Same Road, Different Trip

The kids and I decided to spend a night with Jeremy "on location" again this week. It was just a quick overnight jaunt but it ended with us arriving home tonight exhausted and ready for the weekend.


We hit Skyline Drive again because I was hoping to take some shots of the kids with the amazing amount of mountain laurel that is currently blooming up there but I made the mistake of stopping off at Big Meadows first. We wandered for a long time, enjoying the sun and following the winding deer (and people) paths. We saw lots and lots of these:


And plenty of these:

including this girl who cracked the kids up by taunting a puppy on a leash.

The only problem is that when we started driving again, the kids were hot and sweaty and not wanting to hike and let me take pictures of them. Somehow that just did not sound like an excellent time. I can't imagine why not??

So we headed up to see Jeremy and arrived just in time for dinner. Amazingly, even though there are even numbers on both sides, the kids outvoted the grown-ups and we had to go to Olive Garden for dinner. Ahh, the sacrifices we make...

I had a pretty sleepless night and was worried that I'd be a grouchy, tired mess for the return trip but after a little breakfast and some hot tea I was good to go. We had a few hours to kill so we headed to the Luray Zoo. Now, I know you're thinking what kind of zoo is in Luray? But they actually have a great reptile section with a gazillion snakes, some pretty cool rescued animals that they've "adopted" over the years, and a small petting area. It was a surprisingly fun way to spend a couple of hours (especially during monkey snack time). And really when you get to talk to a donkey named Burrita and she does this:

that, My Friends, is a good zoo trip.


A quick stop for lunch and we were back on the road to make a trip to Grammy and Papa's. We went swimming and the kids had a blast racing each other across the pool. Then it was time for dinner, conversation, looking at pictures from their recent trip to Israel and ice cream sandwiches. It was a great little visit and a nice way to spend a summer evening.



A long day and what felt like 45 hours of girl power music (Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus and iCarly, anyone??) knocked the kids out on the way home. And so, I drove in the quiet dark, flashes of heat lightning in the distance with the lure of home urging me on.

Alaska

As most of you know we're heading to Alaska for a vacation next fall. Many of you are coming with us and I'm hoping many more of you will decide to join in on the fun. Thanks to Pat for suggesting I put an Alaskan sidebar on the blog. To your left you'll find information on the trip which will be updated as things come up that you need to know. If you're already going I can't wait to see you there. If you're not, c'mon, join us. We really want you to go :)

The Good, The Bad, The Latest

It's almost, not quite, been confirmed that as of July 1st Jeremy will be relocated to...Nowhere. Seems that there aren't any jobs currently open for him to relocate to so the company has created a position for him in Roanoke - where he's already assigned. At first glance, we were pretty disappointed. You see, without a new assignment and location the company won't help us sell our house or move or anything. We were also told that the situation in Roanoke could last a month, 6 months, who knows? So we needed to decide - was it worth losing the incentives that come with a company sponsored move (i.e. - realtor commissions paid, moving expenses, bonuses for selling the house, etc) for something that might only last a month or two? Were we willing to take that risk? Unfortunately, we're not so financially well off that's it's easy to walk away from what equals tens of thousands of dollars so...we were thinking that we'd keep the situation the same - Jeremy living with his parents while he works, the kids and I staying with the house, and hoping to live together as a regular family soon. You can probably guess how depressing making that decision was. But, you know, deep down we're hopeful people and we realize that things could be much worse...we have a house, Jeremy has a job that he loves, we've been kept safe and happy here, and we have lots of supportive friends and family that have been willing to help us out at the drop of a hat. No reason to complain. Disappointed, yes, for a few days. But, complain? We just can't.

So, now the good news. Jeremy heard from someone today that because he could actually end up being in this new position for another year they are going to try to convince the company to give us another relocation package - allowing the house to be sold and allowing the company to buy the house if that doesn't happen. This isn't set in stone and there's a good chance they won't agree to reopening his original relocation contract but I can't help but get my hopes up again. Because things always work out in the end; sometimes we just need a little patience. So, if you could keep your fingers crossed, keep us in your prayers, maybe loan us a wish or two, it would be greatly appreciated. We're ready to settle in together, to put things back to the way they were, to see each other on a daily basis and we can use all the help we can get :)

Road Trip

One of the unexpected benefits of Jeremy's prolonged training is the fact that sometimes the kids and I can visit him and spend the night with him in whatever town he happens to be in. They love staying in hotels and seeing him. And, honestly, so do I. A week ago we went and hung out with him for a night. The time passed too quickly but our trip back home was like a miniature road trip. It was a pretty perfect day - breakfast at Waffle House (Noah's first time there. Olivia, of course, is an experienced waffle orderer..), a stop at Dinosaur Land (Noah's comment - "cheesy but fun", Olivia's? "The best park I've ever been to!!!") and then a side trip to Skyline Caverns where we went through a mirror maze and rode a miniature train. After a leisurely lunch at KFC we hit Skyline Drive for some of the trip home. The kids got to scale boulders, run down skinny deer paths, count chipmunks, see a wild turkey and be amazed by the doe and newborn fawn we saw laying in the grass not 20 feet from us. We got home exhausted and happy and anxious to spend more days like that this summer.

Happy Birthday, Noah!

9 years old ago today we were thrilled to meet our baby boy. I can't believe how much has changed since then. I think back through all the stages and I'm stunned at how quickly time passes. There's no way we can really be parents of such a big kid, is there?

This year hasn't exactly gone as planned. When we had Noah's 8th birthday party we were sure it would be the last one he'd have here. But, we were wrong and last night we had the pleasure of hosting 5 of Noah's friends overnight. I will officially state for the record that I think I might rather have an entire class of preschoolers at my house than 6 older boys in my backyard. Those kids are crazy!! We insisted that they stay in their tent after 11 and still some of them didn't fall asleep. If I could bottle that energy...

Maybe it's insane but I'm assuming this will be the last birthday Noah will celebrate in this house. That makes 6 that he's celebrated here - everything from big family get-togethers to pirates and pinatas to camp outs. I hope his memories of this place are as good as mine. And I can't wait to celebrate number 10 with him wherever we go from here.

Happy Birthday, Noah! I love you :)

Waiting By The Phone

I'm not sure if we're acting more like teenage girls sitting by the phone waiting for the perfect boy to call or if we're more like expectant parents hoping the first contraction will come soon. The call could come any day now letting us know the location of Jeremy's relocation. There are 22 states to choose from and we don't have a clue what the likelihood is for any of them. For a chronic, obsessive list maker like myself this has been a difficult 17 months. I can't make a list about our new home if I don't know where it will be!!! Arrrghhhh! So, for 2 months now we've been expecting "The Call" any minute, our invitation to The Show, The Majors, The Big Time. We're all anxious to live together like a regular family again, to be able to tell people where we're moving when we get the daily "Do you know anything yet?" question, to settle the kids into a new town before school starts. But, for now, there's nothing to do but sit and wait and hope that our patience will pay off. Noah has 3 more days of school and after that we're ready to follow Jeremy wherever they send him...