Unpacking & Settling In

Our first few weeks in Cambridge were spent unpacking, organizing, getting Lucia settled, and figuring out where things were in town. We wanted to be back to as close to normal as possible before Paul and I started our jobs. Here are a few photos of life during the first few weeks.

Sometimes you just need to take a break and do some art.

The finished pantry shelves. Can you spot the three cases of Rogue beer?

A lively discussion about whether this room should be the living room or dining room.

It's only child labor if you pay them, right? Lucia's dresser gets a fresh coat of pink.

Crabtoberfest 2013!

"All My Beautiful Things!"

We signed the lease on a Monday, and that Tuesday we were pulling up in front of our new house, bright and early with the Penske truck. We were paying an extra $50 bucks for the truck because it was technically due Monday, so we had to get the truck unloaded in time to drive it to Easton and return it. Paul's boss Alyson came over to help us unload, we put a movie on the iPad for Lucia in her new bedroom and proceeded to unload at breakneck speed.

Organized chaos

We tried to dump boxes in the appropriate general area which meant that anything for the bedrooms/office/attic had to go up stairs. After about the 10th trip up and down the stairs with boxes I started to wonder if we had made a terrible mistake. We haven't had to go up and down stairs for awhile. It's harder than it looks! I think my legs were more sore from running stairs than from lifting boxes.

This move was not sponsored by Lowe's, but might as well have been.

We were done unloading by around 1 or 2, so Alyson took off and we closed up the house to go return the truck. Walking into the house full of boxes was a little overwhelming, but our strategy was to get Lucia's room unpacked and set up so that she felt at home. From there we tried to refrain from just tearing open boxes, but to open and put away everything (or as much as possible) in a box before opening another one. This helped manage the chaos and helped contain the packing material mess.

Master bedroom in aqua. 

Lucia was absolutely ecstatic to see all of her toys that had been packed away. Some had been packed away for almost 6 months. Each time she discovered a familiar toy it was like Christmas, although I think she was more enthusiastic seeing her old toys, than I have ever seen her with new toys and birthdays or Christmas. One particular box that had just a mish-mash of random little toys and stuffed animals elicited a joyous exclaim, "All my beeeeauutiful things!" As she clapped and jumped, not able to contain her excitement. It was pretty cute.

Our little trooper.

We quickly realized that although this house is bigger than our house in Salem was, that the kitchen had A LOT less storage. We had a nice big built in hutch at our house in Salem that held all of our china, extra bowls, linens and empty mason jars. We also had lots of overhead shelves that served as our pantry. Paul quickly put his handyman hat on for a solution. There is a little alcove room by the back door right off the kitchen where we put our chest freezer. We decided to turn that into a full-blown pantry. We basically couldn't unpack half our kitchen boxes until that pantry was built. So, while I moved on to unpacking other rooms in the house, Paul took a trip to the hardware store and got to work building shelves.

Pantry construction in-process

Home Sweet Home

We got into Cambridge on a Saturday night and barely had time to catch our breath before we were scheduled to look at 3 houses on Sunday. The first house we looked at, I had seen on Craigslist. It was located in the historic district of town and it was at the upper end of what we wanted to pay for rent. Long story short, it was dismal. I started to worry that a house of that condition might be the best thing we could afford, which was really discouraging. But, we were scheduled to look at two houses that afternoon, both with the same landlord, so, I held out hope.

Backstory: When we were in Wisconsin we started combing all of the real estate websites in detail. Several of the real estate companies in the area do rentals along with sales, but you kind of have to search for them. On a website that I hadn't ever checked before, I came across a house for sale that was also listed for rent. I emailed a quick note to the agent and within minutes I got a call from him. When I told him we were looking to rent, not buy, he referred me to his assistant who he said was handling that property. So I called his assistant, and she kind of quizzed me about our credit history, what kind of tenants we are, why we were moving to town, etc... I must have passed her test because then she said, "This house is actually owned by my parents. Here is my mom's number, give her a call and tell her you talked to me." So I called her Mom and gave our whole schpeel again about who we were and why we were moving. She also told me that they had another home for rent that wasn't listed anywhere yet that we could look at as well. So, after talking to three different people, we had two more potential houses! It was just sort of funny to us that we had to talk to three different people to find out of we could look at the house.

So Sunday afternoon we pulled up to the first house and met the landlords. This one was also in the historic district. One of the things I liked about this house immediately was the brightly colored front door. The landlords were a no-nonsense retired Police Chief from a nearby town, and his sweet wife Miss K. They had made it clear on the phone that they don't want to rent their homes to just anyone, so we hoped we were making a good impression. Having a cute 3-year old helped soften up these grandparents. As soon as we walked in it was obvious that this house was in way better condition than the house we had looked at in the morning (although the age of the house and the layout were very similar). This house had probably been better taken care of in the past, and then the Chief and Miss K had put a lot of work into it as well. Other perks were a big, fenced backyard with a really nice toolshed and a driveway. Because of how old the neighborhood is, most homes do not have driveways or garages, its all street parking. So, it was a big deal that we would have a driveway.

After looking at the colored door house, the Chief and Miss K took us to their other house. This one was on the outskirts of town on a dead end street. They had kept up this house really nicely as well but the location was really inconvenient for both of our jobs and for Lucia's preschool. We told them that we had one more house we were going to look at on Monday and we would let them know what we decided the following day.

Monday we had planned to look at one last house. We had driven by this house and really wanted to see the inside before we made a decision. It was just down the street from Lucia's pre-school and was in a neighborhood with big backyards, definitely a more suburban feel than the homes we had looked at in the historic district. The house was nice, but wasn't going to be ready to move in right away.

We went back to the Marsh House, put a movie on for Lucia and talked through all of our choices. Ultimately, we made the phone call and chose...

6 States, 2 Days

We left Wisconsin the morning of the 20th, planning to get as far as Cleveland, then head all the way to Cambridge on the 21st. Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio = a bazillion dollars in tolls. No me gusta. Other than stopping to empty out pockets of change at the toll booths every 30 minutes, it was an uneventful day. We found a Hampton Inn by the freeway and called it good.

Saturday the adrenaline was going. We were on the last day of our trip, we couldn't wait to just get to Cambridge. There was a HUGE weather front going through, and we were expecting to hit some rain while driving. It was a band of weather that extended from Canada to the Gulf and we were going to be driving right through it. Sure enough, as we crossed into Pennsylvania we got hit HARD. Rain so heavy and hard that you could hardly see in front of you. This was by far the scariest day for me driving. I was worried about Paul in the truck, and I was on an unfamiliar, winding highway through the Allegheny mountains where it seemed like every semi-truck was flying by me at 70 mph, shaking my car and throwing even more water up in front of me. Things cleared up a little by the time we got to Baltimore. I had one last obstacle between me and the Eastern Shore: the Bay Bridge.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/53290362

Crossing the bridge everything finally hit me. I quit my job and left my parents, grandparents, Mariah and everything familiar to me; and took a leap of faith into the next phase of my life with my family. I was scared, excited, overwhelmed and exhausted. I kept saying, "This is home, this is home" over and over to myself. The distance we had just crossed in a few days, suddenly, I felt the magnitude of it. It was starting to get dark as we finally arrived in Cambridge. We passed through town and into the darkness of the country roads to get to the Horn Point campus where we were going to stay until we had a place to move into. We collapsed into our beds.

When we woke up it was like we had landed on another planet. The crickets from the night before were still chirping away, louder than I had ever heard crickets. The air was heavy with a dampness that just kind of sits on the earth. Different than other humid places I have been. It was called the Marsh House for a reason. We were in a flat, wetland area. Not even the grass was familiar. We didn't have time to rest though, we had to find a place to live!

The Marsh House

Big Bird could finally take a break

Lucia was fascinated by all the new bugs. Me, not so much.

This photo cracks me up. Random, but I love it.

Days 11-19: Wisconsin & Grandpa Joe

We had always planned to stop for a week in Milwaukee and visit with Paul's family as part of our road trip across the country. We last saw his parents when they were out for his thesis defense Memorial Day weekend, and last saw his grandparents and extended family when we were there in December. However, this stop in Milwaukee turned into much more than a quick visit when Paul's grandfather, Grandpa Joe, passed away on August 19th, less than two weeks before we were supposed to start our trip. Paul had gone home to be with family that whole week and when he came home we had to double our efforts to get packed by the time we needed to leave. Paul's family was kind enough to wait until Paul, Lucia and I got to Wisconsin to have the memorial service, so that became the focus of our time in Milwaukee. To be with family, especially Paul's Mom and Grandma, and mourn the loss of Grandpa Joe, but also to laugh, remember and celebrate the impact that he had on so many lives. He was truly an extraordinary man. I didn't get to spend that much time with Grandpa Joe, but I feel blessed for the part he played in making Paul the man, father and husband that he is. Once I met Grandpa Joe, Paul made a lot more sense to me (in a good way!) and it makes me happy to know that Paul will pass along those lessons and stories from Grandpa Joe to our children.

