Getting to Know Our New Town

Welcome to our new home.  This is what you'd see as you open the front door.  

This is a better view though, standing at the patio door.  Here you can see our front room, the dining room and the kitchen, even the hallway.  That's pretty much our entire apartment.  

We left our 5 ton recliner sofa in Oak Harbor.  We gave it away instead of hauling it up three flights of stairs with six 90 degree turns.  Then we were without furniture.  So we had to make a trip to IKEA.  Another advantage to living in the city. 

Anyway, we found these lightweight chairs and footstools.  They will suffice until we're done moving so frequently.  Easy to move around when vacuuming also.

 At the end of the hall is the Master Bedroom and Bathroom. 

Right next to the Master Bedroom is the second bedroom.  Unfortunately, the kids have to share again, but I think they are used to it now.  They are figuring out how to make it work.  There is also a 2nd full bathroom, which is nice.  It's pretty much the kids' bathroom.  

And that's it.  That's our apartment, for the next 2-3 months anyway.  

One of the first things we set out to find was our next park.  We had a park we loved in Oak Harbor.  It was a short walk from home and we went there all the time.  We had a park or two in Forest Grove as well, that felt like ours.  So we're on a mission to find that park in our new town. 

 This one was fun, but not it. 

 Kind of on the small and old side.  And it was really hard to find.  We kept seeing it and driving around it, but just couldn't get to it.  Finally we park on a street near it and walked up the hill to it.

 We'll keep this one in mind as we keep searching. 

 We found a great "park" the kids love,

 and had fun slides, apparently, but...

it's really the playground at a school.  So once school started we wouldn't be able to go back there.  

 I think we found a good one though, not far from our house.

 It's much newer, with modern equipment.  Logan loves climbing on the "spiderweb."

Yay!  I think we might have found our park!  This one also has a short walking path and covered picnic tables.  

We're also starting school ourselves.  We started when James started this rotation.  I asked the kids what they wanted to study and they told me.  So I'm trying to make sure we learn as much as we can about chemistry, division, multiplication, oceans, and outer space.  We're also reading a little about Greek mythology and the Greek language.  

That looks like an impressive list, but it's just the To-Do List, not the Done List.  My parents are leaving tomorrow for their mission in Tennessee.  My children will be writing them weekly while they are out.  It's a great way to encourage kids to write.  

So life is full and busy and wonderful, even though it's a crazy time in our lives.  We're so excited for all the wonderful things happening in the lives of our loved ones too.  A baby being born, another one on the way, moving into a home, going on a mission.  Wow!  I feel like we are so blessed.  

Good things are happening, not necessarily easy things, but good things.