Helpful Gingerbread Man

I began the day helping the BOYS (though I'm traveling with the GIRLS this year) with the storage unit. 

I turned up everywhere! 

Ah, a moment to relax! 

Hello, ladies, need a hand? 

Yes, two Instant Pots - and she says she'll use them both

Shew! A long, hard day. I'm sure they couldn't have unloaded this unit, or unpacked the boxes without my help. I'm glad to be of assistance. 

Civilian/ Military Moves Compared

Civilian moves ARE much more work than a military move.  ::ducking:: Consider this, on move in day I usually sit on a chair, outside a semi-truck, with a glass of ice water and check off box numbers as they are carried into the house. By the end of the day, every box is in the room it belongs in, all the big pieces of furniture are set in place, beds are put back together, furniture such as tables and lamps are put back together, and we are NOT PHYSICALLY WORN OUT. 

The day after household goods arrive, we all enter a room, unpack boxes, and put things on shelves - which are assembled and ready to load. We have made a lot of military moves and after 20+ years we can get keys, move goods into a home, and be totally set up - to include curtains and decorations on the wall in ONE WEEK. This is our expected norm.

In contrast on the day we "moved in" we had to paint. This took Friday, Saturday and a bit of Sunday morning touch up.

Then we had to unload our household goods into our 5x6x10 trailer and make many loads up the Hwy to the valley.

I began unpacking - the kitchen - as it was the only room with "furniture" to put things in.

Michael and the boys made numerous trips to Chugiak to unload our storage area.

Our things were packed by movers contracted by the military. In our MINDS we knew unloading and setting up would be different, but until we walked in and faced the need to paint, until things began breaking which housing couldn't come fix, until we spent days doing what would have been done in one day - it hadn't really become reality. 😃😅😃 Arielle said she experienced the same thing on this, her first civilian  move. As they spent days packing she thought, "I've sorted and cleaned, the packers should be packing the boxes." LOL

Our goals for the day were:
 1. Move the RV to the house so Michael, I and the three younger Gherkins could sleep at the house tonight, find beds and assemble (in the end we settled for mattresses).

2. Empty the storage unit.

3. Empty the RV and begin unpacking in the house.

I will need to learn the best way to care for hardwood floors. We looked at what we had available and settled on Old English on a rag on a Swifter, then scooting around the floors with sheets on our feet. It worked. It was a bit slick for the first day....but it did make things shiny and covered  a few scratches. 

Arielle has been looking for jobs far from paint fumes and heavy lifting. She's been a trooper. Today she and Stacia emptied the RV, while I unpacked in the house.

Stacia was EXCITED to have her dresser back. 

Maybe this will feel like home - eventually. So many good memories of service and fellowship. 

Well, it probably was the most comfortable place to grab a quick nap. 

View from West Windows - we have a similar bank of windows across the south in the living room and dining room. 

No sooner had I unpacked vases, than Stacia filled them with bounty from our overgrown yard. 

I convinced Stacia to do this once. She insisted it was too frightening of a height to attempt again. 

The guys made trip after trip......We had given Josiah furniture when we downsized a couple of years ago. He is now renting wth JaRissa and asked if we'd like a couch and recliner back. He also gave us the table and chairs - which will be great when we max out the big table in the dining room. 

Storage is EMPTY. Alex and Jamin  also helped all day with the storage unit. They set up a system where we were receiving a van or trailer about every 20 minutes. 

It was after 9 p.m. when the five of our and CoRielle were ready to leave the house. None of us had had dinner. They drove off. We decided to drive into town for something to eat.  They were coming out of the drive through, as we were entering. They came inside and we ate.  On the way home, we stopped for these photos. What a beautiful place to live.

At the end of the day, we had met all of our goals. The five of us slept at the house. The garage is PACKED - amazing revelation: things do NOT magically march to their appointed spot and assemble themselves in a civilian move. 🐽 We have been talking about living here 3 - 5 years while we look for a bigger piece of property.

Michael closed the door on the day, turned to me and said, "I'm not moving again." 🐽 This makes a very nice forever home.

Stacia knows how to recover from long days on one's feet...

