Ocean City, MD

 We live about 40 min from Chesapeake Bay which isn't nearly as "beachy" as the the actual coast.  So we decided to drive the 2 hours to a fun beach in Ocean City yesterday.  It is still pretty hot here with high humidity so a beach day was perfect.  

 After I convinced Kearslee that the crabs wouldn't attack her, she actually made it across the sand to the water.  

 This in only the second time the kids have swam in the ocean.  When we were in Cali last winter there weren't any waves.  So both the kids were a little hesitant and didn't know what to do with the small waves.

 Seriously, this girl cracks me up.  She would sit in the shallow and just plug her nose waiting for a wave to come in.  When it did come in it would barely cover her legs.   Hahahaha

By the end of the day, the kids were loving it and weren't so intimidated by the waves.  I think Gav is ready to try the boogie board next time.  Now I need to figure out how to leave the sand at the beach and not in my car and house.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR KEARSLEE

Kearslee has been looking forward to this day for so long.  She doesn't actually start until next Tuesday but we are going to count today as her first day of school.  The Kindergarten here is all day everyday (WAHOO).  They do a staggered entrance meaning Kears went to school today but with only 5 other class mates.  Tomorrow will be another 6 students and by the end of the week all of the little kinder students will have gone to school for a day.  This helps the kids get familiar with the teacher, school, rules, etc without getting as overwhelmed.  She was very disappointed when she found out she would not be going back to school until next week.  

I was not nearly as nervous for Kears to start school, maybe because she is such a social butterfly.  Before she even went into the school she was shaking another little boys hand introducing to herself.  I just love her.  I am so grateful that neither of my kids have been scared for school.  It makes it a little bit easier.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR GAVIN

Gavin had his first day of 3rd grade on Monday.  New town, new school, and new people.  The last time he started school in a new town I was so nervous.  On the first day of school I asked him if he was nervous and his reply, "No, should I be?"  Since then I knew he could handle this way better than I could.  Now I just try to remain calm so my nervousness doesn't carry over to him.

I love how excited he is for school,  even in a new school.  He is ready to meet new friends and get involved.  He is such a friendly kid and a smart little cookie so I know we won't have any problems with him.

HOME!!

So after 5 days of traveling across the country, we made it to Maryland.  I didn't know moving that far away could be so easy.  Seriously, my kids NEVER complained the entire week!!  The pestering was kept to a minimum.  We didn't really have any problems.  I was expecting the complete opposite thinking it was going to be a grueling week of me yelling constantly at my kids.  That is not the case and I feel so blessed!  I am glad to be done traveling though.  

Once our moving truck arrived all we had to do was sit and watch, directing the movers which room to take our boxes.  That part wasn't too bad (just a little weird not doing any of the work), it's the unpacking of all of the boxes that has exhausted me.  It has taken us a week and a half to get through our crap :)  The kids have been going crazy and driving us crazy wanting to get out of the house and do something fun.

YEP . . . STILL MOVING

Days 3 and 4 are pretty uneventful so I will combine them into 1 boring post instead of 2 ;)  Day three we called our "I" day.  We hit Iowa again and drove across the state to Illinois.  We finished our day in Indianapolis, Indiana.

 Day 4 we made it through Ohio, a little part of West Virginia, and ended in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The bottom picture is downtown Pittsburgh.  We had to drive by the stadium Gavin's Steelers play (which is on the left hand side of the picture).  Pittsburgh is actually a pretty city.  I don't know what I was expecting, but was pleasantly surprised by it.

MOVING DAY 2

 Rapid City has this dinosaur park that the kids wanted to go to before we started our long drive.  It has about half a dozen dinosaurs to climb all over and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

 We made it to Iowa and then continued on south along the border until we left Iowa hahaha (no offense to any iowans)

We ended our second day in Omaha, Nebraska.  Yes, this is the picture of the Nebraska sign.  It was on top of a bridge that we drove under, so there was no way to stop to get our picture with it unless we wanted to die.  The sign snuck up on me and that was the best quality picture I could get :)

MOVING DAY 1

We woke up bright and early to hit the road on our journey across the country.  Which is why Kearslee is already napping before we even made it to the Wyoming border.  We decided we would try and stop at all of the state signs as we went.  Wyoming was our first state so we were all energized and excited for our journey. 

We made it all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota the first night.  We stopped off at Mount Rushmore and was there for about 15 minutes before Kears puked.  So, we weren't able to stay for the lighting ceremony that we heard was amazing.  Oh well.