January 12th, 2008 weekend

This was our first full weekend in Oregon. The whole week leading up to it was nothing but rain and clouds though, so when I heard that we should expect to see some sun, I got pretty excited.
Let's just say that sun in Oregon does not have the same meaning as sun in Colorado... It did come out, but barely long enough to dry my truck out.
I was looking forward to it too, because I needed to take the topper off my truck and I didn't want to mess with it while it was wet.

Not much else happened during this week.

Kids started their new school, and now have to take a bus

I think they are sort of forced to be closer now too, and have been spending more time playing and watching movies together.

Jon had a really hard time with the fact that he had to go back to daycare. It was an early and dark morning when I dropped him off at the new place with a bunch of "strangers". I am assuming it will take some time for him to get used to the new place...

We are moving to Oregon!

Let me just start by saying: "I hate to move!"
who likes it, anyway?.. Everything gets packed and put away, and as soon as that happens, you realize you need it and have no idea which box it's in... Not to mention, in our case, we don't know when we will get to see the boxes again, so I needed to make sure I don't pack things we will need soon.
Since we were relocated by our work company, things were a little easier because we at least didn't have to sweat over how much it will cost. There was no weight limit, but even so, we tried to lean out our worldly possession beforehand...

Our packers came on January 2nd and spent all day wrapping things into endless layers of paper, then packing them into cardboard boxes, then making pyramids out of those. Our whole house turned into a corn-maze of boxes.

On January 3rd packers returned to finish up their job, as well as movers, who started moving everything into a giant moving truck. That took from 8:00am to about 6:00pm! Who knew we got that much crap?!!

The following day I had a carpet cleaning service come in and clean all the floors. It was rather depressing walking through an empty house, knowing this is the last day we will spend in it.
After little consideration, we spent the night at our neighbors' house. At least they had a couch to sleep on.

Early January 5th I went back in the house to pick up the last of our packs. Our truck looked like we are going on an expedition. Every single empty space I had, I filled. Of course finding quite a few items that packers didn't pack, was no help! That just added to my pile. It got to the point where I didn't care if I forgot something. I was just overwhelmed with how MUCH we have and need.
I always get nervous before getting on a long road trip, but this was different. It was very sad knowing we are not coming back this time.

THEN, we got on the road.
And what a nightmare, honestly! We started with the wind gusts of 75 mi/h in CO, continued with extremely windy and slippery conditions in WY. Kids and I were counting vehicles that were either rolled over or slid off the road, and when we got to eleven, I decided it was time to check into a hotel for the night! We barely drove 400 miles the first day.

Next day was not better at all. First 90 miles took us about three hours. At that point it was snowing too hard to see anything, so we got off the next exit and sat in a parking lot waiting for the snow to stop. (Saw another accident in front of us, because of the snow conditions.)
Once it stopped snowing, we got back on the road, and slowly, but surely, kept going. Once we were able to get through 11 degree icy WY, and get over the slops and ice in UT, we finally "saw the light". Roads in ID were clear and dry as if they haven't had snow in weeks.
Full speed ahead!
On the OR border town Ontario we decided we had enough driving and checked into another hotel for the night. Not much more to go, we thought...

Guess what? We were shocked to see a white blanket over everything the next morning. It appeared that the storm followed us into OR.

Never the less, we were (successfully) able to drive the last leg of the trip. Home with Dad again!

This a beginning of a new chapter in our lives. For now we have no furniture, no toys, little luxury, but at least we are back together as a family!

Happy New Year, 2008!

Another year went by...
This Winter has been a cold one in Colorado. We are in the process of packing to move. This means that every time we come across something that hasn't been used in a while, we ask ourselves a question "keep or donate?" This became a routine in our house. It is rather refreshing to offload some of the junk. One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?..

On the evening of New Year, Larissa and I headed out to the Russian store to get some treat, but unfortunately, because this Holiday is so big in Russia, the store was closed. We opted for the next best thing, Albertson's grocery store.
We got lots of things like shrimp, cheesecake, and even a bottle of sparkling apple cider. All ready to meet the New Year with a bang!

Bang we did! Instead of waiting till midnight, we popped all of our poppers and crackers at 9:00pm. That was a good thing too, because none of the kids was able to stay up that late!



I knew that I would be in big trouble if I didn't at least try waking them up, so I did. I also knew better to take a picture, so that I would have a proof!
Of course, the next morning they all denied watching the ball drop at midnight. None of them remembered it! Good thing I had this photo!


A couple of days later we also made sure to stop by Larissa's doctor's office and get a new prescription. Who knows when we will be able to get a new specialist in Oregon?..