Adventures in our new yards

Not long after we moved in, Amanda declared a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Curtis loved "ducking," but he liked "goosing" and catching people even more, as in the case with Amanda here.

Lydia thought the whole thing looked like fun . . .

. . . so she was very happy when Dad stepped in and gave her a lift so she could play, too.

Despite a distinct lack of cardinals in our new yards, we did nevertheless spy this interesting bird out the back window:

We're also fresh out of squirrels and chipmunks here, but the kids seem to like these large mammals just as well or better (especially when they get to throw them scraps of food):

And, yes, the dogs are big. VERY big. Keep in mind that the fence is taller than Curtis. These dogs can look Mom and Dad in the eye if they feel like it. Since they seem to like us, Mom is glad to have them on duty by Amanda's bus stop.

We've also been visited by a chicken or two, residents of another adjoining yard (NOT the big dogs' yard).

As ever, the kids are fascinated by creepy crawlies. Here's a fine worm Jared found. Keep in mind that it really looked much better before being re-homed multiple times in various dirt containers.

We saw a few slugs in our old yard, but here we have snails. Since we have no garden plot here, they're actually quite interesting. The chickens next door also seem to keep them in check.

Jared collected a whole family of snails today, with big "mommy and daddy" snails and little baby snails, too. Here he is with a couple of his snail friends.

The yard with the chickens is also home to a smaller dog (shown in an earlier post), a couple of rabbits, and, most fun of all, a multitude of cats. There are several colors of cats there, but for some reason the orange ones are the friendliest. Here are Curtis and Jared with Rowdy, the patient cat who endured Curtis "carrying" him home to our yard before he escaped back to his own yard again.

One of the nicest things about our yard is our tree collection. There aren't as many as were in our old yard, by any means, but there are enough to cover the bases (one in front, one in back), and they're both very nice. Interestingly enough, the back yard tree is a maple, just like the one we lost in our old yard and mourned in a post last year (click here if you missed it and are curious). Our front yard tree is a big old apricot tree. We missed its fruit season, but the kids have had fun "planting" old pits they've found near the tree. The best thing about the yards, though, is just the same as in our old place: it's a good place for the Muffins to have fun together.

The dino in the green glass

This is what Mom found the other day, courtesy of a little boy. Captions, anyone?

First Official New House Picture 2011

Ta da! Behold, the beauty of the rug-bedecked basement bathroom! This is significant for a number of reasons: 1) We actually have a bathroom in the basement; 2) we have more than one bathroom; and 3) there's one room done, nice and pretty. Still have a few more to go . . .

Amanda's New School

Today is Amanda's first day of second grade*. Perfect time to share some pictures from back to school night at her school! First off, we have Amanda sitting not just on a bus, but on the very same bus that will be taking her to and from her new school. (Don't be fooled by her expression; she is actually VERY excited about school and has had a very long past few days waiting for it.)

Here's Amanda in the computer corner of her new classroom. Mom gets a kick out of how this school, Amanda's old school, and our old library are all filled with Macs just like Mom's. The rest of Amanda's classroom is filled with clusters of desks, each one well-stocked with school supplies. There's also a bit of a Snoopy theme going on.

The school playground is much like other playgrounds, aside from being situated in sight of a church building on either side (same denomination) and having this unique play structure:

Here's Amanda victorious, conqueror of the whatever-it-is. Today the playground, tomorrow the world!

*For those of you who may not have been following Amanda's school saga, Amanda is skipping a grade. She loved kindergarten last year, but as one of our Ohio library's top 100 summer readers and an Ohio-certified math whiz, her first grade experience consisted of testing first in Ohio and then again here in Utah. Both evaluators concluded she has no business being in first grade; she'd "be bored out of her mind."

Life in Utah (relatively speaking)

One of the biggest differences for us now is being close to family, especially on Dad's side. For starters, it was almost exclusively Dad's family that helped us unload our truck once we got here. A day or two later, Grandpa came to caulk our tubs (notice the plural "s" there!) while Grandma played with the Muffins so Mom and Dad could do some more unpacking. We didn't make it to our own church our first Sunday here because we went to listen to our nephew speak at his church instead (he's off on his mission now). Then we all got to go to Aunt Karen's place for lunch! Here's Lydia smiling at family there:

Here are Curtis and Jared the very next night playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had us over for a yummy picnic dinner and family home evening.

This weekend we went to Aunt Sandy's house for another family get together. She even had bubbles for the kids!

By far, though, the best part of being here for the Muffins is cousins. Amanda, Jared, and Curtis each have a same-age cousin here.

All that family visiting in less than a fortnight! My, how times have changed from living hundreds of miles from everyone.

