Part 2: Chapter 1, Our Home

Here we are! We made it! Sunday afternoon we drove onto our new base to stay in temporary housing for the night. We went to bed praying and hoping that we would receive good news the next morning when we went to get the keys to our house.

Monday morning came. We met with the housing people Daddy Bear had been corresponding with for the past month, and the good news came! "Here are the keys to your NEW house!" And not just new to us, but brand NEW. We were thrilled! We had many other things to take care of before visiting our new place but we knew what it looked like. We'd seen pictures and had been salivating over it for the past few weeks just waiting for the words we wanted to hear--that it was ours! (Keep in mind the new-builds were still in the making on our old base so we had been living in a tiny home built in the 60s or 70s and had now almost doubled in size).

There were a couple of glitches at the other appointments that first day, but overall it was very productive and we were able to rest that night knowing that it was our LAST night in a temporary lodging facility on an air force base for...well, hopefully for a LONG time! We had a house that was ours as long as we chose to live in it and we could now unpack our things and settle down for awhile. Little Bear was perhaps the most excited of all!!!

Tuesday morning we awoke, took our last family trip photo,...

...and headed to our house to meet the movers!! It was quite thrilling for Little Bear at first.

But the newness wore off and Mama Bear and Little Bear had to go find something to do to take our minds off of the madness inside our house. After we had some nice quiet play time at the base library, we went to get pizza for ourselves and the movers. They were very grateful and we all gobbled up the lunch before heading into an afternoon of more craziness. The movers were very efficient and helpful, and thankfully Mama Bear was able to scramble together a baby crib mattress that had been brought in, a blanket to cover it with, Little Bear's pillow and "Teddy" from the car, and a few books to read before naptime. LB was completely content with this arrangement and slept for 3 1/2+ hours before waking up to a quiet house that was now ours for the unpacking.

I wish that I had taken a picture of the packing paper and boxes reaching halfway to the top our vaulted dining room ceiling, but all I have is a current picture.

Not bad eh?

We are still a few boxes and a lot of organizing and decorating away from being finished so I don't have any other interior photos, but we are settled enough to live the day to day and are really enjoying our new place.

The hardest part for Mama Bear has been the adjustment going from a VAST and AMAZING community to NO community. For Daddy Bear it has been the SLOW transition into being put to use again at the workplace--he had such a nice long break from work helping us get packed and on the trip out here that he is ready to put his idle hands to work again but there is so much inprocessing and training to be done first. Little Bear's most difficult moments have been deciding which books to read and toys to play with first--he had really missed his things the past couple of weeks--and missing his Grandma, of course.

One of the neatest things about living on base here, besides our nice new house, has been the deer that we see frequently grazing in our backyard (there are currently no fences around the yards so they are literally in our backyard). They seem to be quite tame and will let you get within feet of them before they move off in the other direction.

Of course the towering trees and lush greenery all around us is also a huge plus...on the days it is sunny enough to get to see them. :) I am told the summers here make up for the rainy season, so I'm curious to see if I will agree. I'm kinda used to my weekly doses of Vitamin D--year round.

The bottom line is that we know God has placed us here for His reasons and that His planning has always been perfect in our lives. Though we may not always see it at the time, things have always worked out for the good of our family and the hard times only draw us closer to Him if we allow them to. So...that is our focus. That is the goal. And we will keep our eyes fixed on Him during this transition and will be praying for all of you as we think of you and miss you dearly.

Chapter 8, Day 8...The Last Leg

We awoke bright and early Day 8 and hit the road, making our first stop at an aviation museum along the way. Little Bear, following in the footsteps of his dad and maternal grandfather, LOVES airplanes, and had to be carried away kicking and screaming (somewhat literally) to get back in the car.

We got to see the largest wooden airplane ever built, entirely held together by GLUE:

And they had a great children's section that had a lot of hands-on experiences for the young...

...and the young at heart. ;)

They even had an airplane carousel for the kids. The carny told LB it was going to be loud. He was prepared.

After leaving the museum we headed to visit Mama Bear's other brother.

A few minutes walk from his apartment was a great little Mexican restaurant where we had lunch, then went back to his apartment but we could only hang out for a bit before a certain little boy's naptime was well overdue. So we said our goodbyes, knowing we'd be seeing a lot more of each other in the days to come, and headed out for the final 2 hours of our trip "home."

Chapter 7, Day 7...Ice Skating, Anyone?

Awake, breakfasted, car-packed, anxious dog already seated (for fear of being left behind), and ready to hit the road, Day 7!

"I want to see the lake," Little Bear told us.

"That's where we're headed, buddy. Let's just listen to a CD and read some books and we'll be there. Just a little over an hour and we can get out, walk around and see the beautiful blue, crystal clear lake."

And so the day began.

We drove out of town and saw a couple of beautiful lakes, but not the one we were headed to. Not the deepest lake in North America! And it was right in our path to tonight's destination. We just had to climb in elevation a tiny bit to get there...or so we thought.

Here's what we saw driving out of town:

Then up we went...a thousand feet here, another thousand feet there. We started seeing snow on the sides of the road but no precipitation and still a beautiful, sunny sky.

Up we went another few thousand feet and, um, this wasn't what we were expecting. Snow was falling, snow drifts were getting bigger. There wasn't another car on the road from what we could see (smarter than us, I guess).

We weren't giving up though. The roads still weren't dangerous and, surely, to get to the lake we would go back down the mountain and into a valley where the skies would be clear and we could walk around in the soft, green grass and see this great site, just like we had envisioned it!

Needless to say we continued up until we finally made it to our destination.

Here's the visitors' center:

The creepy bathroom (looks like a regular outhouse, right?):

Until you open the door and find a long dark (don't be fooled by the camera flash) tunnel leading to another door...which finally gets you to the bathroom buried beneath 20 feet of snow. CRAZY!

And finally, the clearest, bluest, most beautiful lake in North America:

I know, right?? The joke was on us today! We laughed pretty hard. In fact, Little Bear, Shaddie Bear, and I didn't even get to see it in person. The above picture is the best we got. Daddy Bear had to climb up a 10 foot snow-drift to get to it. At least we can't say memories weren't made!

Now, Day 7 doesn't end here. No, we still had a few hours of driving to go. We somehow made it out of the mountains and found this beautiful sight at our final destination for Day 7. Phew!

I was completely mesmerized by these trees.

And Little Bear was equally amazed by the fountains.

We went to Confession, Mass, and walked around on the most beautiful state capital lawn I know of.

This would be our last night to dream of our new home before it would become a reality.

Chapter 6, Day 6, and Getting Closer!

Though the drive on Day 6 was quite picturesque,...

...it was rather uneventful and lacked the adventure and excitement of the two days prior. Little Bear wasn't too thrilled with another day in the car but we did our best to make things fun. We stopped at a quaint sandwich shop that Daddy Bear had been to once before and enjoyed some delicious gelato and jelly beans for dessert. :) We even ran through snow-filled parking lots and "chased some birds." What's not to love about that when you are 2 and tired of driving??

We even pulled a few teensy little April Fools' Day pranks as the afternoon drudged on. It seems that all of our victims fell quite hard and we are sorry for all of you who were involuntarily involved. It's only because we love you that you were so cruelly victimized. ;)

Another safe day and clean beds gave us GREAT reason to be thankful as we headed to bed Night #6. We laid our heads on our pillows and dreamed of the beautiful lake we were going to see Day 7...

Day 5 and Feeling Better

After a good night's sleep we grouped up for our family picture and hit the road for another short drive and fun-filled day. As this was our fifth day driving, Little Bear was starting to get the hang of it and was asking, "Where are we going today, Mommy?" and "What are we going to do?" Of course, followed by, "I want to go back to the ocean!" Thankfully, I could tell him exciting news this particular morning: "We are going to see the ocean again today, AND your uncle, aunt, and cousin!" We were all thrilled for what was ahead of us!

We arrived in Monterey right around lunch time and found a "park" to walk the dog. WOW! What a park, right?

