2010 PCS - Step 1

This past week we completed Step 1 of the 2010 Alwine PCS. We packed our household goods up on Thursday and Friday. What an experience! First, let me say how absolutley wonderful our packers were. They were polite, professional, and fast! The only hiccup was the weather. It snowed and was so cold the levers and controls on the lift froze. But, after some hot water, it was up and working. They loaded all of our boxes and furniture onto this lift and crammed it all in 6 crates. (Just a comparison, we arrived in Germany with 2 crates.)

When preparing for the packers, I had to separate out what was going in our big shipment (on a boat, think 60 days to get to the US) and what was going in our smaller, express shipment (think 30-60 days on an airplane - similar to the way the mail gets here). This was a challenge as the things I wanted to keep here the longest were also the things we used everyday. As I was dividing out the toys, I had to explain to Declan that his Legos had to stay in the laundry room because they were going to our new house on an airplane instead of a boat (like his bed). This immediately made sense to him (because he knows he is going on an airplane). He spent the next few days carrying Monkey with him everywhere and each time he put him down, he did so in the laundry room. At one point, he even tried to put Abigail in the laundry room.

I was initially concerned about how Declan and Abigail would react to an empty house. They love it! There is more room to play and Declan thinks sleeping on an air mattress is a novelty. And, of course, the both continue to climb all over Daddy.



Step 2 - wait for news on our departure date and ship the car.
Stay tuned...