Saying Our Good-byes to Oxford

Samantha: 60 Months, Week 2
Aedan: 24 Months, Week 4 (Week 109)

I am writing this post two weeks out because we have been so busy with our move to Sault Ste. Marie followed by our Toll family vacation. However, regardless of that, I can remember with clarity how emotional this week was for me. It is always hard to say good-bye, and we grew to really love Oxford and the good friends we made there.

Tuesday was a day the kids and I had been looking forward to for quite some time. We had plans to go to Totter's Otterville with Samantha's friends, Henry and Matteo, from preschool, along with their moms and Bennett, Aedan's little friend. I had a doctor's appointment that morning that I could not get rescheduled, so Andrea was willing to drive Samantha and Aedan down with her kids in their mini-van, and I planned to meet up with them when my appointment was finished. Totter's Otterville is a great place for toddler and preschool age kids because there are lots of places for pretend play. The kids were having a great time playing together, and when I arrived it was just about time for lunch.

Here are Henry, Samantha, and Matteo sitting together, waiting for their lunch. They are such good buddies that they were all fighting over who would be able to sit by who.

After lunch the kids played in the dress-up area and the pretend grocery store for quite awhile. Then, we decided to take a break and go play outside with the fishing area, the playground, the maze, the golf area, and the sand. It was actually a pretty hot day outside, so after a while, we found ourselves congregating around the shady spot in the sand. It was wonderful to sit and watch the kids play while Melissa, Andrea, and I got a chance to talk and catch up with each other. It was such a fun idea to come here for the day.

Both kids were really tired, which was starting to show in their behavior as the afternoon progressed. Luckily, Samantha and Aedan both napped in the car on the way back home which was good since we had our last get together with our small group that evening. We decided to meet at the Oxford Community Park before the guys' softball game for a picnic and some play time. They told us we didn't have to bring food and provided everything for dinner, like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, fruit, drinks, and even a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. The cake was so cute that I just had to take a picture of it. The kids were all super excited about the M&Ms. :)

Here are some pictures of our group of friends from that night. We have all grown so close just in the last year of meeting together as a small group. We will certainly miss them and their friendship.

Aedan and Isaac have become great little friends. Aedan talks about "Izic" all the time. They are definitely troublemakers when they get together.

We had a great evening outside playing, eating some good food, taking a walk on the path through the forest, and watching Daddy do one at-bat during his softball game. What a fun way to celebrate our last time together as a small group!

Since we sold the Saturn and only had one car, it made certain things a little more difficult, especially because things got complicated with our Santa Fe. We took it in for an oil change and discovered that it desperately needed new front tires. We knew this was coming but hoped that we could wait until we moved to take care of it. However, they said the tires were so worn down that they could have popped at any moment. However, when getting the tires put on, they also said that our alignment needed to be adjusted which is why the inside of our tires got worn out faster than the outside. We tried to take the Santa Fe in on Wednesday morning to have the work done, but they couldn't get it done in time for us to get the car back before noon, so we made an appointment for the following Tuesday instead.

All that to say, we had a busy morning, and it was Samantha's last day of preschool, which meant her end of the year party. All the families were invited, and we stopped by Kroger before going to the playground so that we could buy Miss Betsy and Miss Madison some flowers and a gift card to say thank you. Samantha was excited to give them their presents right away, and we got these great pictures with Samantha and her teachers. Samantha loved Miss Betsy in particular, especially after having her for two years in a row. Later that morning, Samantha told us that Miss Betsy told her that she was her favorite student, and Miss Betsy told us that she wished she could have a class of students like Samantha. That's always great to hear, and makes us parents proud.

All the kids played on the playground for quite awhile, enjoying the free time and also time for the siblings to join in the fun. Aedan was so excited to be able to play with all the big kids, all of Sissy's friends. Then, it started raining, so the teachers decided that would be a good time to break for food. The kids had lots of yummy snacks to choose from and helped themselves to plates full of food. Here is Samantha sitting and eating with her friends.

Once the rain stopped it was back out to more play time with preschool friends, both on the playground and on the court with hula hoops.

