Carolinas in the Morning

Thursday dawned bright and early as we headed off to North Carolina to visit my Uncle Paul & Aunt Jane in their "mountain hideaway."  The drive was pretty uneventful, and we made it there in time to join them for dinner.  We put the dogs in their outdoor kennel and headed into town. They treated us to a local mexican food restaurant, which wasn't Tex Mex, but it was delicious anyway!  We headed back to their place, and found that Molly and Ella had managed to slip out of the kennel and had been roaming around the mountainside on their own! Paul & Jane's dog Onyx had shown up at some point, so we're believing that Onyx showed them the ropes and kept them close to home.  A flash thunderstorm had popped up as we were driving home, so the girls were wet and a little dirty, but none the worse for wear.  We brought them inside, and they proceeded to win over everyone with their perfect manners and sweet dispositions (no, really, they were complete angels!).

We sat up entirely too late with Paul & Jane, talking about everything from dogs to kids and plenty in between. After a good night's sleep, we were ready to enjoy the beauty of the front porch on top of the mountain. The morning was foggy, but we knew it would burn off and be warm later (they were having a heat wave - highs in the 90s!), so we wanted to maximize our time.

Really, how can you pass up this view?  So, we sat, with our coffee, and enjoyed.  

Ella loved the yard - a nice long space to chase her ball.  We threw it as hard and as far as we could as many times as she could stand.  After all the travel this week, she's itching for the exercise!

 

See that tiny black speck by the grapevines in the second picture?  That's Ella!  She ran and ran and ran until we lost the ball!  The only time she took a break is when Onyx took over. Onyx is a "senior" dog, so she mostly just swiped the ball and sat with it, reminiscing about her younger days. Ella was patient with her, up to a point. Then she'd just swipe it back and want to play again.

After we had our fill of coffee and porch-sitting, Uncle Paul took us into town to show us around. He works for a local coffee roasting company, and had a few minutes of work to do, so we wandered around downtown while he finished that up.  We went to the local dog park and let the girls play, but they were actually much more interested in walking around and exploring the city than they were playing off-leash. So, we left there and Uncle Paul treated us to lunch at The Gateway Club. The delicious burgers were a great send-off, and we left feeling spoiled!

We got on the road to Greenville, SC after noon, and arrived there at 2:30 that day. It's a quick drive, and was probably the easiest of the trip so far. We were all glad to be able to get out of the car so quickly!  We went straight to 609 and were greeted warmly by Aunt Janet & Uncle Dennis.  (For those of you who don't know, "609" is our family home. The "609" is a reference to the house number - we never actually use the whole address, we all just know it by heart. My grandfather built the house when the family first moved to Greenville, SC 50 years ago, and Janet & Dennis bought it from him years ago.  It's still a gathering place for family events and memories.)

We settled in quickly, ducking over to the neighbor's house for a quick swim before the rain rolled in (have you noticed it's rained everywhere we've been so far except DC?  Apparently the request we got to "bring the rain with us" is working...).

Aunt Jan and I drove just down the road and picked up Pop and Sis (my grandfather and his wife) to bring them back to 609 for dinner. It was really special to spend time with them for so long - they had dinner, dessert, and stayed to talk for more than 2 hours.  Aunt Jan made a delicious dinner, then we got to have chocolate cake and coffee ice cream - a Brummer family tradition! Pop didn't eat much dinner, but he had a huge slice of cake and two servings of ice cream.  Now Jarrod knows where I get my obsession with ice cream!  We had a great conversation with Sis, and got to tell her all about living in Connecticut and moving to Hawaii.

Pop is in his 90s, and he and Sis have lived in assisted living for several years. Last year, he moved into the dementia unit, and he is having more and more trouble communicating.  The thing that's so hard to see is that he clearly still has the memories and has things to say to add to the conversation, but he can't locate the correct words in his mind and then speak them.  He starts and stops several times, and often doesn't ever come up with the words to say what he's thinking.  He has trouble remembering who people are, and why they are important to him.  We told him several times who I was before he really remembered.  We showed him pictures of my sister's family, and he understood that they were a family, and that they were beautiful, but he couldn't understand their relevance to him.  He wanted to tell me about his visit to Hawaii, but couldn't get his thought out. I was frustrated for him, even more so when I saw how difficult it was for him.  He kept saying how surprised he was that he couldn't get his words to cooperate - he knew there was a problem, but didn't remember that it has been ongoing. So, it made me even more glad to see him, and to have the small bits of conversation we did get to have. I really appreciate Aunt Janet for spending as much time and effort with him as she does - thank you, Aunt Jan!

