Hello, State College

Our trip across the country was long, but good.

The highlights were visiting family and friends along the way.

First stop, the Belts in Durango.

The kids played pool and visited with their cousins.

We went on a nice walk by the river and saw the train.

Just last week, Gavin’s remote kindergarten went on a virtual train ride. About halfway through the video, Gavin shouted, “Hey! I’ve been there. I have seen that train!” Sure enough, they were on a train ride through Durango.

Our next stops were to visit friends from Iowa. Even though it’s been four years, we had such a great time catching up. One thing I kept thinking as the kids played games and talked was how very good these people are.

We arrived at our rental house in the country and Brooklyn cried with disappointment. It’s not that it wasn’t a great place. But it did smell like cow manure and it was small and we arrived after a very long week.

Since the kids weren’t registered to start school until the following week, we stayed busy by exploring the area. We went to a few parks.

Tried out the creamery on campus.

Learned a little about local history. This is the Greenwood furnace. There are more furnaces like this scattered around State College.

We got used to cramped family dinners.

Or super late dinners. Or pre-made dinners on paper plates when we were stuck at Picadilly (that’s what we call our house to differentiate it from the rental).

We had some cold, windy days.

But spring is stubborn. So now that we have been here almost six weeks, we’re hoping we won’t see snow or ice until at least October, but preferably December.

The trees lining our driveway are busting out a warm welcome.

I think the weeping cherry might be my favorite.

Living out of suitcases in a rental and splitting time/resources between two houses is very stressful.

But we’re working hard and making steady progress.

I’m looking forward to settling in, but for now I’m trying to appreciate the collaboration we have as a family in making our new home a place where we not only work hard, but also find peace, shelter, comradery, and love.

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