Things That Tell Me I'm in the South...

A single-serving size bottle of buttermilk.

I found this in the grocery store today, pretty sure I've never seen buttermilk in a single-serving size before.  White milk and chocolate milk, yes.  Buttermilk, no.  Am I stereotyping that southerners like buttermilk?  It may be a stereotype, but LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE!!!

As I write this I decided that for every stereotype, I must write something nice.  So far, as a group, I have found people in Fredericksburg to be about the friendliest people I've ever encountered.  Everyone says hi, people in cars are excessively observant in stopping to let pedestrians cross wherever they are, everyone is just friendly. 

Fascinated by the Everyday

Yes, we are going to be seeing some really cool things now that we live in a historical area, and so close to Washington, D.C.  But it is some of the things we see in our everyday lives around Fredericksburg that fascinate us.

Fireflies

Last week I was driving after dark and kept noticing little flashes of light along the roadside.  I finally figured out they were fireflies!  I also see them often in the woods outside our door.  They are soooo cool!  Mom tells me that I used to catch fireflies at my grandma and grandpa's farm in Minnesota, but I don't remember that.  The only time I remember seeing fireflies is when I was an adult, at an outdoor reception in Pennsylvania.  But here in Virginia, I see them almost everyday.  It's got to be because there are so many wooded areas everywhere, because that is where I always see them.

Thunderstorms

It's been raining quite a bit in Fredericksburg, almost every day it rains somewhat.  I'm not sure if this is normal, but I think it might be.  It is pretty fun, watching storms roll in, listening to the rain (sometimes light, sometimes a downpour).  We were at home one day last week when a thunderstorm rolled in, and Elise thought it was really fun to stand on the patio with Jason and watch the rain without getting wet. 

Buzzard

Elise's tennis camp is on courts that are part of a larger park, which is located in a residential area.  One day we were watching her, when we noticed this HUGE bird come swooping down and land in the yard of a house across the street.  It flew up and came down again.  All the kids saw it, and the adults watching.  We wandered over to where we'd seen the bird land. 

It was a buzzard!  (or vulture, I think they are the same thing)  It looked much more impressive in the air, with it's huge wings spread out.  It had come in search of roadkill, which it found not far from the tennis courts.  Tennis lessons had be be paused while the kids watched the buzzard tear apart and eat the squished squirrel in the road.  I didn't watch it eat, but the bird itself was quite a sight.

Making Sure We Have a Little Fun

We are living in an area filled with fun and interesting things to do, and I am determined to take advantage of it.  Our goal is to see something every weekend.  Even if it is something small that doesn't take too long.  Our first full weekend in Fredericksburg, we explored the Fredericksburg Farmer's Market, which was AWESOME!!!  Fresh baked bread and pastries, farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, hand-carved wood products, flowers, home-made lotions and soaps.  So fun!!

The girls investigate the veggies at the farmer's market

The other place we explored was Ferry Farm, where George Washington lived from about the age of six until his adulthood.  It is across the river from Fredericksburg, and took us just a few minutes to get there.  If the stories of the chopping of the cherry tree and the throwing of the rock across the river are true, this is where they happened.  The buildings from Washington's time are all gone, but there is an active archaeological site there, where they are uncovering the foundations of the buildings.  They have marked the corner stones of the house so we could get an idea of how big it was.  They have a self-guided tour and have commentary loaded on an iPad, which we borrowed and used to guide us through the farm.  The farm is located right on the river, and we followed the paths to the river and could then look across to Fredericksburg.  The foundation which owns Ferry Farm is working on getting permits to build a re-creation of the Washington house.  It was pretty neat to see this site in the early stages of turning it into a more viable historical spot.

Getting Settled

I was feeling bad about being behind on posts, but I'm only about a week behind, which is not too bad, I think.  Man, unpacking and getting settled is a SLOOOOOW process!  Especially with two kids running around who want (and deserve) lots of attention.  Having my mom and dad around helps, and Jason is a lifesaver.  We all try to divide and conquer.  Somebody watches the kids while others unpack while others run errands. 

The first thing we tackled when unpacking was getting the kitchen ready to go.  So, we found all boxes marked "kitchen" and unpacked those.  Some had been in storage for 3-4 years, so there were lots of dishes that needed washing.

The girls are having a good time with their activities.  Elise's tennis camp runs Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon.  She's already made friends there and it is fun to watch them interact and goof around (it's also fun to watch them play tennis).

Tennis camp runs for two weeks, then they have three days of tournaments, where they play singles and doubles and it is supposed to be a lot of fun for them.

