Packout to Latvia

Getting ready for packout involved us doing a lot of shopping.  We learned that we didn't have closets in our bedrooms or the rest of the house for that matter except in the entry way, so we had to buy some shelving units from IKEA and other organizers for all our toys and stuff.  We also needed basics like a vacuum, rugs, cooking pans, dishes, etc.  A few of the major items included exercise equipment to survive the long, dark Latvian winters, and a t.v.  The last t.v. we had that we took with us to Angola, was 8 years old and starting to lose it's color so we gave it away before we left.  Briant was in the market for an upgrade in size, but wasn't quite sure what brand to get.  So this picture shows two t.v.s, actually the same model.  We ended up buying three (kept only one).  One that we took back to Costco because of the screen quality, another one that we bought and liked from Target that we returned, and a third that we ended up buying from Costco which was the same model as the Target one but was cheaper and had the warranty on it from the first t.v. we returned.  Time consuming process?  A bit.  ;)  We just hope it shows up in one piece in Latvia after all this effort! 

 Starting to make the UAB pile (stuff that goes on a plane without us that will meet us in Latvia at some point).  The bike did not go UAB but just couldn't get outside to the porch. ;)

 Starting to make the HHE pile (stuff that will go by slow boat and will get to us a few months after we pack out.  In Angola, it took 4 months to get to us but here it should be about 2 months).

 We almost had to duct tape the kids to the roof because of the t.v., pans, and Ikea shelves!  They were still all in seat belts!
 The day after Savannah's birthday was the packout (June 27th).  Luckily we threw her a party the week or so before so she understood the craziness of that day as we got everything ready for the packers to come.  And here, the packers were making progress:We had to put our kids in an empty room like dogs so the packers could focus.  ;)  They played outside for a while but when they needed a break, they came inside and watched movies and had some game time on the computers (the babysitter in desperate times!).
A day or so after the packout, we found out we were 126 lbs. over weight.  We were under on our UAB and over on the HHE, but they won't allow you to shift the weight on paper.  So we made a trek to the shipping warehouse about 40 mins away and took out a few of the Ikea shelves.  They were the easiest to remove since they were still in their original boxes with the stickers still on them that showed their weights.  We removed 250 lbs just to play it safe.  Packout...not our favorite subject right now.  ;)