary injections prior to flying. Chris spent the day getting certain documentation signed off and closing down all his accounts at work. Thursday night Sam & Andy had a bbq for us and invited our good friends from the village - we had a fantastic evening although our looming departure made it a little sad. Friday was frantic getting the final bits & pieces out of the house, Tegan and Fraser had sports day and at midday we had the 'March Out' which is always a little nervous as if things are not in correct order you may get bills for items or damage and with such a tight timescale, our transport was coming at 3pm, it had to go well. Everything was fine so again Chris rushed up to camp to pay all final bills whilst I finally made it up to school to catch the end of Fraser doing his sports day events. It was really hard saying goodbye to lots of wonderful girls I had met in the village. It was then back to Sam & Andy's house to wait for our transport. This was the really hard part of leaving as our three sets of really good friends and their children were all there to send us off. The girls gave me a fantastic present - a book containing pictures of our time in Canada and some of the lovely memories of the special scenery that can only be found in Canada and on the prairie. So with many tears and lots of hugs we finally got onto our transport off to Calgary airport.

We stayed at the Delta Hotel which is located at Calgary airport on the Friday night as we were due to fly 2pm Saturday but had to make sure we got Jinx to the cargo department during the morning. So Friday night we went to the hotel bar to have supper and watch the Stanley Cup on their big screen, much to Fraser's delight. Unfortunately we missed the final of the Stanley Cup as it went to the 7th game which was played a couple of days later when we were in the UK - Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks.

Saturday morning Chris took Jinx for a walk to stretch her legs before her 12 hour journey in her crate. One of the military personnel, who live in Calgary and who's job it is to help all the incoming/outgoing troops and families move in and out of Canada, kindly helped me with transporting Jinx to the cargo department which is on the opposite side of the airport. After a fairly traumatic couple of hours trying to find the correct department/bay I eventually got Jinx checked in and had to leave her - hoping that she would make it onto our flight. Before I knew it we were all checked in and waiting for our flight, unfortunately it was delayed 2 hours, but the time passed quickly and then we were boarding. After checking that Jinx was also on board I could relax and hope that the tv's worked for Tegan and Fraser. The flight passed fairly painlessly as food was served and Tegan and Fraser watched their films. We landed at 8.30am UK time and after collecting all our bags we made our way to get the hire car. Fraser asked 'what are all those old cars doing on the road' - pointing to black cabs - he had never seen them before. We collected the hire car and made our way to the animal reception in order to collect Jinx. After a wait due to customs checking all her paperwork she was finally reunited with us and off we set to Collingbourne Ducis.
Although Chris's next job will be at Minley, Fleet we made the choice to privately rent a house in Collingbourne Ducis, Marlborough. This decision in an attempt to give Tegan and Fraser continuity of their schooling at Collingbourne Primary School which is a lovely village school set next door to the cricket pitch and surrounded with horse paddocks. We had never seen the house except some pictures that our friend Les sent to us and all of Noo's descriptions of the house and village - so our first stop back in the UK was to the house in order to drop of all the bags and have a quick look around.

So for the last 3 weeks we have been unpacking boxes as we received all our boxes that had been in storage for 2 years and all the Canadian boxes. It has been a time for a massive clear out of 15 years worth of 'stuff' that we have carted around - and there is not enough storage space in the house. Tegan and Fraser had two weeks off school before starting at Collingbourne Primary school - they have now been there for 1 1/2 weeks and have settled in amazingly well.

It is lovely running with Jinx around the gorgeous countryside that is Collingbourne Ducis and the surrounding villages although I am not used to hills. It is a natural thing to compare UK with our life in Canada - if anyone has the opportunity to live in Canada I would definitely recommend it as we have had an amazing two years and wouldn't swop it for anything. It was the first time that we left a posting where we really didn't want to leave. So is this the end of Canada for us - well for a start many of our good friends intend to make Canada their permanent home so always a good holiday destination. As for the Leonards we shall wait and see..... We have had an amazing adventure living on the Prairie in Alberta - living the Canadian Dream.