Settling In

We have been settling in to our new home.  Jason has been trying out leaving at different times to test the commute and traffic.  The girls and I have been checking out our town and the surrounding area.  We have been to the town beach a few times.  The town beach is just 3 miles from our house and it is a resident only beach.  I love that is it is so close and resident only becuase that means it is not crowded with people.  The beach is small but has never been busy when we have been there.  The water at the beach is shallow so the kids have a great time playing and can go out quite a way before it gets too deep.  It is nice to have something so nearby that we can go to to cool off.  Being away from New England for four and a half years means I have to readjust to the humidity.  I definitely did not miss it while we were away!

The girls started tennis lessons offered through the town this last week.  They had lessons every day except Friday and the coaching is very good.  They have a lot of fun and they have made big improvements from the beginning of the week to the end of the week.  They have lessons this coming week as well.  Having the lessons has also given all of us a chance to make friends.  On Thursday afternoon we joined some new friends at a pool for an afternoon of swimming.  We met more people at the pool so we are starting to make new friends which is great for the kids and is awesome for me to have some other adults to talk to and be around.  I'm going out for drinks on Tuesday night which will be my first night out since leaving Prague!  I am looking forward to it!!  So far life is working itself out and it seems like we chose a great town to call home.

Unpacking

Now that we are in our new house I have been busy unpacking.  Trying to find a place for everything is a challenge.  It isn't a lack of space since we have about triple the space we had in Prague.  It is just figuring out where to put everything that makes sense.  We also decided that our big bookcase from Prague doesn't really work in any space in the house so we are using it for storage in the garage.  The bookcase we were using as a TV stand in Prague has gone into the basement for the girls play area also so we are down two bookcases.  Not having those bookcases means we have about ten boxes of books sitting in our dining room.  Maybe I should put them in the center of the room with a tablecloth on them since we don't have a dining room table yet either!  Our dining room table is still at my parents house so we will have to bring that up soon as well.  We have slowly been bringing things from my parents house since when we moved to Prague we stored half of our stuff at my parents.  We are not in any great rush since we did without all that stuff for four and a half years.  We have gone through and culled out the more important items...blender, stand mixer, grill. 

Getting our grill set up has been our nemesis.  We brought our Weber grill back from Prague only to find out that there is no way to convert it for American usage.  Once we found this out we decided our next trip to my parents house we would bring back our old Weber grill.  We got it home and new that we would need to order a couple parts for it since it had the old propane connection.  Jason order the new connection thing and a new ignitor switch and chose two day shipping.  As luck would have it the ignitor switch came in two days but we are still waiting on the connector piece...the piece that we actually NEED to use the grill!  It is very frustrating but hopefully by the middle of this week we will be grilling again.

Our New Home!!!

Finally we closed on our new home!!!  Jason flew back from Prague on June 21st and we closed on our house on the 22nd.  My Aunt Carlene was able to take the kids for the day so that Jason and I could get a lot done on the 22nd.  We are very grateful that Carlene took the kids since it made our lives much easier and the kids had a fantastic day...the zoo, hide and seek and Carlene's house, and a trip to the movies....way better than tagging along with Mom and Dad.  Jason and I headed up to the house for our final walk through before the closing and then off to the attorney's office to sign all the paperwork.  The funds came through in the morning and we signed all the paperwork so we were new homeowevers by lunch time!  After completeing that we headed up to the department of motor vehicles to get new licenses and then to a car dealer to see if we could purchase two cars.  By 10:30 at night we were also owners of a Mazda cx9 and a Mazda3. It was a a busy day but we got a lot accomplished..new house, new drivers licenses and new cars. 

My mom watched the kids on Friday and I came up to the house to be here when the movers arrived.  To my surprise the movers were at the house early!  They were friendly and efficient and were finished just after lunch time.  I did a little unpacking and laundry then picked Jason up from the train and headed back to my parents house for our last night before moving into our new home.  On Saturday we had a nice big family breakfast with my parents and then Jason and I headed up to our house to get some unpacking done.  My mom came up with the kids in the afternoon and then drove us to pick up our new cars.  We drve back home and then my mom continued on to her house.

