Oh-Bla-Di

A little over four years ago, Ava went to her first day of daycare in Las Vegas. I noted then that it seemed like one of those days. One of the ones you want to make sure you pay attention to.

Today feels like one of those days also. It’s her last day of Pre-K. She’s missing it because she’s got a stomach bug, but it still feels big. We’ll drop her off at school on Monday and,even though it’s just a different room down the hall, it will be real school. (More on that later.)

We’ve been so lucky to have wonderful teachers and caregivers during these critical growth years. Ava has flourished in their care and with their patient teaching, and we are so grateful.

Ava, were so proud of you, big girl. Can’t wait to see what you’ll do in the next five years.

I like to joke that, by now, the stuff that makes up our “house” is sort of like a pop-up tent.  Usually, within a week of getting our boxes of stuff, we’ve got everything unloaded and pictures up on the wall.  I think seven moves since I started with the Air Force and five since we’ve been married means that we’ve learned to do this move thing fast.  So, it makes sense that, upon arrival in Dayton, we painted every wall in the house within the first 36 hours, set up a new playset, pulled out giant bushes from the front garden bed, and cleaned up the yard all before our boxes had even arrived! Gotta get done moving before you can get on with living!

Thank goodness Grammie & Granddad were along to help.  I’m not sure we’d have gotten nearly so much done without Granddad’s expert painting and carpentry advice and Grammie’s superior child-wrangling skills.  By the end of the fourth day in Dayton, we were all ready to cut loose and enjoy some down time.

Then, five days after we arrived and put together a newly clean house, freshly painted walls, and clean carpets, it started raining just in time for the moving truck to show up. Figures.

By the end of that night, we were all able to eat on clean plates at the dining room table and sleep in real beds with clean sheets.  Not too shabby.  By the next night, we had made a home-cooked meal and the kids’ rooms had pictures on the walls. We were exhausted, but starting to feel settled.

Grammie and Granddad had to go back home after a couple more days, but we got so much done while they were here to help.  In fact, we cleared out all but two boxes before they left. It sure put us in a good spot to be able to start working on the projects that make a house a home. So, we dug out the toys…

…and hung up the pictures…

…put away the books…

…then mowed the lawn.

And, on the tenth day, we decided the rest could wait and we’d probably better think about living a little.  So we did.

Ahhh.  Home Sweet Home.

We drove away from Las Vegas on July 14.  The trip to Dayton is not a short one, especially when you’re hauling two fidgety kids and a dog. Luckily, our route looked like this:

Turns out there’s a great little spot along I-70 to stop just in the middle of the trip.  It looks like this…

Magical right? After four long years in the desert, McPherson was a green oasis and a welcome respite from the crazy-ness of moving. We were unsure of how long we would be able to stay before our truck driver showed up, but ended up being able to spend two whole days there.  We had no trouble filling them up.

My birthday was on the 15th, so we celebrated with ice cream cake the night we arrived.  It was fabulous…until I was sick out of my mind that night. Miserable way to turn 32.  But, stress and lack of sleep tends to do that to me and I was feeling much better by noon the next day.

Feeling better was good because we had cousins coming to visit! In this military life, photos and moments like these don’t happen very often.  We’re thrilled when they do!

After two nights in Kansas, it was time to get back on the road and finally get to Dayton.  We made room in all the junk in the trunk for a suitcase for Grammie and she was able to come along on the ride.

At this point, it was Dayton or bust!

One of the realities of military life is that, when your family arrives in a new town, you know that the end of that place is just over a few horizons. You live your life in a sort of temporary way – nothing so precious that it’s not possible to walk away from it. But, we spent four years in Vegas and, while many things about it drove us crazy (heat and wind, anyone?), I think we all found that we were surprised by the depth of roots there when it was time to leave.

