On the Move Again

 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.

Shenandoah and D&D

One of our favorite pandemic activities has been playing D&D online with a group of friends we have known for a very long time.  Even the girls have gotten involved with their own game once a week.  Now that all of the adults have been vaccinated, I really wanted to get us all together to enjoy each other's company without worrying about the screen freezing or whether or not we were on mute.  Everyone was ready for a change of scene, so we met up at a "cabin" (it had four bedrooms) in the Shenandoah area.

Since Jeff and I had gotten the cabin, our friends declared themselves in charge of food.  Once we got there, they went into full prep mode, while I got Jeff and Vivian to pose for photos with the view.

Elena was so excited to have other adults to talk to though, that she just followed the cooks around wherever they went.

Dinner was an absolutely delicious grilled fish, seafood, and vegetable feast.  I enjoyed it so much, that I forgot to take pictures, and I resolved not to make that mistake again, especially since the food that weekened was not only delcious, but also photogenic.

After dinner, we had a great round of D&D, with a brief pause in the form of baked apple in pastry dessert, yum!

The girls didn't want to go to bed while we were still playing, so it was a bit of a late night for them, but that meant we all got to sleep in the next morning.  That gave the fabulous chefs time enough to make delicious breakfast omelettes and DUCK bacon, something Jeff and I didn't know was missing from our life, and which we are now in love with.

Since we had had such a wonderful breakfast, lunch was "just" a selection of cheeses, fruits, and nuts which were laid out for nibbling on.  This is only half of the food.

Added to the delicious food was the wonderfulness of other people keeping the girls busy.  They played chess, Scrabble, and had their own D&D session.

They even helped with preparing the dessert for the evening, lemon cakes.

That meant that Jeff and I had some time to actually sit out on the balcony, enjoy each other's company, and read a bit.

Because the girls had gotten so much attention, they also allowed us two, relatively uninterrupted sessions of D&D.  In keeping with the feel of the game, we had pork ribs and a rack of lamb for dinner.  Jeff's character is very into mutton, so it seemed necessary that he get some real lamb during play.

We may have been a band of adventurers, but we ate like kings.  For the second night in a row, the girls wanted to stay up late with us to listen in, but Elena just couldn't make it, so she lay down on the sofa to "rest" and promptly fell asleep.

It was sad to leave the next morning, and it will be tough to go back to meeting online, but despite its flaws, I am so grateful to the technology that allows us to stay in touch with friends, even when we can't be physically together.

Celebrating Spring

We are really enjoying having four seasons this year, and as more people get vaccinated and the weather warms up, there are more options for things to do.  We have been keeping busy inside and outside.  There's been plenty to do at home, and the natural world has given us lots to explore and learn about as well.

Elena is now tall enough to help with cooking on a regular basis, and she loves to help with her favorite meal, shells and peas.

The same week I took the cooking picture, Viv and I heard a loud cracking sound and a thump.  Eventually we figured out that it was a tree near our house falling over.  Luckily, it fell away from our house, not towards it.  Unluckily, it blocked a walking path and one lane of the road.  She and I went out to explore.

You could see the force with which it hit the ground in the way the wood exploded out of the bark.  It was really something.

I've been trying to get the girls out and exploring when I can.  This is us walking to Elena's school to pick up library books.  Of course, I couldn't get both girls to turn and look at me at the same time.

Jeff and I have been taking afternoon walks together most afternoons, and the girls just want to be lazy in the house, but it is fun when we can get them out exploring.  Vivi showed me one of her favorite spots near where we live.

They can also be helpful with retrieving food from the food trucks we now get in the parking lot three times a week.  We don't get food from every single food truck that comes through, but it can be a fun change up for dinner, since we're still not really up for going to restaurants as a family.

Spring has brought a lot of new creatures to learn about.  Elena was excited about the Brood X cicadas before they even showed up, but we found our own neighborhood rat snake to keep her occupied until the cicadas came.  We almost stepped on it a couple times, because it's REALLY long and blends into the grass.

Finally though, the cicadas appeared.  As promised, first there were holes in the ground.

A few days later, we saw one busting out of its old skin.  The empty old skins with the crack in the back are stuck to trees all over the place.

Elena found a mature one and adopted it as a pet for a while.  She even petted it and declared it "soft".  I'm proud of her bravery and have dubbed her Elena the Entomologist. 

It was raining when Jeff and I took our walk yesterday, and we found these guys just hanging out on one of the trees.

Today, we had to walk around two cicadas getting it on in the middle of the path, and the noise was deafening whenever we walked in the more heavily wooded areas.

They are progressing through their life cycle, so hopefully the noise will end soon.  Vivian is also progressing through her stages, and, being the over achiever that she is, she decided to start being a teenager early.  She really wanted to change up her hair, and continues to perfect her clothing look, so I took her shopping for clothes, and my mom took her to have her hair dyed.  We are all pleased with the results.

The same week she got her hair dyed, the FDA and CDC finalized approval of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 and up, so Viv and I excitedly went to get her first shot.  She's wearing her "I got my Covid-19 vaccine" sticker, which is now proudly stuck to her bedroom door.

I may have gotten a little over excited about her new vaccination status, because on Monday I took her to Pentagon City to get her ears pierced.  We had talked about it, but I kind of felt like we were entering now or never territory.  It was around lunch time on a weekday, but there was hardly anyone at the mall.  It's one of the biggest signs I've seen recently of the pandemic definitely not being done affecting the world around us.  The girls still thought the mall was exciting though.

Viv took her time deciding on which earrings she wanted, and in the end she settled on some sparkly ones, which I fully approve of.

Being a mom has definitely been a challenge in this crazy past year, but I was treated very well for Mother's Day.  Jeff got me a new phone and a new computer, so that I can keep being the family's communication hub and historian.  He also got me a healthy and beautiful fruit bouquet. 

My own mom, ever the self-sufficient lady, had bought herself a new car the week before as her own present.  The girls approved.

Because life has been so crazy, I had to spread my celebration with my mom out over the following week, but we managed to have a sushi lunch and a pedicure, albeit on different days.  The move timeline is getting real, and the stresses of managing that while also managing the girls is wearing on me, but they are wonderful, and they bring me much more joy than trouble, so I keep reminding myself to focus on the positives.