Just thinking...

Sitting here at 5 am looking out the window watching the sunrise and thinking about just how lucky I am.  I have a wonderful husband, three great kids, AND I get to be here in Belize.  We have been through so many hard times, times I didn't think we could ever make it through, yet here we are.  God has indeed blessed us.  Feeling a little emotional this morning I guess.  Miss you all!

Found an apartment...

We found a cute little two bedroom apartment for Rick and I, and kids of course!  We have Bridget settled into a two bedroom house.  We are painting the apartment and should be moving in soon.  That means internet, and REAL blog updates!  There is so much to share with you, so many interesting people and stories, I can't wait.  Made our first shopping trip to Belize City today, oh my!  Off to bed now, full day of painting tomorrow.  Will try and get pics with my phone.

Sorry no updates

Been busy trying to get Bridget into a house and find some where for us.  Give me a day or two to get situated and I will spend some time with details on the blog.

We have arrived!

A very tiring trip left everyone a little grumpy and out of sorts, but nothing eventful.  We are on Caye Caulker, staying at Ignacio's Beach Cabins.  Bridget and Rick are currently passed out, but I am too excited to sleep.  I haven't seen the kids in an hour.  Rick and I took the kids into the village to get some grocery supplies, and our friend Thunderstorm went with us.  He has been following us since we left Georgia.  It rained on us all the way into the village, where we actually found a much better selection of goods than I was anticipating, and rained on us on the way back.  We stopped at a local restaurant, dripping wet, but they didn't mind and we had a wonderful lunch. Well, Rick and I did anyway.  The kids are having a hard time adjusting to the different foods here so far.  They will learn to appreciate it more when they get really hungry.  Children are plentiful here, and ours have already found a group to run with.  Trey has climbed his first coconut tree (and claimed his coconut prize), and a very kind native cut his find for us with a machete.  The fresh coconuts are SO different from the ones you buy at the grocery store back home!  YUM!  The mosquitoes are a bit worse than I thought they would be, but I came stocked for them anyway.  Our little cabin is very rustic, but will serve our needs well.  We went out on the dock and saw lots of little fish (and a few big ones!)  Sierra has provided me with our first collection of shells.  So many things have happened already today, and it is only half over, I don't think I can write it all down in one sitting, but that's ok, it will give you so much more to read in the following days!  Speaking of following, I checked my little blogs stats and we are getting page hits from Russia, China, Australia, UK, Netherlands, and of course from the USA.  I kind of feel famous.  Ok, back to the island, I will check back with you tomorrow!

P.S.  Send out the bat signal to everyone who doesn't read the blog and let them know that we arrived safely will you pretty please?

On the bus to Belize

Last post before the phone goes dark.  We are finally on the bus to Belize and should arrive sometime in the morning.  All of us are tired and crabby, perhaps a nap on the bus will help.  I will try to find internet tomorrow to let you know we have arrived safely.

Waiting at bus station

Kids excited to be here, but not excited about the food.  Apparently they expected Taco Bell?!  I am so full I am afraid I will literally blow up, I have tried just about every taco vendor on this street, yum!

Haha, we are such a sight that locals are handing us their kids and taking pictures of US!  LOL

Arrived Cancun

Safely landed in Cancun, on bus from airport to bus terminal in downtown Cancun.  Nine hours till our bus leaves for Belize City.  Wish us luck!

This is it!

We are waiting for our flight to Cancun, which should start boarding in about 30 minutes or so.  I may be without communication from here on our until we get settled.  My cell phone number will be no good as of midnight tonight.  We are excited, and I can't wait to tell you how it all turns out.  Hope to update again in a few days, we'll see how it goes.  Love you all, will miss you all, can't wait for visitors to come see us in beautiful Belize!

Kids in pool

It is 7 am and kids are already in the pool.  Crazy kids!  Pics will follow when we get 2nd room.

Arrived in Ft. Lauderdale

At hotel, heading to breakfast.  Chaos unleashed...

4 AM

Well it is 4 am and we are at some gas station for yet another potty break.  Still trying to get to Ft. Lauderdale.  I feel like a jigsaw puzzle piece.