The sun began to shine just in time for the class to get together to sing songs for the families. Miss Betsy said that this class loved to sing more than any other class, so they chose five songs to perform for us. Here are some pictures and videos of Samantha performing the songs with her class. I'm so glad that both Ben and I were able to be there. Again, this was such a good ending for our time in Oxford, a great way to wrap up and have closure before moving to our new town.

Then, it was time for Samantha to graduate from preschool. Miss Betsy called everyone up one by one to get their diploma and a book about going to kindergarten. Samantha was so proud of graduating and even though she will miss her friends in Oxford, she is really looking forward to new adventures with new friends in kindergarten.

Our schedule was jam packed in the next week before we moved. We were trying to fit in as many chances to hang out with our friends as possible. Wednesday evening was one of those nights. Originally, Isaac's birthday party was going to be the weekend before when we were in Upland, so we were going to miss it. However, due to the rain in the forecast they postponed his party so we were able to go, and both kids were so excited. Both Samantha and Aedan are such good friends with Isaac. We got Aedan down for an earlier nap that afternoon so that we could get to the party and not miss any of the fun. The kids had a blast just running around the backyard and playing together, as most of the kids from our small group, as well as a few others, were there as well. The Chagdes' hired a clown to do face painting and make animal balloons, so that was a big hit with the kids. Isaac got to go first, and then Samantha was up next. She chose a green, sparkly crown headband first.

She thought she looked pretty cool when she looked at her reflection back in our phone.

Aedan wasn't so sure about the face painting at first, but once he saw all the other kids with pictures painted on them, he decided he wanted to try it out as well. The clown had a book full of pictures they could choose from, and as soon as Aedan saw Elmo, he knew he wanted Elmo painted on his arm.

Later Samantha went back to get a dolphin painted on her arm. She was proud to show off her choices, and the clown did a great job of painting whatever the kids asked for.

The Chagdes' cooked out for dinner and after the kids all got their fill, it was time for cake, and all the kids were so excited and crowded around the cake.

At the end of singing Happy Birthday to Isaac, Aedan started to cry because apparently he wanted to help blow out the candles on the cake and wasn't able to. He was pretty disappointed that he couldn't be a part of it, and it took quite awhile to calm him down after that.

After everyone enjoyed their delicious cake, it was time for the pinata. Each child had a turn to whack the clown pinata with the broom stick, most with a blindfold on. However, none of the kids were really strong enough to make much of a dent in it, so the dads had to help out some so that the kids could collect their candy.

We were having a fun time hanging out with our friends, but we had a long day, and Chicago Grandpa and Grandma were waiting at our house, so we figured we should get home to get on with the rest of our evening. We still had some packing to do and wanted to make sure all Grandpa and Grandma's questions were answered for watching the kids for us while we went on our trip to Washington, D.C.

We finally left home about 9:00 p.m. for our hotel near the Cincinnati airport. Our flight was at 7:20 on Thursday morning, so we figured it would be much better just staying close to the airport instead of having to wake up early and have to drive all the way down still. We have points with our credit card and got a free night, plus the parking was then included with our hotel stay. Apparently Ben wrote that we were getting away for a romantic getaway, which I suppose is true since any time away from kids can be considered a romantic getaway. Well, this hotel decided to give us these little boxes of chocolate for our romantic getaway, so I had to take a picture of it.

We definitely did not get enough sleep on Wednesday night, but we were excited for our trip to Washington, D.C. to see my friend Megan get married and to also do some sightseeing. We flew into BWI and then had to take several trains to get downtown near our hotel. Again, with our credit card we get one free hotel stay a year, so we decided to use it on our first night in D.C. at the Willard Hotel. It is a very old, historical hotel that many presidents and other important people have stayed in. Here is a picture of the outside of our hotel.

It is only a couple blocks away from the White House, so after checking in and taking our stuff up to our room, we decided to check out the White House and the White House Visitor's Center. Ben requested a tour of the White House, but we weren't able to get in due to the amount of tourists in D.C. this weekend since it was Memorial Day weekend.

