I know that it has taken a little while to post pictures (sorry family) but it has been a CRAZY two weeks to say the very least. I have to record this for future posterity to be grateful for the efforts it took to get out to the great state of New York.
We left Idaho Tuesday, June 8th and stayed in Denver at Shawn's sister Brigit's home. It was great to see their family before heading so far away. We traveled to St. Louis (13 hours) the next day and the kids did really great in the car that day. We saw the Arch in St. Louis for about 4 minutes as we drove by - so we can now check that off the list of things to see. Day 3 is when things started to get hairy. The kids started to get sick of the car, and between frequent potty breaks (once where Sam had to actually pee in a cup because we couldn't get off it time) we started to notice a tire going flat. (Now if you know the history of the van - it has these PAX tires that NEVER go flat - in reality they do, but you can still drive on them for up to 125 miles in order to fix them or get new ones. So we drove to Youngstown, Ohio on the border of PA and stayed, deciding to go in the morning and get the tire fixed, a quick hour right?? WRONG! We ended up finding out that the PAX tires can only be replaced at a Honda dealer (which couldn't get us in for another 5 days!!!) and that two of the tires needed to be replaced immediately and each tire costs a small $650. After a lot of driving around, "heated" discussions with Honda, and pure frustration we decided to replace all the tires with regular tires - but had to also purchase new rims for because of the special PAX tires (did I mention I HATE these tires!)
In the meantime, Shawn and his brother Jake had left for the house, because we were supposed to be there by 3:00 p.m. to meet the truck with all of our belongings. HOWEVER, the moving company called and said they didn't have any drivers, so they wouldn't be able to drop it until the next day!!!! AHHHH.... we had to find a hotel room (which was super expensive because of a Horse Show going on that weekend - our luck right!) and finally my parents, the kids and I arrived Friday night at about 9:00 p.m. to an empty house. Saturday we moved in with help from our ward Young Men, and all seemed to be looking up. My parents had to leave that night to catch an early flight Sunday morning (I was SO sad to see them leave - this was by far the most difficult move we've made) and then they started on another fun filled day of delays, cancellation of tickets and flights, and didn't get home until Monday afternoon to Idaho! So now that this saga has been written down I can finally take a deep cleansing breath and move on to bigger and better things!
Here are some pictures of the house - which by the way - we LOVE! The yard Rocks my socks and the kids are going to have a ball here. The area has a lot of small little villages, each with its own unique shops, etc. We are excited to go exploring and take advantage of this beautiful area. Enjoy the pics - sorry there are ALOT!
Front of the house
Kitchen
Kid's Project Area - my dad made them this table!
Family Area
Dining Area - my mom and dad's old table painted black!
Our Room
Front room - turned into a book nook
Boy's Room
Lyv's Room
Me - Emily - Erin
Eric, Emily, Blake
Erin, Cameron, (Hudson, Sawyer)
Have you ever been asked or asked your own children the question: Were you raised in a barn?
Last Saturday we decided to go adventuring and ended up in Saugerties, NY. It is a little town with a lot of antique stores, and it sits on the Hudson River where a lighthouse has been done over as a bed and breakfast. There's a 1/2 mile nature trail to the lighthouse, and then the boys decided they wanted to take a dip - but we didn't have any swim trunks! Sam got down to his tightie-whities, and Jack borrowed a swim diaper from another little boy there. It is amazing how big the Hudson is!
