Working, Daycare, and Commuting

So, at long last, we have both landed jobs, and while mine is only promised to be a temporary position, it feels good to be back to work.  Declan, however, would prefer it if I hung out with him and watched The Wiggles and took him to the park and played with him all day.  I guess, back in Napa, he didn't really ever know there was any other option than going to daycare every day, so he never minded.  And even now, once I leave, he seems to enjoy his time, but in the mornings he begs me to "No Work" and asks to stay "Home... Home..." as he tears up when I start to put his shoes on.  It's a bit flattering, as well as heart-wrenching, that he gets so upset just at the thought of going.   I'm sure he'll get used to it soon.  I got his first piece of art from school this morning.   They did a finger painting of 'red and white make pink'.  It's adorable.  Not frame-worthy, but I'm sure it won't be long until he brings home the first piece I'll have to hang on the wall.

As for me....I am excited to be working at a place that has meant so much to me, and my family, over the years.  I attended Camp Kanuga from the time I was 9 until 15, then worked at the Conference Center on summer staff when I was 16, attended middle and high school conferences all through school, and even worked on staff for those events during college.  I was amazed at how much I had missed the place when I was back visiting with my parents a few weeks ago.  It is a place that I definitely want to share with my children and I am excited to be beginning a new chapter of involvement with Kanuga.  Hopefully my ability to learn quickly and pick up anything I need to learn will help me to prove that they can't live without me and will want to hire me on a more permanent basis.  The only problem with it right now is the commute.  In order to get Declan dropped at daycare and be at work in time to have a full day at work, we have to leave the house by 7, which means I've been getting up between 5:15 and 5:30.... I've NEVER been on this early of a schedule, and it's definitely taking some getting used to.  This morning, though, I actually woke up and only hit snooze once.  YAY!

Joshua seems to be enjoying work as well.  Unfortunately, this new schedule kind of has us running at opposite ends of the day, but we'll work it out at least for the short term.  It's strange to spend so much time together for the past few months, and then switch to only seeing each other for a few hours, if that, while we're both awake and at home.

While I very much miss all of our friends in Napa, especially around celebrations like Declan's birthday, and Thanksgiving... I think we made a good decision, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the beautiful area we've moved to.  This weekend, Declan and I went hiking and saw waterfalls, walked around a lake and through sticks and leaves in both.  We have an amazing park right up the road, and there is so much free stuff for us to do together.  We'll see what the next weekend holds for us if the weather stays nice!

And since I can't seem to post anything on here without at least one picture, I'll leave you all with an old one, in remembrance of where we were 2 years ago....

Finally... the Second Half

Alrighty folks.... I've finally uploaded all the photos, and found the time to write down a brief account of the second half of the journey.  Enjoy!

Day 5 - After getting up a little later than we planned, we hit the end of the breakfast bar at the Holiday Inn Express, and then hit the road.  We realized after getting ourselves organized that we actually had a pretty long drive ahead of us in order to get to Sioux Falls that night.  It wouldn't have been a big deal to stop earlier, except that Saturday was also a big day of driving and we had lunch plans in Milwaukee that we didn't want to miss.

After a pit stop at a 'truck stop' diner for lunch, and a great photo opportunity with a dinosaur, we moved on.

We powered through the dull part of South Dakota, and stopped for way longer than we planned at Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota.

Wall Drug is an interesting example of roadside marketing, tourist trash, and really fun kitschy stuff that entertained Declan (and Joshua and I) for a couple of hours.
We bought homemade fudge, had a 5 cent cup of coffee, and rode a Jackelope

among other things.  

Moving right along, we drove into the night to get to Sioux Falls.  Making a reservation when we were only about an hour away, the woman at the reservation desk failed to tell us that when we were driving up to the hotel, we needed to IGNORE the sign that said the road was closed and NOT follow the detour that was provided.  30 minutes later, we figured out how to get to the other side of the river and to our hotel.  Late and tired, we packed all our gear into the hotel (somehow Declan still got his ride on the luggage cart) and crashed for a few short hours.

Day 6 - On to Milwaukee... the drive that morning was pretty quiet, with both the boys asleep for most of the dark part of the morning, and not too much to look at, but we made it to meet friend Gene and his son for lunch at Karl Ratch's in Milwaukee.

Wisconsin has some beautiful country to drive through.  After a lovely German lunch, in a totally amazing building, and a quick stop at a local Green Bay Packer store, we hopped back on the road to Chicago.

