The final leg of our journey

July 13: With only three days until we finish our sabbatical, I'm mostly excited but a little sad too. At this point, Jonah doesn't know any different lifestyle than moving from "new house" to "new house" every month or week, as the case may be. A small part of me feels the same way, only having a vague sense of how we used to spend our non-working hours. If I sit and think about it, different memories of hanging out with friends and family on this day or that certainly come to mind. But the days of jumping in the car and making a quick run to Whole Foods or Target, for example, feel very, very far away. I suppose we're ready to return to the land of the planned life, at least for now . . .

The last week plus has been lovely. From one beautiful landscape to another, we've traversed the better part of the UK. Our drive from Edinburgh to North Wales a week ago Saturday was uneventful. We had pretty views on our way out of Edinburgh but then spent most of our time on major highways with little to see out the windows of our car. We pulled into the fabulous working farm on which we were to spend the next week, immediately depositing Jonah with another family with kids who were playing with little trucks in the picnic area. We ended up spending the evening with the family, a really wonderful bunch who invited us to join them for dinner and delicious wine in their cottage.

In our internet search for a place to stay in North Wales, we were lucky enough to stubble upon fabulous Tyddyn Mawr, a family-run working farm with five lovely cottages on the property. Nestled in Conwy Valley, the farm was the ideal location for exploring the coastal towns of Conwy and Llandudno as well as the mountain towns and attractions. Our cottage was perfect and adorable with great views of the valley and the farm's five cows grazing in the field outside our kitchen window. We had a busy week filled with castles and trains, beautiful surroundings, and mostly decent weather.

Our first full day in town, we walked around Conwy Castle, one of King Edward I's castles from the 13th century. He built many in North Wales, creating an iron ring of fortresses to secure the area believed to be the greatest danger to Edward's power. Strategically located, Conwy Castle sits on the harbor and provides an anchor for the fortified town of Conwy. During one of Jonah's naps, I walked around the walls of the town, catching wonderful views of Conwy Valley, the town, and the marina.

The next day we visited another of Edward's castles, Caernarfon. Like Conwy Castle, Caernarfon sits along the water and anchors a walled-village. Both castles are must sees, really very impressive. From Caernarfon we drove a short distance to GreenWood Forest Park, Jonah's first amusement park experience. And, wow, did he love it! He rode a sled down a little hill by himself, played in a fabulous playground, crossing rope and rickety bridges on his own, found his way (with us in tow) through a boardwalk maze, sat in the passenger seat of my pedal-operated go-kart, went for a ride in a row boat with Jeremy at the helm, and drove a mini-tractor by putting his foot on the gas and having Jeremy steer him. Set in a forest with tons of trees, GreenWood Forest Park was a fabulous low-environmental impact amusement park with everything operated by people using the attraction (no automated rides, except one mini-roller coaster for bigger kids).










































On Tuesday, we visited the Llechwedd Slate Caverns, taking two tours to learn about the slate mines of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The first tour was via an underground tramway that explores the 1840s network of tunnels and large caverns. The other, the Deep Mine tour, took us about eight floors down by steep-incline tram to a series of caverns, which we walked through to learn more about the life of a miner and to see the underground lake and impressive remnants of the massive mining operation established so long ago. Jonah loved the trams, of course, but he was also intrigued by the dark caverns.

The next day we drove to Llanberis at the foot of Snowdon Mountain, the tallest mountain in the UK. It was a foggy and somewhat wet day, so we didn't get to see much of the mountain. We took a ride on the Llamberis Lake Railway, a narrow-gauge steam train, which Jonah loved. He mostly stood on the seat to catch the views of the lake and to try to see the railway tracks.

Another day, another castle. On Thursday, we drove to Anglesey Island to check out the last of Edward's castles, Beaumaris Castle, which was never completed. We were among the first ones there, so we had the run of the place to ourselves, including the massive expanse of grass in the central courtyard, where we all chased after each other. We spotted a neighboring playground, where Jonah played for a bit, mostly "driving" the play structure in the form of a big wagon. From the castle, we drove through Anglesey Island to a small coastal town on the island. There, we found our way to the beach and walked on the sand for a while before heading home for lunch.

The next day was a beautiful, clear day, the perfect day for a ride on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. We could see all the way to the peak of the mountain that day at over 3,500 feet. The train uses a rack and pinion system, taking about an hour to travel the almost five miles to the mountain's summit. What fabulous views we had from the top! Especially considering how unpredictable Wales weather is, we really lucked out on this day. It's the only one of our stay that would have given us such views.

Jonah's schedule had him going to bed pretty late, around 9 pm or later, and taking long naps in the afternoon. We had great post-nap outings, walking around Llandudno and Conwy, hiking up to 13th-century Llangelynnin Church at the foot of Tal y Fan mountain on the farm, taking a ride on Llandudno's aerial tram with great views of the town and oceanfront below, and checking out more of the farm and playing at the farm's playground.

On Saturday, we headed southwest to Devon to visit our friends Dom, Rob, and Charlotte as a last hurrah before heading back to the states. The ride down was a bit grueling, primarily because Jonah was coming down with a cold and wasn't feeling very well. He zoned out with the portable DVD player for quite a while though.

We're staying in Brixham, an old fishing village that is still very much alive, now with a busy tourist industry in addition to the fishing industry. And I'm pretty sure the seagulls have their annual (daily?) convention here at the harbor, which we get to hear around three in the morning every day. I heard it quite loud and clear last night, as Jeremy and I spent a couple of hours from 3 am until 5 am trying to get Jonah to go back to sleep. Poor guy had trouble sleeping because of his cold. Brixham is quite charming, seagulls aside. It has a pedestrian walkway with shops, and around the harbor are any number of ice cream and seafood stalls, souvenir shops, and video arcades with little coin-operated cars for toddlers.

