Surprising challenges

Here we are 12 days after getting keys and won't don't we have
1- bank account details. It took a week to open a bank account, still waiting for debit card and official details in the mail
2- new car, number 1 has killed number 2. Had to wait to get details to transfer US money to Ireland. Now need to get online login in the mail to see if money arrived. Meanwhile rental car is out of my pocket so times a wasting
3- trash- seriously, they say 10 days to setup still waiting for trash bins...big pile of recycling and compost ready to go
4-internet- comes tomorrow, then I found out yesterday that the address check for the faster company which said I didn't qualify for fiber internet lies, my neighbors all I have that , more speed and cheaper.

Hopefully all this gets fixed this week and we can say we are all moved in



Rob

Meeting friends

Audrey is now getting into meeting new people. Yesterday we met some new kids at Malahide park. Then we went to Maynooth park and met some new friends. Found out when we got home that they are our neighbors across the back fence, since awkwardly we can see into their house from our bedroom window. Then they were out scootering and found out our street is well stocked with kids, some go to the same school as Jack and Audreyand some go the Irish immersion school (Gaelscoil).
Kids have been out playing down the road with new friends for the last 2 hours. Just arrived in our house with the new friends...















This is family living

Rob

Day 1 musings

Some random observations from our first day

• Flying from Orlando to Dublin was much nicer than Portland to Dublin. The flight is shorter and it is much easier to get to sleep on a normal schedule (the downside while you go to bed early you get woken up early)
• Swimming caps- second trip to Ireland with the kids. Al the pools require swimming caps. Does this keep pools significantly cleaner?
• Murphy's law always applies- found a random seam of wetness in our shipping container. About 5 boxes out of 40 affected. That in itself wouldn't be okay but of course the targeted boxes were files and photos....
• Scheduled multiple things  on our first day in series (pick up keys, setup utilities, movers), but of course movers arrived late so it all tried to occur at the same time
• Driving challenges
• GPS issues - phone needed to be reactivated and car GPS not working
• manual transmission - 
• reverse- couldn't figure out reverse until we read the manual. After that not too bad. 
• phantom limb shifting- occasional tendency to try and shift on the side with no gear

that's it for now

Rob

many goodbyes

House packed, 1/3rd shipped, 2/3rd stored. Air cargo arrives on Friday in Ireland before us. After that it
 has been a week of a thousand goodbyes.
playdates, big house party, family dinner, post work drinks...
As I like to say it is a see you later and not a good bye.

So we hop on a red eye tonight for Florida for a week with the grand parents. Then next tuesday it is off to Dublin.

A fun website for your amusement
http://www.mapchannels.com/RouteMaps.aspx
type in 22 the arches, maynooth and presentation girls school and you can see the street view images for the trip to school..

will try and keep the updates flowing
Rob

movers have come

Found a buyer last week for the odyssey and turned over the keys monday. Found a mini buyer sunday and turned over the keys today. Now using a borrowed car untilwe are off.

Then on tuesday the movers came like I storm that passed through.
Air shipment packed yesterday, house packed today.
No matter what you do you never are ready,A little more challenging for us because we are choosing ship vs store. In other cases you may ship too much because you didn't purge. In our case we may ship the wring things and not enough...

but that part is almost over, 1 week in a hotel, a quick week vacation in florida then on to our new life.

to be continued....

Rob

The movers are coming...the movers are coming!

I have officially moved from nervous to actively twitchy in the last several days.  And yet I am still choosing to spend time with friends and family rather than go through cupboards and other areas of the house that need to be sorted.

I keep repeating the phrase shared with me by my handsome husband: "If the movers pack up and store stuff we don't really want to keep, it's not the end of the world".  Maybe not the end of the world, but it just might be a harbinger of doom.  However, that could just be me.

Today marks just 4 days until movers come, and just 12 days before we fly out of Portland.  Now many of my interactions with friends are the last for a long while and are thus a bit weepy.  All my friends will remember me stressed and teary.  That's why they all need to visit us - to erase that memory and replace it with a better one.  Hopefully of us settled into our new Irish home, ready to host and share the beautiful country with visitors.

So save your pennies people, we mean it when we say we want you to visit.

last minute

In the final stretch

squeezed in a date night last night
Cheese Bar (meat and cheese...) and a movie, this is the end
The bar/restaurant was quiet and empty except for us but that was fine by us.
Then on to the movie. $5 movie night at Regal.
The movie includes Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Emma Watson, etc...
Basically a movie about the apocalypse, end of the world...

while the stress and craziness of the prep might feel light the end of the world, just like in the movie there is salvation ahead...

I will have to pull this picture out for Audrey down the road. A bucket list at 10!  at least we can knock out 2 of the list England and Paris, France. The rest will have to wait...

now shouldn't I be packing or something, oh yeah...

Rob