Friday, October 31, 2014

The Move, Part II

A week and a half after we flew from Germany, we began our 18hr drive west!  Sigh, the logistics are crazy that we went through to prep for the move but it doesn't seem so daunting 4 months later as I type this (but that alone should tell you how busy our lives are!!)  The 2nd day after arriving in the States, we dropped Leila off at a dog sitter we used in Germany (how awesome is that!?!).  We knew Leila would be in good hands and enjoy a little vacation herself playing with other doggies and roaming the owner's huge property vs stressing about hopping from house to house with as we made our rounds in Virginia.  We picked her up in Petersburg on the first day of our 3 day venture.  From doing so much travel throughout Europe, we knew that the kids max out in the car after about 4 hours.  We pushed it to 6hrs each day which ultimately became about 7 with pitstops.  The 2nd day we were on the road by 4am and Leevi got a huge chunk of driving done before any of us woke up!  We had about 2 hrs to go before we arrived at the Green's new house in Kentucky!  
They all are AMAZING travelers because they know the drive seems easier if you take a nap! :)
Sweet Allie-girl was born just 2 days before we arrived!  She was going to be in serious trouble if she hadn't made her appearance before we passed thru!

How many men can say that they've kissed their future wife when she was just 3 days old!?! :)
 Sniff, sniff, I miss those curls!!!
She's a natural!
They were all too busy to get together for a group picture!
Jenny and I were able to sneak away for a bit to try a little photoshoot with Allie. 
We got some good ones, but she definitely didn't make it easy for us!


After a too-short evening with the Greens, we were on the road again for the LAST leg of our journey!  Getting to see our new home for the first time was enough motivation to not make the last 6 hours seem so bad! 


Kai lost her very FIRST tooth while chomping down on a gumball in the middle of the PX!  It was the first hotel visit for our tooth fairy!  (And notice she's got the 'shark teeth' coming in behind just like Hailey!!!)
We were in a hotel for about a week before our stuff could get delivered, but we spent that time exploring the area, cleaning, and buying things for the house!  


Leevi bought "Faith" on eBay back in April and was able to drive her up from Texas when he visited the area in the spring.  She had been parked at a friend's farm for the two months until we arrived Stateside!
  Hotel snuggles...
Finally!!!!!!!!  Old Leila-girl was excited to smell familiar smells and realize that we were HOME again!!!!  She has seen more of the world than most people!!!
This one took me a minute to read...gotta be impressed though with German movers who can write in English! 
We are LOVIN our basement (now that it's finally organized!!!!) and this is what sold the house for us!!!!  The master, guest, and Luke's rooms are upstairs (along with kitchen and great room) and the basement has a family room/area, office, and the girls' bedrooms! 
 A major state of chaos for many days!!!!  Thankfully Luke was old enough to know not to mess with the messes, but it was tough finding things for the kids to do while we unpacked.  Leevi and I did three nights in a row of staying up until 2am (simply because we can get 5-6 SOLID UNINTERUPTED hours of work in) and got it to a 'liveable' state and then the rest slowly got finished.  I always joke that FOOD is the worst part of the move...if we didn't have to shop for, make, feed, and then clean up for the family then we'd have so many more hours in the day to unpack!!!  The next move the kids are getting shipped off to a grandparent for a week! :)  Leevi's parents did come in from Washington and were a HUGE help with the kids and keeping them occupied! 
Leevi's mom was able to stay a week longer than Rich and was a big help to me since Leevi had to start work shortly after we arrived! 
More pics to come on the completed house!!!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Virginia Beach

The kids spent 2 nights at my parents before we joined them for the rest of the weekend and thru Monday.  We were able to squeeze in two visits with my grandmother and a few more Va. Beach friends before we started the long drive west!  
 
The girls were in heaven at my parent's neighbor's house because they have like 20 pets (seriously!)  We missed the horses that are out there now, so it's definitely something they are looking forward to for next time!  They have a dog, 2 cats, a bearded dragon, two guinea pigs, a turkey, chickens and had baby chicks when we were there!  


 She will most definitely work on a farm one summer!!!!
 She wanted a picture with each chick that she held!

 We had to of course sneak in a beach day!



 
There was a kid surf competition while we were there and they had this dunk tank set up for fun.  The fun ended when Kai got her finger SMASHED in the seat as she was climbing out after getting dunked.  I could have swore she was going to run to me with the tip of her finger hanging off!  It was bad but thankfully she only lost her nail.  She's a tough kid!!!! 
This is what it looked like about a week later!  She wouldn't let us touch it, so I snipped it while she was asleep one night (it kept getting snagged, ugh!!!!)  The new nail has since grown in perfectly.  She is notorious for strange hand/arm injuries (ER visit because of a stapled her finger, horrible arm burn when a roasted marshmellow fell on her, and now a dunk tank finger crush)  Poor thing!!!

The dragonflies were out in masses in Pungo at my parent's.  After some internet research (how did parents survive our childhood without instant answers!?), we found out that they don't bite or sting and the competition was ON as to how many they could get to land on their finger!



 My parents busted out all of our old riding toys from the attic and the kids had a blast!
They still use my grandfather's old '64 Ford for hauling things around the property or trips to the dump.  I wish we could save it for Luke's first car although I'm sure I'd stress about the safety all of the time (lap belts, no air bags, on and on)

The frogs were also out in full swing and Hailey caught at least 30 a day!
Mr. Cat kept me from getting a solid rest!
My grandmother who turns 94 in a few months!
 
Apparently I didn't take as many pictures as I thought, but the memories are still there!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Williamsburg

We had a timeshare week that we needed to use or lose, so we booked a week at a resort in Williamsburg to break up the chaos of the move and have some quality time to visit with friends and family.  It forced us to slow down and enjoy the summer in between the packing out and the unpacking that was to come!!!  My brother flew in from L.A. and stayed a few nights with us before he and my parents took the kids back to their house the last few nights to give Leevi and I some alone time!  Woohoo!!!  And we also snuck in a FREE day at Busch Gardens thanks to the Here's to the Heroes program! 

We picked this resort because of the awesome kid pool!!!  There was also a decent size indoor pool that was a lot of fun!!!
ALL of the Kownacks were able to come visit for an afternoon!!  It was awesome to see them even if it was just for a short time!  I guess I didn't snap any pool fun pics, but we were able to squeeze this one in before they left! 
Gotta love a relaxing hotel morning!
The Faisons came down for a pool day and the kids were excited to get together again!





We BBQ'd one evening with two families that came down from Richmond and one who came up from Va Beach (the Maidas, Faisons, and the Smiths)...that's a whole lotta girls!  :)  The Maidas and Faisons share a unique bond with us having two girls first and then a little man!!!
Dinner fun!
Vacationing is exhausting!
Silly man!
Busch Gardens fun!!!!  Hailey was brave enough to attempt this ride with Uncle Mike...I more than willingly volunteered to be the picture taker!!!  It's a ride that goes up and drops you down!
Hailey and I on her first roller coaster that goes upside down, the Loch Ness Monster!!!!  It was also my FIRST ever roller coaster, but I was 6 years older than her when I was finally brave enough to go on it!  :) 
Mike and I snuck away from the kiddos to ride the Griffon (that's us in the front row, bottom left)  It has an amazing 90 degree, 200ft drop at 75mph!!!!!
Luke and I riding the water dragons (it was HOT!!!)  The crowds were sparse because it was almost 100 degrees...I guess only the crazy people come out then!!!
Cooling off in a splash zone from the Escape from Pompeii ride!
Luke on the planes!
Leevi and Luke on the dragons!