Moving Day!

Ah! It's moving day #6 in 6 years. I find that I start to get the "I don't really care" attitude with some things that used to bother me. For example, in previous moves it REALLY bugged me when the movers would take something from one room and put it in a box with stuff from another room. Dishes and sheets don't go together. Some moves I've carefully remove all wall hangings and put them together so they'd be packed together because different houses have different sized walls, etc. So a print that may have hung in our dining room here might hang in our living room in the states. I've even purchased several rubbermaid containers and learned that if I fill it up with something the movers will leave it alone so I would pack certain things in my type-A way.
Today it was "get the junk in that stupid truck and get it on that boat so it will get to the US ASAP" attitude. I didn't care if the wall hangings were together. I don't care if some stuff from the girls' room is mixed with stuff from my room. JUST GET IT OUT OF HERE! My goal today was to get the girls their naps. I even went as far as moving stuff out of their room so they'd get their afternoon nap too. Naps = happy babies. Happy babies = sane mommy.
Now, let me back up bit. First, we originally made requests with the embassy to have our 1000 lbs (AKA air freight, hold baggage or unaccompanied baggage) gathered on one day, then have 2 days for the big packout of our house. Well, the appointments didn't get made so we were told it would all be done today. We thought MAYBE if they sent a bunch of workers they could do it. In CA they sent 2 guys to do the packing. Didn't turn out so well. Today we had a lot of packers but about 3pm they realized that they would NOT finish. A guy from the embassy came by and said to us "You really should have scheduled 2 days for this!" Now, most of you know that I'm a pretty reasonable person but once you push me over the edge, look out. I went to bed last night with a migraine after nursing a sick husband all day. We got up at 5am to start the day and both admitted that we didn't feel 100% but we didn't have a choice about moving today. I looked at the guy and snapped "We asked for 3 days but your coworker didn't make the appointment and could only get us 1 day before we fly out!!!" He had quite the shocked look on his face and knew he had crossed the line. :)
Needless to say they will come back tomorrow to finish up. Honestly, they seem to be doing a good job with the actual packing. I have noticed some vague descriptions of the box contents like "plastic box" for the tool box with tools inside but in Japan it was "Misc." for almost EVERY box. So we'll play guess what is in this box when it all arrives. I can handle that. :)
So, I took some pictures today:
This first one is the stuff from our balcony that we plan to mail or put in our luggage. We are allowed 10 checked pieces, 5 carryons, 2 carseats and the double stroller. We are going to manage to check 6 checked pieces (including 2 portacribs), 5 carryons (1 literally FULL of pre-filled bottles of Enfamil), 2 carseats and the double stroller. Granted a LOT was out of the bags in the picture but one suitcase was completely empty!

The next is from one of our living rooms.

Next is the trampoline in pieces. I found out that it will not fit in our new backyard but it WILL fit in my sister's yard (across the street) so I think her 3 teenagers will be happy. :)

Here is our 1000 lbs. Actually it weighed at around 600. Mostly kitchen items, clothing, bed linens, pillows, tv, playstation and computer printer. I also threw in Halloween decorations since these items will probably arrive before Halloween but our main shipment won't be here until close to Christmas.

Next, is how I kept the girls entertained for about an hour before I found something else for them to do. Hooray for Solo cups! :)

Then I introduced the girls to Andrew's wagon and pulled them back and forth for a bit. They LOVED it. Here they are with our gardener, Aziz. He is an AMAZING gardener. I have the most beautiful yard!

Here are the girls with our housekeeper, Rachida. We will miss Aziz and Rachida. I have never had ironed pajamas until I met Rachida! :) She has greatly spoiled me and I do NOT look forward to washing clothes, doing dishes, etc. when I return to the US. I know no one is feeling sorry for me so I'll stop! :)

Finally, I got a shot of Leah in one of her closets.

Overall, all 3 kids were troopers through the whole process and it went MUCH better than I had anticipated. We ended the day with nice warm baths with LOTS of soap and now we are all tired and ready to get a good night's sleep!
--Rachel