The Fam goes to DC

I posted out of order, but the day before the movers arrived, we took the kids into the city. Dylan has been excited to ride the Metro and see the sights from his DC book. We also needed to just get out!

The closest Metro is about 5 miles away. On Sundays it is free parking so it was perfect. We rode from Falls Church into the Mall.

On the Metro!

 We took one with the Washington Monument then turned around and got the Capital. :)

The plan was to go to the Air & Space Museum. Dylan loved it!!

Ava ran around like a crazy girl! Hey, at least she was happy.

They were able to walk through an old plane. Then I had them pose by it. Dylan's excitement comes out in his poses. LOL!

Ava is taking a break from running around.

 I have four different luggage pictures. He wanted to pose with every suitcase!

He also wanted a picture by every exhibit.

After an hour, Ava was DONE! She was not a fan of the stroller at all! I got looks from strangers while I took this picture. I thought it was funny. :) Lunchtime!!

We had packed a picnic lunch and headed to the Mall to eat. We ended up by a meditation group; we didn't know this when we sat down. Next thing we know, the kiddos have joined in. :)

Look how calm Ava looks now.

We got ice cream for dessert because it is so perfect on a hot day.

After lunch we headed home. The Metro was a bit more challenging on the way home because Ava did not want to be contained.

Before the Metro...

After the Metro...

Her hair says it all! Heehee. We had a fun day and it cost less than $10! First outing was successful and we plan on doing it again.

A Week of Boxes!

We have been buried in boxes since Monday. I have to say though, we have really tore into the boxes. We should be all unpacked by tomorrow, but we will still be organizing...probably for a while. :)

At 8am we heard a knock on the door from our moving truck driver and the madness began. We waited about 20 minutes for the moving crew to show up.

I got the job of marking off the boxes (they are numbered) to make sure everything made it. That meant that I had to sit in a lawn chair in order to not miss anything. This was a pretty good job. :)

As toys started being unloaded, watching the kiddos got easier.

Ava actually spent a lot of time in the car, but decided to take a break while I was taking pics. :)

We had boxes everywhere!! Once we get it all unpacked, I will post pictures of a decorated house.

During the unpacking process, we have been doing SO many stairs!! The movers never put the boxes in the exact space they belong and since we have more space than the last house, we have been walking from the top floor to the basement over and over again. The first part of the week was also ridiculously hot! I know, I came from Arizona so I should be used to it. Ummm...NO! This humidity thing is completely different! The temp was in the 90's with humidity, our A/C needed to be serviced and we have three skylights in the front room just cooking up the house. Along with A/C, other things came up...

* Terminex came out for ants
* We ordered a water cooler and it was delivered on Wed.
* Randy installed smoke detectors all over the house because we only had two detectors for three floors! Virginia law "suggests" one in each room, but doesn't require it. Crazy!
* Safety gates galore
* Changed out all the curtains in the house except the dining room
* Ordered tinting for the skylights. It will be here on Tues.

Is that it? Nope, but a good start.

I tackled the grocery shopping with my helper Dylan. We first tried Giant and they the neatest scanners that we checked out then took with us while we shopped.

I would take the item off the shelf, scan it then bag it in the cart.

This is a stock pic, not my scanner. ;)

When finished, I scanned a barcode at the register and my whole cart uploaded to the screen! We scanned the coupons then paid. Pretty cool! Dylan was my scanner and he loved it! I'll take a pic with my helper next time. :)

Slowly, but surely we are putting the house together. I'll post updated pics by the end of the weekend.

And The Projects Continue...

Slowly but surely our house is looking more like us even if we are living with about 2% of our stuff. :) IKEA is always so much fun and our trip yesterday did not disappoint. Of course we bribed the kids with ice cream cones for patience and good behavior. Dylan was all over it and Ava had no clue. She backed this up by turning into a total looney toddler that was completely manic running through the showroom floor. We tried to contain, but instead we got a lot of attention from other shoppers. All Randy and I could do was look at each other and laugh.

We walked out of our 2+ hours shopping trip (we did eat lunch there too) with two area rugs w/ the sticky mat underneath, two sets of curtains, trash cans, bath tub safety mat (yes...more safety stuff) and more! We also have a wish list of future items. ;) Here is what we've done so far...

This is the basement. This will go with our khaki couch and brown ottoman. We may even add end tables back to the set up since we don't have any crazy climbers right now. :)

This is where our maroon leather couch set will go. We still need to hang the thin white curtains behind the brown ones. This room has high ceilings, three skylights and is very white. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like with furniture and pictures on the walls.

Now for upstairs...

It hard to see, but these curtains are canvas with light blue, khaki, chocolate brown and black squiggles. We still need to put up the thin back curtain.

The room already had a ceiling fan, but it was 80's and rather loud. So...Randy bought a new one and spent a couple hours installing it. We don't have our ladder yet so we used a chair that was around. At one point we were both balancing on the chair because it was a two person job. The resut...very quiet and lots of cool air. :)

We also picked up some contact paper yesterday because the cabinets are older so they are a bit worn on the inside. That is putting it nicely. I wouldn't put my clean dishes directly on the wood. So...I started a big project.

Here is one cabinet. :)

I did all of the lower cabinets today. I will be picking up two more rolls for the drawers and upper cabints tomorrow. Ava was being my "helper"...NOT! She kept crawling inside like it was a game.

It has been challenging living in this campout type of way, it has been great in terms of getting ready for all of our stuff. We have been able to think about where we want things to go so we the movers can do all the heavy lifting. :) We have been able to make little changes without having to work around furniture which is nice. This said...I'm looking forward to the arrival of the truck!

Yes, we have gotten many project started and completed, but we also had some fun exploring the area. While Ava napped, Dylan and I went to check out the playground about a 5 minute walking distance from the house.

Dylan tried out the equipment then we went to the pond with the water feature. We decided to throw small rock in the pond. He has a pretty good arm! No worries...there weren't any ducks and I didn't even see fish so no animals were harmed. ;)

Right about the kids' bedtime, we got a very exciting call! Our moving truck will be delivering our stuff Monday at 8am! Yay!

Before tackling the explosion of the crap that comes from two cars moving across the country in order to be ready for the movers, we are taking the kids to DC tomorrow. Dylan has been looking forward to riding the Metro. He also has a couple books about DC we have been reading so he is ready to see it. We're headed to the Air & Space Museum then a picnic on the Mall. We're looking forward to a large grass area where the kids can run! ;) Exciting!

We're home in Alexandria, VA!

After five days on the road with two cars, two kids and two cats; we finally pulled into our new VA home yesterday afternoon. After a walk through with the landlords and property manager, we received the keys and began the shopping lists. Now I should mention that Randy did most of the walk through while I chased Ava up and down the stairs. Quite a workout!

The moving truck doesn't arrive until sometime next week so until then, we are camping out. :) Dylan is in his room with a bunch of blankets piled up under his new Spiderman sleeping bag.

He didn't want his picture taken. :)

Ava is in the trusty playard in her room. Randy and I lucked out with a queen mattress that we brought up from the basement (two flights of stairs). We knew it was here so we brought sheets. :)

He also didn't want his pic taken. Hee hee!

We currently eat off paper plates with plastic silverware in the middle of the main room on the floor.

View from upstairs landing

Our landlords own a Chinese restaurant close by so they treated us to our first dinner at the house.

Here are a few more pictures of the house. I meant to get outside ones, but forgot. Ooops.

Front door with foyer. Our door is purple on the outside. :)

Basement!! This will be our tv watching area!

Guest room/office

There is one more room downstairs which will be the playroom. There is also a full bathroom so when guests come, they have their own little area. Wink wink!

Today, we waited until 12:30 pm for the Verizon guy to show up and install Fios, which is tv, Internet and phone. It all shows up on the same bill with our cells. So far we are very pleased with the new service.

