Life be like

Well, I got my wish. Life has been pretty much in cruise control for the past week or so. We really haven't been up to a whole lot. Last Saturday we continued our weekly tradition of heading into the city for some fun. We checked out the other Air & Space Museum. It was much more geared toward space, and much more hands on. We had a good time.

 Family shot, minus the little one who usually refuses to take pictures. I promise he is there with us.

The rest of the week was pretty dull and honestly kinda boring. I have been waiting for Neil to get back into a preschool groove. Because of all the weather closures and 2-hr delays that we've had, he FINALLY got to start school today!! It's been like 3 weeks since he was supposed to start. Having both my girls gone most days, and just Neil home has been a little rough. Poor kid wanders the house calling for "Gracie". 

So, today was the day. I gave myself a stomach ache with all of the anticipation and dread about how it would go, especially with the bus. He flat out refused to go near the bus at his last school. Well, we got up early, ate breakfast, had a family dance party, and got coats and backpacks on everyone. He was pretty excited to be just like the girls. His bus came and he ran out to it with them. He had a moment of trepidation when he realized they weren't coming with him, so Chris scooped him up and carried him on. As the bus drove away, my fears started to subside. Maybe he was figuring it all out. Thankfully his teacher called me to let me know he was happy when he got off the bus and was doing really well. What a huge relief! 

I get about 4 hours to myself 2x/week now!! What should I do? Today I celebrated with a trip to Target by myself. It was so nice to do in the middle of the day!

After preschool we went to see Grace's parade for Chinese New Year. The kids all wore red and had made a dragon. Grace got to be the head. She looked quite pleased with herself.

Everyday here gets a little easier for me. I'm still not quite acclimated to it all. It's a very slow process of meeting people and remembering their names. I know it's just going to take time, but I really miss everyone from home. I could really use a GNO about now. My kids are starting to talk about it too. Claire checks the mail daily hoping to get a letter from someone. Just yesterday something did come for Grace.

She was very happy to read her letter. Thank you Ethan! Hopefully, my feelings won't rub off on them too bad. They are making friends and enjoying school. We just need some better weather so that I don't feel so cooped up. 

The House

It's a work in progress, but here are some pictures of our new digs for the next little while. We opted to lease in order to really get to know the area. Thankfully, the house is nice and the neighborhood is referred to as "mini Provo". Haha!!

The front of the house. 3 level townhome
(we're used to that) and no garage. :( 

The main level: living room, dining room, kitchen, nook, and powder room.

The view from our deck. Playground right out back is perfect!

This is the downstairs. It opens onto a deck and small fenced area. There is this big family room, a laundry room, bathroom, couple storage closets, and a big bedroom.

This is that bedroom, currently lots of storage. We're working on cleaning it up for having guests. 

Upstairs is the bedrooms and a couple bathrooms.

Don't mind the perma messy beds.

That's the tour. Now come see in real life! We'd love to have you!

Airplanes

On Saturday we decided to explore a little bit. We drove into D.C. which was surprisingly easy to do. It was similar to heading to Portland. Not too far for some fun. Originally we thought we'd just do a little driving tour since it was still very cold. Once we were there we opted to park instead and explore the Museum of Natural History.

It's a pretty neat museum for kids, and of course free of charge. They have a giant room all about the ocean, another for dinosaurs, ice age, mammals, and many more rooms. I wasn't really prepared so I didn't have my camera, or my phone. It was nice to just take our time and wander through the exhibits.

Afterwards we drove by the White House, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. It was pretty neat to see them even though we didn't walk around. Another day perhaps when the temperature increases a bit.

We headed home to rest for a while before heading out again for another museum. This time we went to the National Air & Space Museum. All I can say is WOW! It's by far my favorite of the Smithsonian museums. It was great to walk in and see Neil's face light up as he saw all the PLANES! There were planes everywhere! It was great.

See..planes of all kinds...everywhere!

The view when you walk in. Pretty impressive place.

