To infinity and beyond!

We're going to Disneyland! Santa put tickets under the tree for the kids and kindly got Erik and I tickets too! The kids were pretty thrilled - but Caty most of all since she's been there before. Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be at Disneyland and Wednesday night we leave LAX for NZ.

I'm pretty excited, so excited that I have almost forgotten that our crappy movers couldn't fit our bed into the container. Our wonderful, amazing, so soft, less than 2 year old bed that I love so much! Of all the items to leave for last, why would they leave the single-most expensive (and largest) furniture item we own for last when they suspected it wouldn't all fit?! But I'm much less upset now. I will just have to find another wonderful bed when we get to NZ. Sigh...

Sitting at the dining room table at my in-laws' house after a fun filled Christmas morning right now, NZ seems a long way away.

Moving Day(s)

It finally arrived! Moving day. We were unprepared even after 4 months of waiting! The last minute details were getting done the night before and morning of the move instead of the day before. The kids could feel that we were excited and busy and the little ones got pretty clingy and agitated and Caty got very jittery and excitable. None of them could settle down, even with the incenteive of popcorn and a movie - which usually turns all three into zombie-like creatures, eating and staring at the screen.

So, after we got the last kid in bed at 11 pm on the night before the move, Erik and I packed our suitcases and dashed around the house looking for stuff we needed to bring on the plane. The pile of stuff that was going air-freight (to arrive in 3 weeks or so) was supposed to be ready when the movers got there but I was still washing dishes to pack when they arrived.

Both of the guys who came to pack us up were very nice: Cruz and Mauricio. But they had these funny looks on their faces when they came in the house. Apparently they were told it was a simple job that would take them a day to pack and then load up the next day. We were told it would be three guys packing for two days and then loading the shipping container on the third day. We worked it out with them and they said they would bring another guy the next day. They also are not packing things like the international mover people had said: separating out certain things for inspection at NZ customs. We have inquired with the head office but they seem to think it's not a big deal. Things that make you go hmmm.

But, at this point, I could seriously care less. We're on our way and if we never see any of our stuff again, I'll just have to deal with it later.

The kids are really excited now that things are in boxes around the house. Maggie thinks it's a whole new world of adventure and has been peeling off shipping labels and sticking them on different boxes. Ben keeps an eye on his "backpack", which is really a rolling suitcase with a Lego motif, and periodically needs it zipped shut with his things inside so he can be ready to go to " 'Zealand". Caty wants to not do her homework this week and also to go swimming at the hotel pool and hot tub. (Sounds not so fun to me since the air temp is 54F or 12C here now, but I'll take her anyway.)

More later, Maggie just woke up!

The visas arrived - finally!

On Sunday (Monday in NZ) we heard from our immigration consultant that our case officer at the NZ consulate in LA told her on Friday that he still hadn't received anything back from the NZ medical examiner and had no idea what the status was on our visas. This was disappointing news and we continued to make plans to move to Colorado while we waited for visas.

On Monday morning we received all five of our passports with visas in them via FedEx. 

Does anyone involved in the bureaucratic immigration mess have any idea what they are doing? I very much doubt it. 

They are good for entry anytime so we have the movers coming 19-21 December. We are sick of waiting around. That's Caty's last week of school so we'll stay in a hotel and wrap up loose ends (like sell the cars, clean the house, etc...) until her last day of school on 23 Dec. That day, we'll drive to Page and spend Christmas with Sue and Sherman, Erik's parents, and then back to Phoenix to regroup before leaving for LA. We'll spend two days at Disneyland and then fly out of LAX the night of the 28th, landing in NZ on 30 Dec. 

Erik's office will be closed through 9 Jan for the holidays so we'll use the first week to learn where things are, buy a car, hang out at the beach (it's Summer there!), and generally recover from jet lag. 

This week we're just tying up loose ends and cancelling utilities, Netflix, and stuff like that. I still need to finish Christmas shopping too! I'm thinking of getting Maggie rock climbing gear...