Phew...we made it.  It has been a tough two months of transition but we made it through and we are now back to living life as a family.  It is nice to be home!

Strawberry Picking

I have been looking forward to taking the girls strawberry picking for quite a while.  The strawberries are finally in season and we headed out to three separate farms in search of berries.  The first farm had loads of berries but they were not very sweet.  The second farm had fewer berries but were a little but sweeter.  The thrid farm, Jaswell's Farm, had a lot of berries and they were sweet!  We picked enough berries to make about 20 jars of strawberry jam and to have enough left over to enjoy fresh and with strawberry shortcake.  I love strawberry picking season!

Ali's 6th Birthday Party

We celebrated Ali's 6th birthday party on June 11th since it is too difficult to get everyone together during the week.  We had all of the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins over to celebrate and Ali had a great birthday party.  I wanted to make sure it was a lot of fun for her since she wasn't going to have all of her friends from Prague with her to celebrate.  Before settling on the date I made sure the most important paty goers could make it...the cousins!  Ali has such a good time playing with her cousins that I knew if they could all come she would have a great time.  We played pass the parcel, biting donuts without using hands and we had a pinata so all the kids had fun.  With the kids all getting along nicely the adults didn't have to worry about anything except enjoying the party.  Ali was excited to have play all the games and to play with her cousins and to of course unwrap all of her presents.  I was very diligent and wrote down all the gifts she received but since we moved I'm not sure where that list went.  If I can't find it then THANKYOU to everyone who came and for all the gifts you gave Ali.  Thanks for making the party a wonderful time for Ali.

Off to Pennsylvania

We decided to head down to Pennsylvania to visit Jason's brother Matt and family and to celebrate Jason and Matt's birthday since their birthdays are only a day apart June 4 and 5.  It was great to finally get down to visit them since we hadn't been down to visit since before Ali was born.  The five and a half hour drive seems like nothing after our long drives to Slovenia, Italy, Slovakia and France so we hopped in the car for a long weekend.  It was great to see them and to see our nieces, Keely and Alaina.  The kids were bursting at the seams to see their cousins.  We arrived on Friday afternoon so our girls had to wait for their cousins to get home from school.  I wasn't sure they were going to make it the hour they had to wait for the bus to arrive they were so excited.  The kids played for the rest of the afternoon and the adults just hung out and relaxed.  Saurday we relaxed for the morning then went for a nice walk in a park.  The babysitter arrived at 5pm and the adults headed out to celebrate birthdays.  We went to the melting pot for dinner which was a lot of fun.  Jason and I had never been to a Melting Pot before so we let Matt and Jodi lead the way on the menu and it was delicious especially the peanut butter and chocolate fondue dessert!  After stuffing ourselves we headed to the movies to see Hangover 2 which was funny but not nearly as good as the first one in my opinion.  It was a good night.  The sun eventually came out on Sunday and we all enjoyed going in Matt and Jodi's pool  reinforcing our desire to put a pool into our own yard next year.  It was a good weekend and over way to fast. 

Sand Hill Cove

Since being back the girls and I have taken advantage of the beach being so close and have gone to the beach a few times.  The kids are New Englanders at heart and were in the water even at 62 degrees (16C).  Fortunately the water warms up pretty quickly here and the water temperature at Sand Hill Cove must already be in the low 70's (21C).  Rhode Island beaches are wonderful with the white powdery sand and Sand Hill Cove is my favorite beach even if it is for young children and old people.  There are no waves (unless you are under 8 years old) and you can walk in the water and see clear to the bottom.  There is no undertow or riptides.  It is soft sand and calm waters perfect for relaxing and swimming.  While I still have to watch the kids they can actually go in the water and enjoy it and not be afraid of big waves.  I don't have to be in the water holding their hands to make sure they don't fall over.  It is easy and fun.  The kids have been having a blast playing in the water and biulding castles.  They cover themselves completely in sand and enjoy it.  I love being back near the ocean.  There is nothing like the smell of salt water air to say that we are home.  Here is a video of the kids enjoying the beach.

