Going Home to England - Part I

It has been a month since my last post, and life has been full of fun. Matthew, Amelia and I traveled to England on September 5. We flew from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois and then onto Manchester, England. It was a long flight but Amelia was amazing, I was fearful that she might cry the whole time, especially during the descent, but she didn't at all, I was so proud.

Although the journey is long, it is so worth it to be able to go back to my home Country and see my wonderful family and lovely friends.

After a worrying few minutes thinking that our luggage had not made it to our destination, we were finally ready to be reunited with my mum and step-dad David. This was the happiest moment of all, the moment I have been waiting for since last November. After tears of joy, hugs and kisses we headed home to relax. With the eight hour time difference, it was only 8am on Saturday when we arrived, however our body clocks were telling us that we should really have been going to bed. We were quite tired so didn't really do anything on our first day, other than relaxed and napped a little.

On Sunday, we went to church, then set off to see my brother Richard's family, Amelia met two of her cousins, Conner and Mia, they had fun playing together and Mia especially loved helping to take the photo's

Next, we visited Great-gran Cartwright. Amelia had lots of fun jumping on her bed, it made her giggle.

Afterwards, was one of the special moments I had been waiting for, we went to visit my dad. I have been really eager to see him since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's during the past year or so, I couldn't wait to give him a great big hug.

He lives in a church which has been converted into apartments, so we called him on the phone when we arrived. As he came through the door, I heard myself squealing "daddy", strange since I normally call him "dad", and gave him a huge hug, of course, it was very emotional for me, I had waited a long time to see him.

Matthew, Amelia and I visited with my dad outside, it was a lovely afternoon and it was so nice to see him with his granddaughter. He remembered her name, I was very excited about that, he mentioned that he had worked hard to do that.

Of course he was a little different than I remembered, but at the same time, he was the same old dad that I know and love.

The photo above is of the church that my dad lives in, it is located in a small, pretty and peaceful village called Thorner in Leeds, Yorkshire.

My dad's wife Pat also enjoyed meeting Amelia.

We spent a couple of hours with my dad before mum and David came to pick us up, it was so great to see him.

Well, that is just the first couple of days of our fabulous vacation, I have so much more to tell you so check back soon for Part II!