Saying Goodbye to Colorado and Hello to Canberra!

Thanks to Michelle Farrell in particular and many of you in general, we are going to give this blog thing a try!!  While we have been in Oz now for several days, we'll first back up and start at the beginning.  Or the end, depending on your perspective!  : )

First, the going away party...made beautiful and memorable by our intrepid team of organizers, decorators, and guests.  That is to say, I had nothing to do with it!   Thanks to Mountain Light Company (aka our wonderful friends, the Fullers) for the lighting, and to Susan Clark, party planner and designer extraordinaire for her (and her family's!) tireless efforts to take our going away soiree from a lame boxed-wine/keg affair to a classy and truly memorable event!!  You will see no pictures after the prep ones because we were having too much fun catching up with friends from all walks of our Colorado Springs lives.  It was great to see you all, even if we didn't have much time to actually talk to you!

A special note of thanks to my dear friend Laura Larson who came out to visit, help pack, and generally make us laugh at a time when we could have easily cried and gnashed teeth.  It was also great to have out of town friends like Bill Pellico, the Putz family, and the Wrights come to see us off.  I must stop now or I will get too verklempt to continue!!

Soon thereafter, packing became less of an adventure and more of an absolute necessity as our international moving company showed up.  These guys meant business as they meticulously wrapped up everything in brown boxes and wrapping paper in prep for a container voyage to Australia.   They alertly  pre-marked anything that was staying behind with blue painter's tape, including me!

More to come now that we are on the ground in Canberra!  Bye for now...