Settling In

Whew-  this has been a busy, somewhat stressful couple of weeks.  You'd think we would be used to this moving by now.  We think it was harder to move across town then it was to move across country!

We have been packing since before mom's birthday and finally got the keys to the house on September 22 and brought our first load of stuff over.  It was night time and the first thing we heard when we opened the car door was quiet.  Then we heard crickets.  So very peaceful here compared to the other house.  The movers came on the 23rd and we spent all day finishing up packing, loading the truck, cleaning and unpacking the essentials at the new house.  Kind of the same deal on Sunday.  And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Except during the week, you have schedule in time to actually go to work to pay for this new place.  Everyone was little fried by Friday.  The good news is we got to head up to Pine Top for a weekend camping trip.  The grown ups are riding in Tour of the White Mountains next weekend so this was a practice run.  It was mom's first time on her bike since her wipe out a few weeks ago but everything went OK.  It was a beautiful weekend with lots of relaxing.  We came home on Sunday to more boxes and unpacking.  We're hoping to be done sometime before I leave for college.

This past week was more unpacking and organizing but not as stressful and we got far enough along that we had our friend Brian and his kids come over Saturday night to watch the Wildcats embarrass themselves on national television.  Basketball season is just around the corner!  It was a beautiful night and we spent some time sitting outside, disrupting the silence with a little pool action.  Dad spent today installing our remote control gate opener so now we feel like real royalty.  Mom and I went out for a bike ride and explored our neighborhood a bit.  We found a donkey and fed it some grass and then played in the wash a little bit.  I also found an owl pellet which is basically dried up owl vomit but it has all the bones of whatever it ate all wrapped up in it.  It's super cool and I'll show it to you if you ask.  It looks like our owl ate some ride of rodent.

But.  Enough of that.  On to me!  I played in our first games of the fall softball season.  So far, this season has been chaotic with not one but two coaches not showing up so once again, a reluctant parent had to step in and take the lead.  Thankfully, he knows what he's doing but no one really had high hopes for the season.  But.  We are surprising everyone.  The first two games were last week and we lost both of those. ( I didn't play because I was in Pine Top) This week however, we won both games!!  I got to pitch an inning in each game and ended up with 5 strikeouts and only gave up two runs.  No walks unless you count the girl I nailed.  I also had three nice hits for singles and an RBI.  It was a good night!  I'll be missing next week's games as well because we will be back in Pine Top but we will keep everyone updated!

A Nice Long Weekend!

Happy Labor Day everyone!  We all had Friday AND Monday off here so we had a nice, long weekend!  

Mom celebrated her birthday last Wednesday and as usual, she took the day off work.  It was a thoroughly pleasant morning of shopping, but not really buying and eating fattening foods.  It was a good day!

On Thursday, I had a trip to the dentist for my 6 month cleaning.  The office is using this new fangled fluoride thingy that cracked mom up.  So she took a picture and that is the dental hygienist in the background making me look even sillier.

For mom's birthday, all  she wanted was a trip to IKEA so we hauled her up to Phoenix on Friday to do some wandering and idea getting.  It wasn't a complete loss of a day though because dad and I talked her into going to Dave and Buster's before hand for lunch.  We're so accommodating!

On Saturday, we met my friend Simon and his family to go bowling.  Last year, we always had fun hanging out together but this year, it turns out that Simon is a boy and I'm a girl.  So it's a little awkward.  But I had fun anyway and bowled a strike and two spares (without the bumpers) so Grandpa Vern would be proud.

On Sunday, we headed out to a friend's house for a barbecue.  I spent the whole time in the pool with all the other kids and was so tired that by the night's end I could hardly walk myself to bed.  Then I got up Sunday and did it all over again with the day spent at my friend Lily's house.  Whew- popularity is exhausting!

Now, while it sounds like it's been all fun and games around here, we have been doing some serious packing.  It's getting annoying but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The movers come Saturday and then we get to do the process all over again but in reverse.  It will be much more fun on the back end though because we will actually have space!

And then on top of all that, we thought Ginger had ringworm, which is super gross and highly contagious.  Mom actually spent her birthday afternoon disinfecting the house and tossing old rugs and dog beds only to find out it is most likely a rash from a food allergy.  I guess that's easier to deal with the ring worm but Monkey has to stay in a cone of shame for 5 days to let every thing heal up.  Lots of fun for all involved.

Hope everyone has a great week!