Hi there,
We landed in country 5 days ago and well, getting here was the easy part of the last two weeks. As my father in law tells me, if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I am beginning to think he is right. Now I often have things happen constantly, things I can handle daily and don't add up, but the last two weeks were the two from hell, literally.
The movers can the 2nd week in June. The unaccompanied baggage folks were as easy as pie and we are awaiting the delivery of that shipment any day now. The next day, we had the regular movers for our main household shipment. They were really nice guys and damn efficient. They had the whole house packed in a day and then moved the remainder of the items the next day. All are items were crated so I supposed that's why the packing went faster the expected. In other words, and if you've not had your stuff crated before, they wrap it in brown paper and literally shove it in a crate.Some of the items are put in boxes and then crated, but it was interesting to see it all go inside. As the end of the first day closed, my husband asked me if I knew where our eldest daughter's bookbag she packed for the plane was located. I said, yes I am sure I moved it to the other room for safekeeping. I checked, and yeah, no, the bag was packed somewhere on the truck. Her room was one of the first rooms on the truck. The bag contained her nintendo DS, games, books, and her favorite toy she has slept with since she was 1 year old. Can we say moving problem? After my husband calmed down the child, we began to formulate a plan to entertain her for the long flight.
The next day went better but the movers still felt badly about packing up the kid's stuff. Our EDD, estimated drop date, was scheduled for August 9th. That thursday the final set of movers arrived to pack up the storage items. After they left, we tried to clean up the house. A wonderful neighbor had us over for dinner and while we eat the power, often a problem on the post, went out. After dinner we had to return to the house to finish clearing and cleaning, as well as move the boxes we were taking to the parents' house. By the light of the moon, a borrowed flashlight and the lights from the Kindle and Ipod, we were able to do what we needed. When we returned to lodging, the power was still out. The children enjoyed a bath by light of the Ipod and went to sleep.
Luckily, we were able to clear housing eaerly the next morning and get on the road to my dad's house earlier than anticipated. It was funny then, but our poor dog refused to leave the side of my husband's truck. I think he thought we were going to leave him behind. Everyone loaded up and the trailer hooked up, we embarked upon our journey.
We arrived at my dad's and met their dog, Chloe, who was nice but territorial. After about 6 hours, and while everyone was together on the deck cooking steaks, the dogs got into a scuffle. My lab, all of 113 lbs and a big sissy, did not fair well and literally got his butt bit. We took him to the pet emergency where he had stitches on his back hind leg, in two spots, and on his ear where the other dog took a bite. After about $250, he came home sedated and on meds. Poor puppy. The other dog was completely unscathed.
Two days later we decided to go tubing down the river. The water was low but we still managed. Of course my butt connected with every large rock going down the river. About half way down the river we hit small rapids and I had my hand on the youngest daughter's raft. We hit another set of rocks and fast moving water and I was knocked off the raft, successfully hitting my back in two spots and clocking my head on a rock when i was submerged. I got my wits about me and came up to the surface only to see my 6 yr having to brave the small rapids by herself. Luckily my husband was in front and waiting for her to come to him, but she was crying and scared to go it alone. I muddled myself to the other side of the water with a raging headache in tow. Once I was able to get to my husband and daughter she was too frightened to continue down the river. We crossed the river again, this time in slower moving water, and made it to the shore. The others continued and I was left with my daughter so we could walk down the river. We encountered a rock embankment which forced us to reenter the water briefly, and let's just say that was an ordeal to get her back in the water, and as we came up on the adjoining campsite along the water, I saw my dad's car leaving the campground parking. We headed to the street and started walking. Luckily, one of the tubing company's vans saw the brightly colored tube and drove us back to the shop. My dad took us home thankfully. My husband, after receiving our note and upon his arrival to the shop, told me our other daughter and niece wanted to ride again. When my husband returned home, his stomach looked like it had been malled by a bear and his foot had two good lacerations on it. He apparently hit a nasty rock thus scraping along his stomach and lost a shoe, hence the lacerated foot. Needless to say, we were supposed to leave the next day for Florida. That trip had to be delayed a day.
The remainder of our trip was in Florida with my inlaws. We arrived on a Thursday and left the following Wednesday. That Friday evening, tropical storm Debby arrived and stalled in the Gulf, showering Florida with buckets upon buckets of rain. It rained for about 4 days straight and we ended up with flooded roads, road closures and over 20 inches of rain. Early Saturday morning my father in law woke us up at 7am because the dog was having a problem breathing. After several foamy vomitting episodes and watching the dog go from ok to worse in 30 minutes, we rushed him to my inlaws' vet which luckily opened at 8am. The dog was having a problem walking and vomitted a few more times when we got him there. They came in to tell us he had signs of bloat and he needed an emergency procedure to help relieve the gas buildup before his stomach turned on it's side. After what seemed like hours, we had a talk with the vet who told us he would need surgery to basically attach his stomach to his insides, or they could an exloratory surgery to see if he had indeed ate something he shouldn't have. (It wouldn't have been the first time.) We told them to open him up again and do what they needed. We later had to transport him to the emergency vet for weekend observation. After paying $1790 to the first vet, our dog was released for transport. The estimate at the ER Vet was $500-$1100. Nice. We left the dog and went home. Sometime in all the melee, our oldest lost her tooth. Emergency Tooth Fairy visit came next.
We got the dog back Monday morning, and the estimate was about dead on, of course on the higher side. It was still raining buckets outside and the roads were still flooded. We were scheduled to leave on Wed and it was looking near impossible to get a shuttle there let alone have the flight leave on time. Tuesday morning, my father was ill and went to the doctor. After taking his meds later that afternoon, he began to have an adverse reaction to them and had to be taken by ambulance to the ER. It was released that night but has since returned.
Through the grace of God and wonderful neighbors, we made it to the airport with 8bags and 4 carry-ons in tow. I admit I was afraid to set foot on the plane for fear it would not make it to its destination. Thankfully, two transfers later, and two trips to through customs, coupled with a rush to our last flight via shuttle, and some seat transfers, we made it to Italy unscathed and in one piece. I wish I could say the same for our luggage which did not make it at all. After filing a claim for our luggage, our nice sponsor transported us back to the post and thus, our story begins.
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