Halfway there

We are halfway through our cross country move.  Last Thursday, while the packers were at our house, we moved into a hotel in town.  The kids were not complaining about having cable TV and it was nice to have a less chaotic place to go to.

 Friday morning, the kids went to friends' houses to play and while the packers loaded up our house, Ben and I cleaned.

People kept asking me if it was strange seeing the house empty, but it strangely still felt like home, even bare and full of random people.  This house had a special place in my heart...

 

Friday afternoon, Ben finished the super gross cleaning (i.e. behind appliances) while the kids and I played at the hotel.  The pool was SUPER cold, but we tried.

 

Saturday, Ben and I went for our last run on the trail and then we hung out at the house while the carpets were cleaned.  We were not prepared for it to take them 3.5 hours with the door standing wide open.  The kids took it all in stride...maybe the chips helped.

 

We discovered several essentials we were missing, so that afternoon we went shopping.  Colin was exhausted by this point:

 

Sunday, after we said goodbye to our church family, we went up to Williamsburg to stay at Great Wolf Lodge.  I was thankful that fellow parents warned me that one afternoon here is enough, because they were SO right.  After a couple of hours, I was done.  It was fun and we all had a blast, but it wears you out.

 

Monday morning, I went to the house to get it inspected for move out and Ben checked out of his command.  We met up for lunch and got ready to hit the road.  It was about this time that the reality of moving hit both of us hard.  Handing over the house keys was hard for me and it didn't help that the rental people were dumb about a couple of things.   What surprised me the most was how our kids reacted right there; they became excited about moving and Ben and I became stressed.  It was such a blessing though that they were happy and made it easier for us to have some time to process everything that was happening.

We drove to Charleston, West Virginia that day:

Alison working out with me at the hotel

Tuesday we drove to St. Louis, Missouri.

Kentucky

 

Illinios

 

St. Louis

 

The arch was closed, but I thought St. Louis was so fun.  Ben booked us a room at the downtown hotel, which was amazing.  The kids had their own room (okay, maybe that's what I loved the most) and they did fancy things like took our cars and bags for us.  Breakfast in the morning was beyond impressive and our waiter suggested some sites to see that day.  We took up one of his suggestions and went to the Science Center.  Also amazing place.

School day, check.

Watching a science demonstration

I'm pretty sure this is not how these blocks are supposed to be played with, but I was impressed with his imagination.

 

Colin was petrified of the giant dinosaur.  He wouldn't  go anywhere near it unless Ben was carrying him. 

 

 Wednesday, after the science center, we drove to Kansas.  It was a huge sigh of relief to get here.  Through all the chaos the last week, our mantra was "just get to Kansas".  We knew once we got here we could regroup and organize better and let our tushies rest a little.  The last 2 hours of the trip, Eli talked to Colin nonstop about being in Kansas and all the things they could play here and then started asking over and over "How much longer?".   Thank you iPhone for the map app and he eventually followed our little blue dot car all the way to Grandmas.

The boys were most excited to play with the doll house.  Honestly, I think Eli loves it the most, but he'll get Colin to come play with him by saying, "I'll let you be the daddy."  That always gets Colin because that means he gets to be in charge.

Yesterday I did 4 loads of laundry (my poor mom's washing machine) and Ben cleaned out our cars.  After a run, a good shower and a wonderful dinner with Elizabeth and Kent, I'm starting to feel a little more "normal".  I'll confess that I'm feeling nervous about the second half of the trip, but for now, I'm going to enjoy a break.