Moving On

One week ago the movers arrived and packed us out of our rental home. We knew the day was coming -- and thankfully I am on the anal side and have to pre-pack. I'm so glad I did because three movers showed up for the job and they were fast! They began shortly after 9 a.m. and were closing the moving van doors at 1:41 p.m. (I know, because I had to leave at 1:45 p.m. to get Noah at school.) I was so thankful that we get the kind of movers who build boxes and pack our belongings for us. I know that if we had to do it ourselves, it would have taken me weeks! That's probably why I was still doing a load of laundry that morning and was able to get it in a moving box after lunch.

Jonah was a little aggitated about the movers; he didn't want them to take his toys. Noah was not too concerned. I prepacked a backpack for each of the boys with some books, cars, and their electronic games. (I also bought a new toy for each of them...but it hasn't been necessary to bring those out yet). I had told Noah when I dropped him off at school that when he got home the house might be empty...really empty. And was it. After the movers left, James set up two Aero Beds for the night and all that was left were the few bags with our clothes for the next two weeks. Also it was very weird to be with out a tv and computer for a day and a half -- how dependent are we for those?! But it wasn't too bad. And the boys did pretty well in the empty house.

We are currently living in a family suite on campus at James' school; hotel living! The boys are loving it. There's something really cute about each morning when we are walking down the hall to the parking lot: Noah with his backpack on and breakfast in hand, Jonah trailing him, and James and I following them. In the parking lot the boys and I hop in the car and James walks across campus to class. As my sister said, we are saving on gas now that we just use one car.

Too soon we'll have to leave and it's going to be tough. When we were stationed in Hawaii, even for the six months I was there, I couldn't wait to leave, but Montery has been a special place for us. We've met some very wonderful people, military and locals.

This morning Jonah and I went to our last park outing with the mommy group from church. In the evening we hosted a dinner with a few of Noah's closest buddies at school and their families. It was at a pizza eatery where kids can make their own pizzas (put the toppings of their choice on) and James ordered some gourmet pizzas for the grown ups (we got toppings like artichoke and fresh basil; roasted garlic and portobello mushrooms). It was great fun for everyone, and of course bittersweet because we have gotten to know the families really well this year with soccer, birthday parties, and school events. I'm confident our paths will cross again especially with e-mail and blogs, it's much easier to keep in touch these days and Monterey is a place we want to return for visits.