Settling In

Now that we are here, there is still so much to do!  First, our trip South.

We decided to take the 20 hours of driving in 4 easier days.  2 10 hours days-I think someone would have been left by the roadside!  Our first day we went to Salt Lake City.  We stayed just a couple of of blocks from Squatters Brew Pub and LOVED the food and drink.  We really wanted Polygamy Porter t-shirts, but they were out of our sizes.  Bummer!

Day 2 was to Grand Junction, CO via Arches National Park.  We had wanted to stay in Moab, but very few hotels there would let us put 5 people in one room.  The kids loved it-the short walks and views in the park are great for smaller kiddos who complain about walking!  We would love to do Canyon Lands in a couple of years with them!  It was a beautiful drive to Grand Junction when we were done and guess what?  Another brew pub for dinner!

Day 3 was a super short, but very scenic drive to Durango.  Dad had spoke very highly of highway 550 through Ouray, so we said why not!  He was right, it was one of the most beautiful drives we have done!  Snow, trees, lots of cliffs and stunning views!  Dad had done it on his motorcycle several years ago-there is a bit of perception difference when looking at a narrow 2 lane road that you can only drive 15 mph on and there is a 300 ft sheer drop down the side!  I was white knuckling the drive, Annika forgot to tell us she needed to pee before we drove through Ouray, so the whole drive was a bit of a trial to us all.  We didn't find a brew pub for dinner-bummer!  This was our favorite day of all.  We went to Mesa Verde National Park and were stunned.  We only were able to see one of the cliff dwellings, but it was amazing.  All of us are planning to go back next summer and see them all.

Day 4 to Albuquerque was a great day.  We stopped early and just--stopped.  I filled in all the registration papers for school for the kids-that took about 2 hours!  I'm sure there is plenty to do in town, but we didn't want to do much of anything.  Dinner was IHOP.  Pancakes for dinner ROCK!

Day 5 to Carlsbad was a long, boring, drive.  The roads are 2 lane each way highways, so easy driving.  But it is pretty flat and not much to see.  We got in early afternoon, unpacked the bags into the 3 bed 2 bath bungalow, and got ready to take on the town the next day.  Work and School, here we come!

Everyone is off to a good start. Alex is working her way through her middle school and figuring out where she will fit in.  She seems to have a nice group of girls around her.  Annika has a whole class of best friends.  Ian, I am still working on him.  He is enrolled in the same school as Annika, but I am looking at a Montessori charter school just down from Alex's school.  He learns differently-visual and hands on.  Reading is a real struggle for him, but he is doing well with the program working with me.  He struggles getting into the new routines and understanding what he needs to do, so has been really stressed.  When I picked him up yesterday, he burst into tears!  He had a headache, sore throat, and was exhausted.  He slept over an hour after school, drank several glasses of water (dehydrated) and I dosed him with some kids advil.  He's home with me today.  I made him start his new math program with me-again, he learns things differently!  He really amazed me with how much he has learned.  So, we will see how that all turns out.

Lets see-how about the house update next?  We finally settled on a price with the owner, and the appraisal came in MUCH lower than we had settled on.  So, at least in our favor.  The seller isn't happy.  He apparently based his price on appraisals he had done as part of a divorce settlement, and he got screwed to put it plainly.  So, he is taking it out on us.  Nit picky details in the amendments, closing 5 days before possession.  He has now said he won't do the nail holes and paint touchups since he redid the master tub and the dryer vents that were broken.  As of this writing, we still haven't finally got it done.  Hope to tonight!  I need to schedule the container delivery and get the house unpacked!

I also had a job interview Yesterday!  It is for a grade 6-7 science job, and it is full time.  They offered the job on the spot, so I have a lot of "homework" to do getting the paperwork in for yet another teaching license and the district job application.  The good news is they will accept up to 12 years of my teaching experience!  The bad news is that all the college credits I earned between my BS and MS won't count.  Bummer!  It will still make for a nice salary though.

Lyle is going to be doing the training programs at each of the different sites at the plant.  He will basically be doing 10-13 hours, 5 days a week for the next 6-8 weeks as he is rotated through.  This first bit will be a long haul, but it will be done.  Then I bet he will be doing long days just because that is what the job will need until they can get more engineers on staff.

And, off I go.  Ian and I have our reading to do.  As of the end of the lesson today, he has earned enough stickers to get the Nerf guns for wars with daddy.  Those two are too funny!  Looks like Ian won't be back with me tomorrow!

Love you all!