Moving out of Royal Tern

On August 16th, we started our official moving process. The movers came on Saturday and spent the entire day packing things up. They had a crew of six and they worked all day wrapping furniture, boxing up junk, and putting clothes in to garment boxes. Our family spent the day making trips over to the rental house with odds and ends, valuables and breakable things, etc. 

Sunday was the big moving day. It was a bit overwhelming as we got started, especially when we saw the mess that was left behind some of the furniture. Connor's desk had an open back and he liked to prop his dirty feet up on the wall, which was horrible looking once the furniture was removed. Paige had a similar issue with the wall behind her desk, but wasn't quite so unsightly. We had planned to have our handyman work on that kind of thing when he came out the following week, but Grandpa Rick had been asking if he could help, so we asked if he'd be willing to come out and work on it. He drove out with his painting supplies, I dug out our spare paint cans, and he got to work. 

The movers worked fairly quickly and completely filled two large trucks. The hardest part of the day came when it was time to take the ping pong table downstairs. They realized how tricky it was going to be to disassemble it, and I suggested they consider lowering it off the balcony. They loved the idea, and I was too stressed out to watch most of it, but I did get a picture of them and a short snippet of video as they finished the process.

Finally, it was all moved out. All the rooms were bare, and all that was left in the house was Grandpa Rick, painting the walls and touching up the holes.

At the rental, we started the process of unloading and unpacking. It was faster than loading, but as we filled up the rooms and ran out of space, it was stressful. Eventually, many boxes just got shoved in to corners, and it was a hectic mess. 

The movers finished up as the sun was going down, and we snapped a pic with the team before they departed. The Movebright team were hard workers, and the best part were their friendly attitudes. They were all eager to help with whatever we asked, and they were all cheerful and joking with each other. Great guys, and we will certainly use them again in the future if they're available.

Monday, I had planned to work, but realized that was not going to be realistic so I took the day to unpack. Andrea and I spent all day long unpacking, organizing, and working hard. Tuesday I worked all day and then in the evening spent the entire late afternoon and evening unpacking. Wednesday was another long day from sunup to sundown, but as it got late, we realized we were close. 

I noticed our neighbors had their trach out, and after meeting our next door neighbor, I confirmed the Thursday was trash day. I spent the evening breaking down the last of the boxes, and then I got our hand cart dolly and hauled everything around to the curb. It was past midnight when I finished, but it felt good to be done. The house wasn't perfect, but we were able to park in the garage, and all the rooms were uncluttered and comfortable.

So far we have enjoyed living in our new house, and on the 21st we closed on the sale of our house and were officially finished with the process. What a relief!