Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fresh Perspective and Update

Hello friends! I have to admit I'm not good at updating by blog so far--sorry.
We went to Disney World a few weeks ago and the kids had fun! There was a lot of walking--me on vacation is no relaxing when there is things to do. The kids complained about it, which was frustrating and they had to be reminded that many kids dream of doing this :):) But they have good memories and remember all the fun they had. Andrew loved the Indiana Jones show, the Star Wars ride and all of the rollercoasters. Katie loved the princesses, fireworks, Dumbo, and rollercoasters. Ryan loved the parade with Toy Story characters in it, it's a small world ride and the Buzz and Toy Story rides. He adores Jesse from Toy Story and when we saw her and Woody, he was shy and scared--he didn't like any of the characters :) I loved seeing their eyes light up in awe and excitement. Mike liked being able to take the big kids on the big rides--splash mountain and all the rollercoasters.

It was hard to come back to Virginia but we were so exhausted, it felt good to come back to our house and be at a slower pace.
I've tried to keep things in perspective and enjoy this slower pace. Unpacking and meeting friends is still slow but I'm becoming ok with that. My days back in MN were busy and filled with activities and things to do. It was so nice seeing friends and playing with the kids we had in daycare--sometimes that made me a better mom to my kids. Now we are snuggling in front of TV, going on bike rides, running errands during the week, and trying to establish a schedule. The weather here has been nice although some days its similar to MN since weather there has been nice this fall.

We never realized how hard this move would be and have considered about this not being a long term plan. While we were on vacation, Mike's parent company had a few layoffs--not major and not his entity but enough to wonder how stable this job is--time will tell and we have to give it more time--like 15 more months to be exact :) Our home in Chaska is still on the market and we are now looking at renting it for 12-15 months so we can have more time to decide our long-term plans. The housing market in MN is terrible (VA market isn't that bad and haven't seen as much drop and their houses are 25% more expensive) and I can't believe how low houses in my hood have gone down and we have been forced to be competitive with that (low, low 300's). Even renting will result in a loss to be at market but it is what it is and we'll be fine with that.

Halloween is right around the corner and one of my favorite holidays.  Friday is our school's halloween bingo party so the kids are excited and hopefully that goes well and maybe we'll meet a couple people.  It's hard to not think of all of the MN parties I'm missing out on.  And we've trick or treated with our Chaska neighbors kids for as long as they've been going trick-or-treating.  Last year, the kids said it was the best night ever and had so much fun.  Realizing how much our neighbors were like family to us.  But we are going to try to have a positive perspective and make the best of it this year.

I'm coming back to MN soon for a long weekend--11/3 to be exact.  So excited to see friends--still working out details.  I know it will be hard to leave MN to come back to VA but good to come home to the kids.

I'm realizing this is really long so I'm going to close for now--sorry :).  Hope all is well with you!
Your friend, Josie :)