Going, Going... Boeing

We made it!  It's been a whirlwind week, but I'm grateful to report that we're in Washington!

The process began last Monday when the packer arrived.  Yes, packer - singular.  There were supposed to be two ladies but a last minute emergency meant only one could come.  Amazingly enough, she was able to pack our whole house by herself in about 8 hours.  Having someone else pack my home was wonderful; it would have been overwhelmingly stressful to try to do it on our own.  As it was, Mark and I stayed up almost the entire previous night just trying to pack what we needed to take with us to carry us through the next 6 weeks (since all of our "stuff" is going to storage) and make final moving preparations.  *yawn*

Monday night we checked into a hotel, which served as our home-base for the rest of the week.  Staying in a hotel always sounds like a good idea, but rarely ends up being enjoyable.  All of us in one room is just too much excitement for the kids to go to sleep easily.  The only up-side is that I always end up getting much more sleep than usual since I end up going to bed at the same time as the kiddos.

Tuesday morning, though, we had to be back at the house by 8 am to meet the movers.  Oh, by the way, Mark had to work all this week, so it was just me and the kids.  Single handedly getting 3 over-tired kids up, dressed, fed (the hotel had a continental breakfast) and out by 7:45 am is no easy feat! 

Tuesday was another full day at the house watching the movers load up all of our household goods.  Mostly we just tried to stay out of their way and find something (anything!) to do. Thankfully the movers were very kind and kid-friendly.

The big excitement of the day for the kids was the huge moving truck.  Bryce was impressed that the tires were bigger than him and we walked around and around (and around!) the truck looking at the tires and the grill.  Bryce frequently escaped outside to be close to all the action.

 

The truck owner invited the kids to crawl up in the cab and "drive." Aubree crawled right up and marveled that there were beds in the back.  Bryce was too scared to go up alone (it was REALLY high) and Thane was sleeping in my wrap so I couldn't help him.

 

Not having a place for the boys to sleep was probably the hardest part of the week.  Thane took all his naps in my wrap.  Bryce either missed his naps, or slept on the floor (he's a great napper).

Wednesday was a much calmer day.  We went back to the house to meet up with a friend who we hired to clean our home and get it "show-ready."  Cleaning myself would have been extremely stressful, if not impossible with Thane.  I consider it money WELL spent.  Then we went to visit one of our friends, Holly, and her kids.  Holly, in typical fashion, made Aubree and Bryce bags filled with toys and books and crayons to take with them on the plane.  Her bags have saved the day many times over in the week since.  Bryce, especially, has enjoyed the bag of little cars and trucks she sent.  While at Holly's, the kids finally had a chance to PLAY.    After two days of trying to stay "out of the way," it was a much needed change.  

Wednesday was also the day our cars were picked up by an auto-hauler to be shipped to Washington.  I should have taken a picture of the auto-hauler because the kids thought it was pretty neat.  

Our friend Amy invited us over for dinner that night for a final good-bye.  By that point the reality of the move had really begun to sink in and it was hard not to get emotional about our farewells.  Denial had served me well up to that point!  We will miss our friends in Florida more than anything else.

Thursday was our final day in Florida.  Mark had to do his final check-out at work and finished up around noon.  The kids and I checked out of the hotel and we spent our final hours in Florida at our home doing last-minute preparations.  

Our flight didn't leave Orlando till 6:20 pm! Thankfully, the kids did really well.  Our family is now too big to sit on one row, so Mark took Bryce and I took Aubree and Thane.  It took a while, but ultimately all the kids slept the last bit of our 6 hour flight.  Our biggest headache occurred when we got to Seattle and discovered the rental car agency had no record of our reservation.  At 10 o'clock at night, there aren't a whole lot of people at Boeing Travel who could help us.  

Finally we did get our rental cars and set off for our temporary housing in Bellevue.  By this time it was well past 1 am Florida-time and the kids were exhausted.  Still, they were impressed with their surroundings.  Despite it being pitch-black, Aubree exclaimed, "Look! Christmas trees!!!!"

While driving up one particularly steep incline, I commented, "kids, see this hill?!"  "A hill?!" Aubree responded, "A real one??  Not like the little bumps we drive over in Florida??"

And Bryce kept saying, "and it's in their backyard!"

So you can imagine their reaction the next day when they could see everything in the daylight.  It is absolutely gorgeous here!  After five years in Florida, I'd forgotten what Fall looks like - all the bright yellows and oranges and reds and pinks - I love it!  Here's the view from our apartment patio (we'll be in this apartment for 5 weeks or so while we look for more permanent housing).

After five years in Florida, I've apparently also forgotten what it's like to be cold.  I knew it would be cold here in Washington, but when I was packing it was 88 degrees and had been that warm for almost 6 months.  It was hard to remember cold.  "I'll throw in a few jackets and long-sleeves and we'll be okay."  Ummm. Not so much.  Brrrr!  

Aubree's having the hardest time adjusting to the cold.  "I'm FREEZING," she keeps telling me every time we go outside.  We tried to go on a leaf hunt yesterday and you can see from her expression in the picture below that she wasn't pleased with the experience.  "Please!" she begged, "let's just go back inside where it's warm."

The apartment is furnished and warm and great for our current needs.  For the most part, everyone is adapting fairly well.  Mark started work on Friday (yes, just hours after we arrived) and likes his new job and co-workers.  He will be doing composite Research and Design work on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (I hope I got that right!). 

Bryce is the one I've noticed having the hardest time adjusting.  His struggles are manifesting themselves in lots of hitting, disobeying, and generally being difficult.  Today he told me, "I want to be naughty."  He's becoming well-acquainted with the time-out corner and is pushing every last one of my buttons.  I'm praying this is a (very short-lived) phase and I try to remind myself that there have been a LOT of changes in his little life lately and I need to be patient.  I'm also hoping that when we get some of his toys (most of our stuff is going to storage, but a few boxes will be delivered here by the beginning of next week), he'll have better outlets for his energy.

Thane loves the carpet in the apartment and has taken advantage of the soft surface and learned to roll and/or crawl his way around the room.  Maybe I just have a terrible memory, but I don't recall my other kids being mobile so early.  

Thane's the only one who's had much trouble adjusting to the time change (the long flight and subsequent late night shocked the other two into Pacific Time Zone schedule).  He consistently gets up at 5 am, though he's finally starting to get better (sleep later).  He's sleeping in a pack n' play now and he's having a hard time getting used to that, too.  He sure is growing quickly and is ridiculously cute!