Settling In

We have a house! We have our household goods! We have a mountain of stuff! OK, that last one was just a minor reference to our new location, forgive me for that.
After almost a month of the 6 of us (including the dog) living in a 20ft. travel trailer, making our way from the Emerald Coast to Colorado we now have room to spread out. Not a moment too soon if you ask me. The last couple of days in the trailer proved a little...tough. During a lovely mountainous storm a couple of the outlets gave up on us which lead to the refrigerator giving up. It's a mite hard to feed the kiddos decent food when 1) there is no fridge and 2) Swink1 had to take the truck to begin inprocessing. We muddled through though and the joy of having a full size, working fridge is greatness. Did I mention we received our household goods? Do you know what comes with that? BEDS!!! Glorious, lovely, comfortable beds! Beds where we can stretch out and that don't fold into either a couch or a dinnette!
Don't misunderstand, I am truly thankful that we had the travel trailer for our journey. It was an incredible blessing and we enjoyed our time in it. We will continue to use it for camping and short trips (the important word here is short). It's just nice to have a little breathing room.
So the house is pretty much set up. Now it's time to jump into exploring the town and we all know how much I enjoy that! Places to discover, events to attend, people to meet...lots to do...lots to do.

Week 3...

W – Day 16: Spent the day traveling to a cute little town south of Amarillo to visit my mom. “Hallelujah it’s Tulia” On the way we stopped in Groom, TX to see the 19 story cross there. The cross and accompanying statues are absolutely amazing and deserve far more time than we were able to give them. I highly recommend stopping if you are in the area. After arriving in Tulia, Mom met us there for a bit of a visit & dinner at a local Mexican restaurant – starting to tire of Mexican food…ughhh!

T – Day 17: We drove over to Plainview to visit Mom. The day was spent playing at the park, visiting antique shops (found an excellent deal on some Wedgewood dinnerware but did not purchase it), taking pictures with plastic cows, and eating t-bone (cooked by mom). Swink3 started getting sick around 5 and it lasted all night & into the next day. What is this…the vacation of illness??

F – Day 18: Packed up & headed out, on our way to Raton, NM. The trip was rather quick and we arrived early in the day. After the trailer was set up the kiddos & I walked down to a little swing set then climbed a little hill. The hill was just a taste of the hike Swink1 took the bigs on a little later. The three of them trekked up a little mountain with our dog, Foxy. They came back dirty & excited! Dinner was had at K-Bob’s Steakhouse & Salad Wagon…yes, the salad bar was actually on a wagon.

S – Day 19: Hello Colorado Springs!!! We have arrived & will begin our hunt for a house tomorrow. It’s been fun but also tiring & we are ready to get settled & back into a routine.

Let the Colorado adventures begin…

Week 2...

W - Day 8: Spent the morning with a good friend, Rhonda at the mall while the kiddos bounced & played.  Swink1’s phone arrived!!! He drove out to Weatherford to pick it up then we headed down to Mansfield for dinner with the Resta clan. Words cannot really express how sweet it is to lay old hurts aside and move forward, we love this dear family and are thankful they are part of our lives.

T - Day 9: Swink2 – 5 spent all day with Uncle Paul & Aunt Londie. Swink1 meet Mr. Brown to shoot paper people & discuss our house in Fort Worth & the needed repairs. The entire day was spent hanging out, visiting and enjoying time with family. Well…there was the 2-3 hours spent in the ER with Swink5 who had been throwing up since Tuesday for no apparent reason. A dose of Zofran and the vomiting stopped.

F – Day 10: LEGOLAND!!! We spent the day at legoland & Sea Life @ Grapevine Mills. The minacity was absolutely fabulous – those Lego Master Builders are quite the talented bunch. Swink4 and Daddy spent time building together and then she took the stage to belt out a nice rendition of “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Swink3 spent a lot of time building lego cars to race down the tracks. I got to ride a cute little ride with each of the bigs. Sea Life was equally as neat with great displays and information painted on the walls. Jacks joined us for the day and was even spotted building a few things with the legos herself.

S – Day 11: The sun rose with Swink5 & I back at the ER as the vomiting had returned the night before and her little body was not doing well. After a few hours,  a sonogram and a prescription of Zofran we headed back to the campgrounds. The late morning and early afternoon were spent with Morgan, Jenni, Rachel, and Sarah. We enjoyed visiting and Swink1 & the bigs loved playing in the pool. That evening saw us packing up and visiting again with Paul & Londie. These two have been a blessing to us for many years and we are incredibly thankful that they have given our cats a home since we are no longer able to.

