Passing along the fun...............

I saw this on a friend's blog and had to pass it along. All mother's should hear/see this! It's great! Even Chad got a kick out of it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlY8STkhopc

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY (on Thursday)

Driving to Maine...............

Washington DC TempleI know you've all been dying to hear about out trip up to Maine, so I thought this would be a good day to tell you all about it. Since we chose to stay a day longer in Warrenton, we were looking at having a very long day's drive up to Maine. And, just like everything else with this move, it was a struggle. We left town when we wanted to, but hit traffic within an hour. We needed to get to the capital beltway (the interstate that goes around DC) and then take it around until we hit I95. That was easier said than done. I don't ever really like to drive the beltway because the traffic is so heavy all the time anyway.

Maybe, I should back track a little here. We have 2 vehicles and the navy doesn't move any personal vehicles for you. So, that means that Chad had to drive one and I drove the other. This was probably one of the top things that I was dreading most about this move. I don't like driving, me driving, through big cities and heavy traffic, especially in places that I don't know. Chad and I have gone through lots of big cities together, with Chad driving, but I have never personnaly driven through them. (Except the capital beltway and some of the surrounding cities up there)

Now, knowing that we would have to drive the capital beltway, go through Philadelphia (which we found out later we could have gone around), drive the New Jersey turnpike, go through New York City, through Providence, and around Boston, I was having some major anxieties about this trip. And, Chad was following me, so I had to be the navigator, too.

Ok, back to the trip. We were in stop and go traffic, we hadn't even gotten to the beltway yet and Chad calls me. Noah's throwing up...................Unbelievable, huh. We really had no where to stop and after a short while Noah fell asleep. We decided to try and get to I95 before we stopped, but when I saw the exit that lead to the temple I decided to stop at the visitor's center and regroup.

Really, it was the perfect place to stop. We couldn't all go in together, because we had Nutmeg and it was so hot that we didn't want to leave her in the car even for a little bit. So we took turns going inside and seeing the visitor's center. Chad and I wished that we could stay longer. Just seeing the temple and being on the grounds was so peaceful and just felt so wonderful.

We managed to clean Noah up. Chad gave him a blessing, which was really neat on the temple grounds. We got resituated and were on our way again. I saw the temple in my rear view mirror, looking like it was floating above the trees. It was amazing. I wish I could say that it took my anxieties away, but it didn't. It was a much needed break, though, and I'm really glad that's where we stopped.

We managed to hit traffic practically everywhere we went. Philadelphia was pretty crazy and I really was not liking it. New York City was probably the worst, though. It was just completely insane. I just can't even put it in words that will do it jusdice--bumper to bumper, trying to get in the right lanes for the right exits. It was amazingly crazy traffic.

There was traffic in the cities, traffic from construction, traffic from accidents. I was really beginning to wonder if we were suppose to be making the trip at all. Noah never threw up again that day and that was a huge blessing. It was a very long day. We ended up staying outside of Providence for the night. We were exhausted and I was completely stressed out. We got in the hotel, ate a very late dinner, slept in our clothes and were out again before 7AM the next morning.

We hit traffic again throughout the moring, until we got to New Hampshire. The traffic definitely let up then. It was definitely good to see the Welcome to Maine sign. This is the first rest area in Maine and we stopped for a break and had to get a picture.

So, now we're here. We survived the trip, but if you've been reading, you already knew that. I know that for most people it wouldn't be that big of a deal to drive on their own, but for me, I didn't like it. It was really stressful to me. I have to say that I'm very proud of myself, though. I can now say that I personally have driven through all those places and I did a pretty good job of it, too, I think. I don't want to do it again, but still, I did it!

I've already told you about our house and we are starting to feel more settled. I think when Chad goes back to work then it will start to feel even more like normal, I hope. We're hoping that in the next couple weeks we'll be able to take a little drive up the coast to our "old stomping grounds" near Ellsworth/Winter Harbor/Bar Harbor. That would be fun. But, for now, we're here, we're getting settled and I don't have to drive through any big cities for a long time!

Mary Engelbreit Monday

We are all here for a spell, get all the good laughs you can. ***Will Rogers A few posts back I told you that we spent Father's Day in Warrenton, VA with my sister and her family. Since we were both living in hotels at the time, we decided to take the "dads" out for a nice dinner. They decided on Outback Steakhouse. What was suppose to be about a 45 minute wait turned out to be a lot longer. We stuck it out, though, and had a nice dinner together. Here's some pictures on us waiting outside and inside, once we were finally seated. Happy--very late--Father's Day to all you dads!