This is the Enola Gay...the actual plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.

My favorite part...the Space shuttle Discovery. It was massive! Besides the black tiles on the bottom, all the white parts are actually fabric. This space shuttle flew 39 missions. It was really neat to see.

SO big!

There are two of these museums in the area. I can't wait to check the other one out in D.C. So much history all in one place makes for some fun exploration. I guess this will be our Saturday plans for the next few months.

Snow Day(s)

The kids were pretty psyched to learn that we'd be getting a for real snow storm about a week after moving in. They had survived their first week of a new school, and thankfully had been happy with it all. I was pretty worried about them after dropping them off for the first day. Fortunately, they came home with smiles on their faces and had already met lots of the neighborhood kids.

So, when we heard about snow coming, we did what anyone would do...last minute trek to Target for sleds. We had to be prepared. School was even cancelled before we went to bed on Monday night. We woke up Tuesday morning to crying kids..."there's no snow". Well, school was still cancelled. Sure enough, about 10am the snow came, and came, and came. The kids were itching to get outside. I held them off as long as possible. We needed enough to build up in order for sledding to be a possibility. There's this great hill directly behind our fence that all the neighborhood kids like to use.

After lunch, I gave in and we all bundled up. We went outside and the kids ran for the hill with their shiny new sleds. Remember, I am new to this neighborhood, and don't really know the landscape yet. The girls went down. Then Neil wanted to also. He went once, and had a blast. I watched him that first time from the bottom.

Then I decided to hike up the hill with them for the next round. I made it to the top just as Neil was plopping on the sled for a second run. Before I made it all the way up, he was headed down the hill. I didn't really think much of it, until I stopped to watch him go. My world stopped in that moment. I saw directly in his path a giant slab of concrete, that covers some kind of drain. I had no idea it was there. I didn't remember ever seeing it before.

I felt sick as I helplessly watched him spin around on the sled backwards, facing me, as he slammed head first into it. The sled went into that gap, so the only thing that stopped him was his head. As I ran down the hill to him, I thought for sure I would be calling 911. It was surreal. 

It was such a violent impact that I was sure I would be looking at major damage. I was trying not to freak my girls out as I quickly determined that he was alright enough to move him. I ran him inside and tried to get a better handle on his injury. He never blacked out, but he was very unsteady and couldn't maintain his balance. He would not sit or stand. There was no blood, but a goose egg was already forming. I think his fluffy hat, and coat hood are what ultimately saved him. I loaded everyone up and drove through the storm to the ER. After observation and a neuro check, we were able to go home. We didn't even end up needing a CT. Besides a giant lump on his head, he should be totally fine. 

That was by far the scariest moment of my life. It was all slow motion as it happened and I couldn't sleep or close my eyes without seeing it replay in my head over and over. I am so grateful that he's ok because seriously, it could have been so much worse. I am still trying to process it.

Here's a view of the lump before it got big. It was double that size at least.

So....that sorta ruined our snow day. The girls were able to go back out and play once we left the hospital, but Neil and I were done for the day. Fortunately, school was cancelled the next two days as well, so we had plenty of chances to go out and play.

I didn't want Neil to have a fear of snow or sleds, so I encouraged him to go out and play the next day. Eventually he agreed to go out. We started out with just playing and walking around. By the end, I got him onto a sled that I could pull around. He even enjoyed it, but he made sure to stay far away from the hill. Poor little guy. 

We ended up with about 6 inches of dry fluffy snow. We couldn't make snowmen out of it because it was just too powdery. The girls did get to try out a snowboard, and they did really well on it. I was impressed, although pretty nervous about it after Neil's experience. The last few days have been just downright cold here. Like 10 degrees, windchill -5 cold. I am so glad I bought this new fluffy coat for myself, and I think I have cured Neil of his hatred for coats. He now willingly puts it on. :) 

I love these kids more than anything. I'm so grateful for small miracles. Hopefully next week will be much more uneventful and boring.