Makeshift Story: We made it

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This will not be a long, descriptive post. I can barely sit down long enough to figure out what needs to be done next over here. But I wanted to at least update for those who are anxious for news. The long and short of it: we all (eventually) made it! It was not easy... in fact, it still isn't. But we had sooooo much help that we were able to pull it off, and everything is beginning to start to feel like it might one day fall into place.

Killing time at the Toyota repair shop

The journey unfortunately got off to an ominous start - me and mom and the kids were out the door by 8am, which was a huge accomplishment. A little over and hour into the trip, however, there was an alarming sound, and then pretty much all of the warning lights came on in the car, all at once. Because we were not far at that point from the dealership where we had purchased the car, we turned around, and headed there. Clark called ahead and managed to convince them to squeak us in at noon (thank goodness), but this meant we had a WHOLE lot of waiting to do. As it turns out, there had been an air bubble in the coolant system (ironically, likely inadvertently put there by the mechanics when we had had the car in for routine maintenance a couple of weeks ago). So when it popped, the levels dropped all at once, and the car was scared there was a leak. All of that waiting and delay, and stupidness, for NOTHING. (Although they did also replace the wipers and a burned out headlight, which both ended up being very important parts of this particular trip, so it wasn't a total bust).

Anyway, more than four hours delayed, we were off again. I got treated very poorly at the American side of the border when I tried to export our car - apparently, they only provide that service between 9am-4pm, and we got there at 5pm. "Do you want to export a car?" one guy asked another. "Not really", he replied snarkily, giving me the evil eye - "it's FIVE O'CLOCK". But they did it anyway. Then there was another hour or so of paperwork on the Canadian side (at least carried out by an incredibly friendly agent), and a decision to be made - do we keep going, or call it a day and find a hotel? I wanted to call it quits at that point - it was 6pm, and we had at least another 4 hours of driving, plus a supper break ahead of us, most of which would be in the dark. I, however, got vetoed by all other members of the entourage, so we pressed on. At one point towards the end, Juniper (having been woken up by us getting lost upon hitting Ottawa), declared "I'm car sick!!"" "What does that mean?" I asked nervously, mentally adding that to the list of the drive from hell. "I'm SICK of being in the car", she replied adamantly. Thank goodness. Weren't we all. We rolled into our dear friends' Simon and Judith's shortly before midnight, and thankfully laid down in our nicely prepared beds. We had made it.

The next few days involved getting the keys to our new place, and trying to make everything work while we waited for all of our stuff to arrive. Our amazing friend Erin was here to help me find some places I need to find (with no working internet or phone, this was almost impossible for me without her help at the get go), and to take the kids while I got chores done. And just for the record, it took me much longer (and heaps more frustration) to purchase and activate our new cell phones than it did to cumulatively apply for health cards, sign Juniper up for school, get a first load of groceries, and secure a doctor. Honest to god.

On the lawn, ready to load

Meanwhile, Clark and Bill and Barb (his dad and stepmom), were packing and cleaning like mad people back in Wood's Hole. Clark informs me that this was a ridiculous task (more ridiculous than what I was going through? VERY debatable), but that Bill and Barb were machines. On the actual loading, Ben and Nick came over to help, and then Friday morning, Clark set off. HIS drive went very smoothly (or, at least, as smoothly as it can while driving a 20 foot truck), and he arrived that evening. On this end of things, my sister Faye and her s.o., Sandeep had already arrived to help out the day before, and my mom had gone home. So on Saturday morning, Faye and Sandeep took the kids swimming, Judith and Simon came over, and we unloaded the truck. We then got Linden down for his nap and took off again, to IKEA, and purchased a couch, among other things. It was an insane day.

And now here we are, the start of our first real week of our new lives. Faye is still here to help while Clark and I get things set up. It feels like it may never, ever get done, but the kitchen is almost functional at this point, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Juniper started her first day of school this morning, and I am anxiously awaiting her return in an hour or so. She was clearly nervous (especially because she was starting french immersion with a bunch of kids who had started back in September), but I'm hoping she has a good day. I will leave you there, with some pictures from the last week (none of which were taken with the good camera, unfortunately - it is still packed away). Hopefully next week I'll have some pictures to share of the house, with rooms mostly set up. Wish me luck!