After seeing the White House we stopped at a little deli named the West Wing Cafe for lunch. We decided to only eat at local places while on our trip, so Ben used Yelp to discover some good local places with good reviews. We also wanted to do different things from the last time we were here three years ago so from there, we went over to Ford's Theater to get tickets for the tour. We didn't have to wait too long before being allowed in, and it was pretty interesting to walk around the museum and learn a little more about the life and death of Abraham Lincoln. However, I found I much preferred to listen to Ben as my guide to history than reading all the signs with many glossed over details.

After Ford's Theater, we went to the National Archives Museum and got to see the Constitution and Bill of Rights. As a political scientist, Ben thought that these would be pretty important documents to see in person. Then from there we went back to our hotel to rest for awhile and to talk to our kids on FaceTime before going out to dinner. Here are pictures of our fancy room at The Willard Hotel, as well as the lobby and famous Peacock Alley.

Ben and I went to a local pizza place for dinner before taking a walk around our hotel, seeing a small park and a different view of the White House. Lots of people congregated in this area and were fascinated with the sniper walking around on the roof of the White House, looking out over the crowd with binoculars every once in awhile.

After sleeping in some on Friday morning, we decided we would spend the morning riding bikes around to D.C. to see all the monuments around the Tidal Basin. It was pretty hot that weekend, and we were glad for the breeze that riding bikes provided for us, plus it was a much quicker way to get around. I think this was my favorite activity of the weekend. I really enjoyed being out and active together, plus being able to talk and hang out without having to manage kids. I'm so glad we got to sneak away for one last getaway weekend before moving, especially to a city as great as D.C. where there are so many free, historical sites to visit. Here are some pictures from our bike ride around the Tidal Basin.

After spending most of the morning outside, riding bikes and viewing monuments, Ben and I were ready to get inside the air-conditioned museums for the afternoon. We decided to visit the American History and Natural History Museums. We ate lunch in the cafe of the American History museum, and then briefly walked around any of the exhibits that seemed interesting to us. Here are some pictures we took in the museums because we figured our kids would find them interesting.

We took a train to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner before going back to the hotel to swim in the rooftop pool. The water was a little too cold for us to feel like getting in, but we enjoyed sitting on the edge of the pool, talking, and looking out over the city.

We had a fun couple of days being tourists in D.C. before having our Saturday full of wedding day plans. We took a Metro and Amtrak train to meet my freshman year roommate, Maggie, at the station so we could carpool with her to the wedding. I hadn't seen her since college, so it was great to talk and catch up throughout the day of the wedding. Here are Megan and David on their big day.

Besides just going to the wedding, Megan and David invited all their guests to join them for a Nationals vs. Cardinals baseball game. We bought tickets to go along with the group because we couldn't pass up the chance to go to another baseball game, especially at a park we've never been to before. Here are some pictures Ben took that evening. I feel like I didn't get a chance to watch too much of the game because I stood in line for a long time to get food with our voucher, but it was fun to be a part of the big group and the outfield seats gave us a pretty good view. It was a fun way to spend our last night in D.C.

Our Sunday was spent taking Metros and trains to the airport to get back home to our kiddos. Our plane was delayed, getting us home an hour later than we hoped, but we can't complain because we were travelling by ourselves, which is much, much easier than travelling with kids.

Since we were not with the kids, I had Chicago Grandpa and Grandma write up a little about their time with the kids.

Here are the comments from Chicago Grandpa:

"This being the first opportunity we have had to watch them over an extended period we have to say that we enjoyed spending more time with them and getting to know them better."

"Thursday was to be a low key day since they had had a busy week so far, and the fact that Samantha had that hearing test in the morning. Mom took Aedan outside to play for a while, but Samantha chose to stay inside and do different stuff."

"Friday we went to the Children's Museum. They both enjoyed the museum.  Playing in the water works was a big hit, and they both seemed to enjoy the balls area as well."

"Saturday we went to the pool and after dinner we went to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt where the kids could choose their toppings.  The kids seemed to have a good time in the water.  I had to be with Aedan most of the time and was not able to do as much with Samantha.  A boy that Samantha seemed to know arrived after a while so Samantha kind of had someone to play with."

"Sunday, of course, we went to church."

"I enjoyed still being able to read both of them books, although they kept picking the same ones, and the selection choices were limited as you were getting ready to move."

"At one point I was playing various music on my phone, ring tones and other stuff, and Samantha was using that opportunity to put on a little dance show with Aedan occasionally joining in."

