The Joys of Moving

I don't usually blog with just writing, but I have a few things I don't want to forget, and I don't have pictures of them anyway :) so I am just going to write a little bit about our move.

Let me start off by saying that I had no idea how beautiful (and big) California is. The drive up to Portland was stunning. I have never seen such beautiful landscape, and it just kept getting better and better the farther North we came.

I am sure that anyone that has moved knows it never goes completely right. Our first day was great. The kids were fabulous (even Katie) for the entire trip. When we got to our hotel, David parked the moving truck (which had a car trailer/car hitched to the back of it) where the Hotel manager told him to park it. Everyone had warned us about getting stuck, but we didn't know where else to park. At night it looked pretty easy to get out of there, but in the morning we found out that wasn't the case. When we were looking at the situation and trying to figure it out, I suggested an idea that I thought would work. David listened but said it sounded a little difficult (which it was, but I knew he could do it). Then he told me he was going to do something else that should be pretty easy and should work. It didn't work :) To make a long story short, it took us an hour and a half to get the truck back to it's original spot, at which point David took my very first suggestion and we were on our way in about 10 mins. :). We laughed so hard. We were very careful from that moment on about where we parked the truck (David gave me permission to tell this story - I have very few moments to boast about when I was right :).

On our second day we stopped at a gas station to get gas. We were only about an hour into our trip, but we wanted to get some soda :). For most of the trip David would only stop at truck stops (it is so much easier to get back out on the freeway), but for some reason (later known as a blessing) he stopped at a little town. I gassed up my car, but when I went to start it it wouldn't start. I was on the phone with Julie, and I didn't notice, but David was standing next to the car and gave me a quizzical look. That is when I knew something was wrong. THE BATTERY WAS DEAD! How annoying. Luckily the Lord loves us and watches out for his children. As I said before we were lucky enough to be in a little town (tender mercy from the Lord), and the gas station was right across the street from a Burger King. I took the kids over there while David went down the street to an auto parts store and got a new battery. I am so grateful for all the Lord does for us.

The last 2 days of the trip were great. Nothing really bad happened. On the last day when we were coming over the mountain pass just before the Oregon border it started to snow (this was April 29th). My kids were so excited. We stopped at the first truck stop we came to and they got out to watch it fall. It wasn't heavy, just enough to swirl around in the air. It was the 1st time Katie had ever seen snow. She loved it. We started to drive again. As we crossed the border into Oregon it really started to snow. The girls said that Oregon was welcoming us with snow. They were so happy. Around that time the windows started to fog. I turned on my defrost, but I didn't know if I was supposed to do warm air or cold. I have not used the defrost in years. It was so crazy. I called David to ask him what to do. He didn't know either. Well, I did the wrong thing. I turned it cold first. Then it got really bad so I called my parents to ask them. It is warm air by the way :). I hiked up the heat and then it started to get better. The kids and I were roasting, it was horrible. After a few minutes I gradually started to turn it down. It all worked out in the end. At least now I know how to defrost my windshield :) Sheesh. That is really something everyone should know - I am sure most people do, just not me and Dave :). It really was a fun trip. Our longest drive was about 8 hours so it worked out pretty great.

We love it here! It is beautiful. I have never seen so much green. After I got over the shock of living in an older home again, and being incredibly homesick for a week and a half, I am really finding out how much I love it here. The kids are so excited everyday to wake up and discover something new.
Yesterday Emma came running in telling me to come see the spider spinning the aphid in its web. I found my shoes and went out to see. There has been this spider in the same spot for a few days and the kids have see it eat a couple of bugs. I came out and watched and then said "cool." I turned to go back inside when Joelle says "I threw it in there." That caught me off guard. I said "what?" She said "I threw the aphid in the spider's web." She said it so matter of fact like. I asked her "why?" She said "the aphid was eating my rose bush so I picked it up and threw it in the spiders web." With a smile she turned and ran off. What happened to my sweet Joelle? She is just feeding aphids to spiders and has no remorse over it? She is one funny little girl. Don't mess with Joelle's rose bush :).

We went to the ocean our 2nd weekend we were here. It was the most beautiful beach I have seen (I will post those pictures soon). We spent 6 hours there. The kids thought it was the best thing ever. We saw starfish, anemones and seagulls. We found sea shells and what Ben called "little shrimp". It was quite the adventure. On the way home when we were all tired and dirty and wet, Ben calls out "Can we do this every weekend?!" We just laughed and told him "no," "But we will do it as often as we can". I have wanted to go back every day since. We need to work it in soon. I miss the ocean!

So that is our trip and a few funny things that have happened since. I have so many pictures that I need to post I will try soon. Home school takes up most of my time, but so far we love it. My hand is cramping now :), so I am going to call it a night. I love it here!