...And a Move to the US!

12 rolls of tape
11 kinds of boxes
10 bottles of water
9 hours loading
8 mouths eating (my family of 4, 3 packers and a FRIEND...to clarify!)
7 days of cleaning
6 weeks of planning
5 crates on the first day
4 days of clothes
3 Japanese packers
2 days of loading
AND a move to the United States!

It's done! We packed out our long term household goods. The Japanese packers were great. I was rather impressed at how efficient they were! Max and I always joked about timeliness here too. When we put a service request in for maintenance and they said 08:00 they pulled around the corner at 07:59 and rang the doorbell at exactly 08:00. Same with the movers! We still think they park around the corner and wait. The kids did great too. When we packed out to move here Kalee didn't do so well with the movers taking her toys and bed. I prepared them properly this time. "The box men that we have been talking about are here to help us move our belongings to our new home. They want to pack everything just right because they know it's special to us. So we have to help them and stay out of their way." Simple as that! Mrs. Cindy took Kalee for a ride to break things up for her. They cruised by the pier to say Sayonara to Mr. Chuck and Daddy's old ship while Bear napped in the 'Do not Enter. Express shipment items' room. Max even wrote it in Kanji....well actually he's not experienced in writing hieroglyphics so he worked his computer magic and printed it. Some 197 boxes later, our house is empty....and it echos....which wouldn't be so bad if my opera singer had laryngitis. How convenient the acoustics in this place are just...perfect for her. And it didn't take me long to figure out that when Bear disappeared, the kitchen cupboards had a familiar giggle. Now we have a TV on a box, air mattress, a pot, a pan, can opener, fine china made by Dixie, few toys and books...until our express shipment goes Wednesday of next week. 10 days left here!

On a side note: Many know we have HHG (household goods) in storage in San Diego. Escondido to be exact. Even though we have (as of 24 hours ago the area was evacuated) our most precious heirlooms stored there we realize many don't have a roof over their head. Please keep the displaced families in your thoughts and prayers. We lived in San Diego during the Cedar fires 4 years ago and I remember how devastating it was when I drove up the 163 to I-15.... freeways well traveled by Max and I. A reporter said this is worse then Hurricane Katrina....wow!