Moving Day(s)

We kids (stupidly?) suggested in February that Bryan's folks should consider downsizing. Seems they were ready to hear that because they took the idea and ran with it. We have spent the past months packing, cleaning, sorting, packing, tossing, packing, and - at last - moving. Here are a few photos to document this massive change.

 Sometimes the kids were a big help with the moving.

Sometimes they weren't.

 I had the role of, well, Chief Bully. I tried to help Dave and Vicki part with some of their many possessions. I was not always gentle. In the end, I won sometimes and they won sometimes (can't we all be winners?), but we did a lot of work! Here they were tackling one of the store rooms and Dave had discovered the boxes of things from his classroom - put there 12 years prior. My favorite throw-out was a bottle of ibuprofen that he wanted to keep because surely it was still good. It had expired in 1996.

 Over Father's Day weekend, the family came en masse to finish the job and it was an all-hands-on-deck operation. Determined to leave the place in pristine condition, we had yard work to do, too! It was so much work. The garage at the new place was completely full of things, the dump and the donation station were frequent stops and we were all so tired. As such...

The in-laws (outlaws in this case!) were given a green light to open a bottle of wine Vicki had laying around. With no corkscrew in the house, it seemed almost cruel mockery! Nevertheless, we persisted (and sent a child to a neighbor to get the necessary tool!).

Saturday evening we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows and enjoyed reminiscing around the firepit once more.

There was a lot of laughter!

We went to church on Sunday and posed for a full family photo before resuming the work.

 A final game of catch before taking down the cages.

 Post church lunching on the porch.

Sunday evening there was a final kickball game on the lawn before everyone left. Dave and Vicki spent one final night in their home of 35 years.

 Monday came by and worked after school. Then on Tuesday, Bryan didn't go to work, but he did work! It was a day of finishing touches. Dave finished mowing the property.

 Moved the water once more

 and even cleaned the upper reaches of the garage. That place has NEVER been so clean.

Bryan had a couple friends come help take down the cages

and they drove them to our house along the canal bank!

And that was it for the house on C.4. While we reminisced around the fire, the memories people shared certainly involved their home, but more importantly they involved people. Those people will be at the new place, too, and we are excited to begin the next chapter of the Johnson family's story.