WTF?????

Okay, so I know it has been a while since we posted an update, and sorry about that to those that actually read this thing. There is a lot to catch up on, but this is just a quick post.

As I look at the last post, I see that it is very sunny outside and that Elijah is wearing shorts and t-shirt. Far cry from what we have today. If you have watched the weather at all, you would have seen that we have been getting a good amount of snow, but it is also very cold. Overnight last night and this morning is by far the coldest it has been since we moved here. I have been in colder temperatures, but not since we now have to live in it. Today, Elijah is wearing his double jacket, beanie, neck gator (man scarf), and snow gloves. Check this current weather report out:

OUCH!!!!! Wind chill of minus 9?!?!?!?!?! Holy $%#@!! I guess I can look on the bright side, at least it is clear and sunny, right? Similar to Melman's line in Madagascar "They're cute, from a reasonable distance", it is gorgeous outside, from inside the warm buidling. Snow on the ground, clear blue skies, bright sun.........frozen retention ponds and rivers.

Anyway, I gotta get back to work. We have been taking a lot of pictures over the last couple of months. I think I am going to upload them to an online photot storage place and then provide links to them in here. Seems like that would be faster. Have a good weekend!

First Day of School

So the first day of school we went in late so E could take the bus to school. He was so excited. However, when the school bus came, his little brother totally had a melt down that brother was leaving and got to ride on the school bus. It was sad yet funny at the same time. All in all so far so good. It is now the second week of school. He is getting the hang of it, but is a little excuse maker about having a headache so he doesn't have to do school or homework. Even though we saw right through him and still made him complete his work. What a stinker!

Visit From my Sister

If you read my sisters blog, you would know that we had a great time while she was here. We spent three days in Chicago checking out the various sites. At some point, I would like to go back and spend more time walking around. With the kids, we had to keep moving so things would continue to change for them. Could not stay in one place for too long or they would lose all interest. Nevertheless, we had fun. We took a lot of pictures, obviously including the Sears Tower. Here is one funny one we took

We drove down there on Friday, but took the train Saturday and Sunday. The boys loved it, and it was nice to not worry about having to drive and park. Train tickets on the weekend were $5 per adult and are good all weekend! Kids free too! While on the way downtown one morning the boys were tired and they wanted to lay down. Here is one position they got into. It did not last, but if it were comfortable for both, they would have crashed easily.

Sorry this is not longer. I stayed up too late last night watching the Olympics, and then I had to get up early this morning for an 8:00 meeting. I am going to bed!

p.s. - Elijah starts his new school on Monday! 2nd grade. Open house is this Thursday and we get to meet his teacher and walk the school. I actually have an opportunity to buy Bears tickets for their next pre-season game. Usually not a big deal, but they are playing the 49ers. Turns out the game is Thursday, so that nixes that because I would rather go to the open house. Well, that, and the tickets would be $92 EACH!!! My next door neighbor knows the fiance of the grandson of the Bears' owner. Her tickets are on the Bears sideline, at the 45-50 yard line, 10 rows up. Nice!! Someday I will bite the bullet and buy them. We'll see. Ciao.

More landscaping

More of the back yard

But the flowers are very pretty and there are tons.

Weeding.... yuck!

We did not expect this much landscaping at our house. When we looked at the house and made an offer and when we moved in was a month and a half and in that time all of the shurbs, brushes, flowers and Weeds grow like crazy. We have a big sized yard, but neither of us realized that it was going to be like this. There are flower beds surrounding the entire yard in the back and along the deck. We spend a lot of Saturday last weekend weeding and we only got a few sections done it is crazy.



At my fathers request I took photos of the landscaping to see all of the flowers and the weeds (this was prior to weeding).

Enjoy.
This is the front walkway. I just planted the day lillies and the other lillies and the mums in the front and around the tree in the front.

Front to the left of the drive way.

Front tree.

Back yard waking in from the side gate.

Back yard waking in from the side gate.

Crazy Weather!!

What the deuce?!?! That was some wild weather. In case you did not know, there were some severe storms that came through last night. Luckily, the worst of it was just a bit south of us, so all we got was a lot of rain, some wind, and a lot of lightning. After talking with a couple of co-workers who have lived in the area for a long time or for their whole life, I found out that this was one of the craziest storms they have ever seen. A couple of tornado's touched down in Illinois, but again, south of us.

As the storms were going through, I tried to snap some pictures. The first one is of the sky to the west. I took this about 8:00 pm. The worst of the clouds had moved east, and we could see an orange glow off in the distance. Obviously it was the trailing clouds with the sun coming through, but it was a very strange orange.

