Goodbye Street Parking, Hello Ping-Pong Table

We did it. We moved to the ‘burbs. My wife and I have been city dwellers (Brooklyn and Queens) for our entire adult lives, so it wasn’t a decision we took lightly.

One week in, we know we made the right call for our family. We have more room, a ping-pong table, a backyard with a trampoline, a washer/dryer, and a second bathroom. We hung a hammock, and we bought a grill. We became members of the community pool on day one, and we’ve already used all of these amenities.

The move went SO SMOOTHLY. Thank you, Mitko Panov at Blue Moving. They packed up all our stuff for us, too, so the lead-up to the move wasn’t a harrowing experience either. Unpacking is going well; I’d say we’re down to fewer than seven boxes at this point. One of our favorite pastimes currently is launching empty boxes down the basement stairs to be dealt with later.

So far, so good. Life is just a little easier up here. Everything seems to be within a 10-minute drive, including my new hockey team. Never in my life has my hockey commute been so short.

Our new fridge makes ice for us, there’s less traffic, and everything is where it should be. (looking at you, bikes in the garage that used to live above my head in my office!)

I set up a small workbench in the basement for projects big and small. I’ve found myself already knocking the rust off my handyman skills. I built the grill you see above during a heatwave. I’ve sanded some wooden steps that were scratching us up. I’ve mowed and weed-whacked my lawn, all of these tasks for the first time.

That said, I know it’s essential to know your limitations, so we called in vendors to hang a few new ceiling lights, paint a room, change the locks, and completely redo the wooden floor of our attic, where I’m typing this now.

Animals are everywhere here. I’ve seen bunnies, woodpeckers, and chipmunks already. I also found and took care of a dead bird and had an encounter with a raccoon the size of a fox, which was about to enter my garage—all part of the experience.

It’s a big change, but one we welcome. In my file cabinet, I renamed a folder from “daycare” to “mortgage,” which pretty succinctly tells you what’s happening here.

Our new Fios Internet is blazing fast, and my new Eero routers ROCK. I’ve got Nest Thermostats and smoke detectors controlled through my phone now. Naturally, as a tech nerd, I love this stuff.

How about you? Do you have any fun moving-in or new home stories you’d like to share? I’d love to hear ‘em.