Moving Week - with family visiting!

Two weeks in and our house is starting to feel like home.  Here's a look back at moving week, which was wonderful and absolutely more crazy than we'd anticipated!!

The kids and I started the week at Walter Reed hospital for a medical appointment (all is well).  On our way out, we passed by these deer - just enjoying the greenery of the hospital grounds!  We quietly watched for a while

Aunt Vallerie met us at the house to help with some cleaning.  In the time it took us to get to the house, this little one was coming down with a bug.  She literally laid down on the floor and went to sleep.  Her fever didn't last long, but she was not feeling like herself for the rest of the week.  Read: our four-year-old had come to the end of her limit with transitions and being flexible, and she was going to need some extra attention and care.  

Taking a break from cleaning the house with a little more exploring and picnicking in Rock Creek Park. 

The movers arrived!  We had to be out of the hotel the day before, so we stayed the night with Steve and Vallerie.  Ryan had a training at work and wasn't able to be at the house with me.  Thankfully, Vallerie had the day off from work and kept the kids for me while I directed boxes and furniture.  We were blessed by a group of men who all professed faith in Christ and worked with joyfulness!  

I hate watching people move a piano.

Later in the day Steve, Vallerie, and the kids went to the airport to pick up Aubyn and Evelynn!  What moving day doesn't need fun family flying into town?!  

This move had the most "casualties" of our stuff.  It's just stuff, but this time they lost our bed.  (It has since been located.  It's still in Minot.)  So that night Ryan ran to our local Ikea and bought a mattress and we pretended we were college newlyweds again.  

This same weekend, Kaye K and Big Daddy had been planning Cousin Camp (for grandchildren ages 6 and up).  Aubyn flew with Evelynn.  My parents drove into town late Thursday night, and the next morning took the three big cousins away for a LOT of fun on the beach!  Which left Aubyn with us - a total win/win!  I wish I could say that the weekend was a breeze.  Three adults to one kid is a dream, right?!  Sadly, little B was still not feeling well, and also suffering from a broken heart that she was too young to go to Cousin Camp.  Aunty Auby was the best person to be with us that weekend.  She loved with grace and patience for all of our bad attitudes!  And helped me power through the kitchen boxes in no time at all.   

Some sibling Facetiming . . 

A break from the house for a Saturday morning breakfast out.

Vallerie stayed with Bridgette one night so Ryan, Aubyn, and I could go on one of Steve's bus tours.  He is a fantastic tour driver!  It was such a treat to see the sights on his bus with my sister and husband as the sun set over the incredible city we now get to call home.  Definitely the highlight of the weekend for me!

After church on Sunday, Aubyn and I had lunch on the Hill and then ventured over to an art museum.  I made her pose for this picture.  Just reminding her of her roots (even though I think it's great that she's basically a Canadian).  

As if the weekend hadn't been full and fun and crazy enough . . . Gramma turned 91!!  With so many of her family in town, we met the Cousin Campers at Gramma's home and squeezed in a little birthday party for the special lady before Aubyn and Evelynn went to the airport.  Vallerie made cupcakes, had ice cream and decorations and party hats - all the makings of a perfect birthday celebration for Gramma.

Wearing their Cousin Camp t-shirts

Uncle Steve is SUCH a good sport to put up with their shenanigans!

First Trip to Boone

My parents recently moved to Boone, North Carolina for a new job they've taken with Samaritan's Purse.  When Ryan received his new assignment, one of the many things we were excited about in moving is being closer to family.  Six-and-a-half hours is nothing compared to the distances we've lived with!  So during our first month here, when our days felt slower and more free, we took off for a quick weekend trip to see Kaye K and Big Daddy!

My mom and I made these wipe-off photos for our road trip to the Northwest last summer.  They are the number one repeated car toy - the kids love them!

We made it!

Time with Kaye K and Big Daddy is not complete without going out for breakfast.  We found a great local spot with all-you-can-eat pancakes for the kids.  What?!  Rooke was in heaven!

We picnicked at Blowing Rock after church on Sunday and enjoyed checking out a few of the local shops in this quaint town.

We did a short trail walk overlooking this lake, and then drove down to walk the trail at the bottom.  There are so many beautiful ways to enjoy the outdoors in this area!

Before leaving town, Mom and Dad gave us a quick tour of SP's campus, including one of the Operation Christmas Child warehouses.  It was great to experience with the kids how our shoeboxes are processed and shipped out.  It's a MASSIVE operation!  