The other photos were of some lightning while we were looking east towards downtown Chicago out of our bathroom window. Keep in mind that these were taken about 8:30 at night when it was virtually dark outside. I told Becky today that it was a good thing she was not flying out here yeasterday. They had hundreds of flight cancelations at both airports (O'Hare and Midway). At least they are expecting great weather from Thurs through the weekend.

Just an Update

Just a few updates:

Amy took and past a test to be licensed to handle claims for Rhode Island. Way to go Amy!

I never came back here and mentioned it, but we now have our Illinois drivers licenses. They take your other license right there at the DMV and then hand you a new one. Kinda cool to not have to wait for it to come in the mail.

Bugs suck. You walk out in our backyard in the late evening, you might as well be camping in the woods. I guess that is what we get for living next to a marsh. I spray some good OFF! on me, but I think it attracts some kind of fly. Always buzzing around my head. Uhhggg!

Played golf last Tuesday after the boxes were picked up (see below) and shot an 81! That was with two double bogey's and one quadruple bogey (not good). I have to thank Ben Hogan and the Bible he wrote. I am itching to get out again.

My cousin JR is getting married Labor Day weekend. We are trying to figure out if we can go. We can always drive, but it would be two days each way. To avoid keeping Elijah out of school too long, we would have to leave on Thursday to get there and start our trip back on Monday. So that would be four out of six days driving. We could also fly, half day each way. The cost of flying is not too much more than driving, but it is still nearly $1100. It will be really hard to make that work and all that driving would really suck, especially with a two year old, plus sleeping at a hotel for a night each way. We are using free miles I have to go home for Thanksgiving. I guess we'll see. Maybe we can try and sell a bunch of stuff on Ebay or Craig's List. We do have a clothes dryer we need to get out of the garage. A crib too. As much incredible fun it would be, we really need to spend some money on putting up a shed.

Last, and certainly not least, my sister is coming in next week. We did have my Uncle Rick and Aunt Annette stop by for breakfast 4th of July morning on there trek back home to Montana, but outside of this, we have not seen any immediate family since we left California. I am looking forward to it and we are planning to have a lot of fun.

p.s. The weather is going to suck this weekend. Supposed to be in the mid to upper 90's with that wonderful Midwest humidity. Mid 80's with the humidity, very manageable. The 90's? Not so much. Wish us luck. I'll bet we spend a lot of time in the basement where the temperature is aways very cool.

Backyard Friends

With all of our wonderful foliage in the backyard, we have made new "friends". Not all are friends. I will quickly call some of them foe's because I NEVER WANT TO SEE THEM AGAIN! Here is the first photo. Look carefully. It looks like there are berries on the tree.



As you look closer (see the next picture) you will see that they are not berries, but instead they are beetles. Japanese Beetles to be specific. Yuck!! Look at what they are doing to the leaves!



So I found a beetle killing spray that I connected to the end of my hose. Now there are many that are dead >:-) Yeah! Still need to spray some more.



Now there are some that I do not mind. Here is an *interesting* pair I found. In the words of Fillmore, the VW Bus on the movie Cars (voiced by the late, great George Carlin) with a 60's hippie tone, "There's a lot of love out there, man."

Boxes.......Gone!

We had our box pickup last week. It was nice to get nearly all of them out of here. In fact, they even took some cardboard that was not theirs. Woohoo!! We stuffed our living room, literally, and our garage had several wardrobe sized boxes. There were still a few that we did not get emptied in time, and we kept a few of the smaller ones, but for the most part, they are all gone. Below are two pictures of the living room. One full of boxes, and the other just after they were taken away.

House Pictures

I know it is a bit late, but here are some photos of the house. Obviously this is the front, but this time without all the snow. Who knew there was so much greenery? I did not notice any of this when we first looked at it. Of course a lot of stuff was dormant for the winter.

The next four photos are of the backyard.The first two were taken back, i think in April. Notice just some trees and evergreens. The background water is the marsh directly behind our house. The third and fourth were taken a couple weeks ago. Notice how everything is MUCH greener now??!! We certainly hve a fair amount of yard work to do. For those who know about our old house and the size of the backyard, I would say this one is 3 to 4 times deeper than our old house, and about twice as wide. It is great for the kids and playing around, but it takes at least an hourjust to mow the front and back. If I mix in weed eating, edging, a little hedge trimming (I did all this last Sunday) it takes about 2-3 hours. I try to mix in weed pulling too, but there is A LOT. I really need to bear down and take a half day or so to pull weeds before they overtake some of the plants. It is a gorgeous backyard, but it comes with work. Good for us though. Get outside and stay active.