She's getting big. That is Ben's 3T shirt from last Winter. It's baggy but it looks cute on her. Pretty soon she'll be borrowing the car! And speaking of growing up: Today Caty killed the battery in the cordless phone talking on it with her friends. Now she's using my cell phone AND the land-line in my bedroom to talk to her peeps. (And she complains that she doesn't have any friends! ha!)

Scooby News

I thought I had already posted our Scooby news. But I guess I didn't. So here it is.

Scooby is living with Erik's Aunt and Uncle in Nevada now. They came to our rescue (and Scoob's) by adopting him.

Maggie misses playing in Scooby's bed, but I bet he doesn't. He used to put up with her really well but he was not thrilled that she thought his bed was her reading nook! :)

In order to get Scooby to Val and Glen, we all piled into the van a couple weeks ago and drove to Las Vegas to meet them. They live in Northern Nevada so Vegas was as close to half-way as you get. We handed him off to them and after some tears, spent a day in Vegas with the kids alternating throwing tantrums and making demands. But the next day was better and we got to spend some time at Hoover Dam and walked on the bridge. The kids were very proud to hear that Erik had helped with the work to "build" the dam. He worked on the foundation for the part of the bridge on the AZ side.

Not too shabby. But the Phoenix Art Museum has some that are a little better by Jamey Stillings.

Erik looks so handsome in his Movember beard and mustache. 

On the dam with mom.

Cate found the compass rose on the dam and we got her picture on it. Maybe she'll be a geographer like her mom. 

The little ones were sooo tired after swimming at the hotel and walking all over the dam and bridge. However, the indefatigable Cate wouldn't be caught dead taking a nap. :)

We hear that Scooby is doing well and enjoying the snow. We miss him terribly but we are so glad he's with Val and Glen. :)

Moving on...

It's cliche, but there's good news and bad news.

The good news: We have a date for moving out of the house. The short sale nearly fell through last week but the buyer coughed up a few thousand extra and today the bank accepted the offer and set a closing date: January 12th. We will have to be moved out by then.

The bad news: Still no word on the visas. Last we heard was about 2 1/2 weeks ago the NZ consulate in Los Angeles sent our paperwork to NZ to be reviewed for what they told us was between 3 and 8 weeks. REALLY? That's a bigger window than the cable guy gets away with. How do you plan around that kind of window? So, we may be perfectly timed and be able to just make it all work. But what are the odds of that?

So, the solution was presented to us by my wonderful parents. We'll be packing up and moving into Mom and Dad's house in Colorado this January. They're very graciously moving out. They're moving into a nearby furnished apartment. That is the nicest thing! We can't believe it, we are really blessed.

So we'll be moving to Colorado until we get things finalized for NZ. Who moves to such a cold, snowy place in January? We do! It's better than moving to Phoenix in July, which is what I did years ago. :)

In the mean time, here's an interesting tidbit of information about NZ wildlife:

This is a NORMAL bug in NZ. It's called the Giant Weta and is the heaviest insect in the world! (Don't mention this to Catherine or else we'll never get her on the plane!)

Offer on the house

Finally! We have an offer on the house we bought for $274k. The offer is for $142k. I'm feeling ambivalent about it. On the one hand, happy that there won't be anymore mad dashes to tidy up toys, laundry, dishes, etc so a Realtor can bring someone over. On the other hand, sad that we are totally losing our shirts on this stupid house because of the stupid market and the stupid economy. And part of me feels like I should feel one or the other of those more strongly but there is a certain level of indifference to the whole thing too. I don't really get attached to houses the way other people do. I don't feel the nostalgia for them that other people talk about.
The next step is to get our crappy mortgage company to accept the offer. They are crappy because although they were cheerful and helpful at first, they have managed to harass our Realtor for an offer (as if it's in his hands) while simultaneously denying they've ever heard of us. And this was the same bank employee on the very same day! She must have multiple personality disorder.... Also, she lost our paperwork twice and when Erik sent her her own email where she had confirmed receipt of the paperwork, she suddenly remembered all about us.
We have about another week and a half before we could hear from the NZ consulate about our visas - at the earliest. So, Erik's employer has asked that we schedule a date for the moving company to "pack and uplift" our household items. We've scheduled that for the Monday and Tuesday following Thanksgiving. We have to have our visas in place before Air New Zealand will let you book a one way flight so, as soon as we get those, we will book travel. But we're tentatively thinking we'll be flying out of LAX on December 2nd.
On a happier note, since the whole process has managed to take so long, I've booked a flight to Denver to visit my parents (without the kids) for a few days next week. And Ben will be starting preschool here in Phoenix three days a week until we leave. First we were waiting for him to get potty trained but then that happened, and then we thought we'd be leaving soon, but that got delayed so we're just going to go for it. He's so excited to go to "school". He starts Monday but has already been for a familiarization visit.

It's in the mail

Today's the day! We have our FBI background checks - not the original ones - but that's another story. And Erik got the last medical signatures on the health forms today. At this moment all that paperwork is in a FedEx envelope on its way to the New Zealand consulate in Los Angeles. We expect NZ to take about three weeks to get us our visas. Assuming we wrote legibly in all capital letters, didn't miss any check boxes, attachments, initials, signatures or get any dates backwards (they do day/month/year and it's crazy-making to try to remember that).

This is the stack of paperwork we completed and sent in.

We can't get a Yes or No answer out of our immigration adviser - just vague, unhelpful answers, in not so good English. She's Chinese so between her English with a NZ twist, and our American, we're not even sure she understands the questions we email. So, Erik called the consulate last week to ask a question about the health forms. He got the answer and then the helpful lady at the consulate (with excellent spoken NZ English) also told Erik that they had just changed the acceptable form of FBI background checks. They no longer need an official copy of FBI background checks. There is a third party company you can go through and for US$90 and a stamp you can get this coveted piece of documentation in THREE DAYS. Yep, three days. We've been waiting (and still are) since mid-August for the over-worked, under-staffed, crack team of elite FBI agents to send us this:

"A search of the fingerprints on the above individual has revealed no prior arrest."


I can't even tell you how disgusted I am about this situation. I would gladly have sent the FBI the 90 bucks (or more) for each of us in August and we'd be in NZ already. Not to mention the fact that our paid immigration adviser had no knowledge of this new development.

We're so excited to get going but even more excited for us to have an income again. Erik is still unemployed (for 4 months already) because his new company can't pay him until he has a NZ tax ID number. And that can't happen until we are actually in the country. So, no job, no income, just more waiting.

Things to do (in no particular order):

• Figure out the huge stack of papers the moving company sent us
• Find Scooby a home or find more than $10,000 to pay to move him 
• Sell Baby Bloomers business to the O'Briens
• Final Yard Sale
• Sell both vehicles
• Sell house
• Buy the biggest suitcases made
• Shake-off feeling of frustration and helplessness

Odds and Ends

Well, we're getting very close. The FBI background check that we've been waiting for should be here this week. I say should because it's been 8 weeks since our request was made and that was the original estimate. However, the NZ consulate in Los Angeles told us today that they have just authorized a third party company to do the FBI background checks and they can be obtained from this company in just a few days. AAARRRGGGHHH! I really wish they had approved this back in August. We would have been there already. C'est la vie...

We have downsized a great deal around the house and even have a big pile of stuff sitting in the carport ready for the next yard sale. Including the kitchen sink. Quite literally. Our last kitchen sink is out there. Don't know why we kept that...?

Meanwhile, life goes on around the house. I met with Caty's teacher for a very nice parent-teacher conference and heard lots of great things about how she's doing. I'm very happy that changing schools this Fall has worked out so well for her. And she has a great teacher, who really cares about Caty. Last week was Fall Break and we spent time with Caty around the house and outdoors. It's so nice to have cool weather again. It's in the high 90's during the afternoons now.

Two weeks ago Erik's mom, Sue, and her sister Val (aka Tia to the kids), came for a visit. We had lots of fun and they took Caty to the Aquarium for some special time together since she was in school that week. This week Erik's dad, Jim, is visiting and playing in a bridge tournament too. We've been having a great visit with him and Caty said she likes his stories. We even managed to take a couple group photos of the visits.

Last Saturday I took the two little ones to the downtown Phoenix Public Market to pick up some veggies and fresh bread. It was nice to get outdoors and I even bumped into one of my Baby Bloomers customers who was also there shopping with her son.

That same day, I also started scrubbing out the few outdoor items of mine that we'll be taking. It was an odd thing do, sitting down in the driveway with a bucket of Lysol and a scrub brush to clean a garden planters. Never in my life have I scrubbed out a planter with detergent. And I really put my back into it. Those planters have never been so clean. When you transport stuff to NZ, they don't allow any dirt, mold, animal hair, fungus, insects, or other icky things to come in with it. The purpose is to keep non-native nasties out of NZ. So we are supposed to scrub and sterilize things like planters, golf clubs, boots, golf shoes, shovels - basically anything that has come into contact with dirt here - with germ- and bacteria-killing detergent.

We still have to scrub and oil the patio furniture and clean the few gardening things we will be bringing but we're making headway there. Erik washed and Lysol'ed the two tents we're taking. They are big campers/hikers in NZ and we're looking forward to getting out and doing some too. Although we are more the car-camper types with little ones. No hiking-in with our stuff. Not 'til Maggie can carry her own weight!

Speaking of carrying Maggie... I picked up a great Kelty Kids baby backpack with metal frame etc... at our store, Baby Bloomers, for toting Maggie around the beach and wilderness in NZ. We had a simple one but since she's getting bigger, we upgraded. Ben is very rugged and can already keep up on our 1.3 mile neighborhood walks in the evening. But it will be a while before Maggie is in his league. :)

Also, Erik painted my hutch. I'm so glad to be taking it with us. My mom bought it somewhere (flea market?) in Tennessee when I was a little girl (Kindergarten?). I remember her painting it and shoo'ing us away from the wet paint. Erik updated it for me by painting it chocolate brown and a brown-black accent color. It looks really nice now. I need to get a photo of it.

Honestly, as itchy as I am to get going and move, if it happened much faster, I'm not sure how we would do it. I'm not working at the store any more and I'm busy every day with something. Although I did take a couple hours out and Maggie had a photo shoot with Marcia at the Desert Botanical Gardens (where Erik and I got married nearly 11 years ago).

There's bad news on the Scooby front. Our neighbors were going to take him for us but after some play dates with their dogs, one of their dogs is not liking Scooby. So we're back to the drawing board on what to do with him. Anybody want a super-sweet, completely healthy, 6 year-old dog? I can't stand the thought of taking him to the pound and not knowing if he winds up as a guard dog chained in someone's dusty, hot yard for the rest of his days.

Yard Sale Day

 What a day! It started at 4:30am and went really quickly. We sold a lot of stuff and got to have some long chats with neighbors and friends. It was cool today, in the low 90's, and cloudy so it didn't seem as hot

There was a moment when Ben's ride-on horse, Peanut, went home with some strangers on top of their car that Ben was very sad "his" horsey was going away. It just plain broke my heart. Things like this make the move so painful for me. I can't explain what's going on in a way that he'll understand. He just thinks I gave away Peanut. He did get to kiss his horse one last time and wave to it but I swear I'm getting him another one as soon as we find a house in NZ. Later he was smiles and energy but in that moment, I had a really hard time keeping it together.

Yard sale toward the end of the day

Ben's sweet grin

Cate made $12 on Kool Aid and cookie sales

Catherine had fun selling Kool Aid at fifty cents a glass and cookies for twenty five cents each. She earned $12 for her work even though she took a time out to go with Ben to Wendy Sue's for a playdate with Nathaniel. Ben and Nathaniel are best buddies and neighbors. Another reason to stay here. :(

Maggie crawled, and walked, all over the driveway and yard checking out all the cool stuff and enjoying the new setting with all the action.

I'm glad the day is over. Some of it was painful and some was a relief to see gone, but the good part is that it's over. One more task completed.

Speaking of tasks, you should see the list of things we have to do. I mean, even though we still have a month or 6 weeks left here, we have work to do every day. Tomorrow we are selling the swing set and I need to get the paperwork together for the visa that "proves" Erik and I are really married. Seriously?? Right, we secretly conspired to get married nearly 11 years ago on the off chance Erik would get a job in NZ and we could live there in our sham of a marriage with our three children. At some point, isn't this just paperwork for it's own sake? But we WILL get the forms (marriage certificate, mortgage, car titles, joint bank accounts, etc...) and send them to Big Brother down under.

Before I go, I have to thank some special people for helping us with our yard sale today. A big thanks to Kristen for showing up at 6 am with doughnuts and helping drag everything out to the lawn and driveway and then holding Maggie and selling stuff all morning. Also thanks to Darnell, and Kay and Cheryl for loaning us tables to hold our things. It would have been a mess without those tables! And a thank you to Steven for holding Maggie a lot, selling stuff, posting to Craig's List for us, and helping with clean up. And last but not least, thanks to Wendy Sue for taking Ben and Cate to her house for a break. It was much appreciated! We have such great friends! :)

Blog Posting Fixed

It seems that you could only post a comment to our blog if you had a Gmail email account. I have rummaged through the settings for the blog and fixed it. I think. Please email me if you still can't post. :) Thanks to Dad and Lindsay for pointing it out.
Well, today I cleaned out the laundry room and revisited the kitchen to get rid of a few more things. We've started stacking boxes of things for the yard sale in the carport and we're a bit worried that for the next week our house will appear white-trashy. We also went through the playroom again and the living room. Not that there's much left in the living room. I actually have several empty shelves in the hall closet! Amazing!
Then after having such a good day, I got home from the grocery and Erik handed Maggie to me and right after that, she threw up all over both of us. The beginning of several more like that though the evening. Why is it ALWAYS me who is holding her when she does that?
So progress is halted for now and we're circling the wagons around little Maggie trying to keep her hydrated.

Driving and other stuff

I knew I had one, I just didn't know where it was. While cleaning out boxes of "stuff" Erik brought in from the shed, I found my English driving licence today. (And yes, they spell it with two C's.) It was in with my A Level results and college acceptance letters. (I didn't keep the rejections.) Appropriate since that was the era of the licence's last use.

I actually learned to drive on the streets of Harrogate on the "wrong" side of the road. In fact, I still look Right, Left, Right when crossing the street. Just can't break that habit. Now it will come in handy. Since my British licence won't expire until 2040, I'm hoping it will save me from a driving test when we get to NZ.

On a more interesting note, we have heard from the (lackadaisical) immigration consultants that we may be able to get a visa approved without the FBI records check (which is a huge hold up right now since they are taking 2-3 months (!!) to get records out and we submitted about 3 weeks ago. ~sigh~ ) So, if SKM gives the thumbs-up (because it will cost them more in the long run) we will be leaving in about FIVE weeks! Sweet!

We have completed all the tests: urinalysis, blood tests, chest x-rays, and have all the kids paperwork complete. We are waiting on three pages each for Erik and I to be filled out after our GP gets the results of all the tests. Crossing my fingers that I didn't pick up some horrible disease without knowing it. Just having all that done, makes you a bit of a hypochondriac. Our GP expects the results Thurs or Friday. Then she can finish our paperwork and we can - maybe - submit for a shorter term visa and get out of Dodge sooner. The wait is driving me crazy. And unemployment isn't all that fun for Erik, or the rest of us.

Friday is Scooby's turn. He goes to the vet for an evaluation and probably will need his teeth cleaned in addition to the shots and blood tests he will need to be allowed in the country. At least they don't quarantine people. Scooby will have to spend 10 days (minimum) at the quarantine kennel in NZ before we can have him back. On the other hand, he gets a doggie valium for the flight and will sleep in a humongous crate most of the way there. He will probably be more comfortable than the 5 humans in his family on that flight. :)

Now that the medical stuff is nearly complete, there is more urgency to getting other things done. So, I made my way through three boxes of "stuff" today and kept only three file folders worth - including the UK driving licence. Why, oh why didn't I do this years ago? But some things are easier to get rid of than others.

