Getting to NC, May 2013

Thank goodness for Lynne and Gordon! It would have been a much more chaotic move if they had not been there. Noel and I drove with Brighton and Evan (and a TON of stuff) in the van, and Lynne and Gordon drove with Greg (and a ton of stuff) in the Civic. It was a really smooth trip; Evan slept almost the entire time from Lexington to Raleigh while Brighton just watched DVDs and ate snacks. In the Civic, Greg kept saying that it was such a great day because he got to eat at Chic-fil-a and watch as many movies as he wanted. :) He's pretty easy to please.

At a gas stop. Fruit snacks and diet coke are perfectly acceptable trip snacks for a 2 year old, right?

The best baby in the entire world! Oh that sweet, little face!

We stayed a couple nights in Raleigh while we waited for our shipment to arrive and plus Lynne and Gordon were flying out of Raleigh. So we hit up the children's museum there. So much fun!!

Brighton was not about to put on a little woodland animal costume.

But he and Greg both LOVED the water and boats. They would have stayed there the entire day, racing their boats.

Playing hockey with Grandpa.

We also watched an IMAX movie about monarch butterfly migration, which was really cool. Then we had calzones at this yummy Italian restaurant near the museum. Then we had to take Lynne and Gordon to the airport, and we were on our own.

We stayed one more night in Raleigh, and Noel left early the next day and drove to Camp Lejeune to start checking in. We followed a few hours later. We stayed in a hotel in Jacksonville that night and got into our house the next day. We got our stuff on Friday, and Noel left for ODS on Saturday. The following 5 weeks are little bit of a blur to me. It was interesting, to say the least, to be on my own with a tiny baby, adjusting to having 3 kids, and being in a place where I didn't know a soul. (I know that sounds really dramatic, and there are moms who do it by themselves for longer stretches of time or all the time and that experience gave me a glimpse at what it's like for them). Luckily for me, people in the ward and neighborhood were very friendly and helpful. Teri Stringham came and unpacked the entire kitchen. Kimmy Remmington and Amy Webb brought us food. The Dransfields had us over for dinner and to play a bunch of times, and the sister missionaries came a couple of times to help unpack stuff. Lynne came for almost a week about half-way in, and that was great! She was super helpful, as always, and her visit helped break up the 5 weeks. It was a crazy summer!