2013 Vacation Day 4

After arriving safely at GrandMommy's house, we woke up the next day ready to have fun! Auntie K & I decided to take the kids swimming at the old pool that our dear Grandmother had always taken us to in the summer. We got there & realized that time has not been the kindest to Sun N Fun. When we grew up swimming there, it was a private pool requiring a membership, which meant it was one of the best places in town. It had 2 of the tallest diving boards I've ever seen anywhere & a slide. Now it 's a Y-Pool, and the slides & diving boards are gone. It has a zero-entry kids' area (the old kiddie pool stands empty on the other side) as well as a splash pad. It almost hurt to see how it has not aged well but the kids were ready to swim so into the water we went. And then I had to smile: here I was with my kids & my niece, swimming along the lines on the bottom, throwing diving sticks for them to find - all just like I did with my grandmother. My kids are such good swimmers that we all jumped in & touched the bottom in the deep end (I think 10 feet deep), & my youngest swam all the way across the deep end without help or stopping! Plus we stopped at Bahama Buck's on the way home, went out to Olive Garden that night for my Mom's birthday, and that my friends was a really fun day!

2013 Vacation Day 3

After a glorious, much-needed night's sleep, we were ready to go again. We had a fun breakfast & coffee with Grammy & her sweet friends (always good to see them!) and then were on the road again. This day the driving was so much easier - I can drive the road from Farmington to Lubbock just about in my sleep, since we did it so many times earlier in our marriage. I was very thankful for our XM subscription, DVD player, and car games today, as there's not a lot to see or hear out in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. My kids had a blast with our car bingo game (one of my son's squares was a mullet - really??) and the car karaoke. I might have ended that one a bit early though. We did see a fast-moving forest fire as we rounded the final turn to Albuquerque. I took a picture just as we first saw the mountain, and as we came around towards Rio Rancho, the fire and smoke had already crested the top and was speeding down the other side. It looked to be west of the mountains near Santa Fe, and I hope they had it contained quickly.  Also, it's really hot in New Mexico. I live up in the Pacific Northwest now, and we're still having lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s/80s. It got up to 103 on my car thermometer as we were leaving Santa Rosa!

2013 Vacation Day 2

     I woke up eaaaaaaaaaarly this morning, determined to get up and GO! My husband thought we would have been on the road a day earlier and had already arranged a day trip to Salt Lake City for work. After he left, I finished the little odds and ends packing I needed to do, woke up the kids, fed them, finished getting me ready, and started packing the car. (PSA: I should have let my Superman do it the day before. He's so much better at that, it's not even funny!). After over an hour of the dog eyeing me suspiciously ("What do you mean I'm NOT going???") we were finally ready to go! 

    We ended up leaving over 2 hours later than I wanted, on the longest day driving of this whole crazy adventure. Which made for a nice surprise in SLC - we ran into Superman as he was heading back to the airport. It also meant that we were going to get to my in-laws' house after midnight. Yuck. Fortunately they called and graciously offered to rescue me...I mean meet us and take over driving in Moab. I remember telling my son to get in the front seat while my father-in-law was going to drive, asking the guys a few questions, and then saying I was going to take them up on their offer to lean back and rest. Then I woke up as we were practically in their town, looking for where he had parked his car (this was three hours later!)

2013 Vacation Day 1

We were supposed to leave on Sunday (6-9) to drive from our house to Grammy & Papa's house. That ended up not happening - Az4 got sick from a picnic the day before. She and I were up until almost 1am the night before so I just said we would take Sunday to let her get better, me get some rest, and get some last minute things done. I ended up canning 12 pints of mangoes & pineapples! We got everything packed/washed/organized so I could pack the car first thing Monday morning, Az4 was back to her normal 100% self, and I felt ready to go for the morning! We had a beautiful sunset that night to cap the day off.

On the First Day of Second/Fifth Grade...

The great thing about moving in August is that you don't have a whole lot of time to sit and pout in your room about not having anyone to play with before school starts. However, it is just enough time to really enjoy your new neighborhood pool that you have passes to! Both AZ3 & AZ4 had to be registered at the new schools and attend orientation nights. He was nervous as we walked the halls of the new place but tried very hard not to show it - only grabbed my hand (his was shaking a bit) as we walked to his classroom. She was not a bit nervous - ready to meet some new friends and start a new adventure!

On the first day of school, they each picked out their outfits the night before (with Mom approval), and got up and ready in a flash! We took the mandatory pictures by the vehicle side mirrors - these are fairly standard heights and a good way to measure height from year to year - and then headed out the door. Each gave me a sweet hug & kiss and bounded out the door. They both came home with great reports - liking their teachers and thinking there was plenty of new friend potential in their classes!

Moving Day!

So after numerous goodbyes, moving day finally arrived. Since Az1 had already started his new job, he would fly that afternoon back to our old city while the kids and I were at the old house with the movers. They would pack the house that Friday, we would clean and leave Saturday, spend Saturday night as the first night at the new house, and the movers would arrive Monday morning at the new house.

We were very blessed with great movers! I tried to keep them full of cold water (as long as I could), and they were very gracious and patient. The kids did a good job of staying out of their way (as much as they could), and the movers had us packed completely in one day! I was amazed - they are experts at their jobs! After some last-minute playing in the backyard, we picked up Daddy at the airport and checked into a hotel.

The next day, we went back to the old house for a last cleaning burst, and then we were on the road! We waved goodbye to Oklahoma as we crossed the Red River, and were glad to be back in Texas. We arrived at our new house late in the evening - around 11pm or so. Fortunately we only had one day without our "stuff", as the movers arrived right on time Monday morning!

Happy Birthday Lady Bug!

This year for her birthday, she proclaimed that she wanted a zoo party. Since we were under a time crunch, we opted not for the big city zoo, but one about 45 minutes from our house - The Little River Zoo. She was excited, and we would have family in that weekend also. Due to the time crunch, we expected that we wouldn't have a big crowd, but she was okay with that.

This zoo is very small, but the nice part was that we got a personal tour guide. Our little group went around the entire zoo with an employee, who not only told us the animals and their names, but also their favorite foods, habits, etc. It was very intimate and cozy, and I'm sure would have been much more fun had it not been around 105 that afternoon.

The best part was that the kids got to pet several animals at the conclusion of the tour. They were allowed to step in with the kangaroos, and pet a tortoise/a porcupine (not the business end!)/a goat/and a really fuzzy bunny. Except for the heat, everyone had a great time, and Az4 got her wish for a zoo party!

One Last Hurrah

After figuring out some moving details, I decided to take the kids and their friends to the zoo one last time. Az4's class was organized by their teacher for a summer day trip there anyway, so I decided to bring along the other two, plus a friend each. We would all walk around with the class and enjoy a great day!

We met up with the first grade class and teacher, and then we were off! It was a bit of a handful trying to keep up with the class plus my crew, but it was well worth it to see the smiles on my kids' faces to spend time with their friends! The animals were out before it really got hot, so we got to see several up close and personal: lions, bears, even the prairie dogs!

After a couple of hours, we broke off from the class and played in the water area to cool off for a bit, and then it was time to head home. Everyone had a great day!

Then the craziness started...

Most of you know that we have a very eventful life to begin with. Just when I thought we were settling into a new house, it all got crazier! We had been in the house for a little over 2 weeks when Az1 got the call that he would have an interview for a promotion. One that would involve a move back to Texas. Then after that interview, he got the call that he would have a face-to-face interview for that position. Then came the call that he got it - and we were moving. And he would need to report to his new position in three weeks. As in the week after our Ladybug's birthday. So we started praying and watching and waiting - and let's just be honest, I'm not very good at that. We also had to talk to our landlord, but just trusted that the Lord would take care of all of our details.

We discovered that it was going to end up that Az3 was going to Kids' Camp with church the exact days we would be looking for a house in our new town. We had done some research into the area and determined which school district we really really wanted to be in, so we started working with a realtor in the area looking for rentals. We put Az3 on the bus for camp with much prayer, and got on the road. We ended up looking at 6-7 houses and put an offer in on the last one we saw. While we were working on that, the Lord was working on Mr. Az3's heart, and he called us one night to say that he had asked Jesus to come into his heart and be his Lord and Savior! I cried on the phone - been praying for that boy (as I know many of you have!) for many years now.

What I loved about the way the Lord worked out all the details was His timing - the next weekend was our Ladybug's birthday (Az4), and we already had some family coming in for that party. After speaking with our pastor and explaining the situation, we were able to have Az3 baptized that Sunday morning with everyone still in town to see it. Great is our Lord and worthy of praise!

July 4th, 2010

July 4th this year was totally different for the Hubby and I. We had already arranged for the kids to spend the long weekend at my parents' house, before we had ever thought about moving. (Looking back on the summer, I can see how the Lord already had arranged for us to have the kids away to allow us to have time alone and to work on the moves and the details!) The weekend before was our local fireworks show at the park across the street from our church. We had thought about not going, but ended up there after all. It was a great time! We parked at the church, and then had out our camping chairs to watch the show across the street. We saw a ton of our friends there, and the kids loved it as usual!

The actual July 4th weekend found us at a friend's house (my Mary Kay lady's) near a lake. We were thrilled - just hanging with good friends! Unfortunately the weather turned south on us at the last minute, but we still had a good time. It was more like fall weather - cool, misty/rainy, and we never got in the lake. We had a blast though, just relaxing and being there sans kiddos. Plus, we did head back into town and went to another friends' house for the night of the 4th. There, fireworks are legal in the city limits, and it is craziness! It literally looks like a warzone with all the smoke - you can't see across the street. Neighbors try to outdo eachother, and you hear the explosions almost continuously from dusk until the cutoff at eleven. I shot off my first Roman candle, and managed not to hurt anyone or anything! What a blast! (literally!)