First Week in Colorado

Friends! The truck arrived Monday morning. Mayflower gave us a window of May 5th to May 8th. But I told the driver as he was heading off that sooner was better — and score! he was able to arrive a day early on May 4th. We tried to be as generous as we could with a tip*. : )

Our house is now full of boxes and I am going through each one. I keep my utility knife handy for box opening (my knife doesn't look like the one above, but I wish it did. Isn't that photo pretty?) There is more purging of stuff as I go and I have an urge to abandon all my material goods and live the life of a monk.

The number one thing about living in Colorado? The Sabeys. We love living near our cousins! What a treat. They have taken fabulous care of us — providing a place to land until our truck arrived, keeping us fed and entertained, helping with the toddlers so we can work and making sure we have good driving directions.

The move has officially happened and now we're busy getting settled. Here's a recap of our first week:

-Thursday the plane landed and we hung out with our cousins. We visited the closest recreation center and got a rec center id card.
-Friday we met the principal at our new school. Had a tour. Met our new teachers. We also picked up keys to our new house.
-Friday night we went to a grownups only fancy church party. I hadn't packed appropriately, so Friday afternoon I did a little shopping and found a fab little black jacket that I've already worn three times.
-Saturday I attended a womens conference that my sister-in-law Lisa organized.
-Saturday evening we went swimming at another Rec Center.
-Saturday night we went car shopping.
-Sunday we met our new congregation and explored our new house. The kids picked their bedrooms.
-Monday morning the moving truck arrived and the boxes were unloaded.
-Monday afternoon we picked up our new car and registered the kids for school at the district office. We also decided on an internet provider — but we have to wait until Friday evening to get hooked up. (I am practically dying without the internet in my home. We keep hanging out at the Sabey's so we can borrow their wifi.)
-Tuesday the kids attended their first day of school. They loved it.
-Tuesday night was Scouts for Ralph and Activity Days for Maude.
-Tuesday night highlight: I organized the garage and finished unpacking the kitchen.
-Wednesday is today. My goal: get library cards and find our new favorite burger joint.

Is that list almost totally practical and boring, or what? I confess, I look forward to the exploring part of the settling in — we can't wait to get to know our new city!

*Tip on tips: we were told the tip should be 5% of the cost of the move, split between the packers and the unpackers, with a larger portion going to the packers. On both ends of the move, we gave the tip to the leader and he was responsible for making sure his team got their share.