Anja is in a camp called Up With the Arts, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to noon.  It is at a beautiful park called Alum Springs Park, which is wooded and completely shaded.  The girls think it is really cool that we have to drive through a creek to enter the park (honestly, I think it is pretty cool, too).  There is a pavillion where they do their activities, then spend some time on the playground there as well. 

 

They make a craft every day and at the end of the two-week camp they perform a play.  We are looking forward to that! 

While Elise and Anja are at camp each day from 9:00 to noon, I run around and pick up things we need (I am making daily stops at Target).  Slow progress.  I'm wondering how long it will take us to unpack.  At the rate we are going, it's going to take weeks.
 

Our Stuff Arrives!

The Monday after we arrived in Fredericksburg, I got a call from the moving company saying they would be delivering our stuff the next day.  Great!  Yeah, the delivery was just the beginning...

of a lot of work.  The delivery guys got everything in very quickly, and by Tuesday afternoon we had unpacked some things.  I was inspired to get some things unpacked quickly because...my mom and dad were arriving!!  They had left Thief River the Saturday after us, spent a couple days visiting relatives in Milwaukee, and then hi-tailed it for Fredericksburg!  They got in around 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday and I managed to find sheets for one bed so they could spend the night in our apartment.  Just sheets, though, I couldn't find a blanket.  Funny that they were the first ones to spend the night in my apartment!  The girls and I were still staying at Jason's because I hadn't gotten enough unpacked to be able to function very well at our place yet.

Jason was fantastic the day the movers delivered our stuff.  That day, I got the girls up and dressed, then he did the rest to get them ready for their activities, delivered them, then came to the apartment to help me unpack as the movers brought stuff in.  He picked up the girls, got them lunch, and entertained them all afternoon so I could deal with the movers, get some things unpacked, and meet my mom and dad to get them settled.  He took care of them by himself all day, and did a great job.  Pretty awesome :)

Starting Life in Fredericksburg

Early in May I brought the girls to Fredericksburg for a visit to see the school they will attend, our apartment, and to sign them up for summer activities.  I thought it would be a great way for them to meet kids and keep them entertained.  So, when we moved here,we got into Fredericksburg on a Saturday evening, and on Monday the girls started summer activities.  Yep, that is cutting it close, especially since the movers hadn't yet arrived with our stuff, and all we had with us were the suitcases of clothes and items we'd had on our drive to Virginia.  Anja was good to go for Monday, she was in an art camp and just needed shorts, t-shirts, and some kind of shoes or sandals.  Elise, though, was a little more tricky.  She was in tennis, and needed tennis shoes, socks, and a racquet.  So, the morning after we arrived (Sunday) we ran around and did a little shopping.  Kind of fun, really, and a good way to get more aquainted with Fredericksburg.  Monday morning, about 36 hours after we rolled into town, we jumped into our life in Fredericksburg with both feet! 

Tennis for Elise

  Art camp for Anja

Moving Trip Highlights

(This picture was taken in Thief River Falls, right before we got in the car to start for Virginia.  I wasn't going to post it because I look awful.  When I got up that morning Mom asked me what was wrong with me.  Nothing except a sleepless night of sleeping on the floor.  Anyway, I decided to post it now because I guess it captures the moment.)

Five days and 1,600 miles on the road with two kids, a dog and a cat, eating out and sleeping in hotels creates some memorable moments. 

We had our two pets with us, our dog Dutch and cat Scottie.  Those two were packed into the back, with Scottie in Dutch's travel kennel to give him room while keeping him contained, and Dutch managing with whatever space he could find.

Traveling with Dutch...Dutch is our nearly 100 pound yellow lab.  He is almost twelve years old and cannot get into or out of my vehicle (an SUV) because it is too high.  Because I did not want to have to lift him in and out every time he needed to get out of the vehicle (he is a big guy), I bought one of those pet ramps that folds out then gets propped against the back bumper.  Theoretically, the dog is supposed to easily walk up and down the ramp to get into and out of the vehicle.  I think the ramp was made for dogs smaller than Dutch.  It definitely made the job easier, but we needed to hold up Dutch as he walked on the ramp because he felt a little unstable and one time got his back end a little to far over the edge and would have fallen off if we hadn't been hanging onto him.  Sometimes it just seemed like too much work to drag out the ramp every time we stopped (which seemed like about every two hours), and Jason just lifted him up or down. 

