Hello, Texas!

Well, we made it to Texas! We are moved in to our new home, and we love it!

We've been taking our time unpacking boxes, figuring out where we want things to go (isn't that always the worst when you have a new layout in your home and certain things just don't seem to fit anywhere?!), and getting settled in.

We've checked out some local stores and the base, and it seems like we're really going to enjoy our time here.

Lieutenant Lovemuffin doesn't start pilot training until June, so we have a couple months to relax before the full-blow CRAZY begins... and I'm okay with that.

I'll be going back through everyone's blog posts from the past week and a half and going on a commenting spree to play catch up... so I apologize in advance about that! ;-)

Do you enjoy moving in to a new home?

Goodbye, Ohio!

Today, we are driving away from our house in Ohio. It was our very first duty station as a married couple. Once Dan graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2014, we got married and moved to Dayton, Ohio so he could get his Master's degree from AFIT, the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Last night, he received that Master of Science in Applied Physics degree (more on that coming soon), and we completed our time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Thank goodness. We were not so much a fan of this town, but we also know it could be worse. There's nothing AWFUL about Dayton... there's just nothing exceptional about it either. In all fairness, we probably would have felt that way about any base after coming from gorgeous Colorado Springs.

Although we are not upset to be leaving Ohio behind for more exciting things (ie: pilot training and all the fun and craziness that comes along with it in Texas), we did make some special memories in Ohio...

We lived in our first house as a married couple. Sure, we rented it, but we worked hard to put it together to look and feel like a home, and I will definitely miss the layout of that house. It's also the home we welcomed Annabelle into, and while she will have many homes growing up, this one will always remain special because of the middle of the night feedings, sweet newborn cuddles, and many first milestones that took place in this very house. I'm happy to be leaving, but I'm also overwhelmed with sadness about leaving that part of Annabelle's life behind - she'll never remember it, so I'm happy that I at least captured her nursery in photos for her to have when she's older.

We went to many baseball games, went flying, and even made our own table for our patio! We're excited to move that one with us to Texas for all of the cookouts we see in our future.

We welcomed Smudge, Dan's childhood dog, into our home, and the kitties moved to their third state! Gilligan and Stormy are such well-seasoned travelers. 

Dan started his first Air Force job as an officer, going to school at AFIT. Those butterbars look so good on him. I turned my Etsy shop into something larger than I ever expected and shipped out a TON of orders for the holiday season. We took a family picture with all of our pets for our first married Christmas, and we celebrated our first year of marriage! 

In Ohio, we found out we were expecting, found out the baby is a GIRL, went through my entire pregnancy, and welcomed sweet Annabelle Kathryn. Life wasn't so bad in Ohio, after all. ;-) 

We bought our new car (the Dadmobile), spent our first Christmas with a baby, watched Dan defend his thesis (and graduate!), and took Annabelle to the polls to teach her the American way. 

While we're hoping never to be stationed in Ohio again (and as a pilot, Dan shouldn't be assigned there - but you know the military...), we will definitely miss some small aspects of it. And our small handful of great friends there. We will definitely miss them.

Now onto the adventures of pilot training! 

Do you ever feel sentimental when leaving a base, even if you didn't particularly care for it?

The Hotel Life

If you saw my last post about Annabelle's nursery, you know that I captured those photos since we'd soon be leaving our house in Ohio.

Well, we've left. But we're still in Ohio for the week. Lieutenant Lovemuffin graduates from AFIT with his Master's degree on Thursday, and we will head out on Friday morning.

Until then (and since last Wednesday), we've been living the hotel life.

And when I say we, I mean Annabelle and me. Dan has taken all of our household goods down to Texas and started setting up our new home. (This situation is all kinds of weird, but he went without us to drive the Penske truck down. We're doing a DITY because we have a deep freezer full of my frozen breast milk from exclusively pumping to feed Annabelle. This way, we can all ride together next week. He towed our Escape behind the Penske truck, and we will tow our Camry behind our Navigator when we drive down next week. Yes, we have three cars... also a long story.)

It's a small room, but it has a kitchen, so we've been just fine. Who am I kidding? I'm not cooking! This is like a vacation. There's also a TV with cable (which we don't have), so I thought I'd watch some good shows... but it turns out, there are no shows I like on cable, which is why we don't have it in the first place. Ha!

Hotel life hasn't been too awful, but I will say that I'll be SO glad when we are out of here and on our way to Texas!

Now check out this little cutie... she is thoroughly enjoying the hotel bed to play on, but she's sleeping in her Pack n Play. Ironic that she plays on the BED and sleeps in the Pack n PLAY. ;-)

 

Have you ever stayed in a hotel for an extended period of time during a move?