First of all I just have to point out what may be the highlight of this move. When going through some boxes over the garage I found Peeta! The girls were very excited and Lise claimed him for her room.
Those last few days of living partially packed are a killer. The girls were great to help out with loading up the U-haul and whatnot, which was much appreciated.
With COVID there had been labor shortages and truck shortages and we had been hearing moving nightmares galore. Luckily we had an amazing driver, Vladimir, who was like a one-man moving company. He showed up by himself and pretty much packed our entire house in two days. A couple other guys showed up to pack things into the truck and that was it.
On that last morning, the girls' friends showed up to say goodbye. They were just goofing around and chilling in the driveway while Chris and I were cleaning the house inside. It was bittersweet. Nobody wanted the fun to end.
At some point, you just got to rip off the band-aid though, ya know? I was driving ahead with the girls to get to Tampa that night while Chris stayed behind to make sure the truck got loaded and finished cleaning the house. We had to split up because we were attempting a door-to-door move, which meant that I needed to arrive and figure out where all the furniture was going to go and be ready to receive our household goods off the truck bright and early the next morning while Chris was driving down from Niceville. We had attempted a door-to-door move before, with no success, so we were prepared to camp in the house for a month if we had to, but we really, really didn't want our stuff put in storage for a month if we could avoid it. Luckily, it all worked out and we got our stuff the very next day!
So, the first impression I've got to say about the houses on MacDill is STAIRS. Since we are literally only 4 feet above sea level, all the houses are on stilts and you park your cars under your house. The guys who showed up to unload our stuff are troopers. I don't even know how many stairs they climbed that day unloading our truck - and in the humidity too! They were one guy short as well and so Vlad was right there with them helping unload. With all the things that could have gone wrong with this move - and had gone wrong for so many others - we were so extremely blessed. This was one of the smoothest moves we have ever done. We needed it too, as Chris had one week to help unpack before he had to begin his next job . . .
Once all the boxes came in, the girls wasted no time peeling stickers off of everything. That has been a running tradition in our home. Each sticker is worth $0.10. Different colored stickers from other moves are worth $0.20. And then the real work begins. We spent a good full week hitting it hard, and then we were done! I can't stand the cluttered stage of unmoving, so it felt great to get that behind us so quickly.
Would you like a tour of our new house? Here is the front door with the new patio furniture I bought. Maybe once it's not so humid I'll come out and sit on it . . .
When you come in the front door you have a nice-sized entry with our family room off to the left, the kid's lounge off to the right, a hallway with a 1/2 bath and then the dining room, or you can head up the stairs.
Here's a better shot of the living room.
The kid's lounge.
Another angle of the kids' lounge. If you keep going you'll enter our kitchen/family computer area.
This computer area is supposed to be a nook, but we wanted to use it as more of a family den space. It flows into the kitchen, which has a nice-sized island.
Off of the kitchen, the dining room is framed by a bunch of load-bearing pillars. This limits the space of the room, but the ceiling goes up two stories, so it feels very spacious.
Here is the 1/2 bath in the hallway that also leads back to the dining room.
Behind the living room and off of the dining room are the laundry room and utility room. Behind that is what is supposed to be a den. We are using it as a storage room for Christmas decor, the gun safe, the extra freezer, etc.
There is a backdoor off of the kitchen that leads onto a nice screened-in porch. I also got some new furniture for out here and once again, can't wait to use it once it cools down a bit.
Upstairs we have four bedrooms and two baths. You are only going to see the master stuff because I didn't get to take a picture of the girls' rooms before they were trashed.
One thing I love about this house is the views. Here are a couple of beauties of the sun coming up from our bedroom window.
It rains a lot here as well, so we get to see lots of rainbows!
Off the back deck, we look out onto a green space and pond. The sunsets have been amazing as well. Here is just a sampling of what we've seen - no filters!
I should mention one other tender mercy that happened during this time. We closed on our Niceville home the Monday after we moved in. Selling that house was a nail-biting experience, especially when a leak and some termite damage were found in the roof! Luckily we were able to renegotiate a bit and it all came together. Moving is such a stressful endeavor, but so many things just came together, allowing us to tie up all our loose ends and settle quickly into our new house. So, so grateful for all those little miracles along the way.
Welcome to your new home, O'Gwin family!
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