Traveling with Scottie...Scottie is our 16 year-old cat.  I was really worried about him on this trip because he is showing his age and even though the vet checked him out and said he is healthy, he seems rather delicate.  Long days in the car seemed like it would really stress him out.  In preparation, I bought some Kitty Calming treats at the pet store (a friend joked that it is like kitty pot) and some pheremone spray, both natural ways to supposedly keep him calm.  Scottie threw up his breakfast and the calming treats before our first stop on the first day.  So much for that.  The spray seemed to work, but wore off pretty quickly.  He was kind of a mess by the end of each day, and completely stressed out.  He never yowled (thank goodness), but by the end of day three we were really worried the trip was doing serious damage to his already frail state.  So, on day four we brought out the big guns and gave him a sedative the vet prescribed.  I gave him the smallest dose and it totally knocked him out, which is not the objective.  It is supposed to just make him laid-back and relaxed.  Even by the time we got to the hotel that night, when the sedative was supposed to have worn off, he was staggering around like he was drunk.  The next day we gave him half the dose of the previous day and it worked really well, he just laid in the kennel all day and by the time we got to the hotel he was up and alert.

Kids...Some people have idyllic visions of car trips with their children, the adventures they will have and the bonding they will do (ok, I assume some people have these idyllic visions.  Maybe the only people who have these idyllic visions are people who don't actually have kids).  I had visions of kids screaming and fighting.  Elise and Anja are good kids, and pretty good travelers, but I was not optimistic about them maintaining their sanity over that many days in the car.  We brought along DVDs and video games, books and toys.  They worked through them all.  They really did well overall, there wasn't much arguing, and they did a good job of entertaining themselves.  Before we left, our friends Alison and Jona gave the girls gift bags with 7 separately wrapped gifts, one for each state we would travel through.  They had labeled each gift.  So, as soon as we were on the road, the girls opened the gift labeled "Minnesota,"  when we crossed into Wisconsin, they opened their gift labeled "Wisconsin." The girls had sooooo much fun with this.  It led them to figure out the order in which we would be traveling through the states, so they knew which present to open when.  It also gave them something fun to look forward to each day (a great thing because there isn't really much else to look forward to when riding day after day in the car).  Here's a picture of the girls enjoying one of the gifts:

Special thanks to Alison and Jona for saving the noisy gifts (harmonica and kazoo) until the last state.

Movin', Movin', Movin'...Day 5

Day five:  we will make Fredericksburg this day!

We woke up in Beckley, West Virginia, and crossed into Virginia. 

We took the Interstate to Charlottesburg, Virginia, then took state highways from there to Fredericksburg.  Getting off the Interstate took us on narrow, twisting roads through quaint small towns and gorgeous countryside, which was green, lush and wooded.

We got to Fredericksburg and went to our apartment, where we unloaded a bunch of the things stuffed into our vehicle.  We got the cat settled into a quiet spot (I know he was relieved to be done riding in the car).  We still (of course) had no furniture or much of anything, so we headed to Jason's to spend the night in more comfort.

It was sooooo nice to finally be out of the car and look forward to settling in.

Day five:  250 miles

Total trip (according to the car's odometer):  1600 miles

Movin', Movin', Movin'...Day 4

Day four:  we woke up in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  We crossed into West Virginia on day four.

West Virginia is beautiful, it is wooded and hilly (are these hills or mountains?  Our ears popped as we drove, so does that mean we are high enough to call them mountains?).  We have been driving on Interstate, and in West Virginia everything is surrounded by woods, even the on and off ramps.  Normally, you can see what is coming when entering and exiting the Interstate, but there were so many trees it was like being in a tunnel.  Kind of disconcerting to not be able to see the traffic we were merging into, but also kind of cool because it was a new experience.

We are getting close to our destination, but decided to stop in Beckley, West Virginia to get a good night's sleep before getting to Fredericksburg the next day.

Day four:  275 miles

Movin', Movin', Movin'...Day 3

Day Three:  We were in three states today!  We started in Illinois, drove through Indiana, and crossed into Kentucky.  The traveling went so well.  I thought Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana looked a lot alike.  That's the midwest for you, I guess!  This was my first time in Kentucky, and I think it is much prettier than the previous states we've been through.  It has more trees, which I really like.  We drove through Louisville, a first for me.  Seems like it would be an interesting city to visit (I also know this because Jason has been there a few times and I know about the fun stuff he has done).

We spent the night in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  We really didn't have much interaction with people there, other than attendants at the gas station and staff at the hotel.  The only colorful story I have to relate is from the hotel breakfast area on Friday morning.  I was there with the girls and there were only two other people there, a couple who were probably in their 60s.  The tv was on a news channel and the couple were making constant negative comments and exasperated grunts at every story, bemoaning the state of the world.  At one point they were complaining about President Obama and the man said "if I was on that hill, I would take a shot."  Oh.  So, I really want to avoid stereotyping, but talking about assasinating the president made me think "man, I guess I am in the South."  There was also the pit pull that was chained up behind the Waffle House that started barking at me and Elise as we went for a walk that night.  Yep, pit bull chained up behind the Waffle House.  That is all I'm going to say about that. 

Day three:  312 miles

Movin', Movin', Movin'...Day 2

Day Two:  We woke up in Eau Claire, Wisconson.  After the previous night of sleeping on the floor, a hotel bed felt mighty nice.  Since we are not in a hurry, we took our time getting going in the morning and hit the road at 9:30 a.m.  We crossed into Illinois...

and ran into our first toll road.  Eventually we pulled into Bloomington, Illinois for the evening. The girls love to swim and took a dip in the pool to get rid of some of their pent-up energy after spending a day in the car.

 It was HOT this day, in the 90s.  There were storm and tornado warnings for the surrounding area, so Jason and I spent some time watching the Weather Channel to track the storms, but we were on the southern edge and fortunately didn't get hit. 

Day two:  372 miles

Movin', Movin', Movin'...Day 1

Thief River Falls, Minnesota to Fredericksburg, Virginia:  approximately 1,500 miles. 

Day one:  I woke up at 12:47 a.m.  Was it because I was so excited?  Because I was nervous?  No, it was because I was sleeping on the floor and was so uncomfortable I couldn't sleep.  The previous day, the movers had taken our beds, bedding, and anything that would have made sleeping comfortable.  My body is too old to sleep on the floor.  So, awake at 12:47, then hours more of tossing and turning until the girls woke up around 5:30.  They had slept fine on the floor, of course.  They were up early because they were EXCITED!!  So, we got up and started getting things packed up and ready to go.  We left around 8:45 a.m., packed to overflowing, including a dog and a cat.

Our friends, Alison and Jona, gave the girls great gifts before we left, a bag with a present to open for each state we went through.  Each present is labeled with a state name.  So, as soon as we got going, they got to open the "Minnesota" present.  It is giving them something to look forward to every day.  Such a great idea! 

On day one of this journey we drove 383 miles, to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 

The movers have two other loads to pick up before they head to Virginia (two other people in the Grand Forks area moving to Virginia!), so they won't be delivering our stuff until Sunday at the earliest, and most likely it will be Monday or Tuesday.  That means we can take our time getting to Fredericksburg.  We won't be able to do any sightseeing, as we have a dog and cat in the car that can't be left unattended, but at least we don't have to spend super long days driving.  At the end of day one, we stopped around 4:30 p.m., which gave us plenty of time to eat dinner and for the girls to go swimming in the pool before bed.

The girls have been really great the whole way, very excited for our trip.  At one point, Elise said "this is the greatest adventure of my life!"

Loading Day!

We are about to begin our next adventure...moving to Virginia!  I have moved several times, including two cross-country moves, and I've always moved myself (with the help of friends and family).  For this move, I hired movers.  I was pretty anxious about the process, but I think hiring movers may be the smartest thing I've ever done.  Yesterday the moving truck arrived and the movers loaded all of our stuff onto the truck.  After weeks of super busy days, the loading day turned out to be the most relaxing day I've had for a while.  I had everything packed before the movers arrived, and those guys took everything out to the truck while mom, Jason and I kind of sat around and talked (and answered questions from the movers when they had them).  I felt a little bad while the movers sweated and hustled and lifted all of our boxes and furniture, but mostly I was just glad it was not me doing all that back-breaking work.

Elise's Piano Recital

About a year ago, Elise started taking piano lessons.  She has picked it up pretty quickly, which I was very happy to see.  I took piano lessons for about eight years, and am really happy to see Elise enjoy the piano as much as I do.  In preparing for this spring's recital, Elise chose a piece that had an optional duet part.  Elise's teacher gave her the option of playing it as a solo or having me play with her.  Elise said she would like me to play with her.  I was really excited because once I had children, one of the things I hoped for was that one day I could play a piano duet with my child.  So I practiced and practiced and memorized the piece (thankfully it is short, I hadn't memorized a piece of music since 10th grade!).  I was really worried I would mess up and make Elise look bad at her recital.  We practiced and practiced together.  Of course, we didn't play it perfectly every time we practiced, and sometimes one of us messed up so badly we had to start over (one of the difficulties of playing a memorized duet is that when a mistake is made it is sometimes hard to hear the spot where the other person is playing and know exactly what to play and jump back in.  Sometimes, the only option is to stop and start over, or stop and agree on a spot to start again).  On the day of the recital Elise said to me "I'm nervous" and I said "me, too."  We were near the beginning of the list of performers, thank goodness.  I wanted to get it done so I could relax.  When our time came, we went up and played it perfectly!  I was overjoyed it had gone well, Elise had a positive experience, and I didn't humiliate myself or my daughter. 

You can see (and hear) a video of Elise and I practicing the duet at home here: duet practice