One week

Dogs are funny. When we moved last time and had Nala and Rocco, for the first week or two every time we got in the car Rocco wanted to go. It was almost like he was waiting for us to take him back to our real home. It definitely took him some time to adjust to the new place but after a while he was happy and loved it. With Axl and Lola I did something that inadvertently may have been the best thing. During the physical move they stayed at the old house with me while I did all the last minute packing and cleaning. They watched as the trucks came and were loaded up with our stuff and then left to return empty. I know they kind of understood because they jumped into the bed of each pickup every time it came and went. At the end of the day we all jumped into our cars and headed over to the new house. When Lola and Axl got here they walked around sniffing all the stuff checking it out. The next morning we took them with us back to the old house for the last clean-up. They got to see the place completely empty. Then we came back to the new house where all our stuff was. They never exhibited the anxiety that Rocco and Nala showed when we moved. It was almost as if by watching the whole process and then returning the next day they got the message that we moved and this was our new home. They are enjoying their yard with it's nice soft grass and no kids constantly going past the driveway making them crazy. I'm hoping that the quiet will settle them down a little. Well that and the fact that they are almost 2 years old - age should mellow them.

Okay, I'm off. Before we bought the place we had to get homeowner's and hurricane insurance. Hurricane insurance is expensive!!! I'm going to look around and see if we can combine policies so that we can tag on some cheap car insurance to the homeowner's policy. We'll see.