We Have Mirrors!

Mirrors were one of the first things we ordered for the new house.  We basically received a shell of a house, which has both pros and cons.  Pro-we can decorate how we want.  Con-expense.  We are realizing that housewares are quite expensive here.  Everything is imported and comes via boat or a long drive down the Baja peninsula.  We found a company that drives down from the U.S. once a week, however there is a hefty price tag included.  Often times, it's still cheaper to order from the U.S. and pay that hefty price tag!

We ordered our mirrors from the U.S., they were delivered to our front door with no issue, and Larry got them hung in the past few days.  It should be noted that our walls are concrete so hanging stuff is a bit of a chore.  You are drilling into concrete afterall!  I opted for circular mirrors in both bathrooms.  A larger one for the guest bath and two smaller ones for the primary bath.

Errands and Lunch

 We ran some errands today and on our way home, Larry pulled into the cafe near our house for a little lunch date.  We really liked our food, but definitely U.S. pricing.  They have amazing baked goods though!

Appliances Arrived!

Our fridge and oven arrived yesterday!  Eating for ten days out of a cooler was not a lot of fun!  Nor was cooking in one electric skillet.  So happy to have our kitchen appliances!  Just waiting for the washer and dryer now...

Lights on the Pergola

I think this is my favorite project to date!  Larry put lights up around our pergola!  He did such a good job...spacing all the lights evenly, etc.

Fence

 When we arrived at our new house, our fence was in the process of being built.  They just finished it and it's so nice to be able to let the dogs go outside freely!

Dinner With Jim and Janet

Last night we got out of the house for a bit to meet up with Janet who we used to work with at Maps.  We had such a fun night and closed down the bar!  Her husband, Jim is hilarious too.  It was so good to get out of the house for a bit and have a little fun!

Rearranging Furniture at Sears

Yesterday, we went to Sears to buy some household items (dishes, etc.) and while there we found a couch and chairs.  We wanted to see the chair next to the couch, so Larry was on it!  He carried the chair through the whole furniture department so he could set it next to the couch.  I thought this was so funny!

Funny Text

 Brad was texting me about our move and such.  My phone always replaces I's with an O and O's with an I.  I swear...always!  Today was no different!  Look at this funny text!

Moving Day!

 The night before we flew out, we had our last DoorDash meal of Taco Bell!  Ha ha ha!  We didn't sleep well as we essentially had one blanket and two pillows, plus a ton of nerves.  We were up early, loaded our suitcases, medicated the dogs, and got them in their crates.  We said a final goodbye to our house and locked up before 3 a.m.  We picked Carson up so he could drive Larry's rig home.  We arrived at the airport, got carts, got the dogs/suitcases loaded up, and gave big hugs to Carson.  Carson drove home and arranged a time to drop off Larry's rig to Zack Parsons.  Larry gifted the car to him since he's almost 16.  Everything took a lot of coordination!  

We had to stand in the Alaska Airlines check-in line forever.  Luckily, the dogs were pretty good, I think the medication had kicked in a bit.  We finally got up to the counter and got them all checked in.  They sent us to an area where we had to take the dogs out of their crate for inspection.  We took the dogs out one at a time, put them back in their crates, and then we had to leave them.  This was especially hard for Larry.  We got seated in the plane and they gave us little tickets to let us know that the dogs were also loaded.  

Once we landed in Cabo, we made it through customs very quickly as we had Mexican residency so we were able to pass hundreds of travelers who all landed around the same time as us.  This allowed us some space to get carts, find our luggage, and get the doggies!  They had to be inspected in Cabo which was basically providing a paper that they had their shots.  We then got through the random scanning line and headed out into the warm sun.

We had to find our rental car which was parked in the parking lot.  Larry went to find the car while I stayed with the two huge carts and dogs.  People were so nice, offering water for the dogs and trying to pet them.  Larry came down to help me push the carts up to the parking lot.  He had the Ford Expedition we rented waiting for us.  We loaded everything and the parking lot attendant helped us load the dogs in the back of the rig.  I gave him a tip for helping and then BAM...police lights came on!  The policeman walked over and asked why we gave the parking lot attendant money.  We explained that he helped load our dogs into the car.  He didn't say much else, but went on his way.  We went on our way too!  We got through the toll booths and made it onto the highway!  We felt like we had made it, but of course the dogs got louder and louder the further we drove!  They were ready for some freedom!

We finally made it to our new home and let them explore inside.  Our fence isn't complete so we have to walk them or keep them leashed in the backyard to potty, etc.  Not ideal, but we will survive.  We made it to Mexico with our dogs!  Woo hoo!!!

Last Lunch

 Corey and Melody came over today to get a few things from us and then they took us to lunch.  We had Mexican food at San Antonio.

Mexican Residency and Quitting Our Jobs

We have been working on obtaining our Mexican Residency and yesterday we had an appointment at the Mexican consulate in Portland, Oregon.  They went through our mountain of paperwork, took our pictures, and took our money!  Ha ha ha!  We are good to go now!!!  We were waiting for this to be complete before resigning from work.  

This morning I called my supervisor and gave her my notice.  I've been out on FMLA leave so it was a little anticlimactic.  Larry drove into work and quit in person.  Things are getting very real!!!

Meet the Parents

 Last night we went to Rudy's Steakhouse with Carson and Hayley and met Hayley's parents, Jessie and Ben.  We had such a fun time and just love them!!!

La Paz~February 20-28, 2023

 We just came home from a pretty quick and jam-packed trip to La Paz!  We stayed at a cute bed & breakfast this trip which was closer to our new house, but further from the malecon.  We took several suitcases full of stuff to leave at our new house.  I let Larry have the window seat on the way down and he had no window.  Ha ha ha!  The main reason for this trip was the final walk through of our home, to sign the documents for our fideicomiso, and to take possession of our home!

Carnaval took place while we were there so we decided to check it out.  There were vendors everywhere and a big parade.  We were taking it all in and decided to get dinner.  We had a great dinner and then decided to head out.  Well, we chose the wrong time to do so!  We were right by the main stage and there was a big Mexican star performing.  There were thousands of people!  We got stuck in pedestrian traffic and literally almost squished to death.  It took us over an hour to go a half a block!  It was awful.  There were elderly people and people with babies in that mess!  So scary.  In all of that craziness, my flip flop broke.  I had to walk the several blocks to our rental car with only one flip flop.  

The main things we accomplished while there besides taking ownership of the house were buying appliances, buying mattresses, making window dowels for security, getting gas delivered for our oven/stove, and getting a fence started to be worked on ASAP.  We also purchased some provisions for when we go back down with the dogs...water, pop, snacks, dog food, etc.

We celebrated Larry's Birthday while there.  His one request was little to no driving and I made the poor guy drive forever!  Plus, our a/c went out in our rental car.  We did try to sneak into the yacht club unknowingly, I just wanted to eat there...but, you have to be members!  We ended up at Estrella Del Mar and had a fun time.  Our last night there we had dinner at Tres Virgenes which is our favorite place. 

*This is a delayed post as we didn't announce our move to Mexico publicly until March 7,2023*