We got in just before dark, and hauled all the stuff up the three flights to Johanna's apartment.  By this point, Joshua was fighting a cold that was catching up with him, so Johanna and Declan and I hit the town.  Well, we hit the local Mexican joint for a quick dinner and came home to have a couple of glasses of wine and catch up.  I got enough of a glance of Chicago to know that I must go back and stay for longer... and soon.  It was a beautiful city and I would like to explore.  And Declan thinks that the L might be the most amazing thing ever.  All we heard anytime we were outside (Johanna's apartment is near a station, so the trains came by often), was 'MORE TRAIN!'  Like we could actually make them show up on command!

Day 7 - Some sleep and down time, and we all got ourselves ready to head to the park and then to a local Packer Bar to watch the football game.

Well, Johanna opted out of the Packer game, she said because she had things to do, but I know she really just wanted to watch the Bears instead!  My son showed me what a truly amazing sleeper he is and decided to take his afternoon nap on the bench seat of the table we were sitting at, in the middle of all the cheering and noise from the game.  He proceeded to be the life of the party once he woke up, and had more photo requests than I can count!  The cutest little Packer fan ever!  After the game, we hopped on the road and drove into the evening to land in Lexington, Kentucky for the night.  We didn't really see much of Indiana











or Kentucky until the next day.  It was so dark and the Kentucky sign was in the middle of a bridge, so we even missed the requisite State sign photo shot.  Oh well...

This was the bridge that held the KY sign... we missed it.

Day 8 - On the road by 11:00, after spending an hour on the phone trying to sort out the new AT&T internet service (which didn't end up getting turned on until a week after we got there), we drove down through Kentucky and Tennessee and finally hit the North Carolina border.

We had had grand plans of taking the scenic route through the mountains to see the leaves, but the leaves hadn't started changing yet, so we just stayed on I-40 and got on into Asheville.  We arrived, tired, but excited to be here, around 4:00 on Monday afternoon.  Thank goodness we had a place to stay, since our stuff didn't arrive until the next day!  Our new neighbors, and old family friends, provided a wonderful place to lay our head for the first few nights, until we got important things like a bed and sheets unpacked!  Declan settled right in, and explored the area all around the house for about two days straight!

Whew... finally home.  And finally caught up on the travel blog (only a month later).  More to come as life develops in Asheville!

A Quiet Night in Gillette, Wyoming

After a few squeals of exhaustion, Declan is quietly sucking his thumb and on his way quickly to sleepy land, and Joshua and I are having a moment of down time during this adventurous week.

So... back to the departure.  We left the wedding at a reasonable hour, but after situating the last of the stuff in the truck, getting the partition wall installed, and picking up Declan, we didn't necessarily leave Napa at a reasonable hour.  And certainly didn't get to Grass Valley at one.  Actually, it was about 1:45 when we pulled up, as Declan opened his eyes and said 'Pa Pa!', once again amazing us at how aware of his surroundings he is.

Unfortunately, that was the start of a hellish night with an almost 2 year old who just decided he would rather cry, thrash around in either his, or our, bed, and even roll off the bed onto his Mama, after she came back from the bathroom to find him happily sleeping (for the moment) in her spot, and opted to lay down on the floor rather than disturb him in order to get a few winks of her own.  Long night finally over, we got a slow start to the next day.  After meeting a friend in Grass Valley for breakfast, and then turning around to pick up the camera, because it would have just been wrong to go all the way across the country without a camera, we finally hit the road towards Elko, Nevada.

On the way, we did make a pit stop at Boomtown Casino in Reno for a quick hot dog and Wheel of Fortune chance.  $50.00 dollars richer when we left, and lunch and a carousel ride down, we moved on.

Elko - A place where the lady in the fast food checkout line asked "Is that one of them E-lectric cars?"  A few older casinos in the downtown area, and a few newer ones closer to the highway, and that's about it.  By the time we got there though, a bed was a bed, and we had a quick bite at the hotel restaurant and all crashed quickly.

Day 2 - We decided that instead of heading up past Craters of the Moon, we would take the highway route, which would take us past Salt Lake, and then on to Idaho Falls from there.

Shortly after crossing into Utah (and almost missing the requisite state sign picture!),

 we started seeing signs for Bonneville Salt Flats.  Having heard of the famous time trials done there for cars, hot rods and motorcycles (highlighted in the Worlds Fastest Indian in particular), we decided to pull off the highway and check it out.  We followed the signs towards the salt flats, oohing and aahing at the surrounding area on the way.

We passed a genteleman on a moped, which seemed a little odd, but we continued on.  We came up at the end of the road, and there was a table with a few folks sitting there, and a few parked cars.  Thinking we would have to turn around, they informed us that the time trials were starting tomorrow, and if we wanted to head out on the salt flats (for free), and check out the cars that were there getting ready, that we were more than welcome.

