Hello from Seattle!
Today was a day filled with every emotion in the book and I’m so glad that we’re finally here and settled in the PNW.
Let me tell you, moving across the country (well, halfway across the country, if you want to be technical) with a toddler is no joke.
We woke up at 4:50am, because that’s when Clara decided to wake up. Let me tell you, this time zone change is going to be quite problematic, because if she decides to wake up at the ‘same’ time here, we’ll be up at 3am for the day. YIKES. Anyway, we had to be up that early today anyway because Tim’s parents picked us up for the airport at 5:30am.
We packed 7 pieces of luggage (yeah, it was excessive) and Ozzie and his crate and Clara and her carseat and me and Tim (plus Tim’s parents) all in a car to head to the airport… and we barely all fit.
The first traumatic experience was dropping Ozzie off at the cargo building. I guess in Chicago (at least for United Airlines), pets need to be dropped off in an entirely separate building, 2 hours before the flight. Poor Oz had never been crate trained until we found out we were moving (2 weeks ago) and bought a crate to help him adjust before the flight. Let’s just say he didn’t love the experience and we felt awful leaving him with strangers in his tiny crate, to be put in the belly of a plane.
Also, remember how I said not to read pregnancy message boards online? Also don’t read message board posts about airlines and dogs. Just trust me on this one.
We dropped Oz off exactly 2 hours before our departure time and went to the departure terminal, checked our luggage at the curb, said our (heartbreaking) goodbyes, and headed inside the airport. We had Clara’s carseat with us (she got her own seat on the flight this time!) and we put it on one of these wheelie things to get it/her through the airport. It was great.
Even though United gave up our original seats (booooo), because we have an infant and they don’t want to subject another passenger to that kind of torture, the desk attendant worked her magic to get us seats together – phew!
Getting on the plane was an entire hassle in itself. I had Clara in one arm, a diaper bag in another arm, a garment bag in another arm that I didn’t know I had… seriously, I don’t know how I was carrying all of this stuff. Suffice it to say that I pissed off half the plane because passengers were getting whacked by one of my bags or being kicked by a gleeful Clara who wanted to swing her legs at everyone she passed. Tim was ahead of us, leading the way down the aisle with the carseat held over his head.
(Sometimes I can’t believe how easy we traveled before Clara came along. My former self looks at my current self and goes, really, Lisa? This is your life now?!)
If you can believe it (I still can’t), Clara was perfect on the 4.5 hour flight. She slept for 2 hours, stared at the TV screen for a few hours (we didn’t pay for channels so she was just watching the United Airlines logo on the screen and was still impressed), and played happily for the rest of the time. Yeah, I still can’t believe it.
We arrived in Seattle, grabbed a huge minivan for our stuff, picked up Oz (who didn’t seem traumatized but was very happy to see us), and now we’re in our temporary housing in Seattle!
I still can’t believe we’re actually here, which I’ll write about later in a gushy post when my brain isn’t so tired.
OH, but a few random coincidences happened today, too:
- An old coworker was on my flight so I was able to talk to him.
- A woman came up to me in the Seattle airport and said I looked familiar and asked if we went to high school together… we did! She was on our flight, too.
- An old roommate was in town so we were able to grab dinner together.
- Tim’s buddy was working near our temp housing so he stopped by to say hi.
Suffice it to say, it was great to see so many unexpected familiar faces in a time of so much uncertainty and emotions! I feel like it’s definitely God’s way of looking out for us and ensuring we feel taken care of, which is certainly a big answered prayer.
So that’s how our move went today. I can’t actually believe it even happened.
Now I’m off to sleep in case Clara wakes up in 5 hours. Wish us luck with helping her to adjust to this new time zone…! (Advice welcomed!)
I’m glad your move went relatively smoothly! Is your stuff following later??? So, now we know, you just need to download that United logo and pop it up on the TV any time you need Clara to be calm for a little while 😉
Our stuff is on the way… somewhere… hahaha! They’re thinking it will get here in another week but who knows?! It will be moved to a storage unit until we move into a ‘permanent’ rental.
Unfortunately, I don’t let Clara have ‘screen time’ just yet, so she’s going to be deprived from the United logo until she flies again… haha! On airplanes I’m willing to do ANYTHING to get her to sit still, so TV time is definitely encouraged on flights! 😉
Ahh! Wow! Congrats on surviving such an ordeal, and then having the energy to blog about it haha. If I were you, I’d be curled up in a ball of a zillion emotions on the floor of my temporary housing! I’m so excited to follow along with you on this transition. Although I did forget that the flight out to Seattle took so long…. Sigh. All of my recent flights have been to or from DC (or Baltimore, but whatever. Same difference.), and those are quick little things, which I’m all about, since I hate flying. But now I’m prepared for my flight out there NEXT WEEK!! I’ll be visiting my grandparents next Wednesday to Saturday, and I’m so so so excited to get back out to my favorite part of the country. Make sure you order some good weather for me 😉
Hahahaha I’m definitely curled up in a ball but I have my laptop on my lap so I just need to write to get it all out! The flight to Seattle is definitely long, but worth it! It’s been beautiful here lately 🙂 I’ll definitely put in a request for good weather for you! <3
Can’t even believe Clara was such a perfect angel on the flight! Seriously, does that ever happen?!
I mean, to be fair, I have fairly low expectations for her behavior so maybe she wasn’t a PERFECT angel, but the lady sitting in front of her said she did great so I’ll take it!
Welcome to the PNW! I hope you settle in well!
THANKS!! So far, so good, but tomorrow we start looking at houses which could be interesting… Wish us luck!
I’m so behind on your blog but SO excited for your new adventure! 🙂
THANKS ERIN!!!
Oh wow what an eventful day! I’m so glad everything went so smoothly. You’re all still in my prayers during this transition.
‘Eventful’ is an understatement! 😉 So overwhelming but at the same time it was really smooth. Thank you SO much for the continued prayers. I can seriously feel God’s peace surrounding us in this time.
YAY! Glad you (and poor Oz! lol) made it there safe!
THANK YOU!!! I’m so happy to have all of the planning and anticipating done.
Woo!!! Welcome to Seattle! The time zone thing is a nightmare, we traveled to Europe with 2 10 month olds and it was the worst. I’m afraid the only thing that really helps is time 🙁
Thank you, thank you! Do you live here as well? I can’t imagine traveling to Europe… these 2 hours are brutal enough! Hopefully it won’t take too much time for her little body to adjust, because today she woke up at 4am and it was kind of a brutal day!
Glad that you guys made it safely and were able to see familiar faces! Good luck settling in and have fun exploring your new city! Can’t wait to follow along on this new venture!
It’s been such good weather lately but I think that’s all coming to an end tomorrow… We went house searching today and it was a bust so I’m praying that tomorrow we find the place of our dreams… or at least something acceptable!