So Long, Farewell, Until We Meet Again

So, the last few days have been pretty heavy to say the least.  We had so much fun staying with Mike, Melissa and the boys while our house was being packed up and loaded.  It was wonderful to spend our last few days in Chicago with them. We were able to have some major family time.  The kids had a BLAST together and so did the adults.  It was such a treat because Melissa and I were able to sneak away a few times for some girl time.

It was so hard leaving on Wednesday morning!  We packed up and had one last breakfast with some of our friends at one of our favorite spots, Juicy-O.  (Any place that gives you free donuts when you arrive is on my good list.)  We then said our goodbyes.  It was horrible.  I am absolutely the worst at goodbyes.  I would much prefer slipping away in the dead of night, but it didn't work out that way this time.  I was doing okay until I saw Mike and Mark embracing while full on crying.  That's when both Melissa and I lost it. It went downhill from there.  Here are a few pictures of the breakfast...

Rosie's new haircut done by her talented Auntie Melissa.  

Like I said, it was very sad.  We have definitely been blessed with wonderful friends and AMAZING family in Chicago.  What a blessing it was and I definitely regret taking it all for granted.  I am trying not to be too "Debbie Downer" about the whole thing.  I know that we will see them again, but it definitely hurts right now!

Here is our car, filled to the brim.  I mean we literally could hardly fit ourselves in it.  It's hard to pack 3 weeks worth of stuff to live on for two adults and two kiddos.  What's even worse is when you realize that you forgot a lot!  Oh, well.  We can live without it for awhile.

After breakfast we headed to our house for one last time.  We wanted to make sure it was spic and span for the next family.  It was weird being in the house with it completely empty.  We worried that Monroe would freak out, but she thought it was amazing.  She had so much fun running around and yelling, like nothing had changed.  Oh, to be two again!  I found that I sound shockingly similar to Enya in an echoey house.  Monroe really got a kick out of me singing ballads to her.  We got on the road much later than planned (due to all the singing and cleaning). It was sad leaving Chicago, but we were excited to get started on our next chapter.

To make the trip more bearable, we decided to take our time and stop halfway through at a hotel for the night.  We also made a quick stop in Indianapolis to visit our FAVORITE restaurant, Tijuana Flats!  We ate there all the time in Florida and when we learned they had one pretty close, we knew we had to stop. It really made our day better.  You can't beat the Power light Black Bean Enchiladas with salsa verde.  The manager told us that they are opening up 11 new restaurants in North Carolina!  I really hope there is one close.

We ended up staying in Lexington, Kentucky for the night.  Monroe got to sleep in a big bed and thought that was the bee's knees.  She did so well.  We also brought her breakfast in bed and she thought that was super wonderful.

Kiki relaxing on the bed. 

We didn't push ourselves to leave too early the next morning.  It was so nice just to take our time.  We stopped for lunch at a little Mexican place and while I nursed Kiki, Mark took some sweet pics of Rosie.

We got into Asheville around 4ish.  We stopped at the extended stay hotel to check in before meeting our realtor at the house to take a look.  The night before, we had looked up the hotel to make sure it looked nice and we felt pretty good based on the pictures.  Well, the pictures turned out to have NOT been taken at the Asheville location.  This place was pretty horrible.  It was in a very sketchy part of town and the whole place smelled like smoke.  Our room reeked of it even though it was a non-smoking room.  It kind of looked like a glorified dorm room, but much smaller.  It was also about 30 to 40 minutes away from the hospital and our friends.  I decided to be as positive as possible about the situation, but on the inside started wondering how I would handle living there for the next few weeks with two kids.  After about ten minutes, Mark and I both started to get headaches from the smoke.  We decided we couldn't make this work and ended up finding a hotel about a minute from the hospital.  For a little bit more money, we have a suite and Monroe has her own area.  It is so much better and I feel so much safer.  Whew, crisis averted!!!

Like I mentioned, we met our realtor over at the house and I got to see what will be our home for the first time!  The verdict?  I LOVE it!  Mark did a wonderful job choosing the perfect house for our family.  The only thing I didn't love was how close the houses are to eachother.  Other than that, it is perfect.

I can't wait to get in there as soon as possible.  My mind is just racing on how I will decorate everything and where everything will go.  I took lots of pictures of the place to help me in the process.  I will need to do a bit of painting.  Over time, we will probably end up painting everything, but to begin with I need to do our bedroom and bathroom (which is currently purple) and the guest/girls' bathroom (currently pink).  Otherwise, I can live with the other colors.

I'm thinking of going with gray in all of those spaces.  Here is my inspiration room for the guest/girls' bathroom.  I love that it's a kids' bathroom, without it being overly kiddy.  Things may change after we move in, but that's what I'm thinking for now.

On Friday night and Sabbath we spent some time with our friends, the Nudd's.  It was great hanging with them again.  We enjoyed church at the Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church.  Mark's cousin's husband is the new associate pastor and we got to hear him speak.  It was nice meeting some of Mark's family that live close.  I'm excited to get to know them better.  

Today has been a good day.  We did some exploring in the Pisgah National Forest and also worked out at the local fitness center.  I haven't run in about 2 years, so it was hard to get back into it, but it also felt really good.  I need and want to make it an every day thing.  That's my goal.

Here are a few pictures from the National Forest...

I would add more pictures, but internet here at the hotel is VERY slow and it takes forever to download.
So, that's kind of an abbreviated update on what's been going on here.  Pray that I don't loose my mind living in a hotel for the next few weeks!  I'm going to have to find fun things for us to do while Mark is at work.  By the way, it's his first day tomorrow, so he could use some prayers, too!  I know he will do awesome.  I'm so proud of that guy and so thankful that he has such an awesome new job.  I also feel so blessed that I can take an early retirement;).