Aloha Friends!

We made it! We moved to Kauai! Even though the last week in San Diego was a little crazy and exhausting, I really feel that the move went as smoothly as it possibly could.

Our 20 foot Matson container was completely full. My husband did an amazing job utilizing every inch of space. And with the help of our son with the heavy lifting they got it done. Building a ramp really helped. I can't imagine how they would've got the fridge and other large items in there otherwise. I'll do a post in the future explaining how they built the ramp and loaded the container. Here's a funny photo taken when it was nearly full....

Our good friends came by the day before we left and helped us finish packing and cleaning the house. The home would not have been cleared out in time with out them. They even brought food as our fridge and kitchen items were in the container that left the day before. We will be forever grateful for their kindness and hard work.

We ended up packing 13 checked plastic storage containers and boxes! I'm sure the other travelers at the airport thought we were nuts! But, the airline staff said they could tell we were moving. The guy even gave us a break on the baggage fees. The flight was pleasant and everything arrived intact on Kauai. Two stuffed taxi vans drove us to our condo. We've spent the last couple days unpacking and organizing.

It's pretty amazing to us to finally be living here after so may years of dreaming. We're so thankful.

Aloha friends,

I wanted to do a quick post and let you know that our Matson shipping container was dropped off yesterday morning! It was nice to meet the driver and watch how the container is removed from the truck. We'll see Ray again early Monday morning. I have to say that everyone I've been in contact with Matson has been professional and super patient with all my questions. And it really is 4 feet off the ground...no ramp. So, for the next 6 days we're going to be packing our container old school video game TETRIS style!

Aloha Friends,

Oh my goodness, we have been busy! We all took a break the other day and drove up to Long Beach to drop off one of our cars for shipping. We chose Matson. It's a pretty simple process but, does require some patience at the port. Think DMV office...lots of waiting.

Here's how it goes... you complete the online booking form and make payment. You then drop off your car to Long Beach. Matson will load the car onto a huge boat for a slow cruise to Hawaii. It will take 17 to 21 days for the car to actually reach Kauai. We're hoping that it's waiting for us when we arrive. The cost for us to ship the car to Kauai was $1073. Matson requires that the car be clean and completely empty of personal items. So, you can't pack your car full of your stuff. They even want your gas tank 3/4 empty.

The port was interesting, so many containers and trucks! After dropping off the car we had lunch at the pier and enjoyed a nice afternoon in Long Beach. We even got to see the Queen Mary ship. It was a fun day for all of us!