Our 4th of July

You might be wondering why there are no parade pictures, or BBQ pictures, or fireworks pictures, maybe because we're new to the area??? or we don't know anyone here yet??? or we did nothing to celebrate the 4th??? nope, nope and nope! To completely explain, we need to go back a few days, to Saturday.....................
I was in bed with a migraine, Chad went out and moved the lawn and then went to town with the kids. When he came home he was limping pretty bad. I asked what happened and he said he didn't know. He was getting into the truck and his upper leg/groin muscle just started hurting. By Saturday night he was barely walking. I asked him if he needed to go to the doctor and he assured me that he was fine. Sunday morning he joked that he was going to have me take him to the hospital, at least he acted like he was joking................
Monday he limped around trying to decide if it was bad enough to go and get it checked out. By that night we were looking online for the nearest hospital just in case and.................
Tuesday morning we were on on way to the emergency room. I don't know that I've ever seen Chad in so much pain. He couldn't sit, he couldn't stand, he couldn't lay down, and he could barely walk. He was quite miserable. I was worried; I think he was even worried. 3 hours later he was feeling a lot better, thanks to the vicadin they gave him. After taking x-rays that made him want to cry, checking for a hernia , having him try and move his leg even though he couldn't and calling him "limping guy", they sent him home with a diagnosis of a severe groin muscle strain and a prescription for vicadin. Ouch! He's suppose to be laying down, with an ice pack, for 3 days. I guess it takes a really long time for pulled groin muscles to heal, too. It's going to be a long recovery for Chad, especially since he's not the kind of guy that will just sit back and do nothing.
So, on the 4th of July, since Chad was limited on what he could/should do. We stayed at home. Our friends, that we knew from Virginia, came over for a BBQ (I forgot to get the camera out then--that's why there's no BBQ pics) and then we let the kids swim in the pool for awhile. They went home and we hung out, being rather lazy. That night we popped popcorn on the grill and roasted marshmellows and when it was dark we had lots of sparklers that the kids enjoyed. Then we watched fireworks on TV. It was a nice 4th of July even though we couldn't go to the parade or anything. We were just glad that we were all here as a family this year. We haven't had a 4th of July together in 5 years

Picnic in the Park in Warrenton

Cool Slideshows!

After we left Norfolk, we stopped in Warrenton, Virginia to visit with my sister and her family for a couple of days. They are also in the middle of moving. They were living in Bulgaria and after a short vacation in the states will be moving to Kiev. So, we obviously don't get to see them very much.

*

We really had really terrible luck, though. He hit unbelievable traffic trying to leave town on Saturday. I know those of you who know the area are all nodding, but this traffic was even worse than the norm! Seriously, it took us 3 hours to get about 40 miles from Norfolk! It was really really bad! So, we got to Warrenton really late and didn't have time with them the first night that we got there. We did have Sunday, Father's Day, to be with them and we had a nice picnic in the park, which is where these pictures are from. The second day we had planned to spend with them, their daughter ended up sick and we weren't able to spend a lot of time with them that day at all. So we didn't end up having nearly enough time with them at all, but we didn't have the option of staying any longer, either. I appreciated the time we did have. All the kids got alone great! And it's always so fun to see the cousins playing together. I got to visit with my sister at least for a little bit. I really miss her. Vance found a snake (I swear he's like a snake magnet!) and even Nutmeg got to come (even though we found a tick on her later, YUCK!) It was a fun day. I love them all so much and wish we could see them more often. I'll post a few more pictures later of our father's day dinner we shared together.

Myshel's 8th Grade Promotion

I can hardly believe that Myshel is old enough to have finished middle school, but she is and she did. She dressed up in our empty house, during the middle of moving and went to school for her promotion ceremony. Her dad went with her since someone had to wait for the movers (who didn't come on time, by the way, so I could have been there after all----makes me soooooooooooo mad!) Her dad said he almost cried just to see her so grown up, standing up there, so I know I would have cried. I'm really proud of Myshel. She's done really great in school, actually, she does really great with everything she does! I'm very blessed to have her as my daughter.

This is something else that almost made Chad cry that day. Myshel and her "boyfriend", William. I guess they were holding hands and Chad said he just wanted to cry. His little girl isn't so little anymore. Chad took this picture by the way!

There were so many things going on that last week, besides just the move......busy, busy, craziness!

My "Going Away" Luncheon

Candy and Jenna had a little luncheon for me with some of my friends before I moved. I thought that was so sweet of them. I didn't do a great job taking pictures of everyone, but the slide show has the pictures that I did take. Above is a picture of everyone except Candy's daughter, Kristian, who is taking the picture for me. I had a great visit with everyone and for many of them it was my last chance to say good-bye. I thought it was so nice of them to do this for me!