Preview day in Seattle

We are having a great visit with the family... this highly stimulating house is a thrilling change from the very stripped-down existence we've been living for the past few months.  Here, we have energetic cousins and big dog and guinea pigs and gecko and stick bugs and many rooms and many many many toys, and the kids are having a blast.  I'm happy too; it's nice to hang out with folks, and it's easy being a guest here.  All the amenities, and there's nothing to pack.

Dale calls a couple times a day to report on his progress.  Last time I heard from him he was well into Nebraska.  He is not sleeping much, but it's his choice, and I am trusting that he is being safe.  He has been listening to countless episodes of Fresh Air.  He was particularly struck by an interview with interrogation experts talking about the unacceptable strategies in use at Guantanamo Bay, including sleep deprivation.  By their definition, he is officially tortured.  He says it's not so bad.

Today the boys and I made our first foray into the city.  We tried to get into our apartment, but unfortunately, the leasing office was closed.  We cheered ourselves up at the ever-welcoming Whole Foods around the corner, and then went to visit Theo's house.  Theo wasn't home, but his mom was working from home that day, so we visited for a cup of tea and Jordan played with Theo's toys.  We're invited to dinner there later this week.  After that, we stopped by the boys' future school.  It wasn't an official visit, but they let us in, and we peeked around inside the building and played at the playground.  The school shares a courtyard with Temple Beth Am, so we got to enjoy their beautiful sukkah.  (I took a bunch of pictures but lack a cable for uploading them at the moment... Soon.)

Then the long schlep back to Sammamish.  It's about forty minutes, which could be worse, but doing it twice in a morning is more than I prefer.  Everything we did in Seattle, by contrast, seemed fantastically compact.  Apartment/Whole Foods was ten blocks from Theo's, Theo's was ten blocks from school.  How great is that?  Meanwhile poor Kari thinks she drove a total of fifty miles getting her kids to and from various activities today.  This is something we are trying to be purposeful about in our new lives.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for us to feel like we can afford so much time in the car.

It was a tough day for Jordan.  This was his first day here without the cousins' exhilarating company (they went to school), and the first time into the unfamiliar territory of Seattle as our future home.  As we drove to the apartment he said he was feeling a little nervous and a little sad because he misses our friends.  I can really sympathize - there we were on the stoop of our new apartment and we don't even know what it looks like?  That was a strange feeling.  Jordan was quiet much of the day and irritable in the evening.  All the boys went to bed early; maybe that will help.

Phone

FYI, I have essentially no cell phone reception at Kari and Danny's, so if you want to reach me, email me or call them.

We've arrived!

It was the usual cross-country travel day, very tiring, but did anyone nap?  Nooo, not until we got into Uncle Danny's car in Seattle.  Then both boys fell asleep hard in the back seat and what use is that to me?  Jordan roused for the excitement of the cousins and their house full of toys and guinea pigs and a lizard and a dog, not to mention Grandma, and had a fantastic evening.  Aaron just wanted to go to bed.  But he'll have fun tomorrow.

It's wonderful to be here.  I can't believe I actually live here now.  There's been a misplaced piece of baggage, and the person at the desk asked me if the address on my driver's license was current, and I froze.  Uh... no?  I guess not!

Key

You know you're really moving when you reach in your pocket for your keys and instead of the usual fistful you get ... one.  And it's the key to the car.  That's all I've got.

Loading up, continued

It's possible that we got too small of a truck.  We (meaning Dale) had to work very hard to get most of our stuff in.  (I have been more of a boxer/hauler.)  And some just did not fit, even in the car on the trailer.  But it's an excuse to get new lampshades.  And believe me, if Dale couldn't do it it couldn't be done.  His ancestors were those Egyptians who built walls where you can't slip a knife between the stones.

I tell you what, though, I feel for those Egyptians.  Hauling all those boxes down from the attic on Thursday was totally exhausting.  Friday was more about the psychological difficulty, for me, of how much there still was to do.  And we didn't get it all done on Friday.  The original plan had been for Dale to drop the boys and me off at the airport on Saturday and then leave in the truck, but there was still a lot of work to do after that.  He will leave Sunday.  

We need to remember when we move next:  A sixteen-foot truck does not actually hold all of our stuff (in one trip), and we need three days to load it.  That's after boxing up everything that's not in immediate daily use.

Loading up

The truck is half full and I am half awake. A lot of up and down the stairs with boxes today. I got very tired, and maybe dehydrated because now I have a splitting headache. I hope to awaken refreshed in the morning, ready to pack up the rest of our daily stuff and fill the other half of the truck. I don't know if everything will fit. Dale is an excellent packer, with a keen spatial sense; if anyone can do it, he can. And as he said, "Whatever doesn't fit, well, we probably don't need it."

Camry goes west

A couple of guys with thick accents came to the house today and drove off with the Camry.  I was hoping to see them load it onto the gigantic car carrier, but that of course does not come down our street.

Cleaning out the car first was sort of amazing.  Four boxes of kleenex and a roll of toilet paper?  Two sippy cups, several dinosaurs, a number of Jordan's socks (he likes to take them off in the car), quite a few Cheerios.  Balls.  Drawings.  Flashlights.  Water bottles.  And maps of places we will no longer go.

Dale will tow the Corolla behind the moving truck.