Our move date was set for Friday, April 20. Our plan was to pick up the truck Wednesday morning and drive away Friday in time to pick up keys to our new home on the way into town. Friends and family were all lined up to help unload the truck Saturday morning.
We always make such pretty little plans...
Monday evening we discovered there was a delay with our buyer's paperwork. And the 'plan' had to change.
But it could not have gone better.
Because it was too late to change the truck rental we went ahead and picked it up Wednesday morning as planned. We were able to take 4 full days to load the truck just right. Not one single possession in that truck was damaged over more than 600 miles.
We stacked boxes floor to ceiling around large appliances and storage bins in the first section.
Between each section was plywood secured with ratchet straps.
Section 2 was all furniture. We had wrapped everything in custom cut cardboard and saran wrap. (Gotta love the 1,000 foot saran wrap at Costco)
More boxes and random non-boxed items in section 3 (like tents and soccer equipment).
And the final section fit all of the mattresses, Mom and Dads head and foot board, the piano and Dad's ladders. The day we drove away we loaded suitcases and last minute boxes here as well.
Because we ended up keeping the truck for a full week, we decided to give him a name. "Brutus" did his job well.
I had spent about 3-4 weeks before the move training the cat to be in the car and to come when called to get in his crate. We called it 'kitty training'. Every evening before feeding him we would spend more and more time in the car. Day one was less than five minutes and didn't even include the crate. By the week of the move we had worked up to taking short drives down the freeway and he was willingly going into the crate at the end of the drive.
Kitty training paid off in a major way! More than 11 hours of driving with no attempts to escape and very minimal meowing (he did protest a couple times for about 20 seconds). He even used the litter box in the car.
Bella didn't require training for our drive. But she did get a little bored. We started calling her "donkey!" because her snout kept creeping into the front seat.
The last 20 seconds of this clip: "Donkey!"
My parents made the trip with us Sunday and we had divided the kids among all 4 vehicles. My Mom arrived first with Nathan and Aiden. Mom drives like lightning so they were there in time for dinner. Brad, Jacob and Amber arrived about an hour after Mom. Caity and I arrived with the pets around 9 pm. And my Dad arrived in the big truck with Drew and Ty last at about 10 pm. It had been a long, but wildly successful, day.
Because of our paperwork delay we were not able to pick up keys until Monday or Tuesday. My fabulous Aunt and Uncle let all of the kids sleep at their house and Brad and I stayed in a perfect hotel with the dog and cat. Not only did the hotel allow the pets with no additional charge, the room had an office space for Brad to work, a huge jetted bath tub, a fridge and microwave, and a full breakfast each morning. All for half the price of a standard hotel in California. We like it here already.
We were able to pick up keys late Monday evening and our official move in was Tuesday night.
The kids enjoyed a beautiful picnic lunch Monday while Mom and Caity got everyone registered for school.
Tuesday was the first day of school for everyone but Aiden and Nathan (they both required a little extra paperwork and assessment for grade placement). They were so excited! It has been almost two weeks and we are in LOVE with our schools here. Huge success.
The Princess and the pea...
Tuesday night we were met by a great group of volunteers from our new Ward (church) to help unload the truck. We made quick work of Brutis and got everyone's beds set up in time to sleep in our own home for the first time. The truck was returned Wednesday morning right on time. Aiden was able to start school Wednesday and Nathan Thursday. Everything was just falling into place.
As usual, things really started to settle and feel 'real' once the table was set up. Eating dinner around the table together for the first time in over 6 weeks felt SO good (staging our home for sale did not leave us a table big enough to gather around).
Daddy was home for the weeked to help unpack and complete a few necessary projects (like hanging towel hooks and setting up furniture). But Monday morning Brad had to leave for the week. Timing is rarely perfect and he had two weeks of travel already planned for business before our move. So, like it or not, our first full week in our new home was without Dad.
Flying solo while still unpacking boxes was an interesting experience. But things continued to just fall into place. We made it through the week and things even started to feel like home.
This is the new hub. Everyone loves to hang out in the kitchen with Mom. Feels so good not to be shewing them out of the kitchen anymore.
Home sweet home.
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