Enjoying the Peach State!

We have been in our home for three weeks now and are settling in nicely. The best news it that we all have real beds to sleep on. We brought a crib for Kyra so she was the first to get a bed. A little over a week ago Jared went to Walmart and purchased a bunk bed. He was a bit surprised when they rang the $189 bunk bed up as $50. He inquired about it and they checked the price from several different tags. All of them rang up the same $50 price, though the tag physically said it cost $189. They checked with the manager and after some inquiries they came back and said it was mine for $50 explaining that someone else had made a computer error. Jared literally robbed Walmart with the store manager's permission! We see it as a great blessing. Along with the bunk bed we also have three new bookshelves from Walmart along with a shoe rack. We have found Walmart has a good selection of nice looking furniture at great prices. Not bad for those of us on tight budgets. Just a couple of days ago Jared obtained a queen size bed at no charge from his new advisor, who had recently bought a king size bed. Thus, after three weeks of unpacking the house is coming together nicely. Still boxes to unpack, but most of the stuff is out.

Amber started kindergarten August 14th after getting all the shots required and paperwork. She has adapted nicely. She loves her school and the teacher is wonderful! She is excited to start riding the bus in the coming weeks, but for now Heather will drive her in and pick her up. She brings her homework home each day and usually Dad helps her with it unless he is at school late. Her teacher has commented that Amber makes friends well and is doing fine. She practices her letters and is learning her phone number, address, and student number. Nathan and Kyra enjoy staying home with Heather and helping her out.

Jared started classes on August 17th and has been busy since. He is taking Statistics, Evolutionary Genetics, and Modern Biotechnology Lab. He gets credits for a host of other things that are not real classes like a department seminar, lab meeting, etc. Thursdays are particularly long for him as he has classes from 9:30-10:45am, 2:00-5:00pm, and 7:00-10:00pm. Other days he is able to get home before or a little after 5pm. Jared has enjoyed taking the bus thus far. We are about a 12-15 minute walk from the bus stop which then takes about 10 minutes to get to campus. Either way it is about a 30 minute communte which is nice because it works in a nice healthy walk twice each day for Jared. As expected, Jared has kept to his usual routine of getting to the lab early and getting a jump on the day. He is usually able to catch the first bus of the day into town and be in the lab at 7am.

Heather is enjoying Athens. She is finding her way around nicely and enjoys getting the house set up. She loves getting all our decorations out that we have had in storage for some time now, including all our paintings from China, her dolls, and other items that really add character to the home. We have been enjoying the peaches down here, which are quite delicious. It is hot and humid, but that was expected. We already have had several nice thunderstorms and found the trees around our home shelter us nicely from the rain and also from the sun, there is hardly a window in the house that gets direct sunlight. All in all things are well here in our new home! We gave talks in Church today that went well and the Church has been very friendly and welcoming. Enjoy the recent pics!

At a rest stop on our big drive out to Georgia, we found a playground that got the kids excited!

Our new home in the background, Heather, Amber and Kyra posing. (Nathan was sleeping.)

Nathan, showing off the playroom with his stuffed animals.

Amber showing off the new bunk bed with the stuffed animals.

Amber on our deck with our backyard behind her!

A 2300-mile journey!

With everything packed up either in our ABF trailer or our minivan, we headed out early on the morning of August 6th. The driving went well for the most part. Heather kept the kids entertained with snacks and games and some fun children’s CDs. Meanwhile I cruised through the mountains of Utah and Wyoming. We stopped for lunch in Rawlins, Wyoming where they had a McDonald’s with a Playplace. We ate and the kids played for awhile. Both Nathan and Amber got a little car sick and threw up on the way there so we broke out the children’s allergy medication (it helps with motion sickness in kids) the rest of the trip. In the afternoon we continued on until the kids were worn out. We spent the night in Sidney, Nebraska.

The next morning (August 7th) we were up early and in the car moving. The traveling went much better since we were out of the mountains. With a flat, straight road we made excellent time and stopped in Council Bluffs, Iowa for lunch. Heather helped tremendously by making up fun games for the children to play. They would choose a word to call out each time we went under a bridge and then break out in a chorus of it each time we passed under a bridge. After lunch we pushed onto Cedar Rapids, Iowa where we stopped at Jared’s older brother’s home. They have four kids that were all excited to see some new cousins. Jared’s older brother, Andy, couldn’t resist engaging Jared in a wrestling match and showing off his superior skills (or weight, whichever it may be).

We spent the next day (August 8th) with them letting the kids play, cleaning out the van, repacking stuff, letting Jared catch up on some work, and relaxing. In the afternoon, Andy and Jared loaded up some guns and went out to a nearby range. Andy trained him on each one and Jared got to shoot of some pretty fun guns! We used paper plates as targets but also brought along some old pans which we pulverized. Jared was able to hit the targets some of the time, but did a fair amount of missing. In the evening after the kids were in bed Heather and Jared took on Andy and his wife Devon to some foosball. Intense though the games were, we lost. (Must be that homecourt advantage).

Sunday (August 9th), we were up early and got everyone ready for church at 9am. Afterwards we loaded the van up and headed on down the road. We needed to get to Paducah, Kentucky. It was a wonderful stay and we thoroughly enjoyed the company and especially all the yummy food Devon cooked for us. (Definitely and incentive to return!) The kids settled in and slept for the first part of the trip having been thoroughly worn out by their cousins. We made good time through Illinois until Jared took a wrong turn and headed 20 miles in the wrong direction. That and an underestimation of the time it would take to get to Paducah we finally drove into Paducah around 10pm. We grabbed our toiletries and hauled the kids inside and got them cleaned up and put in bed before collapsing ourselves.

We woke up on August 10th excited that this would be the day that we would finally arrive at our home in Athens, Georgia. Amber saw a Hardee’s right across from the hotel and we all agreed that would make a great breakfast. We headed south going through Kentucky and then into Tennessee going through Nashville and then Chattanooga. We finally crossed the border into Georgia and the kids were cheering upon the announcement. (Note: Heather and I had been talking up this move for a couple of months so the kids were excited about each new development.) We timed our trip through Atlanta to miss the rush-hour traffic and headed on to Athens. We pulled into our driveway around 4pm. When asked if he liked the house, Nathan replied that he thought it looked funny.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We have gotten our ABF trailer with all our stuff, I have attended several orientation activities at UGA, I’ve been busy getting all my paperwork together for classes to start, unpacking, entertaining kids, checking out stores for items we need, cleaning, getting all the stuff hooked up, etc. As I write this we are pretty well set up, still need a washer/dryer, beds for the kids and parents (Kyra sleeps in style in her crib, the rest of us are pretty much camping), and some other stuff. But the water runs, the water heater was turned on today, internet is available, the phone works, electricity works, and the house is in good condition. Furthermore, I am all registered for my classes, met with my advisor briefly before he took off to Iceland, figured out the busses to and from campus, and had our first home-cooked meal in the house (Mac & Cheese, don’t get too excited).

Lots more for us to do but we are enjoying the home as are the kids!