"Samantha was very helpful as she liked to set the table and help us find things such as paper towels."

Here are the comments from Chicago Grandma:

"I was coloring with Samantha and she wanted me to read the color names on the markers to her. They were such funny names and Samantha was laughing really hard. She really seemed to enjoy that and wanted me to read them again the next day. She thought I was making them up."

"It was fun getting to hold and cuddle Aedan when putting him to bed.  They stay little for such a short time and grow up so fast."

"Aedan is so cute running through the house singing and dancing with his guitar.  It is cute too the way he still loves his cleaning kit.  It was also cute how Aedan knew to leave his pacifier in his crib wen he gets up, and then when it was time to go to bed he would reach through the bars to get it."

And now back to my observations. It was a little crazy taking a trip to D.C. the weekend right before we planned on move, but it was also a blessing in disguise because we were able to really relax. We couldn't do any packing, we didn't have our kids to take care of, and we were able to truly forget about all our responsibilities and obligations before the crazy week ahead of us.

On Monday morning Andrea offered to watch Samantha and Aedan for us so that we could focus on packing, and so that the kids could all play together one last time. They were so excited to go over to their house to play, and they had a wonderful time together. Isabelle was great with the younger kids, making brownies with them and taking lots of pictures of them together. Here are just a few of the cute pictures that Andrea sent me from that morning. We have really enjoyed getting to know the Schroer family, and we will miss them so much after we move. In fact, when I went to go pick Samantha and Aedan up, Matteo and Bennett gave Samantha and Aedan the cutest little hugs, and Matteo even started crying as we pulled out of their driveway. It was so sad, but so sweet.

Since Monday night was the kids last night in Oxford before going to Upland for a couple of days so Ben and I could finish up last minute moving details, the Chagdes' invited us over for dinner, which was very kind of them. It was a pretty warm day out, and they told us to bring bathing suits for the kids so they could swim in the kiddie pool and have a water balloon fight. We have grown really close to the Chagdes family over the past year. They have been great friends to us, and even though it's sad to say good-bye, we will definitely stay in touch.

Here are our three silly kids posing for a picture before we left for the evening. We were all having too much fun hanging out, playing, and talking, that we didn't want the evening to end. We stayed until past 8:00, but it was worth it to spend our last night with the kids in Oxford in this way.

(Blog about May 24-30, 2016)

Moving to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Samantha: 60 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 25 Months, Week 1

On our last morning with the kids in Oxford, I arranged a play date with our friends from our small group, as well as Beth and her kids and Pam and her kids. I even asked if Samantha's friend Oliver would be able to come over to play. We tried to get them together to play, but it just didn't work out since we were so busy in the last few weeks. However, his mom passed the message along to his dad who then brought Oliver and his little brother over to play at the park. Samantha was so excited to see him, and they both ran off and played together for quite some time. It was a pretty warm and sticky day outside, so the kids didn't have quite as much energy to play in the hot sun, but it was a great last play date with some good friends. We were able to give some really nice good-bye hugs before heading back home for lunch.

Oliver and Samantha

Olivia, Samantha, Daniel, Aedan, Evie, and Isaac

Corrine, Stephanie, Jenny, and Leah (Our Small Group)

Small Group Ladies, Plus Pam and Beth

Jacob and Samantha

When we got home from the park that morning, both kids were hot and tired and ready to eat lunch. We had homemade pizza on the menu, and Ben hoped the car would be done in the shop by then, but they were taking a long time trying to determine what part they needed to fix it and had to talk back and forth with the dealer. I got started on making pizza right away, but that wasn't quick enough for Aedan. He gets cranky when he's hungry and tired, so here is a video of him crying for his lunch. I feel like it's good to remember the times when he is like this, for when I forget what it's like to have a two year old.

After eating lunch, getting Aedan down for his nap, and letting Samantha have quiet time, which we have been doing on most days lately, we had a little bit of time before it was time to take the kids to meet Grandpa and Grandma in Richmond, Indiana. Since it was the last time Aedan would be sleeping in this crib in Oxford, I had Samantha climb in the crib with him for a few cute pictures. It's so strange that this is the place where Aedan first started sleeping in his own crib in his own room, the place he learned to walk just a year ago, the place where Samantha spent two years in preschool and made some of her first very best friends (as well as a few future husbands), as well as the place where Ben held his first position after finishing his Ph.D, and where we made friends together as a couple. It was sad for me to think of leaving this place, and to be honest, I tried not to think about it too much.

