Change of Address

Scott and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary this past week. This coming week, we are moving for the fifth time in those six years. We are moving out of our cheapo tiny place into a two-family house that is a lot closer to a train station. Hurray for shorter commutes! To wrap up our experience at this apartment complex, here is a list of a few things we liked and didn't like about this place:

Likes -
1. Our landlord put in a nice kitchen a year or two before we moved in. I've appreciated having enough counter space and cupboards to fit all my cooking and baking gadgets.
2. Some of our neighbors are super-nice. The day we moved into the place was one of the hottest days of the year; one of our neighbors brought us and all the movers cold water bottles. Bruce has a bunch of neighbor-friends too: one brought him a toy airplane and bus from her trip to London.
3. The location may not have been great for Scott's commute, but it was awesome for me. Trader Joe's is in the backyard, there's a stroller-friendly running trail nearby, a lake with a dirt path around it, a few playgrounds, a community beach, and a farm where we can pick veggies - all within walking distance.

Dislikes -
1. Some other neighbors weren't so nice. There's the one downstairs that obviously doesn't like kids and has a low tolerance for Bruce skipping along the floor. There's the neighbor that smokes about four packs a day right under our windows. There's the teenage neighbor that sits in his car listening to music and revving his engine for no apparent reason. This same neighbor also used to tear up and down the parking lot at high speeds, slamming his brakes at one end and the other. One day he accidentally put his car in reverse and rammed his bumper into the parking lot fence. I couldn't help but laugh. He moved out last month, thank goodness.
2. Let's face it - there's just not a lot of space here. I'm excited to not be stepping on Scott's toes in the bathroom or tripping all over Bruce's toys.
3. The washer and dryer downstairs require quarters and even after I load them with quarters, sometimes they don't work. I won't get my own quarter-less washer and dryer for awhile, but someday I will really appreciate it when I do get them.

Katahdin

We went on a quick camping trip last weekend. Scott hasn't had his fill of mountains for the summer, so we went to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Scott hiked with his friends. I was thinking about hiking with them until they said they were leaving at 4:30 in the morning. I'm glad I didn't go with them; the hike sounded a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Scott: king of the mountains. We had a plush camping experience. We stayed at a campground that had a swimming pool, free hot showers, flushing toilets, and running water. We even had waffles in the morning, courtesy of the Bradys, who brought their waffle iron along.

Marissa's Married!

One reason for our extended vacation was to see my baby sister get married. Marissa is a little princess and very particular about everything I am not particular about: hair, nails, etc. She looked gorgeous of course.
That's Tevita (aka "Tofu Pita"), my newest brother-in-law. His family is from Tonga and they're planning a big pig roast luau; even as a vegetarian, I'm totally jealous that I won't be there. Tevita's family shipped special leis from Hawaii for the wedding reception; they smelled sooo good and looked good too of course.

Congrats to the Falaholas!

Playdate Reunion

Today we saw some friends who used to live quite close to us, but moved to the Buckeye State two months ago. As usual, Bruce and Christian got back to their old tricks. We've missed the Borens, but we're glad they live somewhere we can visit every so often.

Grandma Montana Time

While the boys went backpacking this week, Bruce and I spent lots of time with "Grandma Montana." As you can see, they went biking...
...we all went bowling (and I bowled a personal best of 122 - with bumpers)...
...we went to "Grandma Montana's Old McDonalds" complete with a Play Place...
...we went hiking every day and Bruce even stripped down and waded into a river...
...and we went to the Museum of the Rockies not once, but twice. The Museum has a functional homestead and farm where visitors can play with toys from the early 19th century, pump water into a can and give the garden a sprinkling, and check out all the animals, crafts, and goings-on. The picture above is of Bruce and Valerie by one of the gardens.
Bruce found a patch of strawberries and made sure it was watered well.
"Big Mike" and all the dinosaur bones were the big draw at the Museum. We got spoiled plenty while the boys were gone!

Scott and his brother and dad returned from their Beartooth Range backpacking trip a day earlier than they'd anticipated. They skipped a day-trip to Granite Peak because of some foggy weather and were hiking faster than they thought they would. Their stories will have to come in another post though.

And now for some real vacation...

We've had a great time on vacation. Bruce has caught dozens of grasshoppers and other insects, we've been camping and hiking, and we've jumped on the trampoline for hours at a time. But we've been trying to buy a condo at the same time, which means when we weren't hiking or having fun with the fam, we were faxing documents, emailing lawyers, and fielding calls from realtors. No fun at all, but it would have been worth the fuss to quit renting and finally buy a place. Unfortunately the deal fell through this week. We got an inspection done on the unit and it turns out the place has 20x the amount of radon that is considered dangerous. Soooo we won't be moving there. We found a place to rent to avoid homelessness and we'll think about looking and buying when we get back to Boston. In the meantime, we are happy to be done faxing and stressing so we are going to ENJOY our vacation!