January 2012 Updates: Trip with Aunt Debbie to the Sydney Aquarium Also: The Packing Saga Ends – And the Big Move Arrives!

Our Aunt Debbie generously suggested to spend a day with the girls at the aquarium so I could finish the last of the boxes. So on a very wet day we left the brave trio to battle the torrents outside and the sharks indoors.

The big attraction there were the new penguins. Hahgoot had her face painted as a penguin, but you need a lot of imagination to see it... For Alma it was her first exciting trip to an aquarium.

There were nice LEGO sculptures, lots of fish and reptiles, and hundreds of people, due to the sudden wild weather.

Debbie did a great job with my camera, documenting their fun day together. Hahgoot always likes to “Find Nemo”...

At last the rain stopped and they spent time outside at the new playground at Darling Harbour, that has a lot of water play features.

Moshe came for his last gardening job, and Alma helped him tidy up the frangipani flowers

Moshe and Alison came again another weekend to help pack up the kitchen

Alma noticed that I was packing and started helping by taking books and DVDs off the shelves and depositing them in boxes, without me asking her to do so. Hahgoot saw her working and decided to help too. She also got to go up the ladder to get philosophy books. Together we packed 12 boxes!

Alma also helped to pack the girls’ clothes in large bags according to age. Barak “woke up” at last two days before the move and packed up his computer accessories.

Hahgoot helped make signs for the boxes of toys, so it will be easier to sort and organize them. The girls helped most by keeping out of my way and keeping busy with drawing, games and food while I packed in every free moment.

The playing area was getting smaller every day... But the girls were resourceful and kept arguments and fights to the minimum.

Top: Alma tried to pack herself in Misty’s cage... Bottom right: it was sad to see Misty resting alone on the boxes without Chat-chat...

We had a family trip to Emu Plains to the final inspection day (to see the property is in mint condition before the contracts change lawyers’ hands on settlement day). Here you can see the Blue Mountains, which are the backdrop of the suburb. Middle: the Nepean river, which is very popular with rowers. Our house is somewhere in between these two landmarks.

Finally, Settlement Day arrived and we could now say we are proud owners of a house! (well, technically the bank owns most of it currently...) We got this impressive pack of goodies from the real estate agent after signing, and a bottle of wine from Fred, the loan financial advisor.

That’s it, the whole house is packed and ready to go (photos taken at 2 am, the night before the big move)

The girls were woken up on the day of the move by our lovely neighbours Lily, Hayden and Culloum. They spent the whole day at Charlotte Walsh’s house. The first truck we ordered arrived at 9:30 am, but the other one arrived only at 12:30, which meant I did a lot of work trying to help the removalists load. Barak spent most of the time reading in the car, but eventually I convinced him to come out and help with things like detaching the bookcases. Poor Misty was in the cage from 9 am to 7 pm... Not fun at all.

Top left: the girls’ wardrobe, a second before it toppled over and didn’t survive the journey. Right: We had a lot of problems getting things up the stairs. The removalists folded our Queen mattress in half, and it landed OK –it was such a stressful day!!!

When we arrived at the house in Emu Plains to start unloading the trucks we discovered the kitchen floor was covered by shattered glass (top left). The ceiling lamp’s cover fell and broke. Well, this means 7 years of good luck... The good luck already started when one large bookcase fit exactly in a tight spot, the fridge fit exactly (though the cupboards on top can’t be opened) and we got nearly everything in to where I planned them to be. Poor Misty was so unhappy all day...

The piles of boxes were EVERYWHERE in neat stacks

I set up the three beds, unpacked the little food we brought into the pantry, we showered and let Misty out of the box at last. Then we picked the girls up, had a takeaway dinner on the way back and all collapsed to bed. In our next presentation: The first and second day of unpacking