Our Move to Washington

When babies are little. It's amazing how fast they change. We finally got the hard drive on our computer replaced, so I'm able to get back to blogging the way I like it: sitting at my desktop in the cozy corner of our bedroom, TYPING on a keyboard, rather than painstakingly pecking away at my iphone.

The other day I went back through all the photos we've uploaded from our phones over the last year and sorted them into folders by date. It's just crazy how much Finlay has changed. But I digress...

Since I neglected to do any blogging last year, I think I'm going to attempt to cover last year by a little compare and contrast each month: what were we doing last year this time, and what are we doing now. This could be fun right?

But first, let's start off with our move to Washington. We moved here mid January of last year. It was a long flight, pregnant with an 18mo old, but Fin was an amazing little traveler as always.

We were driving the 2 hours from the airport to Whidbey Island, hunting for a good lunch spot when I saw it. THERE IT WAS!!! A Quiznos SUB! And less than a mile away! You have to understand, I spent my entire first trimester in New England CRAVING a Quiznos sub, only to find that half of them on the East coast have closed. Devastation. Sadly, after driving in circles for 20 minutes with a hungry, fussy kiddo... we determined this one must have closed too. BUMMER!!!! Oh West coast, I had been here less than 24 hours and you'd already disappointed me. I settled for A&W. (Don't worry... I will find a Quiznos at a later date.)

 

Headed to our new home. :)

 

Crossing Deception Pass Bridge for the first time was a little bit hairy. Matt took this photo as I was driving, two hands tightly gripped around the wheel, refusing to even GLANCE away from the road. I still get a little nervous crossing the bridge, but other than a ferry, it's the only way off our island, so I'm getting used to it.

 

After arriving safely in our new town, we "staycationed" about two weeks in the Navy Lodge before finding a home. That's a LONG time stuck in an hotel room with an 18 month old. We only had one car, so many days I was, in fact, stranded at the Lodge. Need I remind you that I was pregnant too? Nevertheless, we made it our home and made do with what we had. We found ways to keep Fin entertained. Like every morning at 5:30 AM, when he and I "quietly" walked to the lobby to get coffee. Well, I got coffee. He helped himself to a cup of ice from the machine. RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE... CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK. I'm sure the people in the hotel room next door just LOVED waking up to that sound everyday.

 

 

The upside to our two weeks in the hotel was that we did NOT have to worry about our dogs. They were still enjoying the woods and fresh air at my parents' in Maine and not cooped up in a hotel room. The other upside was that we had a little time to explore the area before starting the long unpacking process in our new place.

The coastline here is just awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok what is that strange snake thing? Matt... get it away from me.

 

Another upside to our couple weeks in the lodge was that there was a popular bald eagle hangout JUST across the street! Before moving here, I don't think I had ever seen an eagle before, and if I had, it certainly wasn't in its natural habitat.

Took this photo with our big lens RIGHT through that front window of our hotel room.

 

Within just those first couple weeks we started to see how foggy, misty, and cloudy it can get here on the island.

 

One of our "Let's get the HELL out of this hotel room" adventures included a trip to Burlington. It's about 45 minutes from us and is where you can find all of the luxuries in life like Coldstone, Target, Costco and... QUIZNOS!!!!!

 

It's also the home to our local Children's Museum. Just one visit and we were sold. We bought a season pass.

 

Any other free time we had was spent hunting for THE perfect house to rent. When Matt spotted a photo of this backyard in an online listing, he basically said "I don't care what the inside of the house looks like, this place is my favorite."

And so, after a viewing of the inside of the place, we signed the paperwork and sealed the deal. It was ours for the next year. The moving trucks arrived February 4th, 2013 and we were VERY excited to get out of the Navy Lodge. Still, looking back, it doesn't seem like it was all that bad. In fact, it almost looks like we had fun. :) Like it was one of life's crazy, awesome adventures. I just wish we could appreciate those moments a little more while we are in them. And so, our 18 day (or so) transition concluded. Now it was time to get settled in our new home. Next post to come: unpacking and settling in. But first, just a few more photos from our hotel adventure: