The Big Move and The Fourth of July

As some of you may have noticed, we have not had any online activity anywhere for about the past week. Currently, we're sitting in Liz's parents' home in Indiana. It is hard to believe that a week ago, we were preparing for a long day of goodbyes and a big drive ahead. So much has happened in the past week, it is best to just sum it up by the day.

Monday: We picked up our U-Haul and spent the day packing, cleaning, and saying our goodbyes to everybody in Arkansas. Highlights included attempting to drive the U-Haul with the parking break and running over a hand dolley...

Tuesday: We left our apartment in Arkansas and was on the road by 5:30 (in the morning). We had a caravan consisting of me driving a U-Haul pulling our Sunfire, Liz driving the Impala, and Ellen driving her Jeep and pulling a trailer. We were relieved to arrive in Carbondale by 2:00, but quickly realized only half of the work was done. When we went to check out our apartment before moving our stuff in, we opened the door to our new home to find drop clothes, paint buckets, and ladders throughout our apartment. Things were quickly remedied while we helped Ellen move in, and the three of us spent until 6:00 unpacking in the heat. After that, we went on a scavenger hunt to find a way to park our cars without getting tickets. Needless to say, we crashed as soon as possible.

Wednesday: While I spent the day trying to become an official full-time employee, Liz spent the morning scrubbing the apartment room-by-room. For us, it is hard to feel that a place is our own until we are sure we've removed all traces of any person living there before us. I had an afternoon meeting that was highlighted with receiving a book to read (Strengthsfinder 2.0). I hope that this book is integrated into the way we work as a staff, because it encourages developing your strengths and relying on other team members to cover areas that you are weak in. That afternoon we took off to travel to my family's house, with our own apartment packed full of boxes.

Thursday & Friday: These two days were spent hanging out with my family in Lowell and ended with a day spent outside eating a ton of grilled meat and watching fireworks explode all around us. The highlight for us had to be a moment Liz shared with our four-year-old nephew, Alec, during the fireworks. Liz had told Alec a "secret" that would help him see the fireworks (stand in one place instead of running around) and immediately after telling him that, a Roman Candle went off. As soon as it was complete, he ran up to Liz asking her to tell him another secret, thinking that Liz had the ability to create fireworks.

Saturday & Sunday: Early Saturday morning we got up and drove to Liz's family. We visited Liz's grandparents, went out to see WALL-E, grabbed a Coldstone Creamery cake for dessert, and went to a family reunion the following day.

Needless to say, it has been an insanely busy and tiring week. In three days, we had woken up in three different states. But the time we have spent at home--as limited as it has been--was great because we got to see our full families, including those we might not get to see for awhile again.

By the next post, our apartment will hopefully be set up and we'll probably dedicate the post to showing our apartment and describing some of the most unique (and awesome) features.