This past year seems to have just flown by, and it's time to move again. Our next post will be Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This will be our fourth move in seven years, and while just the thought of that is exhausting, it also means that we've got our system pretty much down. It's telling that Elena just went, oh right, we're doing suitcase, fast pile, slow pile again. The pile she doesn't need to worry about is the, we really don't need this pile. Jeff and I have slowly been whittling away at it all, making piles for donation and trash, clearing the piles out of the house, and then starting over again. We're quite pleased with our progress though, and I feel like this will be our lightest move yet. There's also been the bittersweet task of deciding which toys come with us, and which can now go to storage. Our apartment will be smaller than the one we had in Bogota, and we won't have a dedicated "play area", so some of the bigger items are going to go to storage. The girls begged us not to donate some of their favorite things, so to storage it goes.
Last week Able Movers came to pack up our UAB (unaccompanied air baggage, aka air freight) and HHE (house hold effects, aka sea freight), and I have to say, the name was no joke. They said they could do it in a day, and Jeff and I were scoffing a bit. We have never been packed out in a day, but sure enough, they showed up at 8 and were done by 4:30. It was amazing.
We're hoping we can take some of the credit though. We did get rid of a LOT of stuff, and we tried to organize things as best we could. I set up a system for the bedrooms where everything on the beds was UAB, including bedding. Then, we made a pile of UAB stuff in the kitchen.
Because there are four of us, we get 700 pounds of UAB, the "fast" stuff, so I try to pack things that will make our new home feel homey, as well as as much non-breakable kitchen stuff as possible. They give us a welcome kit, but it's rarely enough for a full day of meal prep, and there are no specialty cooking items.
With the house packed up, we had to decide where to sleep. We get ten days worth of accommodations, so we booked the Homewood Suites which is just down the street from us. We booked a room that could fit the girls too, but they spent their time at my parents' house, where they each got their own room, rather than their own side of the sofa bed. The hotel actually had dinner included three days a week, which turned out to be pretty tasty. The girls agreed to hang out with us for the Wednesday premier of the new Disney+ show Loki, which we had all been looking forward to.
It's so funny to think that the last time we stayed in this hotel, Vivian was closer to the age Elena is now, and Elena was just a little baby. Time certainly does fly.
The next day, my mom and I took the girls to Potomac Mills to address one of the main things that come up as children grow, they need new shoes! We made our usual trek to New Balance and got them some bouncy sneakers, but we also made a pit stop at the Crocs store, because Vivian still only wants to wear Crocs. We also had to get new shorts for both of them. Vivian got a bunch of navy blue ones, because she can wear these to school as part of her uniform. Of course, shopping is hard work and requires a reward, so the final stops were the Disney store and Auntie Anne's for pretzels. There were some happy kids on the drive home.
I got in on the action too. Vivian was so excited that we had matching shirts. Even though she is catching up to me in terms of height, I treasure the fact that she is still my mini-me.
The girls enjoyed their time with my parents. My mom makes pretty braids in Elena's hair, and my dad will sit and watch Disney movies with them.
Having them taken care of, meant that Jeff and I could do stuff like go out to eat at Cheestique.
Mask restrictions are being lifted, and things are going back to normal here. I'm a bit sad that we'll be going back in time as it were by going to Malaysia where the infection rates are still very high, masks are required everywhere at all times, and right now there is a lock-down in effect until June 28 and everyone expects it to be extended through the summer. We have been lucky enough to have this year here to recover though, so we're ready to go into the fray once more.
No comments:
Post a Comment