2008

February 2011

December 2012

Probably imparting some Grampa Joe wisdom

The service was on Saturday, so Thursday and Friday were occupied with preparations for that. Saturday was emotionally draining, but the service was beautiful. Oh, and Lucia peed on my lap...twice. Luckily, I was wearing a long summer dress with a lot of pattern. I was able to dry out mostly unnoticed.

The rest of our time in Wisconsin was spent with family and preparing for the final leg of our trip. We celebrated Lucia's birthday (she requested pizza), and spent some time with Paul's Dad and Cyndi, including a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo, which was fun! Lucia loved the bats and the giraffes. Paul and I got serious about finding houses to look at when we got to Cambridge, and lined up four potential houses to look it. Here are a few more photos from our week in Wisconsin. We are excited to be just a little bit closer to our Wisconsin family.

Lucia and Wendell bonded and spent many mornings hanging out together

Pizza party - Extra olives please!

Thanks to cousins Anna & Bobby for the birthday present

Sitting in Great-Grandpa's barber chair

The Milwaukee Zoo!

"Don't worry about your knees Grandpa, I don't weigh thaaaat much!"

Day 10: Milwaukee, WI...finally!

We woke up with leisurely plans to drive a short day and camp outside of Madison, WI at Devil's Lake, then the next day visit friends who just had a baby who live in Madison, before a short hop over to Milwaukee. That all came crashing down when we hear a little voice from the tent as we cooked breakfast, "I peed in my sleeping bag!", following by crying.

We have been putting her in diapers at night for this exact reason, as to avoid an accident in the sleeping bag, so I thought maybe she wet her diaper and woke up out of a dead sleep thinking she had peed through. Opening the tent door however, we realized that somehow, she had indeed peed through her diaper, through her pajamas and there was basically a puddle in the sleeping bag. Sorry for the the TMI. Clothes were quickly stripped off and the puddle and sleeping bag contained in a trash bag. That sealed the deal. We were going to make the 8+ hour drive straight through to Milwaukee.
We packed up our gear and hit the road. It was a mostly uneventful drive, lots of construction. We crossed the Mississippi River! Southern Minnesota was really boring. When we crossed into Wisconsin it was much more picturesque. Paul and I were talking back and forth on our radios as he told me things he remembered here and there as we were driving. Wisconsin has the red barn and rolling hills thing down pretty good. We arrived to Paul's Grandma's house in Mequon with little fanfare and stayed for dinner with her before heading down to his Mom's house where we were going to stay for the week.

Consequently, no photos from this day except for a car photo.

Day 9: Sioux Falls, SD

We had about a 6 hour drive today across South Dakota, so we slept in a little and had a leisurely morning and breakfast. We drove straight through with just a few breaks. Once you get out of the Black Hills, South Dakota is pretty boring. As we were coming in to Sioux Falls it started to rain. We were a little worried because we were planning to tent camp and weren't looking forward to setting up in the rain. We got off the freeway and headed through cornfields, following my Google maps directions for Palisades State Park. We drove through cornfields and soybean fields, and I was starting to doubt Google. The photos from the campground website showed a wooded area. Then the directions turned us onto a dirt road and I got a little more nervous. Suddenly a stand of trees appeared in the cornfields, and a sign directing us to the park. We got to our campsite and got out. It. Was. Humid. The sound of bugs was deafening, not sure what they all were but it was a chorus of crickets, Katy-dids, cicadas and whatever else. But it wasn't raining anymore. We set up camp and got dinner going. Our nice campsite neighbors from Massachusetts, brought Lucia a treat of microwave popcorn from their camper van. We went to bed to the sound of the bugs.

Another car photo. This is the only photo of the day. No pics of the campsite.

Day 6: Grand Tetons, The Grand Meltdown

We didn't give ourselves much time to spend in Grand Teton NP, so we got up early again. Our plan was to drive to the southern end of the park and work our way north back towards our campground, then spend the evening packing up. We weren't more than two miles south of our campground before entering GTNP before we saw a couple of cars pulled over in the early morning fog. Paul pulled over and we started scanning the hillside. Bear! Right near the road, sauntering through the brush was a scruffy-looking Black Bear. Paul had been hoping to spot a bear the whole time we were in Yellowstone, and had conceded that maybe we wouldn't see a bear this trip, and here was one and we didn't even need our binoculars to see this one. He walked along the road for a bit, then started down a gully and back up the hillside and was gone behind the trees. That was a great start to the day!

Good Morning Mr. Bear!

