Whew! The final 24 hours in Oakland were a whirlwind. Once the kids were asleep (after 9 pm!) on Sunday eve we packed our RAV4, removed carpets from 2 of the rooms, created a bulky pickup pile and finalized the packing of the POD. In order to stabilize the contents in the POD, Andy acted as a step stool as Laurie hoisted herself onto the boxes and under the rolled POD door to find the ratchet strap hooks. We worked well together, feeling grateful for sleeping kids and using a phone as our flashlight since all headlights were packed away.

Finally around 1 am Laurie headed to bed. Monday would be another whirlwind as Andy had a 7:30am appointment for the RV alignment. And we had plans to leave for the airport at 3 pm. Andy, the night owl, did a little more before he too, headed to bed.

Monday we put the final things in either the RV, the garbage, a free pile in our driveway or Brownie (our nickname for our Rav 4). At this point there was no system, everything just needed a place. (As we discovered later, way too much ended up in the RV)!

At 2:30pm, Andy drove a loaded Brownie to store it in Joanna’s garage. From there he got a ride back with Daniel and Joanna. Laurie took the opportunity to shower, not concerned about watching the kids since there was nothing left in the house to mess with. Strangely, both kids followed her into the bathroom and the 3 of us took a shower together, a nice last memory of our life on Chabolyn Terrace.

Traveling with kids is very different than traveling solo or with other adults. The largest difference is the amount of stuff you take. We had a week in Anchorage before Andy arrived and we had 2 duffle bags (1 with clothes, 1 with a pack n play and collapsible high chair), a stroller, a hiking backpack, Miles’ rolling backpack, Ani’s car seat and Laurie’s backpack filled with snacks, water bottles and plane games.

Laurie was in denial and figured somehow we would make it work. Turns out, we had more to carry than arms to hold it all. And… we were determined to take public transportation to avoid traffic to and from SFO, despite the multiple very generous offers for a ride. While a little cumbersome and involving way too many smelly BART elevators, we made it work.

Getting to the airport was the hard part. Once the duffles and Joanna’s suitcase were checked in we floated to the gate. Ani and Miles ran in circles giggling at one another. It is moments like this that I can see into the future, hoping these two remain friends.

Miles is a great traveler. It doesn’t hurt that he got to watch more Stinky and Dirty than he ever has in his life. Half way into the flight Laurie paced up and down the aisle to get Ani to fall asleep in the carrier, eventually she did and slept for over an hour.

We landed around 10:45 pm and it looked as if it were 3 pm. The sun was shining and it was oddly hot! Luckily our Airbnb had blackout curtains.

Tonight we are grateful for friends who offer to take us to the airport and giggling kiddos.