The last "Moving to Virginia" post. We made it!

After we drove away from Mom & Dad C's, the journey officially began on our way to Virginia.

Day three of driving was a day of answered prayers.  When we were getting ready that morning, Todd could not find the key to the truck.  He was really stressed about this for obvious reasons.  We stopped and said a prayer and later he and Mom went to the parking lot (blocks away from their house) where the truck was and found it on the trailer, near the tire of Todd's car.  We would never have found it had we not stopped to pray.  It must have slipped out of his pocket the night before when he and I stopped by to grab a few things.

Later, leaving Cincinnati, Todd and I became separated in the traffic.  Then I missed a turnoff and so I was about 10-15 minutes behind him.  We figured we would be able to catch up so he kept going...and going...Things kept happening so that I was unable to catch up to him and there weren't a lot of places for him to pull off.  We were on the phone speaking and he told me about a turn-off coming up.  I turned onto it, got stuck behind this truck pulling a trailer and then my phone lost service.  For the next 30 minutes I was without service, stuck behind this trailer and the road was so twisty there weren't dotted lines for me to pass.  I started to panic that I would miss a turn off somewhere and Todd would be unable to contact me.  In came answered prayer #2.

Not 5 minutes after saying a prayer with Fisher and Tucker, I came around a corner and saw this- the big yellow truck!  After two hours of separation we were back together again. Five minutes after that we had to switch roads. It was a good opportunity to show Fisher how Heavenly Father really does answer prayers.  I also reminds me of why we used to always drive with an atlas in our cars.  Mine disappeared after our last move and I became so used to having my GPS that I never replaced it.  I have learned my lesson.

Entering West Virginia!  

I will tell you that I did not aim on any of these pictures.  It was lift up my camera with one hand and snap a picture hoping I was close in aim.  That is why there are so many lovely pictures in these posts.

We drove through some beautiful areas on this day.

West Virginia was the most beautiful but it was also the slowest going.  The truck was stuck at about 30 mph up the hills and 45mph going down some of the steep grades.  

Driving 1300 miles is a lot different being able to drive 70+mph than 30mph, let me tell ya.

But it sure had great scenery.  

There was one last incident as we were entering Charleston, the capital of West Virginia.  We were on 64 which was supposed to take us all the way to our destination.  No more turn offs. *Whew!*  

At the last minute Todd took an exit (no fault of his- it was one of those last minute gps ones that have you swerving lanes) that left me no time to follow him and I ended up crossing a bridge into downtown Charleston.  By this time I was on edge from being separated from him earlier.  We were near the end of our third day of traveling.  Tucker had been fussier this day and we were all getting sick of being in the car.  

Turns out the GPS was set to avoid tolls which took Todd on a a scenic route for a little bit and off of 64.  It just so happened that 64 was being worked on downtown and the few on ramps I tried to take were all shut off and there were detours.  I was lost and just possibly might have teetered on the verge of hysterical for a few minutes.  Eventually we found our way back on to 64 and were on the phone comparing mile markers so that we could meet up again.  Finally, we came to a toll road and I pulled in right behind Todd.  

Fisher, so casually, looked up and said "Oh, good.  We found Daddy.  I said a prayer a couple minutes ago asking to see the big yellow truck," and then continued on with his coloring.

It was one of those warm and fuzzy moments as a parent.

We were so grateful to Heavenly Father this day.  He definitely had a hand in our travels.

We found a nice hotel, had a great night's sleep and woke up the next morning ready for our final day of driving.  We ate the continental breakfast at the hotel and the boys actually behaved!!  Miracle.  

The trees were starting to turn in WV.  

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of the year.

More slow going with the hills.

Finally!  Fisher was so excited when we finally made it to Virginia.

We came down out of the mountains and the scenery started looking more like this.  Our speedometers finally picked up also, which was nice.  All the way from Nebraska, the drive was beautiful.  Going through OH, WV and Virginia were especially pretty.

By this time, trying to get Tucker back into his seat was a struggle.  He was so sick of being strapped in.

Fisher was happy as long as he had junk food.

This is his impersonation of a pirate.

Much better.

We went through Richmond where there was a lot of traffic.  By then we were so sick of the truck that we drove through as fast as we could.  (Heidi- we thought about contacting you guys but just wanted to get there! Our kids would not have made for good company. :)

After Richmond we started seeing signs like this one for Williamsburg and Norfolk and it was about this time I started feeling butterflies.  It is always exciting and a little scary moving somewhere new. Neither Todd or myself had seen this part of Virginia before so this was all new to us.

This is was driving in our neck of the woods looks like.  Thick, dense trees everywhere along the roads that make it very difficult to spot things.  Beautiful, but difficult to navigate.

