From Coast to Coast

Since my dad's funeral, it has been a whirlwind and we've barely had enough time to breathe much less blog about it.  Things jumped into high gear when we secured a renter for the Tidepool house.  So, aside from trying to spend as much time with family and friends as possible before leaving, we were trying to prep the house for our new renters.  The wife is from Port Orchard and they are relocating from DC surprisingly...so they've given us good insight into what to expect once we live there.  Unfortunately, they are selling their house so we couldn't swap...

But before all that happened, we had Scotty's end of season football pool party where we received his first ever trophy!  I was sad to see the season end, it was such a fun experience!  But we are definitely looking forward to next year when he will play tackle football!

Scotty & teammates pool party

Accepting his trophy

Then there was Halloween with the Owens family.  We went to their neighborhood in Bellevue and the boys got to trick or treat with Sammie.  Scotty was a cowboy, Zac was a horse and Trev got the recycled homemade scarecrow costume that mommy made all three boys wear!  Aw, sad to retire it....

Zac, Sammie the Kangaroo, Scotty and Trev

Packers came and worked two full days at wrapping our house up and the truck came and hauled it all away on the third day. 

The night before we left town, Scott, Nik and the girls came to hang out and we all went to dinner.  It was bittersweet because we always have so much fun together, but there was a sadness in the air.

We finally treked out the following day, Friday Nov 4, and have slowly and steadily made our way across country.   It was of course very sad to say goodbye to my brother and family, but they are with me always and their love and support are what help us to carry out this endeavor.

The trip has been stressful at times, but for the most part it has been fun.  The kids have been pretty good travelers and aside from the white out we experienced upon entering Nebraska, the driving hasn't been too bad either. 

I have really enjoyed driving through farm country in the midwest....Nebraska and Iowa were amazing and I have taken umpteen different pictures while driving on the interstate of beautiful farmhouses along the way.  I could make a coffee table book of them!  I have fallen in love with the midwest and would love to live here someday....city girl gone country?  Hm.....there is definite appeal to raising my boys in this part of the country vice the coastal United States. Jay and I have joked for years that it'll either be Alaska or Nebraska upon retiring from the military...now I can honestly see some truth to it.  Gasp!  A filipino girl living on a farm in the midwest?  Unheard of...

We are traveling in separate vehicles and Jay is towing the toy hauler behind his pick up....it has been great having that to retire to every night vice trying to find a hotel that will accommodate all our needs.  Its like camping every night and the boys are loving it....and I love that I have running water and electricity :)

So, from Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana....we have traveled thru and have enjoyed seeing a part of the country we wouldn't otherwise see.  650 more miles to go and we will arrive our east coast destination.  Thanks to the military and Jay's duty calling....we are excited about this adventure, though we are a little apprehensive of what life will be like in DC, I know we will make the most of it as we always do and we will look forward to visitors :)