Saturday, July 12, 2008

Departure, Barfing, etc.


That's our to-do list, mostly done.

At this point we are homeless and unemployed and living in Amy's parent's house in West Virginia. They are now helping us out by letting us crash their place, and I do mean crash. We showed up with two carloads of stuff crammed into random bags along with two not-so-well rested kids. I really can't thank our families enough for all of the help they've given us; there's no way we could have pulled this off without them.

We were relieved to find that international passengers on Quantas are allowed two 70-pound bags, so we now own 5 "magnum" sized Cabela's duffel bags. We now need to figure out how much can actually be crammed into these beasts, then ship the remainder. I'm spending a lot of time talking to insurance companies: health insurance in NZ, health insurance in the US, disability insurance, homeowner's insurance, and car insurance. I know the blog takes its name from a Mallory quote, but I'm getting sick of thinking about all of the bad things that could happen to us.

On a brighter note, Quinn has more or less stopped barfing and his personality is really starting to shine. Amy and I are getting excited about the trip during the rare moment of quiet, and so far things seem to be going according to plan. I don't think I've ever had my life and possessions in such good order, and the weather is nice right now. Now, back to the to-do list.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great blog, glad the house lined up and the fam is helping out. Safe travels this week, we look forward to keeping up with you via the blog, and are happy you will be leaving far from cactuses for awhile.
:O)

Anonymous said...

Love the blog - great idea! I am so proud of you and excited for your adventures. Love, Anne

Unknown said...

Thank you for doing the blog. It feels like I'm being included in something exotic. Bring on the vicarious living! Bruce - you have interesting details and witty comments. I think you should turn this in to a book!
hugs, dev and family

Casey said...

Haha! I'm so glad Quinn stopped barfing just in time for the intercontinental flight. ;-) Seriously, though, I'm SOOO excited for this blog so we can keep updated on all your NZ adventures. I miss you guys already. Love, Casey

Anonymous said...

We are all terribly jealous and excited for you. Wish I'd had the rocks to have pulled it off when younger. Guess I'll have to settle for reading it about it. Thanks for that.

Give the "Mighty Quinn" a special hug from his Unc. I wanna see him throwing out at least 50' of line by the time I come to visit.

Love all

Anonymous said...

I noticed the last item on your list is taxes. For your sake, I hope that is for last year, and not this.

We can't wait to see pictures and movies from you guys (not that the tourist DVD we watched wasn't cool).

I sincerely hope that the next time I see Amelia, she has a wonderful Aussie accent.

Bruce said...

Great hearing from y'all. Conor, the "taxes" refer to a county car tax (and the toenail clippers are for the dog).

Uncle Felipe, I'll get to work on Quinn but I'm betting he'll still be in diapers when we return to the states!