The Boxes are Back

Today was the day. After watching 2 Meadway get packed up, moving out and living in 4 different places for about seven and a half weeks and following the container across the Atlantic, through the Panama canal and up to Oakland, California, we were finally reunited!

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Tracy was emotional as the boxes started coming out the container – probably at the thought of seeing all her handbags again (all $65k’s worth of insurance value – or somewhere near that figure!). I was excited at the thought of being able to sit on our sofa again – we’ve missed it! Toby just wanted to get his soft toys and Harry was busy at school, watching a movie and eating popcorn – school in America sounds awesome!

The container and crew arrived at 8:30am and it took about 4 hours for them to upload the lorry and unpack most of it. When we asked if they would be putting all the furniture together they didn’t seem too happy about it but they did it! The one thing that I knew would be a nightmare to put together was the bunk beds. And they were. I had hoped to avoid it altogether but after spending an hour or so trying to put them together they finally came and asked for help. After pretty much taking it to pieces again we managed to get it sorted. There is no way those beds are coming home with us though – they are being thrown out! They may not even make it until our return if Harry starts picking it again like he was in Harrold!

Although the our new house is much bigger than Meadway, the kitchen is smaller – not as much cupboard space anyway. There is going to have to be some creative cupboard packing skills displayed by Tracy – I’m keeping out of it! It’s also good to have the table and chairs in the kitchen/diner area (or nook as the Americans call it) mainly because it means I can no longer walk into the low light that hangs down. The lampshade is hard and it hurts and I used to walk into it on a regular basis!

The furniture all looks really good – I was worried the colors may not go with the color of the hardwood floor but everything goes perfectly. The sofas are super comfy, as is the bed, and by the end of a busy day the house is starting to get organized. It will probably take a couple more days and we will move in on Friday but progress on day 1 is good. Even if I do say so myself.

We left the house at 5pm and headed on over to Kirkland for a well deserved visit to Zeeks pizza. Then it was back to the apartment and into our comfy’s and pj’s just in time to experience our first earthquake. It was a moment we would never forget. At 6:52pm on the 14th of June it struck, just 9 miles north of Seattle. I say we would never forget it, we probably wouldn’t if we’d felt it, but we didn’t! It was only a magnitude of 2.5. Fortunately the local news station tweeted about it otherwise we would have been completely oblivious!

So all in all it was an exciting day! Our new house is starting to feel fab and homely (apart from the remaining piles of boxes), our bellies are full and now we are watching the Seattle auditions for Americas Got Talent (with a lot of weird people!). I think we will sleep well tonight!