California - we're really here!

It has been a whirlwind year, but all our talk about moving to California has finally become reality.  Mark is working a temporary position with Boeing, assisting with flight testing for the F-15 in Palmdale, located an hour north of Los Angeles.  We'll be here for 18 months (or so) before returning to St. Louis.

Sight-seeing around St. Louis

It was almost a year ago that we got wind of a CA position and Mark was intrigued. In April, it was confirmed that he would be the team member from his F-15 group to make the trip (no one else wanted to go and live in the desert, hehe). For the entire summer (Jun-Aug), I was bouncing between Omaha and Evansville with the kids while Mark repaired and renovated our house in preparation to sell, and continued to stay away while it was on the market.  We went on a house-hunting trip to Palmdale in Aug to set up a rental home, our house finally went under contract in September (after Mark had left for CA), we put a contract on a new house in Florissant (since we our returning) and made a deal with some friends to house sit while we're away, and now we are wading through the final weeks of negotiations and packing up the old house.

How can we pack up the old house while we're already in CA, you might ask?  Why, because Mark is actually back in St. Louis on business for a few weeks while the kids and I are here in CA.  It's a crazy, mixed up situation, but everything will be set right soon enough.  The closing for our old house is on Oct 23rd and the closing for the new house (barring any awful repair negotiations) will be on Nov 7th.  When Mark returns here at the end of the month, he won't be traveling again.

The drive from L.A. to Palmdale = sandy mountains.

It's been one week in Palmdale now and I can say I really do think it'll be a good family adventure.  It is a nice desert town with good stores, and a pretty park, and friendly people.  Our rental house is nicely kept and in a great neighborhood.  We are slowly venturing out around the city.

I've been fluctuating between unpacking and organizing, helping the kids acclimate to these new surroundings by making things fun, and operating in full-out survival mode.  After an entire summer of parenting three without Mark, it's not unfamiliar territory.  This just happens to be the first time I get to do it without other adult helpers in the same house or city. 

Playing computer games

I set Taylor up for a gymnastics trial class tomorrow.  She's been having the hardest time adjusting (read: being happy) here, as she is old enough to miss our old house and her friends and our homeschool co-op.  It's a daily up and down.

Rory and Elliott are, of course, young enough to be happy as long as we're all together.  Well, as content as they can be without Daddy around.

Some big milestones that have happened out here: Taylor has learned how to ride a bike and Elliott is just starting to crawl.  I have also noticed Rory's creative side budding more.

I anticipate at least another week of unpacking and then I hope to hop into a regular schedule of homeschooling and exercising (ugh, baby weight) and activities around town.