From Ohio to Utah in 25 Pictures

Our friends loaded our truck for us Saturday evening, but we camped out in our fairly empty house until the following Monday morning. Here's Amanda on Sunday morning, enjoying wide open spaces to dance in, with Curtis sweeping in the background, just because he can.

We said goodbye to lots of friends in church that day. After church, Mom decided that it was high time we finally took a family picture in front of the temple that shares the lot with the church building. The Muffins, however, were less than thrilled. Hence the following photo, Mom's first attempt at creating a composite photo with the best of what we got.

Two families in particular took pity on us and invited us over during the afternoon. Here are the kids playing where we had lunch.

And here they are again playing where we had dinner.

Monday morning came, and after some last minute help from the friends who lent us camping gear, we hit the road. Here's the big arch over the freeway marking the end of Ohio and the start of Indiana.

Once in Indiana, we discovered just how much gas a moving truck can guzzle. Our first gas stop was in an Indianapolis suburb as we tried to figure out the detour we had to take because of freeway construction. Lydia was VERY happy to be out of the van and able to see Daddy again as Grandmother held her. Special thanks to Grandmother, who flew to Ohio and then made the return trip cross country with us.

Here's Curtis checking out the moving truck, whilst sipping bottled water.

Here's Amanda monkey getting some wiggles out.

And here's Jared playing with one of the flashlights we got for just in case on the trip.

We spent most of the trip with the van in front and the truck behind. Yes, indeed, folks, the famous unidirectional Odyssey provided transport for most of the family on this epic journey, while the moving truck gave the white car a ride. Here are Dad and Amanda following the van, as seen through the rear view mirror.

Not long before we stopped for the night, we crossed the Mississippi River from Illinois to Iowa.

Our motel in Iowa had a pool, which was great for the kids, but not so great for Dad, who lost his contact lenses in the pool. So, we started the next day with Grandmother driving the van while Dad borrowed Mom's glasses.

Don't worry, though; we got Dad's contacts replaced at a Wal-mart an hour or so down the road. We found it interesting that we got to travel on this particular road on the way there:

Here we have an "essence of Iowa" shot, taken on our way back to the freeway after an out of the way bathroom/gas stop in Anita, IA. The people there were friendly and helped Mom get the van backed up when she accidentally parked it the wrong way. However, we also found it interesting that the moving truck and the van both mysteriously required more gas there than at any other station we visited.

We wrapped up our travels Tuesday night in Kearney, NE. They've got a big museum built over the freeway there:

We didn't visit the museum, but Lydia did get in some standing practice in the window seat of one of our motel rooms.

The older Muffins had lots of wiggles to get out that night . . .

. . . but by morning they were a little calmer, with some help from Disney.

We eventually got out of Nebraska on Wednesday and into Wyoming. Here's Amanda supervising window washing during a Wyoming gas stop.

Lydia thought window washing was fun, too.

Here's a picture from the Wyoming campground we stopped at when one of the Muffins needed a pit stop between gas stops.

We spent Wednesday night in what may well be one of the most out of the way motels there could be, for a major chain motel, in downtown Green River, WY. Here's a view of the place;s sign and our truck on Thursday morning. (It wasn't too bad, though; the Domino's delivery guy found it all right.)

And here, (drumroll, please) is our van parked in front of our new home in Utah (ours is the one with the open door and boxes by the door). Yes, that's right, the unidirectional Odyssey made it all the way to Utah without incident (along with the rest of us)!

News about the new house, etc., will have to wait for another post. However, here are a couple of "settling in" shots. First, we have the younger Muffins on the way home from a Macey's grocery shopping trip. They highly approved of the free lollipops they got at the checkout.

And here we have Dan and the older Muffins enjoying our new dog . . . sort of. It's actually one of the neighbor's dogs, but it gets around and has been in our yard more than once. Since we are once again in a "no pets" place, it's nice to have animals around to borrow. This particular dog reminds us of Deebo, who belonged to some friends in Ohio.

And there you have it, folks, Ohio to Utah in four days and 25 pictures.

"I love moving!"

"I love moving!" Amanda exclaimed as she jumped up and down on a mattress with her brothers. And who wouldn't, from that perspective? The Muffins have always wanted an indoor trampoline or two.

To keep Lydia a little safer, she was barred from her usual roaming and instead confined to a play pen (with a little audio/visual stimuli to make it more pleasant). Her big brothers started out chilling on a mattress, but ended up joining her. Don't they look like great body guards?

Mattress jumping wasn't the only fun thing going on . . . once the kids' room was devoid of fabric (curtains, blankets, etc.), it made an excellent echo chamber.

And then, of course, there was the truck itself. That marvelous truck, with a ramp to run up and down! True, it did end up stuffed to the brim later that day, but by that time . . .

We'd gotten pizza for dinner, both for us and with more to share with all the kind friends who came to help load the truck. Who says moving isn't fun?