Because we were waiting for this very important install, we only got to two stores today. Randy made it to Home Depot for phase one of our Ava safety plan. With two sets of stairs, a landing upstairs where Ava could squeeze through the rungs, and a sunken front room with wood floors/stairs...there was a lot to do! Randy bought a mesh net called a "deer blocker". We zipped tied this to three different areas upstairs for our little stinker. ;)

Look closely

Then, after nap we went to Babies R Us for gates. We have two already, but needed four more!! After spending almost $300 on gates and other safety items (plug covers, door knob covers, stove protectors, etc.) we are armed. You might ask, what did we do in the last house? Well, the knobs on the stove were higher, we had lever door handles, no stairs and not nearly as many outlets! Crazy!! We just kept saying, "We love you Ava!"

So by the end of the day, the plug covers are in, door knobs are secure, landing is secure and the gate at the top of the stairs is in. The knob covers for the stove didn't fit so I have to go back. No worries, we're hitting Target tomorrow so we'll see what I can find there. Not only is Target on the list tomorrow, but so is a favorite...IKEA!

You may be wondering how the kids are doing. They are handling all of this very well! Yesterday both had major meltdowns in the late afternoon, but that is to be expected. Today they ran around the empty room a lot playing soccer, Ava pushing her baby stroller then "helping" with projects. ;)

A challenge for me will be traffic! It is insane compared to the suburbs of Phoenix! Always something knew to learn when moving. :)

Stayed tuned for more adventures!





:)

It's Moving Time!

It's been awhile since I've posted! We've gotten so busy in the last two months!

In May, we visited a lot of family! The kids and I drove to San Diego then flew to Sacramento the next day to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Randy met us up there for the weekend. Then we flew back to San Diego for a week of fun while Randy went back to work in Phoenix. Boo for him. During this week of fun, Randy called with news about orders. We finally got them! We're headed for Washington DC for sure! From that point on, it has just been crazy!

Now, generally, the Navy will write orders that have Randy leave his current command one month (July) then show up to the new command the following month (Aug).  Now this is the Navy, so change is to be expected. These orders didn't go that way. Instead, he was ordered to both leave Phx and arrive in DC in July. That means we had about 5 weeks to get everything together. Included in this 5 weeks is a week in DC to look for a new house. Not much time to move a family.

Last week Randy and I went to DC to look for our new home! The Friday before we left, the kids and I went to Randy's farewell lunch then checked out the office. :)

My parents came into town to take care of the kiddos while we were gone. This was the first trip Randy and I have taken together since Dylan was born so I was excited for us and nervous for the kids. My mom did such a great job prepping for such an important and difficult job. She planned crafts, activities and special outings in order to keep they're little minds preoccupied. Before leaving, I began calling this event, "Camp Grammy and Pa"! I forgot my camera (I can't believe it because I'm always good with the camera) so I have only a few pictures to share. :)

We took a red-eye on Sunday night and had breakfast in Boston during our layover.

Mom sent this to us. They were off to the pool!

Our "date night" meaning we dressed up and went to a nice restaurant. :)

Randy's favorite...steak and lobster at Smith & Wollensky

We also found a great house in the city of Alexandria, but in Fairfax County. Yay!!! We saw so many scary ones before finding this one! Randy is only six miles from work meaning public transportation may be doable for work, which is awesome!

We got back on Friday night and today was our first day with the packers! I spent all day yesterday getting organized for today. There were toys everywhere! I feel like I did a pretty good job getting it all grouped up...cars together, sports stuff together, little pieces that go together, etc. I also packed up the food for the 5 day road trip, clothes for both kids for two weeks (we may be waiting on the moving truck), kitchen items that we'll need, bedding...you get the idea. Ava's room turned into the "do not pack" room plus her crib for now. :) This is what our living room/toy room looked like when we went to bed.

Packers came at 8am and got right to work! This is what the place looked like at 12:30pm.

Ava was helping. :)

This is what it looks like now!

They will be returning on Thursday (they're off for the holiday) to finish up. They only have our master and the kitchen left. They got so much done!

Dylan and Ava think all this moving stuff is exciting. Dylan has a whole scenario going on in his head that he is packing up boxes, taping them up and labeling them. So cute!

Stay tuned with more moving adventures! Happy Fourth of July!!