At first our plan was to move at the end of June. No sweat. Two months is plenty of time to pack, I thought. Then we had to move it up to Memorial Day weekend and I got a little nervous. Four weeks was just barely going to cut it. Then the move date got moved up one more time to May 19th. Panic! I went from having 2 months to pack to having 3 weeks. Never having packed an entire house on my own, I knew I was in for a major job and I wanted plenty of time to do it. I’ve been spoiled and the company has paid for movers every time we’ve moved. There was only one time we moved ourselves. That was from our apartment to our house in Duvall. Not too big of a deal when you only have one couch and one bed, a crib and a few dishes, oh and one kid. And that move was not from one side of the country to the other. This move was going to be a massive undertaking and I admit to hyperventilating a bit over the decision to move so fast. But I dove right in and packed everything I could and… it was easy. I couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. I left the essentials out, but packed everything else. I was so packed we had time to take all those trips back into New York City and go to upstate New York all a few weeks before we moved. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself- until the last few days before the move when all the “essentials” had to be packed all at once and then it got pretty crazy. I didn’t see how I was going to be ready. It really does snowball there at the end. What almost drove me over the edge, though, was having to pack for a week long trip in Grand Junction with 4 kids on an airplane while at the same time packing everything in the house to be moved. And to make matters worse, I got food poisoning of some kind two days before the move and got no sleep. It was then that my wonderful neighbor and friend Natalie stepped in and took my kids so I could get some sleep and finish packing. She took them every day for 3 days. I couldn’t have done it without her. She is an angel.
We had a wonderful little run in with nature just before we left Berkeley Heights. Thursday morning after a huge rainstorm, we found a bird nest that had been knocked out of the tree by the rain. Four little baby birds were dead but one little one survived and not knowing what else to do we took care of it for a day.
The mother came back a few times, but then left the bird alone. We watched it all day getting more and more weak and then brought it in the garage for the night. He was obviously not doing well. Luckily, someone suggested taking it to the Raptor Trust. So the next day, right as this little bird was about to die, we raced it to the Trust where they skillfully took care of it and we hope it is thriving and doing well. We found out it was a Grackle, for any bird lovers out there. I’ve always meant to take a picture of the Berkeley Heights 9/11 Memorial and so in between saying goodbye to friends and returning library books one day we stopped to get the photo.
Every town who lost someone on 9/11 got a piece of the WTC. I loved driving past this powerful memory every day.
Finally it was moving day and Saturday dawned bright and early. When the Elders Quorum showed up, we were actually ready. They loaded up our truck in 3 hours. I am so grateful for the support system of the church. I wanted to give every one of those men a hug. And we have already gotten emails from the Elder’s Quorum in Boise offering their help when we move in. How blessed we are that no matter where we go we have the instant love and support of the members of the church.
That afternoon the kids had a great time running around hollering in our empty, echoing house.
Liberty had to eat her snack sitting on the floor because there was no furniture to sit on.
We said goodbye to 344 Park Avenue
and then ate dinner at our favorite restaurant, Chimney Rock Inn, one last time.
This one’s for Alli. Levi still has a thing for lemons.
The kids and I flew out the next morning with Grandma Hymas to Grand Junction, CO where we’ll stay with Grandma for a week till Rock and Grandpa Hymas drive out with the van. Rock is staying at our NJ house in a sleeping bag, working on a folding table and chair. He, ever the ascetic, is looking forward to it. I’m just thrilled he’s going to be there another week to clean the house! That was at least one thing I didn’t have to worry about! If you have to move across country, I highly recommend leaving your husband behind for a week to do all the cleaning!
The flight could not have gone better. There were no lines at check in or security! And someone finally took pity on traveling parents and kids no longer have to take off their shoes! Hallelujah!
The kids were fantastic on the flight! I’m so proud of them for proving this very grumpy gentleman wrong. He was pretty upset he had to sit by a family of small children. But they did Awesome!
They did origami, drew, and read for much of the flight. When they got tired of that we broke out the magic called technology that we modern parents are blessed with. I know, we’re spoiled.
Grandma was a life saver on this trip! Couldn’t have done it without her! Thank you, Nancy!!!
Even after a layover in Phoenix the kids did great on the last leg of the trip. Cade did get a little motion sickness and was as white as a sheet, but he managed to avoid using the barf bag. His mother was not so lucky at his age.
So now we are in Grand Junction having a ‘Grand’ time. But you’ll have to wait for the next post to hear about that!
