A few things to remember before flying south…

1. Only do so in the winter, otherwise you may die of over-heating.

I am exaggerating of course but it is very hot and humid here in Georgia. It helps that I completely expected it to be this way and therefore came prepared. My next order of business is to set up our pool and sprinklers for some water fun! We have decided that it is impossible to stay outside for periods longer than 5 minutes if you are not in the water.

Samuel loved riding in the truck!
2. Flying (driving) trips longer than 8 hours are really unacceptable when you have small children. The little darlings very willingly vocalize what everyone in the car is already feeling by hour 8… GET ME OUT OF HERE!

The car trip here to Augusta is about 10-11 hours. Very doable if you only attempt it once, but we drove it with the children 5 times. Yes, you read that right, 5! That is counting our trip down to find a place to live, the actual moving of our things, and the last trip down after Ryan’s graduation. I can now drive from Columbus, Ohio to Augusta, Georgia without the GPS. I now have the route memorized. Useful.

During each trip we had some good times and some rough times but boy are we glad to be done driving!

Ready to load!

All Full
We got lucky and Penske only had 26 ft trucks available instead of the 21 ft. So we got more space for free.

3. Keep an open mind. Things always happen unexpectedly when one tries to do something of mammoth proportion, like moving.

Our apartment is brand new, as in, brand new construction. It was to be finished and ready for us to move into on the 1st of June. It however was not, and we were delayed a few days waiting for it to pass inspection. Luckily we were able to move our things in, just not to occupy the space, so we left everything in boxes in the middle of the rooms for two days while we waited around for someone to give us the green light to move in officially. It was vexing to sit around and wait while nothing was being done, and if it was being done, it was being done very slowly. They put us up in a hotel, thank goodness, but I can safely say that sleeping in the same hotel room with children is one of my least favorite things to do. Although my children sleep splendidly, after weeks of inconsistent naps, long car rides, and vagabond living they were not exactly peachy keen on sleeping soundly. Samuel did superb once he crashed at around 10 pm (How do you help a 3 year old go to sleep in a hotel room, when you aren’t going to bed at 7pm too?) Russell, really did well for 2 nights but the 3rd night was crazy awesome, involving lots of crying, no sleep, vomit, and 2 am bath times. No more hotels for a while, please.

Two days behind schedule, we were able to officially move-in. We worked like mad to get our house un-packed and looking like home. One and a half days later we left and drove back to Columbus to attend Ryan’s graduation. Furniture arranged, pictures and clothing hung our new home sat waiting for us to return.