We continued to drive south, but unfortunately with the fog, you couldn't really see the mountains. We hoped it would clear soon. At the very south end of the park, we stopped at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, which looked fairly new. It had some great exhibits and was virtually empty when we arrived. Lucia had fun with the dioramas and we watched a video about the Tetons. Luckily we were ready to leave around the time that a large group of seniors with southern accents descended upon the gift store and bathrooms.

Mt. Moran in the morning

The only moose we saw on this trip

Craig Thomas Discovery Center

We had planned to stop at Jenny Lake for lunch. It was really busy, and we had to park far away. We stopped at the visitor center to check things out and that is when the Grant Meltdown started. Lucia was running all over the place, and not listening to us. She kept hiding in the clothing racks, and generally disturbing the other people in the area. When Paul scolded her and she hit him, he took her outside for a time out. Even with the time out, we could tell that Lucia was not going to cooperate. We decided that it was too crowded, and we would move on and maybe find a quieter picnic spot. We got in the car and Lucia was now mad that we were getting back in the car. Can you blame her? She has been in the car all day every day for almost a week now. Paul and I were feeling slightly guilty. Then in her frustration she threw her water bottle from her cup holder onto the floor. I picked it up and put it in the front seat with me. She wanted it back and told us so with her screaming. I told her she needed to ask nicely and she could have it back. Then, she lost it. For the next 30 minutes she screamed "I want my water cup!" Over and over and over. She was beyond reason. She finally fell asleep and we made the decision to just drive back to camp. We got to the cabin, rolled the windows down in the car and let her sleep a little while longer. When she woke up, she remembered exactly what she was mad about, and resumed her screaming. Paul was over at the main office and I was running out of ideas to get her to calm down. Paul walked in, and asked her to say, "Please can I have my water cup" calmly. And she said it. We were all fine after that, but we let her just chill out in the cabin and read books while Paul and I packed our things. Hopefully we can go back to the Tetons when the kids are older and actually do some hiking around. Tomorrow is a new day.

The Grand Tetons

The Grand Meltdown

Day 5: Yellowstone 2.0

Our new strategy had us waking up at 5:30AM, getting the car packed, making coffee and breakfast - all in the dark, while Lucia slept. We put her in the car, straight from bed, still in her pajamas, in the hopes that she would sleep a little while longer, as we made the drive back to the Hayden Valley. Our plan paid off, and not long after passing Fishing Bridge on our way towards the valley, there was a herd of bison on the side of the road! We watched them safely from our car as they ate their breakfast. They are really huge up close. We drove on a little ways further and another two bison crossed the road right in front of us. On our drive that morning we also spotted some elk and trumpeter swans.

First light in Yellowstone NP

Early morning on Yellowstone Lake

Bison!

So excited to see bison that I honked the horn with my butt!

Raven in Hayden Valley

After making our way through the valley at a leisurely pace we headed west from Canyon Village toward the Norris geyser basin. What we thought would be a boardwalk stroll through the geysers similar to the West Thumb basin we did yesterday, we obviously didn't read the sign close enough, and it turned out to be 2 miles in the blazing mid-morning sun with lunch-time quick approaching. There were some neat thermal features in the basin, and it wasn't crowded at all. We saw Steamboat Geyser which recently made headlines with the first eruption in 8 years. We had just hoped to be making better progress towards Old Faithful at this point.

Norris geyser basin

Colorful bacteria!

Water break

Ask Paul if you really want to know about the black algae

After our longer-than-expected hike we continued to head south towards Old Faithful. We didn't have the heart to pull Lucia out of the car at all of the stops along the way, but we did make an exception for the Grand Prismatic hot spring, which was well-worth the stop. Paul got some great photos, but even these don't do the colors justice.

Grand Prismatic

Apparently these are bacteria - Ask Paul

As we approached the Old Faithful area, we weren't prepared for how much more crowded and busy the Old Faithful area was going to be, compared to the other areas we had stopped so far. We managed to find a parking spot right in front of the visitor center and walked towards Old Faithful and the crowd gathered. Within just a few minutes, Old Faithful went off. It was cool to see, but at this point we were all starving and a little crabby. We quickly grabbed our picnic supplies from the car and found a spot for lunch. After lunch we went back to the visitor center and wandered through the exhibits. As we left Yellowstone for the day and headed back to our camp, it started pouring rain. Paul made a quick dinner on the camp stove and we ate dinner in the comfort of our little cabin. We ate dinner on the floor since we couldn't reach our camp chairs in the moving truck. But the floor was clean because we could reach our broom and dustpan. Funny how things work out!

Just in time for Old Faithful

Our little cabin abode

Our plan is to spend tomorrow in the Tetons, get packed up, and head out very early Sunday morning in order to make it straight through to South Dakota.