The Way I Saw . . . The Gym Move 2013!!

Moving anything can be quite a process.  Moving a gym? That's a gigantic, time consuming process!!  We moved the gym 5 years ago into a bigger facility, giving us the space to stretch our legs and spread out a bit.  We must have spread out more then I thought because I feel like we had soooo much more stuff to move this time around!!
Ever since the new building went up I've been thinking about getting equipment moved.  Once my nice, new, spacious storage room was built I was ready to start moving some of the little things that we wouldn't need and start getting the place cleared out!!  Once I had the green light from the guys painting I was ready to go!!
So here's how I saw the move . . .

Friday April 19:
This was my first day of the move!! I had already been trying to dust off boxes and preschool equipment that was in the storage room that wasn't going to be needed over the following week.  My goal was to leave as much chalk and dust at the old gym as possible!!

 I made a quick trip with boxes of preschool props, bulletin board odds and ends, and holiday decorations, then Kevin stopped in to help me out since he was on spring break and was pretty upset that he would be stuck in school when the big move took place!! He worked hard and we made 7 more trips that morning: 2 with folding chairs, 3 with trophies, and 2 more with the big preschool jungle gym pieces. I think he was almost as excited as me about the nice new storage room :)













Monday April 22:
It was another full day of prepping the new gym!! Lots of building went on (one of my favorite things to do)!!  Shari and I had taken a little field trip down to Ikea and picked up cubies and a few other little things that had to be put together.  So while Shari tried to work out the phone/internet situation with AT&T I put the drawer unitl for the first aid supplies together.

In about 45 minutes it went from flat and in a box, to fully functional!! :)  I love that about Ikea!!




The therapy table went together in a snap too.  I did feel the need to test it out.  We decided I could because after all I had been injured . . . I sliced my finger on a drawer glide building the drawer unit and required a band aid . . . Shari was very excited that she was prepared and could take care of my little catastrophe :)
Things were built, things were organized and we were off to coach and get ready for more preparations the next day!!

Tuesday April 23:
T-Minus 1 Day until the big move!!  Shari and I had another busy day getting things squared away.  Builders were hard at work at the new gym, things were happening all over the place!! It was an exciting day!! (To add to the excitement I became an Aunt that day too!!) Practice that night was pushed up a little bit so we could start taking apart the old gym.  All the kids helped out!! One family let us borrow their racing trailer to transport all the pit blocks.

 We had a little line worked out to get the blocks passed out of the pit and outside to the trailer. We packed it full and it hardly looked like we put a dent in it!! In an hour we got the trailer filled, mats washed, carpet bonded foam pulled apart and rolled up, and as much equipment as possible pulled out and cleaned to be ready for the truck that would be arriving at 7am sharp the next morning!!
 Had I known the kids were so good at cleaning I would have handed them mops and buckets ages ago ;)  Everyone was such a big help, it made it easier to direct traffic the next day!!



Wednesday April 24:
The day was finally here!! It was sort of surreal actually.  I had been a part of the process since day 1, going with Shari to the new property to dig holes, I was there to listen to the little hiccups and dilemmas that she faced and try to offer support and encouragement and do whatever I could to help, though I felt pretty helpless through most of the process.  It was a day that we had all been happily anticipating and I was so excited to finally be moving and getting out of the old space, but at the same time it was hard to believe that it was actually here!!  Like we still had time, there must be something more before we could make this a reality, but no, it was time!!
The day started at 7am at the old gym.  DGS was on hand to help move the big equipment and make sure things got set up properly at the new facility.

It took a lot of team work and a lot of helping hands getting down and dirty . . . oh wait, that was a lot of helping hands getting down and cleaning!! We really couldn't have done it without all the parents who came and volunteered their time and took vacation days to help us out!!





By lunch time most of the big equipment was out and we were off to the new gym to begin the set up!!

