Before We Forget...
...some memorable highlights from the past few weeks, accompanied by some new photos in the right side-bar (no password required):
- Weighing, unpacking, re-weighing and re-packing all nine of our bags with the help of my family and the airport staff in front of the United ticket counter at BGM. It's kind of hazy but other than Brandie's snow boots I think almost everything made it back into our bags, which each weighed around 51.5 lbs.
- Packing up all of our belongings again with the help of our friends David & Karen, only to put them back into the storage unit where they resided for over a year and a half previously (also thanks to the help of David & Karen!)
- Having dinner with our friend Anthony in the Los Angeles airport, a welcome intermission to our 32-hour travel ordeal.
- Racing around that final day in Endicott to wrap up all the 100 last-minute details before we left, when we really just wished to be relaxing and visiting with our family.
- Saying goodbye (temporarily!) to all our good friends and family before we boarded the plane. The first goodbyes came as a complete surprise (Lauren & Drew, we didn't even see it coming!) and the last ones were just as painful.
- Pushing two overloaded, 250lb luggage carts through the immigration and customs area of the Auckland aiport.
- Pushing one overloaded, 250lb luggage cart between the international and domestic terminals in Auckland at 6am after a 30hr travel experience and a six-week international-moving marathon, feeling surprisingly good.
- Spilling and restacking my overloaded, 250lb luggage cart in the middle of the road of the Auckland airport
- Realizing our friend Joanna was not only pushing the other 250lb luggage cart but also carrying my 40lb backpack (she spilled her cart too).
- Going back to Eva Dixon's, a cafe near my new office, almost four years later and loving it just as much.
- Listening to the 'Tree Song' and having a 'party in the car' with our friend Marilyn as we looked at house rentals for two weeks straight.
- Hearing our dog sigh in the middle of the night, even though she's 9000 miles away
Thanks for loaning us our new guard dog. We enjoy listening to the sighs as she lays next to me or Grandma - depending on who she thinks wil spoil her more.