The closer we got to our move date, the more empty things became. Ben and I packed up the pantry on Monday night, so when Aedan came downstairs looking for a snack to eat after his nap and was met with a great surprise when the closet where we usually keep our pantry items. It was cute to see him looking in, wondering where all his snacks went.

After having some yogurt and raisins for a snack, we finished getting the kids packed up and then took them outside to get a last picture of the kids in front of our home in Oxford. Samantha was tired, and Aedan is not usually very cooperative for pictures, so this is the best we could get.

I really like this picture of Ben and Samantha, too bad I'm in the background trying to get Aedan to come over and sit down for the picture.

And here's our last picture together as a family in Oxford.

I had plans to go out to dinner with Andrea and Ben took the kids on his own to meet Grandpa and Grandma in Richmond to eat dinner and drop the kids off. So after they took off, I worked around the house a bit and took off curtains from the windows. I took pictures of the kids' rooms with pretty much everything taken down and packed. All we had left to do was laundry of their bedding and their rooms would be done.

I had a great dinner out with Andrea that evening. We had never gotten together without kids before, so it was nice to talk without any interruptions. We ate at Kona, which I had never been to before, and I really enjoyed the food. My friendship with Andrea has really grown over the past year, and I am so glad that I have been able to pray for her and her family through the rough situations they have encountered. She said if we we ever want to come back to Oxford, we are more than welcome to crash at their house for the night, and we may take them up on that offer some day.

That evening once Ben and I were both back home, we started packing up more boxes like our lamps, other kitchen stuff that was left out, and anything else that we could find to pack up to make Wednesday an easier day for us. Here is a picture of what our living room looked like that night. We were really doing pretty well and planned on getting the house cleaned on Wednesday, as well as taking apart all the beds, picking up the Uhaul, and getting all ready for the movers to come on Thursday morning.

Wednesday was more of a complicated day than we were planning on because they didn't get our car fixed on Tuesday like they said they would because they didn't have the right part. I had plans to meet Maggie for breakfast, so she picked me up at the auto shop after I dropped it off. It was great to get together with Maggie one last time, to share and to talk about our life before we moved the next day. She also made a really nice picture for me where she did the lettering of a Bible verse by hand and had friends sign it for us, as a good-bye gift.

Ben and I then spent the rest of the afternoon packing, doing laundry, and cleaning the house. We were waiting and waiting for the auto repair shop to call us back to tell us our car was done, and it took much longer than we planned. Luckily, we were still able to pick up our Uhaul before 5:00, return all our library books and movies, and pick up Ben's prescription at Kroger. Ben drove the Uhaul back home while I finished our errands and took this great picture of it sitting in our driveway, ready to be loaded up the next day.

Ben and I were really in a pretty good position for the movers coming the next day, so we decided to take the evening off and enjoy our last night in Oxford. We were trying to think of a local restaurant that we like to eat at, but there really weren't many that we frequented. Instead, we decided to make the forty-five minute drive to Chuy's, which is definitely our favorite one. The food was delicious, and we were glad we chose to drive there for dinner. After that we came back to Oxford to get a few groceries at Kroger before using our Graeter's gift card for ice cream. We even walked around Uptown while we ate our ice cream, which was nice way to spend our last night in Oxford.

