A few hours after arriving at Heather's home she suggested we go to the new house so she could show us around. Of course, that was exactly what we had been wanting to do, so that is what we did. It was so much fun coming up the drive for the first time and to have her take us immediately down the paths through the yard. At one point the path ended at a vegetable garden plot with raised-bed planting boxes. Being the end of fall and start of winter most of the vegetables were done producing but it is a great garden with so many possibilities. We'll have a while to think about what to plant there. None of us being gardeners presents a challenge but we'll get there. As we were leaving the garden area we almost stepped on the cutest little creature, that Heather informed us was a hedge hog. It was so tiny and adorable Niels instantly fell in love with it. He and Heather picked it up and inspected it while I watched, so reminiscent of Heather's earlier childhood days.
After that we went into the house and we were so excited by the layout of the house, the excellent condition it was in and all the possibilities there as well. Loren was going to meet us at the house after work so we hung out for a while and explored the house talking about how we were going to set it up. Loren showed up with take away food and wine so we spent the first evening in New Zealand eating our first meal in the new house. We were all so excited and happy. It was a great way to start this whole adventure. After a while Niels and I were feeling very tired so we reluctantly left our new place, went back to Heathers house and went to bed!
We spent the next two days helping Heather and Loren pack up the rest of their house for the move on Monday, May 7th. First thing Monday morning the movers pulled in, loaded up the furniture and the boxes and drove away. We hopped into the car and off we went ... hoping to get to the new house before they did. Within two hours the contents of Heather's old house were safely ensconced into the new house...kind of a funny feeling, it happening so fast as these things do. At that point we all sat down and, even though we were tired, basked in this state of excitement and disbelief all mixed up together....and we were all smiling! Working together we had made it all happen and it felt good!
On Tuesday, May 8th, Niels researched and bought a car! Heather, Loren and I were pretty amazed at how quickly that happened! We each bring our own specialties into this mix and he is the one we always rely on in the car department. We needed to get a larger car as Heather's two-door Honda would hold the four of us but didn't leave room for a baby car seat and a baby! We felt happy to know that we could comfortably get Heather to the hospital and, later, safely bring the baby home also! Below, the 2001 Toyota:
Also during this week, Niels set up our mobile office. We each have a laptop which we brought for just this purpose. His is loaded up with all the survey programs he needs to do the survey end of things and mine with QuickBooks in the Cloud to do the business end. He set up Magic Jack and Skype so we can keep in touch with our office staff at any time. It was incredible that he had it all up and running within one day. He started working immediately. On Tuesday, May 8th we had our first Skype session with office staff and everything worked really well. With Magic Jack we can call any clients that we need to work with on survey related issues and that makes them feel more confident about our business...like we are still around and involved. So far so good!!
While Niels did all that I started the task of unpacking...with Heather's direction on some things. By Thursday, May 10th I had most of the unpacking, sorting, organizing and putting away done in preparation for the baby shower on Sat., May 12th! Whew...quite a feat! There were some boxes still to unpack (non-essentials) but they got stashed into the baby's room and will get dealt with later. What a rush! By Friday we were all pretty tired so we took a down day and caught up on sleep and relaxed, still a little dazed that we were all actually together in our shared home...at last. We're still pinching ourselves to confirm that it is all true and really happening.
Heather's friend Kat put the baby shower together with Heather's input and arrived early Saturday afternoon to help us set up. Not being one much for silly baby shower games, Heather decided to have her friends put together a scrapbook filled with their words of wisdom regarding birth, babies and the art of child-rearing. Each person got a page (or more if needed) in which to express themselves. Heather also sent out emails to aunties and friends with children that weren't here to send their words. As she receives them she is putting them into the book as well ...it turned out to be a great project!! Following are some photos which will tell more of the story ... Enjoy!