After a low-key, use-up-the-leftover-pyrotechnics Fourth of July, it was time to really get ready for the movers. Even though someone else packed up all our stuff and did the heavy lifting, we still had to do quite a bit of work to be ready for that process. Pictures, shelves, & curtains had to come down. Holes in walls had to be spackled and touched up. Suitcases had to be packed for the week-long roadtrip looming before us and boxes of essentials readied for arrival at a new home in Dayton. Luckily, I was done with work by this point, so could spend days while the kids were in school getting the house ready. In fact, they were at school while the movers were packing us out, so they arrived home to lots of boxes one day.

Turns out, an obstacle course of boxes was a pretty great way to spend an afternoon on the plasma car.

Although, I will admit that an obstacle course of boxes is a less-than-restful way to find your way to bed at night.

And, since there wasn’t much to do in the house in the evenings with no stuff and all that time to work during the day, we made sure to get a few Las Vegas highlights checked off our list.  We didn’t spend much time on the strip in our four years, so the kids had never seen the Bellagio fountains or the flowers there, so we went to visit one afternoon before dinner.

Surely the rainbow in the fountains that day was a sign of good things to come?

After three days of packing and truck loading (and a final job interview for me…talk about a stress-filled week!), it was time for the final load of boxes to drive away. This was our first move where we had kids who would know what was going on.  When we left Edwards, Ava was six months old and her source of stability was, simply, us. Both kids were leaving the only home they’d ever known and that had the potential to be pretty disruptive. So, we talked about it a lot and talked about what would happen with our stuff and how it would get to our new house. That’s all pretty abstract, though, so we thought it might help to watch the truck drive away.

That day was a day of big goodbyes. It was the kids’ last day at school – a place that they both loved and full of people who loved them. Thankfully, the kids did fine, but the teachers and I were sort of a blubbering mess. It took me so long to feel comfortable leaving my kids in daycare.  Bright Horizons was truly a blessing of love and comfort for all of us.

With Ms. Nettie, the only teacher who had them both and was still there when we left.

Last day of school cupcakes to share with her class.

We got home just in time to watch the last few boxes go on the truck and see it all drive away. But, like with all military moves, the departing family never does it alone. Of course, the Hoffmans were there to help us crazy-wave to our truck as it drove around the corner.

Just four Air Force kiddos, taking it all in stride.

I can’t even begin to describe the grody bums and feet we cleaned because of their perch. Some things about Vegas are NOT missed.

And, because there’s been no major moment in the last six years for which the Hoffmans have not been present, they were even there for our last meal in our house – even though it was only in the generous spirit of the meal they provided.

The next morning was Matt’s final out appointment at work, so the kids and I took it kind of easy first thing in the morning and camped out in our now-empty home. (Thank goodness for wi-fi!! Never, ever disconnect that until the day after you’ve left a house.)

Then, to make it painfully obvious how much we would miss them, Sarah came over to deliver a vacuum cleaner and take my kids for the day. And, for her effort, Noah randomly threw up on her while they snuggled after nap. She didn’t even bat an eye. Seriously. Is there anything that says friendship better than that?

We shared one last awesome Caspers/Hoffman family night with some take-out PF Changs and fun and then it was time for one last crazy-wave to say good bye.

In spite of all it’s challenges (and maybe my best effort to the contrary), Vegas has forever become a place that will feel like home when we visit. And, as always, the people were the hardest to let go. It’s such a strange and wonderful life we lead. Off to the next great adventure!

Our 4th of July was decidedly more low-key this year as were mere days away from a PCS.  So, we traded in a day of fixing food and exciting desserts for a day in the pool and some sparklers.  Worked just fine for us.

We did do a little celebrating in the form of a parade at the kids’ school, though, and that was definitely a highlight.

We did have a few sparklers hoarded from years past that we had to get rid of before the movers came, so we made sure to light them all.

When in Hendertucky, right?

Turns out sparklers and poppers are the perfect fireworks for little kids, so we had a great time.

While we watched the neighbor’s larger fireworks display, the idea settled in that this would be our last Las Vegas 4th of July and was the last holiday before our move. A big adventure was looming and it was time to start getting ready!