Potty Break #?

Lost count, but everyone has been fed and taken potty and we are back in the road again.  Wheeeee!

Potty Break 3

You have to love children with the bladders of squirrels!  Back on the road now.

Potty Break 2

Yes, the Potty break saga continues, back on the road again!

Potty Break

Potty break number 1 is now complete.  On the road again...

Departure is a GO!

As I slowly peck out this message on my phone's keyboard, we are under way.  Ft. Lauderdale here we come!  Oh nos!

Day 1

Day 1 may turn into Day 0 here real quick!  They are coming to take beds today, so we are either getting a motel room here or heading to Ft. Lauderdale tonight.  Oh my!  Will keep you updated as I can, things just got crazier than ever before!

Day 2

Day a rousing success!  Yard sale sold out after 1 day.  We have plenty left for Albany Rescue Mission to pick up on Monday, but nothing anyone would really be interested in buying.  I am dirty, sore, tired, and I am pretty sure my tail bone is broken.  Since I have broken it several times before (damn you gravity!) I know what it feels like.  But I am happy to be done with yard sale, now I just need to clean house.  Goodnight all, see you tomorrow!

Day 3

Well the house is pretty much cleared out and the luggage is packed.  Dear Lord do we have a lot of luggage!  Trying to clean as we go.  Everyone is getting antsy, ready to go but nervous.  I am hoping that we can fit everyone in the suburban without having to hang out windows and hold onto suitcases (which may not fit either!)
Ok, well it is almost midnight and I have to be up early for the yard sale.  I'll let you know how that turns out.  Talk to you tomorrow!  Goodnight.

Day 4

Day 4 has just ended, and oh my goodness does it finally look like we are moving!  The house is getting empty.  We got Bridget packed, it took some Space Bags and some creativity, but it fits.  We are still working on fitting all of our stuff in the allowed bags.  It is almost 12:30 and I am exhausted!  We unplugged the modem so all communications are currently going through my phone and posts will be short.  I cannot copy and paste the link from the blog to Facebook, so if you don't see the link, just check back, I will try to keep the blog updated.  See you tomorrow!

Day 5

I did not get much sleep last night, apparently it was Rick's turn to freak out.  When he reads this he will vehemently deny freaking out, but that is what happened anyway.  I was all set to go to sleep about 10:00 pm, but ended up staying up talking to him until after 2:00 am.  Today will be a super busy day, we are down to counting on one hand so we may have some late nights ahead.  I have to get ready for Todd and Sherry Spence from 3G's Auction to come back tomorrow, and I am also trying to get ready for the yard sale this weekend, plus trying to do the final packing for our trip.  I have so many things to do, I feel like I am just spinning in circles.  I have two cups of coffee in me now, so I think I am caffeinated enough to get started.  My desktop computer is going away today, so I will be down to the laptop.  I have Skype installed and I think we are going to go get the Magic Jacks today, which will greatly aid in communication once we arrive (and get internet) but I am not sure what day they are turning off our internet here at home.  I will be able to post via mobile until we leave, and will try to post as soon as I can once we arrive.  Everyone wants to be notified that we arrived safely, so I will probably post on here so that everyone can send out the bat signal to those who don't follow our blog.  Ok, off to start Day 5, wish us luck!

Day 6

This was an incredibly busy day.  Todd Spence from 3G's Auction spent the day over here loading things up and filled up two trailers and two van loads.  I know that sounds like a lot, but we still have so much more to go!  We had a funny experience with a VERY heavy refrigerator, well it was funny to me because I wasn't the one who had to move it three times!  The fridge that was upstairs in the apartment over the garage was set to get loaded, so Todd and his helper Kevin went upstairs with a dolly to bring it down.  I was working downstairs, and didn't see that they were trying to bring it down the inside staircase until it was too late.  Poor guys!  They got it to the bottom of that extremely steep stair case, and the fridge would fit through the doorway, but not the handles.  They couldn't get to the handles either, the way it was wedged in the doorway, so they had to take it BACK up those steep stairs.  You would think it wouldn't have been too bad on a dolly, but it kept slipping up on the dolly and they pretty much had to man handle it all the way up.  After they got it back up, they had to take it down the front stairs, which aren't as steep but are three times as long.  I don't think they were liking me very much after that.  Anyway, it was a hot and dirty day.  No auction people tomorrow, but they will be back on Thursday to get the storage cabinets and washer and dryer, so all the laundry has to be done tomorrow, and all the cabinets cleaned out.  Off to bed...  Goodnight all!

