Moving: 2011 Edition

Remember this post?

Well, this summer's move went like this:


Week 1

pulled over for a pit stop next to Kluane Lake in Yukon.
Words cannot really do justice to the vastness that is this country.

1 green mini van
2 parents
3 kids
(1 doggie left with friends)
2 countries
5 states/provinces (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington)
2600 miles of driving (that translates to about 56 hours)
6 times of Eagle throwing up (poor kiddo gets carsick...)
1 time of sneaking dramamine into Eagle with a skittle.
5 times of having to get dramamine into Eagle other ways, because now he won't touch a skittle for the world
3 nights of driving all night, and Bear finally asking "mom, can we please sleep in a bed on this night?"
3 rockstar energy drinks (YUCK!!! but they worked)
2 portable DVD players (praise the Lord for this invention!)
1 bath in a cold Canadian Lake
1 Midnight Sun

I gave him a pillow, really I did, it's there on the left! But yes, he is asleep

We made a rule that whenever we pulled over, we always parked the van facing the direction we needed to keep going, so that we never got turned-around, even if the other driver was still sleeping...this was after nearly going the wrong direction at 4 in the morning...

wildflowers by the roadside...

Boya Lake, northern British Columbia

Canadian rockies (in BC's Glacier National Park, not to be confused with the one in Montana!)

We left Anchorage on Sunday, and had anticipated arriving at my parents' house on Friday, probably in the evening. But for assorted reasons (including bad weather) we opted to drive straight through three nights and camp for one, rather than driving for one and camping the rest...so we actually arrived on Thursday morning.

Week 2
9 days with my family, including 2 grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, 1 great-grandma
1 big trampoline
6 chickens, 3 turtles, 2 guinea pigs, 1 dog (theirs, not ours), and 2 smelly mice.
1 trip to the Pacific Science Center
2 days with dear friends
2 henna-fests
1 time singing in church

And then it was time to come north again...

Week 3

2 airplanes

4 airports (Seattle, Anchorage, Nome, Kotzebue)

5 days with friends in Anchorage (thank you!!) in a house with 10 people and 7 dogs!
*&^@* hours at the stupid storage unit, getting stuff sorted and re-packed into boxes of the right weight
8 carry-on bags (plus 2 carseats)
12 stowed bags and boxes (there is a 50lb/bag limit, and I'll have you know that as they put the first one on the scale it was 49.8 lbs! And all but one of the others came in between 46-49 lbs. One was 51 lbs but they let it go because this is Alaska and people are nice and my others were underweight so it was close enough).
648 lbs of food freighted up at 61cents/lb
1 fridge, 4 mattresses, 1 vacuum cleaner, and a dozen or so assorted other of boxes freighted at non-food rate of 77cents/lb
2 nights sleeping on couches/recliners because our mattresses had not arrived (we got in on Saturday, they arrived on monday)
2 nights of sleeping on our mattresses on the floor at the neighbor's place (which shares a mudroom with ours so it's not too inconvenient) because our carpets were still wet.


1 family safely in our new home.

Yeah, they always look this cute