After a great visit with Pop & Sis, Uncle Dennis took them home and we spent the beautiful evening chatting and watching the girls run around the yard.  The backyard at 609 is huge, and the view is gorgeous.  Check out this sunset:

Saturday morning, we got up early with the dogs and watched the sunrise over the same yard, then enjoyed coffee and breakfast with Janet & Dennis.  We made a quick stop at the Greenville Farmer's Market for some fresh SC peaches, and then headed out to Nashville to see my cousin Daniel and his family.  We're getting to the home stretch now - we're really looking forward to getting to Dallas and settling in for a little while!

Oh, Virginia!

We had such a good time seeing our friends in Virginia!  Rex & Lisa Hamaker were fabulous hosts, providing a warm and welcoming home, and even playmates for Molly & Ella.  At first, Ella couldn't understand why everyone was just sitting in the bushes, but after a few rounds of fetch, she needed a nice cool break too!

On Tuesday night, we had a quiet dinner with the Hamakers, including fresh blueberry sorbet made from blueberries hand-picked by us from their personal crop. It was delicious!

Rex & Lisa threw us a party on Wednesday night, and quite a few of our Virginia friends came out to visit.  What fun to catch up with everyone, and share a bottle or two of wine and delicious food. The Hamaker house is always a great place for a party - we gathered in the kitchen and talked and laughed until late in the evening!

On the drive to Virginia, Jarrod discovered that the air conditioning in the Jeep was blowing, but it wasn't getting cold at all.  Rex helped us find a mechanic, and we were able to get it fixed and road-worthy in less than a day, praise God!  While it was in the shop, we took the dogs to the beach for their first experience with the ocean.  Molly wasn't sure about the water that never stopped moving, but she eventually got used to it.  They both waded in and cooled off, though neither of them was very interested in swimming.  Ella loved walking just at the water line, keeping her feet wet, and Molly found she could to much more interesting smells if she stayed on drier ground.

All in all, we had a wonderful visit with everyone, and were blessed, as always, to be able to call them friends.

Finally on our way

We were so excited to finally be on the road. We got moving around 2pm with Jarrod out in the lead, and I followed close behind with both dogs.  Here's proof that my car, Angel, has officially left CT: 

We took I-95 to the Tappan Zee bridge to bypass some of the New York traffic. 

From there, we took the Garden State Parkway south through New Jersey.  

I had no idea such a small state could take so long to get through!  Between rush hour traffic, rubberneckers, and toll booth bottlenecks, it took us until 8:00 to actually get out of New Jersey.  There was no sweeter phrase at that point than "Welcome to Delaware."

After a quick stop for dinner, we got back on the road, attempting to make it to Alexandria, VA before Monday became Tuesday.  We had planned to visit with a college friend of mine, Rachel Kibbe.
We were hoping to have time to share a meal and a visit with her, but those plans were cut short, as we didn't pull into her place until around 10:30pm.  We were so glad for the chance to get out and stretch our legs.  The dogs were ready to move, too.  She lives in a busy neighborhood with permit-only parking, so we parked a couple of blocks away and used the walk as a chance to unbend from the drive.  We arrived at her beautiful new condo and were "welcomed" by her canine-unfriendly cat, Conex.  The dogs and Conex had quite the standoff before we finally put her into her carrier for the night.  Her other cat, Bonkers, was cautious and distant from the dogs, but not openly hostile.  Ella was fascinated by Bonkers, and spent most of the night trying to get closer to him.

Molly wasn't sure about any of it, and was actually pretty happy when Rachel offered to cuddle on the couch. She settled in pretty quick, don't you think? 

It was great to see Rachel, and catch up just a bit.  I wish we had had more time to visit, but the travel furies were against that plan.  We told her, as we tell everyone, our door will always be open in Hawaii.  We'll just have to schedule another visit soon!  We were all up early the next morning, and we headed out from Rachel's, ready to get moving.  Jarrod and I had breakfast at a diner in town, and then tried to find a dog park to let the pups use up some of their energy.  We got directions to what we thought would be a dog park, but when we got there, there wasn't anything there.  By this time, it was 9:30am and we decided we should just get to Virginia Beach, and we could deal with puppy energy there.   The drive to Virginia Beach was easy and uneventful, and we made it to the Hamaker's just after 2pm.  

Praise God for safe travels, and good friends who are happy to host us and our "kids!"  

Next update: fun with Lisa & Rex and the rest of the VA Beach crew!

Final Preparations

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend it's been!  Sunday we went to our last Bridge Celebration Service (for a while, not ever!).  It was so tough to say "farewell" to all our friends and family there.  We did get a great photo of almost the whole crew, which is a miracle in itself, I think.