Outside was a busy place too!! Coit was on sight prepping the driveway for asphalt and working on the landscaping :)

By late afternoon, there wasn't too much to do.  A lot of the equipment was still piled up, the floor wasn't ready yet, just a lot of waiting and trying to find something productive to do.  I decided putting up the banners and trophies would be a good way to pass the time, especially when there weren't too many obstacles to work around.  The ladder I wanted to use got stolen right before I was about to use it, so long story short, they gave me a crash course in driving the lift!!  No, I didn't actually crash into anything, and let the record show that I was NOT the one to put a hole in the brand new wall!! I was like a giddy little kid in a candy store though!! :)

By 7pm I was home and resting up for a couple more busy days!!

Thursday April 25:
7:30 I was back at the old gym, and it was empty!!  It was a little strange, I can remember it looking that way 5 years ago before we moved in!!  I felt that it was necessary to do one last handstand . . .

We took down the paintings and a few odds and ends things, and then it was busy busy putting the new gym together!!  Did you ever wonder how they were going to get those trampolines in ground?  I did!! Come to find out all you have to do is stick Matt in the hole!!

Getting the floor together was a very slow process!!  Part of the reason was that we had to set up 2 full floors. One 40'x40' gymnastics floor, and one 9 panel cheer floor.  Plus they were fixing the dead spots and redoing all of the velcro that holds the plywood together.

It seemed to take forever but we were productive in between!! Like the bars got put together, stall bars got hung and tested, and windows and the waiting area got cleaned :)

And what happens when a couple antsy coaches are sitting around in an un-assembled gym?  We move out the contractors and set up beam!!

. . . and put the new "whale" together . . .

. . . then we attack the floor!!

Plus the state championship banners got bolted to the beams (Thanks Vinny!!)

I think I got home about 10 that night, but the gym floor was assembled and the new carpet bonded foam for the cheer floor was all laid out and ready to go once we got about 20 more pieces of plywood to change the new floor system to match the existing floor the next day.

Friday April 26:
The last of the big days, and I didn't have to go to the old gym first!!

It was finally starting to look like a gym!!  The floor was fixed so the carpet bonded foam could get put into place . . .

. . . then it had to get cleaned . . .

I can't say thank you enough to all the wonderful parents who stopped in to help :)

Outside the driveway was getting paved:

Inside our beloved paintings were getting hung:

Between the paintings and the trains going by from time to time it was starting to feel like home :)

Three days into the move and we still had pit blocks to take care of!!  Remember those 6000ish blocks we had in the old gym?  Well 3 trailer loads later they were all at the new facility, but only 2 trailer fulls would fit in the new pit!!  So what did we do?  Well, the bags from the new carpet bonded foam came in real handy!!

 Thanks to the Churchills for letting us borrow the trailer. Jordan, sorry if you're still cleaning out pit fuzzies!!






To conclude a crazy yet exciting week, we had a little surprise for Shari!!  Weeks ago one of the parents sent out a letter to all the team families asking for donations toward a huge American flag for Shari and the new gym.  Well to properly surprise her we first had to get her out of the gym so we could hang it up.  Lucky for us her car was stuck because we couldn't drive on the new pavement for a little while.  Enter Aimee who kindly took Shari out to run her errands and distract her for a little while until we were ready for her!! (Thanks Aimee!!)  It took a lot of hands to keep that giant flag off the ground while we got the wire strung through it.  It must have been pretty amazing to watch that thing lift up in the air like that.  I was underneath with a good portion of it in my arms so all I could really see was red and white stripes :)

A lot of the kids showed up to surprise her, and really Shari's reaction was priceless . . . well actually her delayed reaction!!  Someone gave her tissues when she walked in but all she saw was the kids, Lynn had to point out the flag to her . . . and she cried :)

 Thank you Carrie for the wonderful idea, I think Shari loved it, and so many people have mentioned it!!
Thank you to all the families who generously  donated and to all the Coast Guard guys who helped out!!





Friday turned into another late night after everyone left.  A few of the older kids stayed to practice and break in the new place, and DGS was there late finishing up as many odds and ends as possible.  Luckily Saturday was an easy day and we just did a little tidying up and vacuuming.  We've had classes for 2 weeks now and so far so good.  Still trying work out some kinks and find a good "home" for everything, but overall things are going well!!  I know I've said it a few times already in this post, but I'll say it again, thank you sooooo much to everyone who helped make this all possible!!

Cheers!!