Getting everything packed up and ready to go was much easier to do with just Ben and me. We were glad that Ben's parents suggested taking the kids for us for those couple of days. The movers were going to be arriving anytime between 8:30-10:30, so we got up early enough to be all ready for their arrival. I ran a few errands that morning, like dropping of our internet modem, buying ice for our coolers for refrigerated food, and buying rope to tie of the Uhaul. The movers from You Move Me arrived around 8:45 and had accomplished a lot by the time I got back from my errands around 10:00. They had a pretty good handle on everything, so I decided to start vacuuming and cleaning the rooms that were empty. I was doubtful several times that everything was going to fit because they were doing a great job of packing everything tightly, but we had more stuff than when we moved to Oxford because we got all the boxes and tubs of clothes that we had been storing in Upland, plus we had a few other outside toys that we didn't have before, along with Samantha's bed and mattresses and the elliptical machine. In all honesty, it was better for me to not watch what Ben and the movers were doing because it was making me nervous. I didn't know what we would do if everything didn't fit in the truck. We already had the Santa Fe packed pretty full, and it was a good thing we had that rather than switching for Ben's parents' car. Every time I commented about whether it was all going to fit, one of the moving guys said, "Oh, don't say things like that! We will get it all to fit." The main moving guy said it's just like a big game of Tetris, and he was really good at it. I was impressed with how they got everything to fit, and also with how careful they were with our stuff. They even gave us a couple extra moving blankets and used one of their straps to contain everything at the end in order to close the Uhaul door. They were very efficient, had good senses of humor, and most importantly, got all our stuff loaded. We only had to leave a few things behind like out gas tank for our grill, our plastic outdoor chairs, and the tricycle that was given to us by the Brashers that didn't work properly anyways. The movers were done by 11:00 and only charged us for two hours of work. The office lady from College Property Management came for a walk through at 11:30 while Ben dropped off the furniture dolly that didn't fit in the Uhaul after getting it all packed.  I had a few last minute things to clean up, Ben and I scarfed down the Wendy's that he picked up for lunch, and then we were on the road by 12:30. Here we are leaving Oxford for the last time, Ben in the Uhaul and me in Santa Fe with Roscoe, off to our new home in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Ben and I made pretty good time driving, only stopping once for coffee, gas, and a bathroom break. We decided to push through and not stop for dinner that evening because we just wanted to get to the hotel to see our kids and relieve Grandpa and Grandma from their kid-watching duties. We got hotel rooms in Grayling, Michigan at a hotel that had an indoor pool and playground. We figured the kids would enjoy having some activities to amuse them that evening and the next morning. Ben and I arrived at the hotel just before 8:00, and we were all very tired from a long and exhausting day. We got everyone situated in their rooms, got the kids to bed, and then Ben and I were finally able to go out to pick up some pizza to eat for dinner. It's not very often that we eat dinner after 9:30 p.m., but we were glad our long day of driving was over and that we were on our way to our new town.

On Friday morning Ben got up and left with the Uhaul around 7:30 so that he would make it our new house by 10:00 a.m. when the other movers were scheduled to meet us to help unload the Uhaul. Ben took a few pictures of the house and the truck when he first arrived at the house that morning.

(It was fun to be able to see our back yard because both times we visited the house everything was covered in snow so it was hard to tell what the yard and patio area looked like. It was overgrown with dandelions, but that is something easily fixed by a lawnmower.)

Here is a picture of our packed Uhaul truck, waiting to be unloaded. We had a 26' truck and it was jammed full, so unless we have a lot less stuff, if we every move again we will have to get a semi truck instead.

Since there was really not much of a point for the kids to get to the house very early, we decided to stay back at the hotel, eat a more relaxed breakfast, play on the indoor playground, and then go swimming once the pool opened at 9:00. The kids had a good time, and it gave them something to occupy themselves for the morning. We swam until about 9:30 and then got the kids dressed and everything packed up, getting on the road at about 10:30. It was a little over two hours to drive from Grayling to Sault Ste. Marie, and Samantha is pretty good at amusing herself in the car, especially if she has a coloring book to color in. However, Aedan was already tired out from the morning and not sleeping well the night before, so he was pretty cranky in the car. I rode while Grandma drove her car, and Grandpa drove the Santa Fe with Roscoe. I tried to amuse him with toys to play with, but after awhile he just threw everything down on the ground and chose to cry and whine. I put a show on to try to entertain them, because at this point I was desperate, and that held his interest for a little while, but not as long as I had hoped. Aedan was tired and really all he wanted to do was get his paci and go to sleep; however, I didn't want him to fall asleep in the car that morning because that would ruin any chance of him falling asleep at the house that afternoon when we would really want him to sleep so we could get some work done around the house.