(click the picture to see it full-size)

After church, we headed back to the house to finish the last of the cleaning. We called our dads to wish them a Happy Father's Day, and loaded up as much of the stuff as we could.  We had some last-minute items left til Monday, but just what we needed to get ready and get out the door. After that, we pretty much hit the sack - it had been a long weekend, and we have a long week in front of us!

Monday morning, we both got up and moving early.  Jarrod headed into the office to finish the last of his paperwork at his old command, and I finished up the work the I knew absolutely had to get done while I still had internet access.  Kristin McKenzie and the kids came over with breakfast. It was good to see them one last time. Not long after they left, the Norwich utilities guy came to take our last meter reading and shut off the power.  After that, there wasn't much point in sticking around - it was hot and muggy without the fans going, and the modem & router don't work without power, so I couldn't work!  By the time I finished loading all our last-minute stuff, and double-checking to be sure we didn't forget anything, Jarrod was done at work.  He came home, we split up the borrowed items that needed returning, and met back up for lunch before getting on the road.  We finally left Norwich around 2pm on Monday, after what seemed like a very full day already!

I'll post again later today with thoughts and photos from our drive yesterday and today.  In the meantime, here's some photos of the empty house, and Molly & Ella enjoying the last few minutes in their old backyard.

living room                                           kitchen

  

 

dining room                                       bedroom

Molly & Ella, giving me the "I know something's up, Mom. What's going on?" look

HELLO!!!...Hello!...hello...

Did you know your house echoes when it's empty?  At least our house does!

So it's really official now - 235 items and boxes fit into 7 crates, and it's all on its way to Hawaii.  We'll know on Monday how much it weighed.  The head mover estimated between 7,500 and 8,000 pounds. As long as we're under 9,000, I'm happy. (Any more than that and we have to pay for the difference.)

The dogs have been at Doggie Day Care every day since Wednesday, and they were pretty confused each night when they came home and more of our stuff was gone. I'm actually really proud of them - they came home last night to the empty house, and I think that phased them less than having a ton of boxes around. They didn't even bother to explore the house - I guess they just figured it all disappeared, but they still had their people, so it was ok.  We set up to sleep in the coolest room, the office, and we put an old comforter down in the corner. They settled right in on it and slept all night. I'm sure it helps that they're exhausted from spending 3 beautiful, sunny days at day care.

Today we're cleaning up, sweeping floors, filling holes in the wall, & washing windows. We still need to paint over the patched holes in the walls, deep clean the kitchen and bathrooms, and mop the floors, but it's always so easy to clean an empty house.  We'll be done in no time.

Ella found her ball and has been carrying it around all day with this very protective look on her face.  It's as if she's saying, "I don't know what you did with the rest of the stuff, but you're not getting my ball!"  Molly's just happy to sit in the sun, as usual.  She's really going to love Hawaii!

Tomorrow we'll go to the Bridge Celebration service, then probably visit the last few places we need or want to see before we leave.  Monday Jarrod will go into work for the last of his checkouts, and I'll have some work to do in the morning while I wait for the meter reader and the cable guy to show up and disconnect our services.  Once all of those things are done, we're hitting the road!  First stop, a visit with our friend Rachel Kibbe, who lives outside Washington, DC, then on to Virginia Beach!

The Dust Bunnies

Now that there is no where to hide, the dust bunnies have come out to play!  The movers packed 3 crates today with items they boxed up yesterday. We still have both bed frames, several larger pieces of furniture, the washer & dryer, and the entire contents of the basement.  Jarrod and I were talking about how this move is very different than the last few we've done.  This is the first time we've moved cross-country, and CONUS (CONtinental United States) to OCONUS (Outside the CONtinental United States), so the experience has completely changed.

When we moved from Virginia to Connecticut, Jarrod had been out to sea until two days before the move.  He came back into town, the movers showed up the next day, packed our entire apartment and storage unit in one day and we were on the road the next morning.  The next afternoon, we were moving into our new place here in Connecticut, and our moving van arrived a couple of days later. It was very quick and clean, and it took no time at all to get settled.

When we moved from the apartment to the house, they packed half of our stuff the first morning and moved it to the house that afternoon, then went back the second day and did the same thing with the rest.  So we were in both places at once, and we didn't have any down time between when we packed and unpacked.

