Around 8:30 AM on Monday the moving trucks arrived! Our street usually has cars parked on both sides, so Jason and I were a bit concerned about the trucks maneuvering in the tight quarters. The spaces right in front of the house had been reserved, but there were still so many cars. However, these guys were pros and had no trouble.
The picture below shows how moving is done in Belgium...through the window! The staircases are tight and narrow and there are tight corners throughout the house. They brought the couches, desk, and all the other living room furniture through a window on the first floor as well!
This is a picture from the inside window on the second floor of the lift. 
Here's a shot of the main living area. All of the downstairs furniture came through the open windown in the back. Drew was so excited to see some familiar toys. 
After weeks of waiting, Jenna clamored to the piano as soon as it was unwrapped. She has been playing nonstop since it arrived. I found a tuner who can come to the house. Hopefully, we will find a teacher soon. Meanwhile, the highlight of Ethan's day was the mounds of paper that kept piling up from all the unpacking. He had a blast playing in them.
Can you even distinguish what room this is? What a mess in the kitchen! The boxes kept coming and coming and coming! I soon realized I think I packed a little heavy for this kitchen! Here is Drew "helping" me by taking out all of children's plates and cups. He has been taking advantage of the lack of baby locks on these kitchen cabinets and drawers. I plan to head to the baby store, similar to Babies R Us, and pick up some locks this weekend.
The children were so happy to see their toys, and honestly it has been a blessing for me! After three weeks of a small box of legos, a few action figures and coloring books there have been hours of getting reaquainted with their favorite toys and activities. By lunch time, the moving crew had put Jenna's bed together and her kids-sized craft table kept them occupied for a while!
Finally, bedtime on a very busy day. Jenna and Ethan are reading their Magic Treehouse Books in the third bedroom on the second floor that is designated as play/school room. All these boxes are filled with our books, toys, curriculum, craft and school supplies! I'd like to say I've made progress in this room, but sadly, four days later it looks about the same! We have three bookshelves and a cabinet in the room to organize all of these things, but we needed to go to the local Brico (kind of like Home Depot) to pick up the appropriate screws to secure the shelves to the wall. Our weekend project is to get this room up and running so the children and I can begin our school routine again on Monday. We are ALL in need of some structure to our day!
In the next week or two, I will post more pictures of the house once we are a bit more settled.
Honestly, it has been a exciting, grueling and exhausting four months since we were first approached about this opportunity. It is a wonderful feeling to know that we are coming to the tail end of this moving process. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, our bedtime will inch back to a more reasonable hour. We will carve out time to research the places we would like to visit and we will enjoy being a family diving into the European culture to soak in all that we can during this once in a lifetime experience.
4 comments:
what fun to spy a few familiar favorites in use. good luck unpacking! and hope you were able to find that screw for the bookshelves!
It's so exciting to read the adventures of the Belgian Blalock Family! Thank you, Sara! The Kessel-Lo park looks amazing. 'Cool swing! I admire you for searching/finding great places for Jenna, Ethan, and Drew to explore and energize.
Two comments here -- I thought the other one would "go" with the Kessel-Lo blog entry -- oh well :) 'So glad your shipment arrived... comforting in so many ways (and challenging, too, getting everything in its place!). Did you find a full-size refrigerator? In England we also had one of those dorm-sized refrigerators -- that was normal there. And since we were only staying a year, that's what we used, but just for TWO of us. 'Can't imagine using it for a family of five!!! :)
I just love seeing the way the moving was done through the windows!!! And the conveyor belt with lift -- they could use something like that here at the beach for moving families into all the houses on stilts.
Thanks for the wonderful post, Sara!!!
Thanks, Nancy and Reid. We do have a smaller sized fridge, but it has been okay so far. It does require much more frequent trips to the grocery, which can be a pain with the kids! We'll see how these first few months go and think about purchasing something to stick in the basement. Mostly, we could use more freezer space as it is easier to stock up on meat, etc when it is on sale. Or if I make a double batch of something to eat later on. Thanks also for the sweet postcard you sent us. Hope to see you in Belgium soon!
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