Moving Plus

So the last week was been lots of moving, plus lots of other stuff. We were really good (thanks to Kevin's planning and foresight) about getting an early start and pacing ourselves well, so we had time for all the pluses without stressing out too much. This post is dedicated to documenting the whole process.
First, we did recruit helpers for the packing of our things. Maggie was chief among them and did most of the work in packing up our kitchen. What we do without her? Oh, I know - we would forget that the spice rack doesn't have a back panel and pull it off the wall, causing its contents to explode all over the counter. And that corner of the kitchen would reek of spilled peppermint extract for days as a form of punishment.

Last Friday night, we celebrated Stephie's birthday (and Steph and Kev's graduation - a belated celebration, long story) by having a party in the planetarium. Not just any party, but a video game party, where we projected two separate consoles onto the big dome. It was pretty sweet.

On Saturday, I took a break from packing to go to work. But we did get to spend the afternoon at the beach with the Spattersons. Some of you may recall Mikey and Patrick, two little boys I've been babysitting since Pat, the younger one, was about Stellan's age. Fun times!

We spent a good part of Sunday night helping Nick and Stephie get their stuff all packed. Yes, they moved out the same day we did. Good timing, huh?

We got up bright and early Monday morning to meet our movers, who loaded the 140+ boxes we had packed and waiting for them. Yep, a lot of stuff. Apparently about 5700 pounds - that's almost three tons! It only took about 2 1/2 hours to load everything, which was about as long as Stellan's nap lasted. Good timing. We took advantage of the hour between our movers leaving and Stephie's moving van arrival to enjoy lunch at Lake Los Carneros. Stellan loved it - maybe a little too much.

Kevin was part of the team that got Stephie and Nick's new (to them) California king sized bed out of its second story home and into the moving van. Sorry, no pics. Then we all went to the moms' to load their moving van. By then, we were all pretty tired of moving stuff. But we perservered and the truck got loaded. They didn't actually leave until the next morning, and we were there to wave them off as they began their new life together as their own little family. I miss them lots already.

Since then, we've been camped out at the moms' with a suitcase each of stuff. I'm still at the Museum and we're just killing time until we head out. Kevin will leave on Thursday to meet the car, which we also shipped, and the stuff. Stellan and I leave on Monday the 18th, so we can stay for the Quasars' final presentations (my Quasar class has worked really hard and I wouldn't miss their presentation for the world) and one last Sunday dinner. But we're still managing to fill our last few days with pluses. Tonight we joined my dad and Maggie at the Penfield and Smith (my dad's company) kayaking/barbecue extravaganza. Most of us had to cut out early for various reasons, but we had a good time anyway.