This time, they're packing our things for the long haul, literally.  These items will be in boxes for probably 2 months or more, depending on when we get housing. The furniture has all been wrapped in paper or plastic wrap, and they are required to pack everything into crates, which are then glued and nailed shut.  It kinda feels like our whole life is being prepared for long-term storage.  (I can just imagine a warehouse like the one at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.) We're still surrounded by boxes on the first floor, but the upstairs is completely empty except for the beds (they were sweet and saved our bed for the last day so we can sleep in it again tonight.).  I was sweeping up in the guest room after they left today, and the room literally echoed.  It was so odd.  When they're done tomorrow, we will literally be in an empty house, with nothing but the clothes in our suitcases and the air mattress to sleep on.  We will still have the computers, and the utilities don't get shut off until Monday, so at least we'll have the internet to keep us occupied, but it's going to be very strange. It will be bittersweet to say goodbye to our first home.  We've loved it dearly, and it's been such a blessing to us!  I hope it will bless someone else soon, too.

Boxes, boxes everywhere

   

The entire house is packed, y'all! All that's left is the basement and a few boxes in the office. We also have just a few cleaning supplies left over...

I'm thinking we need to have a cleaning party - bring a broom or mop or vacuum, help us clean, and take home your pick of premium cleaning products! Who's in?

The Movers are Here!

We've got real-time results here, folks!  The movers are here, and they're making really fast progress.  Here's a few photos of the process, as it happens:

The dining room, in process

The kitchen

view up the stairs - this is the staging area

Guest room's almost done. They've already cleaned out the linen closet, and the small room is finished

See? All that's left is the desk and fan...

The bathroom and the guest room closet are our "safe havens" - that's where all the stuff that we're taking is stored. 

Looks like today will be most of the upstairs, the kitchen, and maybe the dining room. Tomorrow will be living room, office, and basement. Friday they'll crate it all and get it loaded. 

The way my mind works worries me sometimes

Woke up with Jarrod's alarm today, mind was racing with things that needed to be done. I made a list in hopes of being able to go back to sleep, but the list was a whole page in the mini memo pad I keep by the bed, and my brain wouldn't let me rest with that much still to do!  So, I'm up super early today.  I logged on to read Jarrod's post from last night, and he mentioned that we're done with laundry.  To which I replied, "Laundry!  Oh no, there's one more load in the dryer!"  It was heavy duty stuff, bathrobes and the like, so I saved it for overnight so it could get really dry.... I would have completely forgotten it if I hadn't seen that post.  Apparently my brain is *this close* to complete shutdown... is it vacation time yet?

Movers Eve

Well we spent the day working and then the evening working. The movers arrive tomorrow, and we've spent the evening doing the last of the sorting, removing and packing. Tiffany discovered which clothes she really loves and can't live without and I discovered that uniforms why the Navy allots me 600 lbs. for professional equipment...it's code for uniforms. The yard is mowed one last time, and the trash is out. Checkouts are 75% done at work, I'm signed out of all the maintenance programs so now I really have nothing to do. Well I need to go clean the kitchen one last time. The road is calling ready for my vacation.

One man's trash....

It amazes me every time!  We put a rusted out grill, a water-logged TV stand, and a junky little cabinet out on the curb last night to go to the trash, and they were all gone within 2 hours.  People in our neighborhood put things out on the curb all the time, and they sit there for weeks and weeks.  We put stuff out on the curb, and it disappears within hours. I guess our house has a reputation of having good stuff!

So, all that is to say, we're getting stuff cleaned out and we're almost there. The laundry pile is getting smaller by the minute, it's almost all done now. Tomorrow we'll pack up the box of last-minute things we'll need after they take our stuff away (air mattress, linens, wireless router, a few dishes and cooking utensils, dog food, etc), as well as the suitcases of clothes.

The good news is, Jarrod is officially cleared to reenlist, which is a prerequisite to him getting to leave his current command, so we're on track to actually leave on Tuesday. I called to turn off the utilities today, they'll all be shut off on Monday.  I guess we'll just sit in the empty house with our laptops, air mattress, and puppy dogs for the weekend. It's going to be surreal!  We'll be headed to The Bridge Celebration Service on Sunday morning, to say one last farewell to our Bridge Family. It'll be a bittersweet day, for sure.

Days away!

We're just days away from the big move now, and we're starting to really get ready to go!  The movers are coming on Wednesday, and they'll be packing and loading for 3 days.  We're staying in the empty house on an air mattress for the weekend, then heading out of Connecticut first thing on Tuesday morning.

We're finalizing things around the house - taking down curtains, washing the linens, going through the last of the storage spaces to get rid of things that are just hanging around. Next step is to pack up for the 6 weeks we'll be travelling between when we leave Norwich and when we arrive in Honolulu. It's tough to figure out how to pack enough clothes to last that long, but that will all fit into a suitcase that we can actually take on the plane.  I think I'm going to have the most trouble with picking shoes!  Jarrod's got so many uniforms that he has to have, I'm not sure how he's going to have room for anything else. I guess he'll have to have an entire suitcase of just uniforms!

Watch this space for photos of packing and finalizing in the next couple of days!