Staying Busy - Almost Home

I was talking with someone recently about living out of suitcases and she compared it to camping.  I decided it's not as fun as camping (though I like easy access to regular showers).  It feels like a vacation we're ready to be done with.  We've made good memories, taken a break from regular responsibilities (thank you, housekeeping!), explored some of the local restaurants, did some touristy things, and now it's time to go home.  Just let me go home!  It's coming.  And we are grateful for the house we get to move into later this week.  So as we practice patience, we are fighting the tension that comes from living in a hotel for a month and finding ways to have fun (which isn't that hard in this area!).

Bedtime snuggles with library books

Steve and Vallerie took us to Gravelly Point.  I think it's the coolest thing we've done since being here!  The park is right next to the runway at Reagan airport and it feels like the planes are going to land on top of you!

A dream come true:

The kids and I visited our first of many Smithsonian museums

We have spent many hours at the base pool!

The kids have perfected their resourcefulness in imaginary play and building forts.

Rooke has decided he will be the cart-pusher when we go shopping, which is very helpful.  Most of the time.

First Impressions {Exploring}

We've been in Maryland for about two weeks and have had so much fun exploring the area!  Praise God, we found a rental house quickly that we are excited about!  We get the keys on August 1st, so in the meantime Ryan has started his new job while the kids and I are staying busy so as not to go crazy in the hotel suite we will call home until then.  We've explored something new almost every day and are having so much fun!  We've made plenty of rookie mistakes (like the time I turned the wrong way down a one-way street - hello out-of-state license tags!), but are quickly adjusting to "city" living.  It suits us well.

Our first trip to the grocery store . . . reminds me of life in Seattle when we brought the groceries up from the parking garage much the same way.

The library!!  We've already visited three different libraries and are spending most of our afternoon quiet time reading.

Family!  We get to live close to family!  My Uncle Steve and Aunt Vallerie have been more than generous in making us feel right at home.  They've won the kids over with their kindness, hugs, promise of a sleepover, and ice cream. =)

We spent a Saturday exploring parts of Annapolis . . .

The Maryland State House: the oldest state house in the nation still in legislative use

A mock-up of George Washington resigning his commission before congress.  

The Annapolis Maritime Museum - not so much a museum, but you can learn all you want to know about oysters! 

Lunch at the Amish Market

We visited Capitol Hill Baptist Church on Sunday and then strolled through the neighborhood to find lunch.  The girls thought this was a nice spot for a photo. 

Lunch across the street from the Library of Congress on a gorgeous sunny Sunday. 

I have so been looking forward to seeing my Gramma!  She lives in a nursing home close to where we will be living and I count it a blessing to think that the kids and I will be able to include visits with her in our regular weekly outings.

A trip to Ikea to scope out home furnishing options.  The girls played in the kids' room, but Rooke was too tall (gasp!), so we got him all to ourselves.  These guys think they're so funny =)

Happy 7-11 Day!  A free slurpee delivery to Great Gramma!

Happy Birthday IHOP!  Yes, I will take four short stacks of pancakes for $0.58 each.  Yes, that is all.  And yes, I will let my kids use all four types of syrup.

Dinner with Steve and Vallerie.  Did I mention the kids LOVE Aunt Vallerie and her desserts?!

Free tickets to the local minor league baseball game!  The kids' first baseball game.  The girls took naps that day so we were able to last through to the end of the seventh inning. 

Trying out the Metro . . . the kids were so excited!  

Taking part (briefly) in the Together 2016 event on The Mall.  We ate breakfast at a fun spot in the Eastern Market, then decided to walk to the event.  Poor planning on Mom's part ended up making us walk too far on a HOT day.  The fresh peaches from the market and ice water helped, but it will be a while before the kids let me plan a walking adventure tour downtown again =)

A morning at Chesapeake Beach!  The first beach we stopped at was going to charge us $40 to use their beach - WHAT?!  No thank you.  I talked with a kind local woman who pointed us to Breezy Point Park where we arrived to find that on Mondays kids get in free - hooray!!  We dug in the sand, splashed in the water, spotted jellyfish, only got stung once, watched out for crabs (because one child was convinced crabs were going to attack us), collected rocks, and learned that next time we should bring a giant umbrella to provide shade so we can stay longer.

And just for fun . . . we had to switch phone providers and with that came a new phone.  Rooke's dream of being able to do slow-motion videos has come true: