Friends

So, we've been here about three weeks, give or take. The best thing? My friend Sara is only two hours away, in Searcy. I left a couple of very good friends behind in Port Orchard (Maria Byrd and Tracy Anderson, I miss you!), and I would be desolate without them, but for the fact that my college roommate and sister-in-heart lives so close to me now.

Sara brought her two cuties over yesterday. Our children had not seen one another since Alec was a newborn and Laura was about a year old. Grant had not yet arrived. Didn't seem to matter much. They hit it off and had a great time.

Now I just need to see my other HU sissies. Cara, Maria Roberts, Anna, y'all come see me soon!

Travel Log #3

I think the best thing about a road trip is the unplanned treasure. This hotel is NOT one of those treasures. We stayed at "The Big Bear Motel" in Cody, WY, because they accepted pets. It was straight out of a 1972 movie. No alarm clock, no tissues on the bathroom counter, no telephone. Absolutely NO FRILLS. But, it did have a horse paddock out behind our room and it had a bench outside the door that the boys thought was cool. Looking back, I'm glad we stayed there simply because of these pictures.

This, however, was one of those unplanned jewels. We were driving along a scenic road in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming and needed a potty break. This is what we discovered!

These cool cars were in the parking lot for for the waterfall.

Finally, Mt. Rushmore. Honestly? Supremely cool. I liked it more than Yellowstone. It is amazing that such a gigantic thing could be man-made.

Yellowstone: Log #2

We traveled through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri on our way to Tennessee. Montana and Wyoming were downright breathtaking. Just beautiful. But I did have moments of slight panic when the gas tank would start to get below half a tank and there was not a town in sight. We would drive for hours and only pass by a handful of settlements that could pass for civilization. Miles and miles and miles of farmland. Horses, cows, crops. And rolling mountains. So very pretty.

Our first major stop on the trip was Yellowstone National Park.

It is very pretty and I do recommend that you go. However, try NOT to go in July. We were there soon after the July 4th holiday and it was just too crowded for our taste. Too many people. But we did get to see Old Faithful and we were stuck in a traffic jam created, not by people, but by bison. That was pretty fun. We also stood on the Continental Divide. I tried, in vain, to explain this concept to my children. They didn't really "get it" and, frankly, I don't think they really cared. I thought it was cool though!

Old Faithful was a bit of a tease. It erupts every 90 minutes or so. We found a good place to catch the "show" and waited for about 15 minutes before we started seeing whisps of steam. There would be steam and a spurt of water that would quickly trickle off. Then. . . nothing. For several minutes we would just stare at this whole in the ground and wait expectantly. Finally the tease erupted and gave us the show we were hoping for. It was pretty cool.

The unfortunate part of the Old Faithful experience was that Alec was super tired and cranky. He wanted no part of anything. You can see that he wouldn't even look at me for a photo!

My favorite aspect of Yellowstone was Yellowstone Lake. It was simply surreal in its beauty. It looked like glass and was ringed with mountains. Very nice. I also enjoyed the many waterfalls and pretty views.

Next post coming soon!

FINALLY : Moving Log #1

Hello!! I've missed you so much. Praise God for small conveniences. We've been without our daily intact of vitamin DSL for the past couple of weeks and I have to admit I'm an internet junkie. I'm SOOOO happy to be back online.



We are in our house and everything is rolling right along. Mike goes to work at his new band for the first time tomorrow. We're praying he'll be in a cohesive group and that there will be other Christians in his band.


So, I'm starting my update/moving log. Hang on tight, and here we go:



Monday, June 29:


Big ol' moving truck showed up at the house and whisked away all of our stuff. This was equal parts cool and scary for our boys. There was a LOT of concern about favorite toys and books and games.

After the moving truck left our old home in Port Orchard, we had to stay in the Navy Lodge (hotel) on Mike's base in Silverdale, WA, before we were able to transition out of that base and start our drive across country.

We were there for an entire week. It was challenging to be confined to such a small space for such a long time. We found ways to entertain ourselves. The boys and I met friends for last play dates; we played at parks; we bowled, we had fun with varieties of shoes. Too my dismay, shoot 'em up video games were involved.

Wednesday, July 8:

The day that we were released from duty in Washington, Mike loaded up our little car (two kids + two cats = ridiculously too much for one small car) and we realized ~ to our utter dismay ~ that we had a huge, gaping hole in our tire. One trip to Sears Automotive and a three hour delay later we finally started driving.

I thought it was completely appropriate that Washington bade us goodbye with rain and 60 degree weather (in July).

Next update coming soon.

Quick Update

We have safely arrived in Tennessee and have spent the last three days trying to find the floor in our new home.  The number of boxes was completely overwhelming at first, but we're starting to make progress.  Uncle Buddy, Mike's brother, arrived on Thursday and has been very helpful.  He and Mike have done some heavy lifting and have almost finished putting together the boys' new playground set in the backyard (thanks to my dear friend Tracy and her family for gifting us with it!).

We are still without internet or television.  I'm using Buddy's computer/wireless card to update today.  We're hoping to have everything up and running by the end of next week.  I'll update again with photos when we're more settled.

Too tired to think of an F word

We're in Livingston, Montana, tonight. We finished our second day of driving and are on our way to Tennessee. Tomorrow we're visiting Yellowstone as we make our way through Wyoming and into South Dakota. I'll try to post pictures in couple of days.

Today was gorgeous. This part of the country is just astonishingly beautiful. Big, wide spaces with blue skies and white clouds. We got rained on briefly a couple of times today and it was the kind of rain that you can smell coming. So fresh and earthy. The mountains, the rivers, the lakes. It is all gorgeous.

The funniest sight we saw today was a little dog riding behind his person on the back of a Harley. The dog was wearing a camouflage "jacket" and a bandana. I didn't get a picture of him but he was super cute.

Until next time!

Foraging: Verb. To search about; seek; rummage; hunt

We've been foraging for fun the past couple of days and I'm happy to report we've been successful.

Yesterday we discovered a beautiful state park on the Hood Canal, aptly named Scenic Beach. It really was lovely, with a nice rocky beach, clear cool water, clean campsites, and a nice hiking trail. We took a picnic and just enjoyed the fresh air and made some memories.

~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~**~

Today, after church, Zach went home with his buddies Luke and Easton for the afternoon. They, apparently, had a great time re-creating Star Wars battle scenes in the woods behind Luke's house. Zach was happy and tired when he got home. While he was away, Mike and I took Alec down to the Southworth ferry landing and walked along the water on that beach. It's literally just about five miles from our house and I've never gone there just to walk on the beach before today. Crazy. Anyway, it was such fun. Alec loved hunting for "she shells" and throwing rocks into the water. However, the highlight of the day for him was finding a long stick of driftwood. We wrote his name in the sand with it and then he carted that stick all over the beach.

I feel like we're doing a pretty decent job making the most of our last days in this beautiful part of the country. In the summertime, it is so very easy to forget the horribly awful cold and rain of the fall and winter (and spring). In the summer, it is cool and clear and the world just seems bright and green. It's beautiful. I'm glad that we get to enjoy this part before we say goodbye.