DOUBLE WHEW!

We made it!

It took some doing, though. Jen drove up with Bella in our station wagon. The drive took three days to complete, as they stayed in Durham with family and Pennsylvania with family before heading into New York City on Sunday. I drove up with our friend, Steve, in a 26-foot-long U-Haul truck loaded with everything we own. We drove all the way to the Virginia state line on Saturday before a tire blew out on the interstate. Fortunately, we were a few hundred yards from an exit, and had no trouble pulling off there and then waiting four hours for the repair guy to show up. That stay in South Falls, VA is worthy of its own blog someday... After the tire was repaired (in 12 minutes), we drove another four hours and stayed overnight just north of Baltimore. On Sunday, we aimed the truck toward the city, scooted through the Lincoln Tunnel, and cruised up Amsterdam Avenue without any police involvement or terrorism response units. We parked the truck in front of a fire hydrant, and had two guys we hired meet us there and unloaded the truck in five hours.

Then it took me three hours to return the truck when I had to drive all over the Bronx looking for a lot big enough to handle Trucky. And to top it all off, I left my wallet in the cab of the truck and had to go back up to 231st Street on Monday morning to retrieve it.

Our apartment was filled almost floor to ceiling with boxes, but the unpacking has begun in earnest, and we can now see the floor in places and have clearly defined pathways from one room to another. Bella's bed is set up, as it her clothing chest. We can't find the hardware to put our bed back together yet, so we've ben staying with Jen's parents who live two floors above us in the same building.

Bella is enjoying seeing her things again - stuffed animals, clothes, books, puzzles - and getting an ice cream treat every day from her Nunya. Jen is off to Connecticut for three days of work, so we plug away. It's crazy to think that we aren't just visiting the city, but that this is our new home. We've gotten enough sleep to feel back to normal, but whether my hands/calves/spine will ever be the same remains to be seen.