Well, our 5 minute pull off the highway turned into a surprise visit to Bonneville and closeups with cars that we would NEVER have otherwise seen.  After about an hour of wandering and snapping pictures of the amazing cars, we had to climb back in the car and head on down the road.

About a mile and a half after we got back on the highway, we saw brake lights ahead, and started to hit the brakes to move around what appeared to be some debris in the road and a car off to the side.  Seeing that there were no emergency vehicles there, Joshua asked me to pull over so he could check to see if everyone was alright and see if there was anything he could do if they weren't.  Turns out, my dear husband may have saved a woman's life by making me pull over.  He grabbed his medic bag and headed down into the median (sunken, but just kinda sandy, so easily accessible), where an SUV had obviously rolled a couple of times.  The driver was still pinned in the car, and Joshua was able to calm her down, let her know not to try to get out of the car, and put a dressing on her head wound while we waited for the emergency folks to arrive.  When they got there, about 15 - 20 minutes later, we were told that life flight was going to be called to take the woman in, and the EMT's from the ambulance took over.  We moved on down the road, thankful that we had not been a few minutes earlier and been involved in any accident, and thankful that Joshua might have been able to make a real difference in this woman's life.  At that moment, I was extremely proud for my husband to be my husband.

Anyways, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  After all the unexpected stops, we ended up staying in Pocatello, Idaho for the night, instead of trying to make it to Idaho Falls.  It meant a little bit less time in Yellowstone on the way to Cooke City, but it was well worth it getting to get off the road after a long day.

Day 3 - After leaving Pocatello (a friendly and cute little town, from what we saw at the hotel and at Applebee's), we drove on, realizing that we probably made the right decision by staying there instead of Idaho Falls, and on to Yellowstone.

By the time we got to the park, we had time to make a few stops,

check out a few geothermal sites....










 get held up in a buffalo traffic jam....

and take in some amazing scenery....










before heading on to our destination for the evening, Cooke City, Montana.

Our hotel room had the smell of a winter cabin, and given that it was only about 45 degrees outside, it had that kind of chill in the air outside as well.  It was completely refreshing, and we were excited to get out and grab a bite before heading back to the hotel.  I'm now 'seriously' considering opening a restaurant there, just because the only options were just terrible.  After sitting down in one restaurant and leaving because of the rude waitress and some interesting looks because of Declan not wanting to settle right down, we opted for the restaurant at the hotel in the middle of the one street town.  It had a lobby which would have been warm and inviting in a lodge-y kind of way, had there been a fire going.  The fire was not in existence, however, and after standing by the hotel registration desk/host stand for about 5 minutes we finally got a table.  One crusty waiter, one messy bowl of soup for Declan and two pretty darn good Old Faithful Ale's from Grand Teton Brewing Company later, we were on our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.  Declan cooperated better than some nights but worse than others... but generally, we woke up rested and hit the road again this morning, headed for the Beartooth Scenic Byway.

Day 4 (Today) - I really wanted to make sure that the Beartooth Mountains were on our trip if we decided to head the northern route across the states.  I am so glad we did, because they were just as breathtaking as I remembered, and I loved sharing it with my family.

Declan handled the altitude change very well.  There were a few unexplained screams which we chalked up to ears popping, but this is one time that I'm thankful that my son sucks his thumb, because I'm sure it helps.  He cruised through the ascent, slept for about 5 minutes before we got to the overlook where we walked out to take some pictures of the view and play with rocks and chipmunks.  The scenery was amazing,

 and the exercise was good for the little man as well.

 He slept well on the afternoon trip and only whined a little bit before we hit Gillette, Wyoming, where we have settled for the evening.  Tomorrow will be a long drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on which will likely be lots of stops and scenery, and then on from there.

I hope I haven't bored anyone to death.... I realized about half way through that I'm partly writing the travel blog, and partly just writing my own journal of the trip.  

Hope you enjoy the pics.  They are unedited and just a small selection of what is to come!

Cross Country Adventure - Part 1

From the mutterings from both boys in the beds, this may be a very short post.

The first two days of travel have gone surprisingly well, with only a few minor bumps in the road.  (Hah hah... didn't even think of that pun until I looked back at it)

The departure from Napa was bittersweet of course, having been a part of such a beautiful and touching wedding and celebration, and then leaving that to hit the road.

