Settling In

Congratulations to Cate, my new 3rd grader, and Clare, my new 2nd grader!  They had their last day of school last Thursday, June 7th.  There were lots of hugs and some tears as we left the school and headed on up to our new home in Grand Rapids.  Catie took it the hardest.  Clare talks about it the most.  Cooper just goes along with what everyone else is doing.  But overall, I think we're going to be okay. 

We spent the weekend settling in.  I unpacked some more boxes and got things more organized.  We made our first grocery shopping trip so that we could actually cook and not have to eat out any more - I never thought I'd get sick of eating out but it gets old fast.  We put in the air conditioners yesterday which brought some much needed relief.  And we got a bunch of stuff out of storage that I had put in there in Feb/March.  I can't believe how much stuff we have!!  It's crazy.  I think some downsizing is definitely in order.  Needless to say, we looked like hillbillies as we drove with all our junk accross town.  I don't think many noticed though.  :)

On Saturday, we took the now very short trip to Webb Lake to see Scott's parents where our refrigerator items were being stored and to get our camper out of winter storage.  It's always fun to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and go swimming in the lake.  And then we made the trip back that evening.  I can see we'll be doing a lot of little short trips like that while they are at the lake. 

We have also discovered the local park which has a nice beach for swimming.  And the best part is it's only 3 blocks away!  The kids are especially loving the new eiffel tower climbing thingy.

All in all, a good start to our life in the Rapids.  The best part for me is having Scott with us again.  On Friday he popped home during lunch - his work is only about 10 minutes from our house.  And he was home by about 4:30!  Which, if any of you know his work habits in the twin cities, is very early!  But oh so nice!  He took off again today for work and it's just so good knowing I'll see him again tonight.  I'm very done with being a single parent during the week.  3 months of that was plenty!

My saddest part so far, other than saying goodbye to everyone, is knowing I already missed an important event for one of my besties.  Her son graduated from high school and yesterday was his party.  I was hoping to make it back for it but with all the stuff we were doing and the trip to Webb Lake on Saturday, along with some bad weather moving through, I just didn't have it in me.  Sorry Paige!  I hope it was a great time!!

This week will find us cleaning up the gardens around here and planting flowers and veggies.  We need to buy some storage units to hold all our junk.  And we'll go discovering the local parks and trails.  And we're planning a trip to our lake property this weekend which is now only 45 minutes away.  I'll keep you posted!