Neighborhood Rules

Pics of the house are coming--I promise.  We still have art and such to hang up in our room and bathroom, then we will be ready.  Oh, and the toy room still needs to be cleaned/organized.  But, all in good time.

In the meantime, we learned this week that our neighborhood has an informal rule about open garage doors.  An open garage door is an invitation to the neighborhood kids to play.  There are two boys down the street who have hung out with our kiddos 3 different days.  They all adore each other, though I think one of the boys is just enamored with toys that aren't his.  They have had some great afternoons together--I don't know about the other boys, but my kids have been totally exhausted after running around with them in the Virginia heat and humidity.

One more week until school starts, and one more week or so with Jip before he heads to the ship.  We are looking forward to soaking up time with him before he goes!

Moving In--Slow, but Steady

We arrived in Virginia Beach on Wednesday.  We unloaded the cars and then loaded ourselves back in to eat out again--we were just too tired to go to the store.  On Thursday, we found a new washer and dryer, a new small TV, and transponders for the cars (some tunnels started tolling since the last time we lived here).  I did a basic grocery store run to hold us over for a day or two.

On Friday, the washer and dryer were delivered.  Yay for laundry!  We took the kids to see their new school.  Then, we were off to the commissary to do the real getting-a pantry-and-refrigerator-started run.  Thankfully I had helpers and we were able to get everything into two carts.

Our stuff arrived on Saturday.  We were disappointed to learn our desk had been destroyed somewhere between San Diego and VA.  It looks like it shifted in the load and when they were unloading it at the warehouse, they forced it just a little too hard and ripped the legs off.  :(. We have to keep the desk pieces until the claim is complete--what a pain.  I also had a broken salad spinner and pasta bowl.  There are still more boxes to unpack, so the damage claim may grow.  Remember the folded mattresses?  Yeah, well... They didn't really fare too well.  They now have a permanent dip in them and the bars that made the rectangular shape of he mattresses are bent with no way to really bend them back.  We sure hope that the moving company recognizes the only remedy for their driver's/loaders' massive error is to purchase our children new mattresses.

Today we purchased a new desk so we could have a place to unload all of the boxes marked office supplies.  Some cardboard and paper made its way to the recycling center, too.

Tomorrow, it is more of the same.  We need to finish unpacking the bedrooms and bathrooms and I still have way too many boxes to unpack for the dining room.  Then there is the challenge of the garage.  But, I'm sure by the end of the week, we'll feel more settled.  And, hopefully our damage claim won't be any longer at that time.

Good Travels

My little travelers did great!  The first night was in Mesquite, Nevada. When going through Vegas, the kids were enamored and wondered why we never went there. Someday, kiddos.  Someday.  

The next night was in Grand Junction.  The kids were proud to say that we were in four states that day (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado)!  

Then we arrived in Fort Collins and have been relaxing and just enjoying being here.  We had fun at the pool and the Discovery Museum and hanging out with the Linnenburgers.  The coming week promises more get-togetherness and soaking up Grandma and Grandpa time. We'll hit the road again Thursday afternoon.  

See Ya Later, San Diego (from three of us)

The kids and I spent part of our week saying "see ya later" to our San Diego friends.  We don't say good-bye in this Navy life because our paths are bound to cross again.  Thank you to Cynthia and Sebastian for our play date a couple weeks ago, and to the Osmans, Frasers, Larsens, and Chandlers for spending some extra time with us before we hit the road.

The rest of the week was consumed by the move.  Loading started off pretty well, but it didn't end well.  The truck was there over 12 hours, but they couldn't make it all fit.  We knew as soon as it pulled up that it was going to be a problem, as another family's goods were already on there and taking up 1/2 the truck.  The driver kept insisting it was going to fit.  At around 8:45 pm, they did this to the kids' mattresses.

Yep.  They folded their mattresses in half and put shrink wrap on them.  Jip and I had a discussion and then Jip told them they needed to undo them, call the company, and send another truck in the morning.  The kids and I left the house around 9:15 for the hotel.  Jip got to the hotel around 10:45.  The truck came the next day and took the rest of the goods, including the mattresses that had almost flattened back out.  We're crossing our fingers that we'll see all of our yard tools, mattresses, and such someday in Virginia.

The kids and I are now on the road, heading to VA by way of Colorado and Indiana.  We'll see Jip again in just over 2 weeks, once he wraps up his SD job.

Wish us luck on the rest of our journey!  And until next time, cheers!