Memorial Day

While living abroad is great we did miss all the patriotic events that happen throughout the year.  This was the first Memorial Day that the girls could remember and I wanted it to be fun.  We started out on the weekend with going to the Gaspee Days Arts & Crafts festival.  I remember going to the Gaspee Days Arts & Crafts festival and the Gaspee Days parade every year.  It all takes place in Edgewood which is where we lived until I was four and where my Nana lived forever.  It is also where my Dad used to keep his boat.  It is a very pretty area on Narragansett Bay.  Anyway, my mom, Jason and I took the girls to check out the festival that I hadn't been to in years.  It was very crowded but was a lot of fun.  We stopped for a picnice on the park lawn before letting the girls enjoy some of the games and rides.  After eating lunch and playing games an drides we headed over to the doughboy truck.  I hadn't had a dough boy in a long time and I wanted the girls to try one as well.  They are awful for you but oh so yummy.  For those of you who dont' know a dough boy is basically a piece of dough that you flatten out and put in a hot oil to cook.  Once it is cooked you take it out of the oil and cover it with sugar/cinnamon or powdered sugar.  Doughboys used to be cheap but I almost choked when I got to the counter and saw they were $6 each.  We only bought one and split it between the four of us.  Of course the girls loved it and wanted more, as did I, but at $6 a pop we passed.

On Monday we headed over to North Providence for the Memorial day parade.  While it is no Gaspee Days Parade (which we couldn't attend this year) it was still exciting for the girls since they have never been to an American parade before.  It fun to watch them experience all these things that I expereinced as a child.

Hanging with Family

One of the things that has been so great since we have been back is being able to simply hang out with our family.  Every Friday night my parents, the girls and I head to my brother's house for dinner or we meet at a restaurant.  The girls play with their cousin, Michael, so easily.  It is like they have been friends forever.  After being around them so much it was nice to be able to also go to one of Michael's baseball games on a Saturday morning.  The girls lost interest pretty quickly in the game and played on the playground but it was still nice to be there and I think Michael was happy to have us their to watch.  It has been fun to also watch the girls get to know their Uncle Joe and Aunt Jen.  Joe has been awesome with the girls and really has fun with them.  I was able to snap this photo of Joe and Ali after Mike's baseball game.

Up to Maine

After celebrating Easter with my family we headed up to Maine on Monday to spend a week with Jason's parents.  The girls and I hadn't been up to Maine in over two and a half years.  The kids couldn't really remember much about the house except Sofia had a vague recollection of where the cupboard of toys was located.  Once we arrived though the kids settled right in and seemed to know where everything was located.  They were excited to play grammie's new piano and dress up with masks that Grammie had gotten on a trip to New Orleans.  Jason and I took the kids into North Conway for a bit of shopping one day and then left the kids with Grammie one day to hit North Conway by ourselves for some shopping. We also had one day of nicer weather and enjoyed a picnic out in the yard.  It was a very relaxing week after all the craziness of the move.

Easter

Jason flew in the day before Easter so it was great to have the family all together again.  Before picking up Jason at the airport the girls and I headed to my brothers house for Easter breakfast and egg hunt.  As usual my brother had tons of people at his house so while it was nice to see him I didn't get to talk to him much but the kids had a great time eating up all the yummy food.  There were loads of Easter eggs spreadout across the lawn and in shrubs so all the kids had a blast collecting as many eggs as possible.  Once the party was coming to a close I sent the kids home with my parents and I headed to the airport to pick up Jason. 

On Easter morning the kids woke up to a note from the Easter Bunny.  They had to follow the string through the house to find their Easter baskets.  The girls were pretty tired and slept in a little later than usual and also didn't get up at the same time so we had to watch for each of them to get up to make sure they didn't miss the note from the Easter Bunny.  They were both excited to have a note and to follow the string to their baskets as were really excited to find all the candy and books the Easter bunny left for them.  Later that afternoon my brothers came over for Easter lunch/dinner with their families and we had another Easter Egg hunt with just the five grandkids.  They all ended up with quite a lot of candy.  Fortunately our girls forget about the candy once it is out of site so after a day of candy we put it in a ziploc and stored it in the freezer.  Of course then it is just eaten by me and my dad which isn't good either but I only eat it to save my children from eating it :)