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!!!
