A Busy, Busy Month

Hello!! Wow, it's crazy to think it's been almost exactly a month since our last post. So much has happened since, it's weird to even read that last post. At that point, we'd just accepted the offer on the house. Now, we are a day and a half from closing. It's strange how all-consuming selling the house is while you're living in it, but once you move, you kind of become disconnected from the situation. I now remember feeling the same way after our move to Sioux City, while still selling the house in Cincinnati. Anyway, it will be a relief to have it all behind us, for sure. On to the re-cap of the last month....

• Just over three weeks ago, we had to say goodbye to both of our dogs in a 3-day span of time. As some of you know, these dogs have been with Cliff longer than I have, so it was a difficult week, especially for him. Copland (left in photo below) was put down after 10.5 years of loyal friendship. He'd not been well for awhile, and had declined a lot over the summer, so we knew it was the right thing to do, but it was still a very difficult time. Three days later, we hit the road to meet a friend in southern Indiana (she drove up from Atlanta) to give away our other dog, Candide. Our new apartment (family campus housing) does not allow pets, so we decided to give her a home where she would be well loved. Her new mommy even set up a Facebook page (Candide Towner--no joke!) so we can see pictures and hear updates on her new life in Atlanta.
• Since we had to drive to Indiana anyway, we turned it into a week-long vacation. We camped in our new tent and got to see several people. We spent a day and a half in Santa Claus, IN with my sister and her family, which was great (despite getting a deluge of rain on our campsite grill-out the first night!). The day after the rain, we all went to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. It's really a great park--nice people, affordable, nice rides, great water park, free parking and free Pepsi all day. It was fun to let Laura and her cousin Owen have a good time together. Nathan even got to ride a couple of things too.
• After Santa Claus, we spent a few days in Bloomington with Dave, a good friend of Cliff's. Dave and his wife were house sitting for a friend, so we got to stay at the house too, which was incredible--acreage with horses, a heated pool and lots of peace and quiet. While in Bloomington, the kids and I had some great, quality time with my parents, and Cliff got in a very nice visit with his brother.
• On our way home, we met up with Cliff's parents in Missouri. They were heading out to help us with the move (incidentally, their help was PRICELESS). We drove to Lincoln, signed our lease, drove back to Sioux City, packed up the whole house over the weekend, loaded the truck Monday, arrived in Lincoln very late Monday night, crashed at a hotel, unloaded the truck on Tuesday, and spent the next few days unpacking like crazy. His parents left on Friday, and we spent the next several days continuing to settle in until Cliff started band camp with the Cornhusker Marching Band at the end of this last week. He has a very busy week ahead with band camp, but is very eager to dive into his time of learning here. The kids and I are enjoying meeting new neighbors. Everyone on our street has the common bond of being students, many with small kids. There are several swing sets here at the apartments, so we play outside a lot, often with other kids. It should be a fabulous time for us overall.

Well, that's enough for now. I will post more specifics on the move and our new surroundings in coming posts. We have endured a lot of changes this month, but I think I speak for Cliff in saying that this transition has been great thus far!

Gina