Week of Firsts

This week was Will's first at his new school, Shelton Park. The first day of school, Tuesday, was also his first time riding the school bus. Last year we lived too close to the school to qualify for the bus. He loves riding the bus, and the bus stop is right in front of our house! That is especially good because Will has never been an early bird and the bus comes at 7:40. Normally he doesn't wake up until after 8, so it's been early bedtime for him this week, and naps after school! He has been enjoying first grade. His favorite things to talk about are: music class, art class, PE, the playground, and his math work book. He has had nightly homework, but nowhere near as much as he did in California. Of course, it's only the first week, but I'm hoping they are not as homework crazy here!

Today was Emma's first dance class at her new studio, Encore Dance Center. It is within a mile of our house, so very convenient, with a good reputation in Hampton Roads. They do a big recital with costumes at the end of the spring semester, so that will be fun. Her class is a combined ballet/tap (30 minutes of each) for 3-4 year olds. I was happy to see that they use proper names for the ballet steps and did a lot of the same exercises she already learned. She was so happy there at her old studio, I'm glad this class is not too much different. Except for the tapping - which she thinks is great!

 Tonight was also supposed to be back to Awanas for Will and Emma's first night at Cubbies, but the church at which we were planning to attend didn't work out for us. We will try another nearby church for Awanas next Wednesday. I hope it works because both kids were so excited (and disappointed). We managed to salvage the evening anyway by playing at the neighborhood park before bed. Other firsts recently were getting into our new doctor (not so great - but so near to the house), and meeting 1 of Emma's new specialists, the pediatric orthopedist. She was great. We also decided to join our neighborhood church, Bayside Baptist, that we've been attending since July. It's a great place, and we're so glad to have found a church home so quickly, and so close to our house.

Our New Home in Virginia Beach

We moved into our new home about 10 days ago. We completed our fastest unpack in 10 years and our house is fully unpacked! We have boxes in the garage and in the under the stair closet to go through at our leisure. It is the first time that Jered was able to take leave to help unpack, so that's why it was so fast. Also being our fourth move in 10 years, we are getting more adept at what to unpack and where to put it. We are so excited about our new home. It's a great house, just perfect for our family. The neighborhood is so family friendly with tons of kids and a great playground just a few yards from our house. There is also a large pool and clubhouse for the residents of our community. The commissary is a mile away, and there are fun things to do on base like bowling, a library, a water park, fishing, and great parks by the lake. The civilian neighborhood has lots of shopping, restuarants, and nice public library close by, but it's still very residential and quiet. Our church is less than a mile away too, so that's a definite plus! We are enjoying our last week of summer vacation before school starts. After Labor Day, it's back to school, ballet lessons for Emma, basketball team for Will, and Awanas for both kids this year. We are very thankful to the Lord for providing more than we deserve and look forward to the next few years here.

Traveling - California to Virginia

We arrived in Virginia one month ago. We have been staying in the Navy Lodge at Norfolk while they are getting our house in Virginia Beach ready. We left San Diego on June 15, and spent 9 days driving across country, and about 3 weeks with friends and family. We stopped in Tucson and enjoyed the Pima Air Museum on Father's Day. After leaving Tuscon, we spent the night in Las Cruces and Fort Stockton.

In Texas, we spent a few days with Abby in San Antonio, touring her work at USAA, going to church, and visiting the Fort Sam Houston veterans cemetery where my grandparents are both buried now. We took a couple of day trips around the Austin area to see friends too. It was great to catch up with them, especially the Cozarts, some of our best and oldest friends that we miss so much! Abby and the four of us also went to Schlitterbaun water park, which was a blast.

After San Antonio we drove down to Corpus Christi. We spent a lot of time with all my aunts and uncles and cousin Phebe, and got together with my friend of 17 years, Lisa, and her husband. My grandmother is in the nursing home very close to my parents' new house, so I got to see her frequently. I didn't know if we'd ever see her again, so it made the visits very special. Baba and Meemaw have a beautiful new house, and we very much enjoyed it. Jered and Will especially liked the lake right out the back door, and caught a lot of bass and blue gill. On our way from Texas to Virginia, we stopped in Beaufort, Mobile (where Will lost his first tooth!), Atlanta, and Charlotte. In Atlanta we met up with a friend for dinner, and in Charlotte we spent the evening with Jered's cousins John and Stacie and their girls. Our kids are almost the same exact ages and they had so much fun together. Traveling across the country with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cars full of belongings was an adventure for sure! We were thankful that everything went well and we made lots of good memories.

Our First Camping Trip

This Memorial Day Weekend, our family took its first camping trip. For the kids and I, it was our first camping trip ever! Jered had not been in over 10 years. We went to Vallecito Stage Station County Park, about 2 hours northeast of San Diego, with our friends the Carpenters. We were able to borrow most of the supplies we didn't have, like a tent and lanterns, from our friends the Strouses. It was a giant tent - Jered could even stand up in the center! The Carpenters showed us lots of camping tricks and yummy outdoor cooking, and we had a great time relaxing in the evenings around the campfire. The kids had fun too - mostly playing in the sand and getting as dirty as I've ever seen them! They also had a blast with squirt guns. They slept very well in the tent; we were proud of them, especially Will, who had to sleep on the floor since we left his air bed at home. Sunday we drove to the mountain town of Julian, which Jered and I have many fond memories of, so we were happy to see it again before we leave San Diego in a couple weeks. We are so thankful for our good friends and a fun first experience camping.

California Coastal Cruise

We just returned from a week long California Coastal cruise onboard the Sapphire Princess. It was a great vacation! So relaxing and luxurious. We stopped at San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Catalina Island, San Diego, and Ensenada Mexico. Onboard we enjoyed the wonderful dining rooms, buffets, swimming pools, nighttime outdoor movies, and all the other amenities that make cruising so relaxing. Jered and I celebrated our 10th anniversary, and Auntie Abby watched the kids quite a bit so we could do things on our own. The kids and Abby stayed in one cabin and we had the one next to it. The ports were fun, and we got to see all the cities we had wanted to visit before we move in June. What a great way to say good-bye to California!