Happy Halloween!

We just experienced our first Halloween in Virginia Beach. We had so much fun with the kids' fall activities. Last Thursday Emma's ballet and tap classes had a little Halloween recital in their costumes, which was adorable. The next day Will's school had a very fun fall carnival. They set up different games in the classrooms, passed out candy in the hallways, had crafts for sale, fair food, and Emma even won a cute pumpkin cake in the cake walk. Will's class had a party today, which we made cupcakes for, and tonight we took the kids around the neighborhood before the Trunk or Treat at church. Our housing community has a requirement of at least 2 children per household in order to live here - so there were LOTS of kids! Throngs and throngs of kids. We gave away 5 bags of candy, plus all the candy our kids had collected when they went trick or treating. Virginia Beach has an under 12 yrs old, lights out at 8pm rule for trick or treating, so that was nice too. We never got to trick or treat in the neighborhood we lived in the last 3 years. The first year we tried it, not one single person answered their door! So we usually went to a friend's neighborhood or our old neighborhood in San Diego. The kids had fun at the Trunk or Treat too - Jered took them while I stayed home and passed out candy. I'm so glad the children had fun and it was a great way to go around and meet all of our new neighbors.
It's been a beautiful fall season here. The trees are all sorts of lovely shades, the air is cool, but not too cold, and we love to see the leaves blowing in the wind. Until we got sick last week, the kids and I have enjoyed biking 1-3 miles almost every day around our neighborhood. The kids are better enough now to want to play outside, but my voice is still gone and I have a terrible cough. We hope to be back enjoying the outdoors again soon!
Jered had the opportunity this month to go on a men's retreat with our first church up in Washington DC. They went to Ocean City, MD, for a few days. He loved catching up with old friends and worshipping with them again. The only thing wrong with this is that he has now been up to see our friends and family up there twice, and the kids and I still haven't been able to go! Hopefully soon we can coordinate a school break with a short trip up there. It's so great to see people we thought we might never see again on this earth. Will had basketball try outs for Upward Basketball this month. They start practice in December and have games until March. Jered is going to be a coach for Will's team. They are excited to play together. It's a great program because they get the "official" feeling - uniforms, games, regular practices with 300 kids - but it's a Christian program that has team devotionals and facilitates team work and kindness above competition. Hopefully that's what Will gets out of it!

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.