We made it. We have arrived in Maryland. We survived the final packing and the loading of our car. We survived (and enjoyed) a trip to Dinosaur National Monument. We skipped a stop at Mt. Rushmore because the forecast was for rainy and foggy, and I knew from previous experience that there is NO view of the mount in the fog. We survived the rest of the 3-day drive to my parents' house in Columbus, OH.
THEN my Mother survived 2 weeks of babysitting our children while Austin and I went gallivanting around Ecuador (more on that later). And finally, we all survived the final day's drive out to Maryland. We spent a day with Austin's parents and a day house hunting, and since then we've crashed at his older brother's house deciding, applying, and getting approved for our own house in Towson.
It's amazing range of houses there were in our price range. We saw big, dumpy houses; small, dumpy houses; medium-sized, decent houses; a really awesome house with a TINY kitchen, and finally a pretty-good house with a good, new kitchen, and a beautiful yard. We wanted the awesome house, but the price was higher and the road out front was pretty busy (and with no fence, one dog, and 2 kids, that seemed a little iffy), so we applied for the pretty good house. And the landlords chose us! So we get to move in this week! Possibly tomorrow!
Meanwhile, the kids have been having a blast staying here with their only cousins. Carson and his cousin Rocky are really close to the same age, and since they both only have sisters, they have been in boy-heaven--wrestling, jumping on the trampoline, tackling, wrestling, playing with cars, wrestling, and more and more wrestling. It's amazing that they have neither fought with, hurt, nor gotten sick of each other yet.
Cora has also enjoyed the cousin her age, Quincy--mostly by pointing and squealing at her, hugging her, and crawling up and down the stairs with her.
And Austin and I are enjoying the time we get to spend with Logan and Sarah before they move out to Colorado. (Just one month after we move here, they are leaving...stinkers.) Sarah and I took a Girl's Nite break last nite and went to a chick-flick at the cheapie theatre in Frederick. (The Lucky One. Perfectly mushy-gushy.) Austin and Logan have been staying up late watching things like NBA Playoffs and American Ninja Warrior (okay, so I've been watching that one too).
Austin starts work next Wednesday, so we're just making the most of our downtime before we have to get our lives back to normal.