So close to so much history.  

Love my photography skills?

I actually really liked this one.  Pretty good for looking at the road while snapping a picture off to the side without looking. ;)

We finally made it to Base where we were going to stay in temporary housing for a few days until we got our house.

They really were excited to be here even though this photo doesn't really reflect it.

Fisher must have been practicing giving a blessing.

Our home for the next few nights.  They were basically 2 bdrm apartments with a waterfront view.  

Fisher and Cooper looked so cute sleeping in their twin beds.

What we saw that night before bed.

What we woke up to.

The boys loved looking at the water.

I eventually made them move away from the window since we were up on the 8th floor.

Keeping watch over the big yellow truck.

I took the boys down to the water to check it out.

It smelled like the ocean.  Fisher loved it, Cooper thought it was "stinky."

They had fun finding seashells and little crabs.

Tucker looked pretty funny being here on the shore in his fleece Christmas pjs.

They also loved digging holes.

Tucker had fun throwing the wet sand.

After this, Todd came and picked us up and it was off to see our new house!

Our neighbors have been great.  The day the movers came to unload the truck was very hectic and the kids kept running every which direction.  All they wanted to do was run and play with the other kids.  The neighbors ended up watching them for us while we worked on unloading.

Another good thing is that our neighbors have a 16 yr old, CPR certified, bookworm daughter.  Perfect babysitter material.  Throw in the fact the she and I probably read a lot of the same books?  Even better. :)

Fisher met all the kids looking like this...

Great first impression, wouldn't you say?

After a couple more nights in temporary housing, we finally moved in full time to the house.

Our first "meal" in the house and dining room.

We still are not unpacked.  It has been really difficult with the kids around.  Fisher and Cooper fight non stop and Tucker has been kind of grumpy. We are happy to be here but will be happier when we are settled in and through this transitional period.  

Fisher started school and it has been up and down.  He loves some things and misses others.  He is also riding the school bus for the first time.  I was really nervous about this but there are a lot of the neighbor kids on there so he seems to be okay.  

Todd is in the "paperwork phase" of his job and looks forward to starting on the dentistry side of things.  

Cooper is constantly getting into things he shouldn't and giving one of his big grins when he is caught and tantrums when he is punished.  

Tucker is just being Tucker.  He naps and eats and tries to be like his big brothers.  He has been a little fussy but overall just wanders around doing his thing.  His favorite thing is to play on the stairs and now likes to walk down/up them standing up while balancing his one hand on the wall.  

I am ready to start working out again to re-lose all of the weight I gained back during the summer with all the stress eating and lack of working out.  So annoyed I have to start over, but I guess it serves me right for not even trying to be a little bit disciplined.

Virginia has the largest daddy long legs I have ever seen.  Fisher's hands are almost as big as mine and this is his hand in the picture.  The spider is not that much smaller.

Overall, we really like our house.  It is bigger than the last, which suited our family just fine.  There are nicer upgrades in this one than the last.  I mean, it is still military housing, so when I talk about upgrades I am not referring to what most people think of when they hear the word, but it is still nice for us.  

I have a gas stove for the first time in our marriage.  Yay!  The carpet and tile is darker, ceilings higher, there are "real" doors, not just rectangular pieces of wood painted in flat white paint, nice ceiling fans in almost every room.  There is a lot of storage, wood railings on the stairs and not flat white painted dowels.  I have counters in my laundry room and I DON'T have the water heater in the laundry room taking up all the space and looking UGLY.  We have a bathtub in our bathroom, instead of only a shower,  a sprayer in the kitchen sink (missed that lot over the last year), a huge garage with extra storage space, a cute little fenced area for the garbage can, tiled area in the dining room. No more light carpet where we eat!  We also have a great view of trees that remind me a lot of the woods behind our house in Louisville.  No more staring at the back of neighbors' houses.  One of the best things is not having all the overhead telephone wires everywhere that were in Bellevue.  

The downsides are that our yard is so tiny.  Also, there is a lack of parks nearby to make up for the nonexistent yard.  I am trying to adjust to this.  Outside time is a big thing when you have three little boys so we are trying to figure out how to work with it.  It is also a little farther away from Todd's work but his last situation was hard to beat only being 5 minutes from work. 

Overall, we think we are going to be very happy here for the next few years.
We have survived the hardest part so hopefully soon we will feel settled in an able to start exploring the area.

This is the last of "the move" posts.  Now you won't have to look at bad pictures of the scenery along the freeway anymore. :)  I will also try to limit the poop, vomit, and green snot shots.  My mom has been nagging on me about those so I guess I have enough to keep the journaling side of this blog happy. :)