Day 7

One week to go, I am overwhelmed with emotion.  I am excited and ready to go but scared and can't sleep.  Had a very busy day today with Todd Spence from 3G's Auction.  We got a ton of the small stuff out of the garage, but not nearly enough!  LOL.  He will be here every day through Thursday hauling things off.  Tomorrow is the big stuff in the garage and starting on the small stuff in the house.  The yard sale is this weekend, so what ever he doesn't want to auction from the house will be moved to the garage as we go through it.  From now on out it will be constant motion and commotion.  TV is set to be turned off on Thursday, and since we won't have desks, all of the desktop computers will be going to work as well, which will drop us down to just the laptop.  I don't know what Bridget is going to do for four days with no TV and no computer.  Can anyone send me a double handful of Xanax?  Pretty please?!  We are going to try and leave as early next Monday as we can to give us a nice slow trip to Ft. Lauderdale.  Between Bridget and the three kids we will likely be stopping to potty about every 5 to 7 miles.  You think I am joking don't you?  I'm not.  So anyway, long slow trip to Ft. Lauderdale, then depending on what time we finally get there we may either get a motel room or just go ahead and go hang out at the airport until our flight Tuesday morning.  It is almost midnight now, so I am going to try going to bed (I don't even know WHY I am trying, but I am going to try none the less.)  My camera is supposed to be here tomorrow (AGAIN) but we'll see.  See you tomorrow night!

Day 8

Happy Easter everyone!  What a pleasant,beautiful day we had.  The weather was perfect, I could not have asked for better.  We took the day off from moving, and I got my nap today.  I stuffed myself with ham, deviled eggs and pasta salad.  With the gorgeous warm weather, the nap was just inevitable!  I am so looking forward to daily siestas.  A week from tomorrow we start off on our adventure, and I am ready.  I know there is a lot left to do, but I am starting to appreciate Rick saying, "If it doesn't get done, it just doesn't get done."  What's going to happen?  We are still going to leave, that's what!  Good night, sleep tight, I will see you tomorrow!

Day 9

Well, we are down to the single digit days!  Things are actually progressing pretty well, the snafu with the yard sale put us a bit under the gun, but I had Sierra make signs and tape them to the doors saying it is NEXT WEEKEND!  LOL, I slowed down a bit today and have been scanning photos.  We made a quick trip to the store to get some food and Easter things.  It is so weird, we have been buying in bulk for so long that trying to only buy for the next few days was really hard.  We kept telling each other that, yes, the buy one get one free IS a great deal, but we probably won't use it all before we leave, which makes it NOT a great deal.  Easter will be a very simple affair this year, we don't want to get them any more STUFF, which will just have to be gotten rid of, and we don't want to over-sugar them.  Since we still have one left who believes in the Easter bunny we can't just skip it, so we tried to get creative.  I think I am having a low stress day, I would love to say that the stress is gone, but that would be a lie.  The stress is just postponed.  Next weekend is the yard sale, followed by THE MOVE, and I know for certain that the stress will come back with a vengeance.  I am fighting fatigue right now and would really like a nap, but that is not going to be possible.  Looking forward to island time and a nice hammock!  See you tomorrow!

Day 10

Went by with no blog update, sorry guys!  Really, really busy day!