They've All Gone Mad

I've been involved in some pretty odd spots this year with the girls team......but today's madness began with the list below. I'm not 100% sure where it originated. 

We drove to a big white door....

I could not believe my eyes when they opened the door! What could all this be. Stacia seems happy to see the projector screen. Mom seemed to have thought they'd gotten rid of the screens, or only kept 1/2 of it (you see 1/2). 

I can climb pretty high and I was happy to assist in reaching some of the higher household goods. I do my best to be a  helpful guest.  

I certainly hope this is NOT my location for long. I certainly like riding with CoRielle better than this. 

The movers displayed creativity with their alternate spelling of "garage." Mom picked up on it immediately. She's trained for that sort of thing - homeschooling for 28 years and all. 

Arielle beams...and gets a bit bigger day by day....

This is simply not nice! 

Sisters

I TOLD you they've gone mad, right? We got back to the house and they were still painting walls.....I'm not sure what the plan is in Stacia's room....

Alex is suddenly fascinated with "tape" balls....

They finally called it a night. I heard they didn't get the RV moved over...and the storage unit isn't empty....but tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow, Mom and Dad will move the RV here, some will begin unpacking, while others clear out the storage unit....and maybe there will be more paint?  That never seems to end. 

Awesome work crew! 

I'm not 100% sure what has caused the madness, or why they seem happy about it, but they seem content in their chaotic craziness.

We Have Keys!

We did it! Below Michael is signing a ream of papers, and we got keys today!!!!

I love Michael's smile in the photo above.  After signing we went to Lowes and Sears - in search or a riding lawn mower or tractor. We got specs and are considering our options. We also went to Red Robin to celebrate our status as home "owners." 

Nolan, Alex and I began a tour of the area. Here we are in front of the Internet service provider. We will have DSL on the 15th. We also went to get the electricity and gas in our name....and we stopped by Papa Murphy's and bought a ton of pizza. We expected a crew tonight. 

We finally pulled up to the house as the guys finished unloading the trailer of the things we had loaded in OR.

Alex, Nolan, Jamin and Izaak 

Michael didn't like the message on this sign, and I'm surprised it stayed up long enough for me to get a photo of him removing it. 

One of my first thoughts as we moved in, "Wait, housing hasn't been here to paint." 🐽🐽The paint we purchased was NOT the paint we wanted. We were told we could bring it back if we didn't like the coverage. We didn't like it, so Nolan and I found ourselves making another trip to Lowes....They only had HALF of the paint we needed. I asked them to check with Anchorage. They had it - so we'll run in in the morning and get some. It is beautiful - even at 9 p.m. 

Back at home everyone continued painting and taping. Michael replaced door locks with some that are prettier - a detail I'd not even noticed until he mentioned it. He also painted the front door....eventually we'll paint all the exterior doors and the garage door, too.

Jamin 

Izaak 

Larissa

Still working at 10 p.m. 

  

These two got the number of the part we need to fix the oven. We've since been reminded our home warranty should cover this. 

The view JaRissa and Jamin had on their way home after a full night of working. Thanks, Guys. We appreciate all the work.

Final Walk Through!

We drove in to Anchorage today to deliver a check to Yukon Title company. We are hoping to be able to close and record (get our key) on the same day. This is not the norm up here with most title companies. 

When  we finished at the bank/title company, we picked Josiah up for lunch. We noted a Great Harvest bakery and Michael kindly made the stop. 

Bella visiting Gramps and Gemma

Today was our final walk through before closing. We have been so eager to get in. We have a lot of work to do and want to get started.  We are hoping the same day recording goes through so we have this weekend to paint and unload our storage unit. Stacia checking out the trampoline. It turns out it goes to the ground. We've asked them come get it and a few others things we found around.

Anyone want to guess as to what this plant and berry is? 

I asked about the following of Facebook and am putting the thoughts here so I don't forget. 

Mountain Ash 

Cows Parsnip/Pushki/Poison Parsnip

Yarrow

 JaRissa came out for dinner. It was a CRAZY day and Izaak volunteered to make tacos. We set up the table and enjoyed the nice weather. Michael and I left shortly after dinner to go buy paint.

Note where Yuuki has positioned herself