getting there

Josh and I decided that we needed to simplify a little and move completely out of our house ( I mean like EMPTY, not a thing in any closet!) and head out to DC. We will rent the house while we are away and have peace of mind knowing that someone is there taking great care of things, but I will sure miss our wonderful friends and ward. I really have some of the sweetest friends that all live right there on the surrounding streets of our house.

Josh left 3 days before our flights were scheduled and while he was away it was really nice to have some sweet sister-in-law time with Hill. She took such good care of us for a couple days and it was fun to just be together and chat. We even woke up to hot blueberry muffins in the morning.

On Monday Josh called me and told me that he blew a tire on the trailer and that the guys who we hired to help us move accidentally put all of his tools into the storage unit instead of the van so he had to wait for a highway patrol to come help. Luckily Josh is an inspired man and had picked up a spare tire late the night before he left just in case. So after a 5 hour set back he was back on the road headed to Kentucky and then on to DC. I finished packing the house and had the cleaning ladies come and polish off the house.

On Tuesday I got a call from the "perfect renter". I was so excited! He wanted to rent and wanted to pay everything in advance and was excited to take great care of the yard and everything that sounds just right. And I even met him at our house and gave him a quick tour and he handed me his application all filled out and wanted to sign and move in the next day! I called Josh and couldn't believe he wanted to think about it for a day before we signed. I just wanted to sign the guy and hop on my plane and not think about it anymore. Well while I was thinking about it for the day, I hopped on google and thought I would do a little research on this guy and his 14,000 sq foot house in Alpine and his all of his "businesses". The first search of his name turned up a fraudulent case from another state and his birthday confirmed it was him! I was so sad and mad at the same time and even a little scared. I called Josh and we decided it would be a good idea to let him rent from someone else. Later that night the trailer snapped in 3 places on the frame and so Josh was stuck in Kentucky until uhaul opened in the morning. So when the kids and I landed in DC at 11:30 Tuesday night he wasn't going to be there to pick us up. I didn't stress about it until I got on the phone and called 4 hotels there at the airport and all of them were booked. (I don't usually get stressed about things that I or we have no control over so I knew we would be fine) So I was about to get a shuttle to a rental car place and a lady from our plane came over and started talking to me. She was really sweet and friendly and offered to take the kids and I to a hotel that would be on Josh's way through town the next day. It was really so generous of her to clear out her car and load me and my 2 kids and their car seats and stroller into her car at 1 in the morning and take us to the Hyatt.

Wednesday the kids and I camped out and slept in and the sweet janitor brought us orange and apple juice. It was really nice of him! We had to be out at 1 so we packed into the stroller and headed off to McDonald's for breakfast. It was really a bummer that Grace left her shoes in the nice lady's car because that entire day I made her sit on the front of the stroller because I didn't have another pair with us. We went to about 7 stores and out to lunch at Chipotle to kill time and besides Neal throwing up in the pet store all over Grace and himself and me not having a change of clothes for either, we had a great time. By 5 o clock I was getting tired of walking around so we went back to the hotel and I let Grace swim in her underwear in the hot tub while Neal took a nap in the stroller. Josh came at 6:30 and we were all so excited to be back together as a family! When Neal saw Josh walking toward us he yelled Daddy and cried. And I did too. I have NEVER been so excited to see Josh in my entire life.

Anyway, we are here now and I think I'm really going to like it. The apartments we live at have 2 playgrounds and even an 8 inch deep kiddie pool where we will be spending our days this summer. We are mostly unpacked and the kids didn't even take any adjusting to the 2 hour time change. Jenilyn gets here next week and we cant wait to have some cousins to play with and have an Easter egg hunt with!

(I hope this story doesn't make me sound like I am complaining, it was just an adventure I wanted to document and remember)