Where's Hannah?

Now that we're totally settled in and everything is put away, I thought I'd do a house tour.  But to make it a little more interesting, I propped Hannah up somewhere in (almost) every picture!  She's wearing a hot pink top, so she should be easy to find.  Happy searching!

The library

The dining room (play room for us)

First floor guest room

Family room/kitchen

Master bedroom

Hannah's room

Dan and Ben's room 

Extra bedroom/storage 

View from our master bedroom balcony

All caught up!

Just a few random pictures from my phone (and Layne's phone) and I'm finally all caught up!  Now I just need to find my camera so I can start taking pictures again.  It's got to be here somewhere.... (only kidding--I know exactly where everything important is!).

Happy Fourth of July!

After a long few days of unpacking and organizing, we were ready to welcome our first houseguests for the Fourth of July holiday!  (My mom is an honorary member of our nuclear family at this point, so she doesn't count as a guest.)  My dad and Layne and Alex flew in last Wednesday to spend a few days with us.  Lucky for them, my mom had whipped the house into shape so they had beds for sleeping and towels for washing and plates for eating.

Our new neighborhood does a big Fourth party with a bike decorating contest and parade for the kids followed by a potluck cookout.  Dan and Ben just wanted to watch the parade instead of participating, which was fine with me since I'm not exactly a crafty person in the best of times, let alone four days after moving across the country.  So we walked down the block and watched all the kids on their fancy bikes and wagons.  Then we walked over to the pool/basketball court/playground area and played some games and ate some hot dogs.  Fireworks are banned here (due to drought and wildfire) so nobody had any sparklers or anything, but we still had a good time.

Lauren and Jesse came over that afternoon so we had the whole family here for a cookout.  Zach manned the grill and the rest of us played badminton and threw the football around and held Hannah in the shade.  Dan thought it was especially hilarious to watch the grown-ups try (and fail) to hit the birdie, especially as the sun was setting.  We had a great day, even if we didn't stay up late enough for the city fireworks.  Maybe next year....

Road Trip!

After a great and relaxing weekend in Denver, it was time to get down to business and drive cross-country.  I'm not going to lie--that Monday of driving was one of the longest days of my life.  We were only going to Durango, CO, in the southwest corner of the state.  I think the mileage total was 350 miles or so.  No big deal, right?  Well, add in a detour for wildfires, and twisting mountain roads with speed limits of 15 mph, plus all the normal stops with three small children, and that day of driving took us 10 hours.  To make matters worse, the antibiotics for my mastitis had not fully kicked in and I think Hannah's ears were bothering her because of the altitude changes, so she screamed for probably 7 of those 10 hours.  Needless to say, it was a loooooooong day.

But there was a light at the end of the tunnel: my mom and sister met us in Durango in Zach's car to drive the rest of the way with us.  Hallelujah!  Two more pairs of adult hands were just what we needed.  After a good night's sleep, we were ready to hit the road again on Tuesday.

We had a long, hot drive through the Arizona desert, but we saw some cool sights along the way.  We got out and stretched at Four Corners, which was pretty cool.  I sat right on the spot where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet.  (Insert obligatory "your butt is so big, it fits in four states" joke here.)  We stopped again at the Grand Canyon and oohed and aahed at its beauty.  Well, the adults did, anyway.  Dan and Ben were more interested in the little lizards running around.

Williams, AZ, was our stop for the night.  It's about an hour south of the South Rim and it's a really cute little town on Route 66.  Hannah didn't get the memo about the time change, so she woke up on Wednesday at about 5 am.  The sun came up at about 5:20, so my mom and Lauren and I strapped on our walking shoes and walked around the town with the baby.  After Zach and the boys woke up, we ate breakfast and hit the road for the last leg of our trip.

Finally, after driving through places where I can't even fathom living (Needles and Barstow, CA), we arrived in sunny San Diego on Wednesday afternoon!  Yay!  We stayed on Miramar (Zach's new base) for two nights before moving into our new house on Friday the 28th.  We survived and are glad we don't have to do that kind of trip again.  At least for a few years....

Colorado with the Doerr's

Our first stop on the cross-country drive was just outside of Denver, at the home of Tom and Mary Beth Doerr.  Tom is Zach's uncle and we were so excited to able to visit with them and their awesome daughters, Maddy and Lian.  Their home is beautiful and welcoming and their neighborhood is one I would love to live in someday.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and unloaded the car and hit the pool.  After eight hours in the car, all the kids were ready to stretch out and release some energy.  It was really great to have a home to spread out in instead of just a tiny hotel room, that's for sure!

Tom and Mary Beth knew that the boys loved trains, so we went on the Georgetown Railroad Loop on Saturday morning.  Dan and Ben had never driven in mountains like the Rockies before so they were very impressed.  Hannah slept.  We rode the train through the woods, over trestles and a river, and enjoyed the view from the open cars.  People were running a race near the tracks (the Slacker Half Marathon, because it's all downhill!) and Dan and Ben liked waving to them for encouragement.

The boys requested more pool time Saturday afternoon after naps.  I don't think the pool session was very relaxing for Zach and Tom since they had to tread water while Dan and Ben launched themselves off the diving board.  Good exercise!

The highlight of the trip, for me, came on Saturday night, when all the kids in the cul-de-sac gathered in the Doerr driveway for an outdoor movie.  Toddlers were sitting in the laps of high schoolers and everyone was eating popcorn and candy and enjoying Toy Story 3.  I think Zach was a little shocked that such a perfect little neighborhood exists in America in 2013. 

On Sunday, I took Hannah and met up with an old squadron friend for coffee.  Everyone else hit the Denver Botanical Gardens and saw the sights there.  I met up with them for a quick trip through the childrens' section before we headed back to the house.  I stayed home with Hannah that afternoon while everyone else went hunting for crawdads (which Lian then cooked and ate!).  While they were gone, I started feeling very achy and flulike, but I knew from prior experience that I had mastitis, so after a quick trip to urgent care, I was on the mend.  Well, I still felt terrible, but I had hope in the form of antibiotics.

The next day, Monday, we packed up the Explorer and headed out.  We had a perfect weekend with family that we don't get to see very often and I'm so glad they opened their home to us during our cross-country trip.