On Sunday, we walked around Brixham in the morning for a bit before heading over to neighboring Torquay, another fishing village that now boasts far more tourists than fishermen and fisherwomen. We walked around Torquay before hitting the grocery store on our way home for lunch and an attempted nap. That afternoon and evening we went over to Rob's parents' house and hung out with Rob, Dom, Charlotte, and Rob's family. It was wonderful to meet up with our friends and to spend the time with Rob's fabulous family. Really warm and welcoming people.

And today we went with Rob, Dom, and Charlotte to Pennywell Farm, a great attraction for kids that's a petting zoo with miniature pigs, huge rabbits, goats, donkeys, and so on. It also had little car rides, play areas with farm equipment, a type of hedge maze, and a little train. Jonah and Charlotte had a great time, and it was fun for us adults too. From the farm we went to a great pub called The White Hart on the grounds of Dartington Hall in Totnes. The food was delicious, the gardens were beautiful, and the company fabulous.

Tomorrow we're heading to Dartmoor National Park, not too far from here, with Rob, Dom, and Charlotte. Then we'll have one more day together before we head home. Wow. Still hard to believe. It'll be a taxing flight though. We head from London to L.A. in the late afternoon with a stop in D.C., arriving at LAX after midnight. Oy! Let's hope we all get a little extra rest over the next couple of days to get a jump start on what we'll lose on our trip home. And, fingers crossed, let's hope Jonah gets over his cold fast.

Speaking of Jonah, his capacity to remember seems to be developing quite a bit. Things we say or questions we ask invoke images for him that he associates with people or places. He remembers a fair bit from Kampala. When we mentioned the play center at Kabira, he talked about riding his boda boda by Prakash on the way to get there. He also said he used to play with Jackie at the play center. Today he saw a taxi and said, "Where'd that taxi go? Toda raba, taxi!" That's a throwback to Israel!

I haven't captured as many good lines as usual, but here's what I've got:

"Take my kitty. Take my milk. Put it in the backpack."

While driving around, trying to find the farm in Wales, Jonah piped up from the backseat, "I smell cow poop, mommy."

When we told Jonah we were going to an amusement park, he decided to "call" them to find out if they had some of his favorite playground items. "Dial, dial, dial. They have a merry-go-round. Dial, dial, dial. They have a slide."

Jeremy asked Jonah, "Where does the airplane go?" Jonah replied, "To our next house."

While watching parts of the Michael Jackson memorial service, I'll admit that I got a little teary eyed. Jonah was trying to understand the situation. "Mommy's sad. Mommy's ki-ing. Mommy's bread and better made her feel better. Mommy needs a bandaid on her knee. Mommy's okay."

While getting dressed in the morning, Jonah told Jeremy, "I'm on my froggy shirt." (He had been laying on it.) Jeremy replied, "No, you're not on it anymore." "I was on my froggy shirt," he said.

"What's that, mommy?" Jonah asked me. Before I could answer, he said, "It's a train, mommy."

Jonah has new nicknames for Jeremy and me. When he wants to get our attention from another room, he calls out to us, "Mommy mom!" or "Daddy dad!" We respond with "Jonah Joan".

While looking at a picture of a cable repair truck and pointing to the cage in which a worker stands to get lifted to repair the cable lines, Jonah said, "A guy stands in here to go up to fix the light." I replied, "Mmmhhhmmm." "No," Jonah responded. "The guy fixes the telephone." This is something he does often, testing us with questions or trying to make sure we're paying attention. He'll give an answer to a question he's asked, and if you agree with it but the answer is wrong, he'll say, "That's not such and such," in a somewhat irritated voice.

Well, this has been fun. This, I mean my blog. It's hard to believe that this too will come to an end. I feel a bit saddened and liberated at the same time. But I'm ready to be done with this and to move on to something else.

As for the sabbatical, what to say? It's been amazing, everything I'd hoped it would be and more than I could have possibly imagined. Jonah left as a baby and returns as a little boy. Jeremy left untenured and a bit burnt out and returns tenured and excited for new opportunities. And me, I left unsure I was going to put fingers to keyboard at all and return with a tomb on my hands, having used this as an outlet and job of sorts. We all return quite happy to have had this time together, having laughed until we couldn't breathe, cried for one reason or another, and experienced new places, foods, and cultures. We've had so much wonderful time together as a family. When we cooked up this plan originally, it felt a bit fanciful even to me. Now I see that it was one of the most brilliantly conceived plans imaginable.

Stay tuned for the epilogue to this wild ride . . .

Picture descriptions: Jonah enjoys the promenade in Llandudno; view from car window right outside of Edinburgh; Jonah playing on our Wales farm; the cows with the main farm house and cottages in the background; Conwy Castle; Conwy Castle with Conwy Valley in the background; Caernarfon Castle; same; Jonah loving his ride at GreenWood Forest Park; same; same; same; our tram into the mines of Llechwedd Slate Caverns; walking through the caverns at Llechwedd Slate Caverns; Conwy Valley; taking a break from the Llamberis Lake Railway; running around Beaumaris Castle; Snowdon Mountain Railway making its way up Snowdon Mountain; view from the summit of Snowdon Mountain; hiking to 13th-century Llangelynnin Church; on the grounds by the church; riding on the Llandudno aerial tram; replica of a 16th-century ship in Brixham harbor; checking out Torquay marina; playing in the maze with Charlotte at Pennywell Farm in Devon; view of Devon from Pennywell Farm; enjoying the beach on Anglesey Island; Jonah's first attempt at really driving at Pennywell Farm; enjoying the Wales farm playground; after the aerial tram ride, heading down the hill with views of Llandudno below.