The packers come tomorrow. We only get an air ship and for some bizarre reason, and because it's us and we don't do things easy when we can do them complicated, all of our belongings have to fit into 20-inch cubes. Apparently, the freight planes flying to Moldova are really, really small.
The printer may or may not fit. [It didn't.] Leah's drawing paper holder doesn't. [It did - we could take it apart.] We cannot take any bikes or yard vehicles. Or my tripod. Or, you know, anything that's longer than 20 inches. We bought a big roof box for our car into which will go blankets, Leah's new toddler bed (35 Euros from IKEA!), and probably all homeschooling supplies. Because our homeschooling supplies are being held up in German customs. The officers there could not quite believe that someone could possibly order books worth more than $1,000 without the intent of re-selling them... In their defense, homeschooling is illegal in Germany, and therefore unknown to much of the population. [Books due tomorrow!]
Anyway, the roof box. I'm inordinately happy with it - our car seats seven passengers but when it does (or even when it sits six), there is hardly any space left. I'm really glad we don't have to cramp the kids in for three days on the road.
Yes, three days. We'll try to push all the way to Budapest the first day, then halfway across Romania and finally into Chisinau on the third day. Our navigator claims we can get to Budapest in 8 hours. We shall see.
[One day later.]
The movers came and packed our meager belongings into 14 little boxes, and took them away. We're having a breakfast invitation with our neighbors tomorrow morning. Alan's party is on Saturday, his dad and his uncle and aunt are coming to celebrate with him. We have a nice lunch planned at my parents' house on Sunday - some wild animal with my mom's famous "brown sauce" (as my kids call it). In the afternoon, we'll celebrate Doug's birthday a day early, with his favorite apple cake from my mom. I must confess, I don't even have a present for him yet, I was so tied up with the move and everything.
And on Monday, we'll drive off. The kids have their Nintendos, we have a DVD player in the car. We have books. We will break the trip halfway in Austria for lunch and then push to Budapest; or rather, Budaors where our hotel is located right off the motorway. Then into Romania the next day, as far as we can.
The house is a bit of a chaos. For Lent, my goal is to be more patient - with my family but also with myself. So, chaos it is. There are more important things, right?
Right.
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