Well, we finally arrived in Sault Ste. Marie after what felt like a very long trip in the car with the kids. The movers had finished unloading everything just after noon, and our house was full of boxes, which was to be expected. However, to Ben's surprise, he walked down in the basement and noticed the carpet in the area back by the built-in shelves was soaking wet, like squishing under your foot wet. For some reason, the dehumidifier had leaked all over the carpet, so once I saw the water saturated carpet, I quickly moved all the boxes that were placed on top of that area of the carpet so they would not get more wet. Ben's mom suggested we rent a wet/dry vacuum to suck up all the water from the carpet, so that was a problem we weren't planning on dealing with right when moving in. We think the water came from a kink in the hose that led to the dehumidifier, and that could have happened from the movers moving the couch downstairs just that morning, we really had no idea what it was from, and it was disappointing and frustrating coming to our new home that already had a problem.

Moving is always a stressful time. It just is and there is no way to get around it. All of our planning paid off and things were going smoothly, but it's difficult relocating to a new town, having all your stuff packed in boxes, and trying to get acclimated to a new house, all while having little kids underfoot for whom their world was stressful and unpredictable as well. Sometimes Ben and I don't do very well handling stress, especially when we had unforeseen problems like the wet carpet in the basement and the old dishwasher that was full of stagnant water, had a leaky pipe, and was a real pain to get out. We were not as patient as we should have been with our children, and it was difficult to know how to handle these problems along with trying to get our house in order enough for everyone to have a place to sleep that night.

During the afternoon, I put Aedan down for his nap downstairs in the bedroom in his pack and play so that we could get bedrooms set up upstairs. Luckily, he was tired enough that it didn't seem to bother him that he was sleeping in such a weird place. In fact, he actually fell asleep in my lap while I sat on the floor and rocked him. We put on a movie on the computer for the girls that afternoon while the adults got to work around the house. Grandma worked on cleaning up the carpet in the basement, Grandpa and Ben worked on putting beds together, and Jeni helped unpack all of the boxes of kitchen supplies. I worked on making sure all the boxes were in the correct place according to their actual labels, helped to make the beds, and began the long process of unpacking boxes.

Later that evening, since the house was still covered in boxes, we had no food in our refrigerator, and we were all pretty tired from a long day of working, we decided to leave the house, take a break for dinner out at a local restaurant, and even get a view of a ship passing through the Soo Locks. I think the locks were more interesting to the adults than the kids, but it was exciting to see our town in the summer, to see more life in our new town, and to be walking around with shorts and t-shirts. Here's a cute picture of the three kids looking out over the locks.

The rest of our weekend went by pretty quickly since we were all busy unpacking, getting the old dishwasher finally taken out and the new one installed, drying out the carpet in the basement more, getting the kids' rooms pretty well situated and most of the boxes unpacked in the kitchen. In fact, we were even able to eat dinner in our kitchen on Saturday night, so that felt good. We were making really good progress. Jeni and Alaina left on Saturday afternoon to head back home, and Grandpa and Grandma stayed through Sunday so they could attend the Sault Wesleyan Church before driving back home. It felt strange but nice to be in our new home as just our family of four.

Being at the house on our own meant that we couldn't get quite as much done unless the kids were asleep, so our progress on packing slowed. However, we were able to get the curtains hung up in the kids' rooms, and I got their toys and bookcases all set up as well which made their rooms feel a lot more normal and like home. I even went grocery shopping with both kids at Walmart on Monday morning, so life was feeling a little more normal.

We had some colder, rainier weather, but we were able to go out Monday night to a playground that is right down the street from our house. It is a playground made all out of wood and looks like a castle from the outside. It was a little chilly out, but it felt fine as long as we wore our light jackets.

Jeni lovingly agreed to mow our lawn for us before leaving on Saturday afternoon, which made Roscoe happy since he didn't have to walk through dandelions anymore. However, when we got back from the park we realized that our kids hadn't been out in the backyard yet, so we let them run around and enjoy our backyard before it was time to get them in the house and ready for bed. It will be great to enjoy this new space for the kids to play. We are so grateful for our fenced in back yard for the kids, our wonderful new house, and for the space that we have to grow as a family in Sault Ste. Marie.

(Blog about May 31-June 6, 2016)