As expected, my littlest man has just climbed out of his spot in the bed and come to join me on the chair.  He's maneuvering himself between me and the computer.  I'll hopefully have more of a chance to write and post pictures before long.  Who knows, though.  Part 2 may be written from Asheville at this rate!

The View is Gonna Change

So, after some long and involved thinking and planning, we have decided to pack up our things and move across the country to Asheville, North Carolina.  I have been missing my mountains for quite a while, and it's time to be closer to my family for a while, and put some money in our pockets for the next venture!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement.  After we pulled the trigger and decided to start making plans for a mid-October departure, our landlords decided that they wanted to get a new tenant into the house as quickly as possible and pushed up our move date to mid-September instead!  Wow.  All of a sudden we have a lot to take care of in a very short period of time.

House?  Jobs?  Move?  OK.  Here Goes.

The house hunt began by scanning craigslist and dreaming of the perfect home.  Then we started getting serious and looking at things that would actually be practical.  Lucky for us, my parents just happened to be vacationing at Kanuga, outside of Asheville, and were willing to do some scouting for us.  Ruling out 3 of the 6 places that we had them look at right off the bat, we were down to a couple of options.  Were we going to just suck it up and move into a condo so that we had all the amenities, but no yard or privacy, or were we going to keep looking.  Fortunately, there was one more house to see that Saturday on their way back to Chapel Hill.  I signed on with the owner over a phone call before even seeing the pictures that my parents took yet.  A 2400 square foot house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (WITH 2 SINKS IN EACH), and a great rec room in the basement which will function as office/den/playroom for Declan.  Plus, it just happens to be right around the corner from an old family friend, who I worked for in college.  I'm so lucky that my parents give such a great first impression, because we had the house before I could even get any documents to sign, thanks to them!

So check one item off of the list.  And the moving container will be here on Sept. 9, and the boxes are starting to get packed.  After the yard sale this weekend, we'll hopefully really be able to get things going!

The travel plans are coming together too.  We're going to actually take a few extra days and spend a little time traveling through some beautiful areas of the country.  We're hoping that will actually make the trip a little easier on the little guy.  Hopefully he handles the long journey well!  Here we come, Yellowstone, Beartooth Highway, Badlands, and the Smokies!

OK - That just leaves the really important list item left.  Jobs.  I am so frustrated by scammers on craigslist that can't even get their grammar together enough in their responses to make me think that its a real offer.  I mean, really... if you are going to try to scam someone to get their private info, then at least double check your writing so it sounds real.  Actually, thank you for having horrible grammar and sounding like you used a translator to write your response... it makes it easier for me to tell what's real and what's not.  Obviously there are people out there that are dumb enough to keep handing out their info.  Anyways, finding the perfect place may just have to wait until we get there, but hopefully we can at least line something up with one of the hotels or resorts in the mean time.

That's the big update for now!  And since I can't post a blog without at least one or two pictures of Declan... here you are!

Just a happy boy playing on the couch.

An even happier boy chewing on his first ribeye bone!

Big Sisters and Summer Fun

Things always really feel like Summer once Zhoe arrives to visit.  There is a change to the family atmosphere that is so refreshing.  The past week feels like it has been jam packed.  In fact, Zhoe is, at this very moment, napping on the couch, having fallen asleep after a busy morning helping some friends of ours dismantle part of the roof on the back half of their house with her father.

It's such a nice feeling that all of our friends have embraced Zhoe as one of the family, and are so genuinely excited when she comes out to visit.  And now, she has a little brother who will be excited too!  Having Zhoe around has definitely had its effect on Declan too.  At times, he seems much more grown up, and excited to have someone other than Mama and Dada around the house.  Other times, however, he seems extra needy for Mama and Dada, and very hesitant to go to her when she wants to hold him.  It must be a strange phenomenon for him to have a new person in the house out of seemingly nowhere.  For the most part, however, they are both seeming to enjoy each others company very much!  Plus, I haven't had to change a poopy diaper since she's gotten here.... BONUS!

While we haven't had time to really take too many pictures, here are a few that we've snapped so far.  Plan on lots of updates and pictures as the summer goes on!

Laid Back......

Elvis, Lightnin' and Zho-zo!

Farmer's Market Saturday (part 2)

Only a bit over a week later.... I am finally getting back to the computer to get those pics up.  It was a great day on the bicycles, cruising around Napa and enjoying the weather.  Just a few quick pics of the fun!

Enjoying a moment with Mama on the wall behind Cole's Chop House.

Lets go! I've got the basket.

Maybe you can carry it, DaDa... it's a little heavy now.

What?? 

The look of concentration before he attempts to climb on something new.