Moving day two

     Moving in the military is like a box of chocolates-never know what you're going to get. Sometimes scheduling the packers and movers is like scheduling the cable guy. (Did you notice the back-to-back metaphors?)  You get told a block of time such as 8am to noon. One parent takes the kids out of the house for a few hours to avoid the packers and one parent stays behind to ensure the packers do not pack things that you plan on bringing. If not, they will pack everything...loose screws, wine corks, napkins, everything! If all goes according to plan, then they arrive close to 8am and have everything packed by 1500 (if you unfamiliar with 24-hour time then climb out of the stone age and join us in the 21st century). We have had some instances where packers come at 10, take a tour of the house, unload boxes and tape then pack a few things then take lunch then leave at 1500 with half your stuff packed. Those times are frustrating because they end up rushing and forget things. This move however was awesome. They packed 90% of everything in one day, left our beds to sleep on and were out by 1400. The following day a few guys loaded the truck while a few guys took down the beds and packed the rest of the house. On moving day, I took both boys.... that experience can be found here  .

    Fast forward to the day the movers came to our new house. They came at noon and were done by 1500. Those dudes were busting their ass trying to get everything done. I'm talking about no breaks, carrying two to three boxes at once. One dude carried three boxes strapped on his back! It was our best experience to date. Once they were done our house was littered with boxes. We thought our boys would freak out with an entirely new environment; on the contrary the boys adapted very quickly. Our youngest wanted to help out with everything and our oldest wanted to hang out with us. I should preface that statement with a quick story. Before we left our oldest Hudson would only watch TV, play video games and play with his friend's-not bad right. Only one catch every time I would try to hang out with him, he would say no or what are you going to buy me. This became overwhelming frustrating. Since the move we have a different Hudson. He is engaged with us that we haven't seen in a long time. TV time turned into board games, card games and our family favorite-uno. Once we got the internet hooked up, we started playing chess, checkers and other online kid games together. This time together has been awesome! Even at the pool with a bunch of kids he wants to swim with us. The other day he asked me if I would buy him a glove and ball to learn how to play baseball. I was ecstatic! If it wasn't so late in the evening, I would have gone to Wal-Mart that night so in the morning we could have started playing catch the next day! Hudson has transformed into a completely different kid. Given all the headaches associated with moving spending that quality time with Hudson has been invaluable. I feel fulfilled as a father knowing that Hudson and I have a positive relationship again.