What to do with the present Santa left in the back yard last year? We have an amazing wooden swing-set, tree house with rock wall, sand box, and monkey bars on the other side from the three swings (one for each kid). Santa paid a lot for that thing and then his elves left the kit for Erik to put together and that was some real work. So, we could take it with us but it will take up precious room in the 20' long container that we have to get everything into. And it will have to be disinfected by Lysol or Pinesol or something like that to kill microbes and mold and spiders, etc. If the MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) doesn't like the look of it they could hold the entire shipment of our belongings in quarantine or else take the swing set away. So, is it worth it? And will we even have a yard big enough to set it up in? Decisions!

Slow going...

Despite what our Realtor told us, someone has already come to see the house. This was good and bad all at the same time. Selling it would be good but selling it now would be bad. We have a couple months to go - maybe even three! before we will be able move to NZ.

Erik finally spoke to the, apparently overworked, woman at the immigration consulting company. He had to call her as she did not reply to emails. Anyway, she said the FBI has indeed been taking 8 weeks to get criminal records checks done. And that after we submit the NZ visa application, NZ should be able to approve us in 2-3 weeks. It is SO frustrating to be at the mercy of the Federal Government. I pray they don't have a budget crisis and shut down operations.

The Feds did do something for us though. We got my passport today. So, that's done. We have 5 passports ready to send to the NZ government for visas.

Meanwhile, we have been paring down our possessions. Lucky for us, we own a baby and kids consignment store! I've been taking in bags and bags of toys the kids never play with and baby equipment Maggie is growing out of. Also, I've been cleaning out the kitchen. Every appliance that plugs in has to go -- eventually. For now I'm taking the nicer stuff to a kitchen consignment store in town and making boxes of stuff for the huge yard sale we're going to have.

Erik has sold his entire Star Wars collection - more or less (several giant space ships to go and it seems the Darth Vader cookie jar has to stay). We have also taken all our DVD's and vinyl records (remember those things?) to a second hand record store. Next is the turntable and stereo equipment from the bedroom. He also scored several hundred dollars (yes, I wrote hundred) for his enormous Lego collection (which was mostly off limits to the kids) that he only just recently acquired.

Both of us have found it a relief to get rid of things and also a bit wrenching at times. At first glance around the kitchen I didn't know how I would live without things and I'm sure that selling the Star Wars collection was really hard for Erik to do.

Erik has also gotten rid of some metal items. Namely his braces! They came off this morning and what an amazing smile he has now! I was so used to seeing the braces, it was a shock to see teeth again. Such a handsome guy and even more now! :)

Next:

• Trips to the doctor for our physicals, x-rays, and blood work
• Wait for FBI background check

For Sale - one home, well-loved

Well, the sign went up today while we were out. Now we're actually in the odd position of hoping that the damn thing doesn't sell. At least not until after we're off to NZ.

Also, we finally heard from the "visa people" who turn out to be a consulting company in NZ that assists people with obtaining visas to NZ. I had been under the impression that the "visa people" as we had come to call them, were a couple of glorified secretaries who had been delegated to help us with the process. Happily, it turns out otherwise. They sent us a questionnaire and asked for some documents. We've already started getting those documents together - see earlier post - so we are happy to be ahead of them and be on the right track.

First Entry

Erik and I are setting up this blog so we can keep friends and family informed of our progress toward our move to NZ.

To date, Erik has been offered and accepted a position at SKM in Christchurch, NZ. He's going to be working on the Christchurch Rebuild project.

We have applied for passports, renewals for Erik and I, new ones for the kids.

We have also started the visa application work. This involves several things: FBI background checks and fingerprint cards for Erik and I, physicals for the kids (and a 30 page document detailing those physicals for EACH child), and physicals for Erik and I which include blood work and chest x-rays - amazing but true.

So far, the kids' physicals are done and we have had our fingerprints taken and sent for our FBI records. The FBI's web site says this part could take as long as 8 weeks! But it also is the only thing about the process that is free. I guess you get what you pay for. Next week Erik and I get our physicals done. Once all this is complete, we can send in the paperwork requesting residential visas to live and work permanently in New Zealand.

All I can say is that this place must truly be Paradise, the way they guard it.