Day 11

What a nightmare of a day!  It started off well, I got some things exchanged, finished up some things for Ronnie, got some bags packed, it was going great.  About 6 pm a woman knocks on the door and said that she read in the paper that we were having a yard sale THIS WEEKEND and wanted to go through things.  This weekend???  NO, it was supposed to be NEXT WEEKEND!  The paper got the dates wrong!  We let her look around, I thought it would be 15-30 minutes, make $20, badda bing, badda boom.  She was here almost FIVE HOURS!!!  She pulled out a bunch of stuff that she wanted, but we hadn't had time to go through everything and decide what we wanted for anything, and Sherry Spence (our great auctioneer from 3G's Auction) hadn't had time to go through that stuff either.  I was freaking out, I didn't know what to do.  Anyway, about four hours in, I called Sherry in a panic.  She has calmed my nerves a bit.  I am going to tape off the driveway and put a sign up saying that the yard sale is next weekend and call the paper and have them run it next week.  Sherry is going to come Monday and help me out, and I will call the other lady that came by today after that and let her know about prices and what not.  I am tired, frustrated, and just ready to be done with all this.  I am going to go to bed now, and deal with Day 10 tomorrow.  Goodnight!

Day 12

Holy Moly did we get a lot done today!  Everything in the garage is now gone through and everything we are keeping or shipping has been removed, the yard sale can proceed!  The china got packed, all of the utilities were called and scheduled to be terminated, addresses changed, suburban taken care of, and probably another dozen or so things that I can't even remember right now.  Only sad news of the day, my new camera was supposed to be here today but it did not come.  Things are getting down to the nitty gritty, but progressing nicely.  There is no backing out now!  I am experiencing emotional meltdown, bouncing between terror and bliss, there seems to be no middle ground.  This is the end of Day 12, a week and a half to go, and my sanity is lost some where in the luggage I believe.  I hope to find it when I unpack on Caye Caulker.  If any of you out there find it, please send it to me?  I miss my poor sanity!  See you on Day 11, goodnight all!

Day 13

I am starting to get confused as to which day it is.  Two hours of sleep here, three there, none anywhere else...  I have to check my phone so it can tell me what day it is.  I didn't get much done today except getting the ad in the paper and chasing children around all day.  They aren't sleeping much either, and that makes them grumpy, which in turn makes ME grumpy, even Rick threatened to send them all off to military boarding school last night.  Oh, we did finalize plans to get us to Ft. Lauderdale, so that is a HUGE load off of my mind!  I am trying to go to bed now, perhaps sleep will visit for a while.  See you on Day 12!  Goodnight.

Day 14...

TWO WEEKS  TWO WEEKS  TWO WEEKS, OMG!!!  Just had to get that out.  I tried to go back to sleep after Trey woke me up this morning. Btw, to Tammy Fletcher, he was looking for his guitar shirt, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  LOL  But sleep eludes me, lists kept running through my head, so up I am (why do I sound like Yoda this morning?) and started I must be.  I will probably post again tonight, if I can still put two coherent words together that is.
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Ok, it is almost midnight.  I did get the kids' medical records today, picked up more packing supplies, scheduled Albany Rescue Mission to come pick up what ever is left on April 16, got the title on the car fixed and even managed a 30 minute nap.  I am going to get the ad in the paper for our yard sale, finish packing the boxes that need to be shipped, organize the things going to auction and scan photos tomorrow.  Every day is whizzing by, and I am not sure if I will be able to sleep again tonight, so if you are up around 4am EST, poke me, I might be lying awake in the dark!  Good night all, see you on Day 13...

4:00 am

It is 10 minutes to 4 in the morning, sleep where are you?

Day 15

Today was LAUNDRY DAY.  I finally finished going through all the kids laundry, washing, sorting, bagging or packing all of their clothes.  I got some of mine done as well, but that isn't a priority since my clothes are easy.  I have been busy all day, and am rather tired and cranky right now.  My poor children were sent to bed tonight, not with hugs and kisses and wishes for sweet dreams, but with a screaming, threatening, spanking shrew of a mother.  I feel rather bad, but if one of them pops their cute little heads out of their rooms, I am afraid that they will lose the aforementioned cute little head.  I don't know why I am so crabby today.  We leave two weeks from tomorrow and I am stressing a little I guess, but I am not normally a screaming harpie.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.  Two weeks, wow.  See you tomorrow.