Feel free to disregard. This is something like 3 weeks worth of blogging in just a few posts. I'll break it up and pepper with pics, because I love you, my readers.
The great migration.
It all started when Man got his orders. Yay! I thought. We finally know where and when. But no matter how hard I tried, it seemed that simple upkeep of the house consumed my entire day and very little headway in preparation was possible. Random things kept cropping up, like the pilfering and subsequent consumption of a little tub of Crystal Light (as evidenced by blood red fingers, face, clothing, teeth, and the floor immediately surrounding one Pebbles), the necessity of purchasing clothes for my Amazon child and my man cub whose skinny rear finally outgrew his 3T shorts, and Frieda sensing our anxiety and her own discomfort from teething and requiring constant attention in order to not scream. (Frieda has not been our most graceful teether, but oh well.)
We sorted through our belongings, making piles of things to donate, throw away, sell, take in the van, and organizing the rest of the house bit by bit since we were told that “as organized as your house is, is as organized as the packers will be.” That made total sense to me. We went through all the kids' toys and put them into organized tubs, made neat piles of linens, washed every last dish and item of cloth and kitchen appliance, and even drained all the water from the hose after washing down the outside of the house.
In the midst of these preparations we had our “pre-final” inspection, where a housing manager came to let us know what sorts of repairs we'd be responsible for taking care of with either elbow grease or with our wallet upon final check out. It was then that we were told that the housing office would be closed the very Friday when our final check out was to take place. Ack! We had packers coming on Wednesday, movers loading up our house on Thursday, and we had given ourselves a whole day to clean the darn place to pass inspection. Our new time frame gave us 2 hours. I frantically picked up the pace and ran errands and cleaned at a pace where I sometimes checked to see if I left smoking tire tracks behind myself.
Tuesday came and we packed all our bags, started packing the van, and came to the inescapable conclusion that between all of the things Man was required to bring (every item he'd been issued) and all of the luggage for a family of 6, not to mention a few things that we were sure the movers wouldn't take, we were in desperate need of a car top carrier.
REI carries one that we fell in love with.
Wednesday came and brought the packers with it. They were some nice guys who really went to town in a way I hadn't imagined. In all the times I've packed up my home I never could conceive of the idea that the whole thing could be boxed up in 6 hours. The main packer guy was nice and chatty, and we learned that he was an EMT until a couple of DUI's made him virtually unemployable. That's a great thing to know about the man who just packed my china and was then inventorying almost every earthly possession I own. Nice guy, though. Great with the kids.
That night we stayed on post lodging. It was a really sweet set up, in an old duplex complete with kitchen and our own washing machine. I was thrilled. And cable! The kids loved watching cartoons and were instantly addicted. Our determination not to have TV hooked up in our home was once again validated, especially when we felt the pull ourselves. This is also where I taught the kids how to wash their hands with bar soap. We always use liquid hand soap. It never even occurred to me that I hadn't had the chance to teach them the ancient art of bar soap use. It was a strangely bonding experience.
Before we left we took one last tour of a nature reserve here called Point Lobos which is what all of these pictures are from.
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