S – Day 12:  One last time @ FOJ…the hugs from friends, the lovely sounds of Jenny and the choir, and the amazing preaching of the Word from Pastor Scott. I know, for me at least, FOJ is my church home. I have been blessed and challenged over the years by our family there and am forever thankful that I had an opportunity to serve at such an amazing place. In the early afternoon we left Texas and headed to Oklahoma. A quick stop in Ardmore to see Cindy & Ada and check out their new house then on to OKC. Unfortunately the bug that Swink5 had was apparently passed to Swink4 who spent much of the day throwing up. Arrived in OKC to rather chilly weather.

M – Day 14: Chillin’ with fam…my brother Hollis & his wife & kiddos. We spent a large portion of the day at Hey Day – a pizza & arcade type place. Swink1 played laser tag with our neice and her friend while the rest of us racked up tickets. Swink4 was feeling much better and didn’t get sick even once – Swink5 still had the occasional sickness but overall is much better. My phone was dropped in water…this is not the vacation for phones is it?!

T – Day 15: A day of rest…ahhhhh. Swink1 took his new rifle to the range to zero it and get in some practice. We did a whole lot of nothin’ for most of the day before heading over to my brother’s house for dinner and an evening of visiting and hanging out. It’s good to be able to learn new things about each other, even though we are related we haven’t spent a ton of time together. It was good…very good. The phone kinda works…then sometimes it doesn’t…hopefully it will dry completely.

It seems like week two was spent in a mad dash most of the time. We spent a lot of time running around and visiting and still didn’t see everyone we wanted to see. There are a few others that I would have dearly loved to spend time with but between previous plans and sick kids it just wasn’t possible. Hopefully soon we will get to spend time with those we couldn’t see this trip. The next week will see us finishing our trip and arriving in Colorado. Let’s pray the hunt for a house will go smoothly and quickly. ‘Till next time…happy travels.

Week 1…

So we left Florida a week ago and began our jaunt across a portion of the US to Colorado.

Day 1: Passed inspection later than planned so we didn’t leave until after 1 pm.  This little setback meant that we did not make it to our desired location but instead had to stop in Livingston, LA for the night. On our way we had dinner at a cute little pizza & wings place in some random town in LA – good food – I like wings.

Day 2: Arrived in Fairfield, TX to spend the night with the Wiggins clan. We got there kinda late and then once the kiddos were in bed we stayed up even later visiting.  Thoroughly enjoyed the visiting.

Day 3: Spent most of the day shooting guns of various types and bows. Swink3 shot a pistol for the very first time and was quite excited about the “war wound” he acquired when the pistol “bit” him. Swink4 proved to be a decent shot with a bow…at about 5 feet – hey, that’s pretty good for a 3 year old! Swink5 enjoyed crawling around in the dirt – life can’t really get any better when you’re 1! Swink1 zeroed a weapon for Gary while I (Swink2) spent the vast majority of my time chatting with Pat. We absolutely loved the time we spent with them. The end of the day saw us driving over to Rainbow, TX to stay with Swink1’s extended family.

Day 4: Up in the morning to enjoy the ABSOLUTELY BEST biscuits & gravy I have ever tasted…really, it was that good. Swink1’s dad & Jean meet us there & we headed over to the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, TX. This place is a treasure and we enjoyed perusing the artifacts & visiting with cousins who have volunteered their time and energy to help make the museum what it is. An afternoon of Swink1, 3 & 4 playing in the Brazos followed by a drive to Granbury & dinner with Ken and Jean.

Day 5: Church @ FOJ!!!!!!!!!!! I really don’t need to say more but I will. Even with all of the changes that have taken place there over the past year it felt like home. There is nothing like Mark & Lori Carouthers & the FOJ choir. I can still hear it, “Behold He comes……”  Picked up Jacks after that then headed back to Rainbow. Said bye to Ken & Jean (wish the visit was longer) and then had to do laundry.

Day 6: Crushed Swink1’s phone unknowinglyL. Learned how to make the above mentioned ABSOLUTELY BEST gravy from Uncle Jerry (Swink1’s great uncle) and then was honored to have Dr. Baugh of the Creation Evidence Museum join us for breakfast. Swink3 even liked the gravy & didn’t ask me to use a package next time J. We then headed to our next campsite in Aledo & visiting with Swink1’s mom’s side of the family.  Searched for a good deal on a refurbished phone for Swink1 and ordered it…will it get here quickly?

Day 7: After a busy and eventful few days we took the opportunity to hang around the campsite. Bicycle riding, swimming in the pool, and general laziness encompassed most of the day. We then trekked over to Bridgeport for a wonderful evening with the Mavsar family. Good food, great fellowship and a good time had by all J.

Week 1 has been eventful and fun, enjoying time spent with family & friends, meeting new people/family, and loving each other. What shall week 2 bring?