This park had the most beautiful overlook of the Pacific, complete with rolling tides crashing into the rocky shore. We walked along the small cliff overlooking the sight with LB clinging to our legs and screaming, "RUN!" He was still a bit frightened by the waves but did smile long enough to pose for a picture with Mama Bear.

After we stretched the dog's legs, we headed to a cool, shaded parking garage (just in case all the dog-lovers were wondering) and met up with Mama Bear's oldest brother and his family for an afternoon at the aquarium.

Those ARE real fish behind them.

The jellies!

First cousin fun

"Wow, let's go out there, cousin!"

After the aquarium, we drove a little further and were then blessed with dinner and beds at our family's home before heading out for the adventures awaiting us on Day 6.

Chapter 4, Day 4--A DEFINITE FAVORITE!

We awoke on morning #4 a little more rested and feeling like maybe we could conquer this journey yet. Our driving time was going to be pretty short that day and playtime was going to be great! We were excited to see what the day had in store for us.

We made it to an adorable little Danish town for lunch and had a picnic lunch in a park from a fairy tale. We played in the park, walked through town, and enjoyed some Danish treats...

all before heading to our next little af base home--the cutest one yet--to get ready for the beach.

It was a little cooler than we expected, but more BEAUTIFUL!!

Little Bear LOVED the giant sandbox!!

But wasn't too sure how he felt about the frigid water and rolling waves.

We headed back to the "house" for a home-cooked meal and a relaxing ending to day #4. We were halfway there!!

Chapter 3, Day 30...I mean 3

The start of morning #3 was not a lot better than that of morning #2, but we faced it with smiling faces and grateful hearts that we had made it this far without any major complications or diversions.

We enjoyed our fast food egg muffins (yum ;P), and headed out into the brisk morning air to see one of our nation's beautiful national parks. We met some lovely folks from Washington who offered to take our picture to remember this "joyous" family occasion. I couldn't walk fast enough to get back in the car. It was freezing cold, I was cramping too much for comfort, feeling miserable with my sinus infection, and Little Bear wasn't fairing much better. Need I complain more?

We smiled for the photo and headed back to the car for another day...

Chapter 2, Day 2

Day 2 began with a tired, cranky, sick boy and a tired, cranky, sick mom. Dad and dog were great though so at least the latter weren't outnumbered. We plugged right along on our journey west and made pretty good time to our second destination.

As the drive climbed in elevation, my complaining also escalated. My ears wouldn't equalize and I was not a happy camper. Little Bear hardly took a nap in the car and therefore wasn't doing too well either. With the time difference from home we thought we might be able to make it through dinner and the sunset before hitting the sack early (which would actually be about normal bedtime there)--maybe LB would even take a short catnap to help him make it through, we thought. Well, LB wasn't in agreement. We headed to a pizza place for an early dinner and watched as an exhausted 2 1/2 year old fought sleep like his life depended on it. We were hoping to head over to the sights to watch the sun set over God's creation but were a bit frightened when LB started complaining that his chest was hurting and said, "My heart...boom boom, boom boom." Not a very comforting thing to hear from a child who has had OHS and who we know will be facing it again soon. Needless to say we zipped back to the hotel to get him ready for bed and passed on anymore excitement for the night.

Here's what we didn't get to see:

Chapter 1, Day 1

EIGHT hours driving time makes for a long day with a 2 1/2 year old, a dog, and a pregnant lady. But Daddy Bear was very gracious and stopped anytime we needed and even planned in a fun stop at the Amarillo Zoo. What used to be a free park with caged animals has become a pretty nice "zoo." We had fun seeing the monkeys, tigers, reptiles/amphibians, wallabies, and many other exotic animals for a minimal fee while we stretched our legs about halfway into our trip.

Little Bear did great traveling this first day, but he had no idea how many "Groundhog days" were ahead of him.

We made it to our first destination right at dinner time and picked up food to take to our temporary house for the night at the local air force base. We were pleasantly surprised to have half a duplex all to ourselves, complete with three bedrooms and a backyard to relax in.

With the exception of Mama Bear's sinus infection/cough and pregnancy discomforts and Little Bear's growing cold we had a great end to our first day and first chapter.