Not all of this green is ours. Beyond the tall bushes and evergrees is marsh (county) property. There is a wire type fence that is not visible in these photos that runs the property line. Out here there is no green waste garbage can like there was back in California. Here, yard waste/clippings, go into large brown paper bags. My first pass at mowing the grass, it took almost three full bags. Mind you these are 30 gallon bags. Not small to say the least. Now that there is less rain, I am able to cram it into one bag. We have had good rain this week, so I think this weekend will be a two bag job for the grass. I really do need to pull a lot of weeds, so I will have probably two more bags for that. What you don't see in the more recent pictures is the landscaping around the deck and to the left and right of the deck. There is plent more. Again, looks great, but will alwyas need maintenance.

Slow Transition to Ilinoian

As each day passes, we get closer and closer to being Illinoians. We have bought a house, we have enrolled the kids in a daycare here. We have enrolled Elijah in school for the coming year. We now know about six different ways to get to work, and several ways to get around the town we live in. We have had an opportunity to get to know our neighbors. We even had one of them and their kids over for dinner a couple of weekends ago.

Well, this evening, I put on Illinois license plates on the cars. I think this was one of those moments on the checklist where things sink in further. A milestone, if you will. I remember thinking during our first week here, it still did not feel like we had moved. I know that we had the house, the movers had delivered our stuff, but when I went to work on the Thursday and riday of the first week, it still had the feeling of being in town for one of my every-other-week trips out here.

I was telling co-workers that it still felt like I was getting on a plane Friday afternoon to fly back to California. I also told them that when I drive home on Friday, instead of fly home, and then go through a weekend in the new house, it will finally feel like we live somewhere else. Of course, this was the weekend we first experienced the crazy weather! A nice "how do ya' do" for our first full weekend. That following Monday I was getting on a train to work in our downtown Chicago office. That was certainly different. As the first week passed, I set up the phone, electricity, gas, TV, etc, and these were all put into our new address.

So another item on the relocation checklist done, new license plates. Now, a new drivers license. We tried to get that done today but got to the facility too late. Oh well, they are open on Saturday morning. Maybe it was God's way of telling us we needed to study a bit more. We'll see. I guess, after this, we will be down to checking people off the relocation list. That is, visiting family and friends will be another stepping stone in the many chapters of life. Amy had her cousin and her husband visit a couple weeks ago. Tomorrow, Aunt 'Net and Uncle Rick stop by for breakfast on their way home to Montana. We are looking forward to seeing them. Then, a friend of Amy's will be in town the end of July. Then, my big sis drops by for a few days in August. It should be a blast. And for her sake, the nasty weather should be long gone by then. It will be just a tad humid then ;-)

Northern Midwest Clouds

I don't think it has been any surprise, but for those who were not watching the news, there has been some crazy weather around her for the last three weeks. Heck, our first weekend in the house (June 7 and 8) we slept in the basement Saturday and Sunday night. There had been severe thunderstorms, one after the other, and with them came tornado watches, and then a tornado warning or two.

The first night was not too bad. But Sunday night, it was pretty bad, storm rolled right over the house. It was one of those, flash-bang, no delay kinda storms. Pretty loud. It was cool, except for when you have kids and a two story house. Interesting how and additional 10 feet of height makes a storm feel that much more dangerous. The storm on Sunday night reminded me of when I was in Nashville back in early February. If you recall, there was a ave of tornadoes that rolled through the south. It was the deadliest stretch of tornadoes in 20 years. I remember how the wind would act, it would be calm, and then it would blow 30-40 without any build up. I saw the tree outside our front door bend in the wind. I turned and looked at Amy and told her it reminded me of Nashville and that we should grab the kids.

So anyway, we had another stretch of weather here this weekend. Not nearly as bad, much more manageable. Although, we did get some hail, almost dime sized at times. Kinda makes us cringe when we are not parking the cars in the garage yet. On Friday, we went out to dinner withe boys and as we were walking back to the car, I decided to take a picture of the clouds off in the distance. They were Northwest of where we were, no threat to us, although they only looked like simple rain clouds. I thought it looked cool. It was taken with my cell phone, so it is not the best quality. Notice the bright, gorgeous sun to the left and just above us, yet it looks like it was dumping a god amount of rain.

Boxes Boxes Boxes

Man!! We have a lot of stuff. This should not be a surprise to those who know us well. Our inventory sheet from the moving company was 13 pages. This was not all boxes, but essentially, if it could fit in a box, they put it in a box. We have now been in our house for three weeks and we are still trying to unpack boxes. We have been able to get the kitchen completely done, the dining room, about half of the office, almost all of the boys' rooms, and most of our room. But, I would say we still have at least 20 boxes in the house that still need to be unloaded. Let's not talk about the garage. We have until the middle of July to get as many of the boxes emptied. We are afforded one box pickup from the moving company and we need to call them by the middle of July. This should be a good weekend for it. Plus, a three day weekend coming up for the 4th of July. Yeah!

The Flight (a.k.a. Part 2)

Okay, so I know that it has been too long since I updated the blog, so I apologize, dearly. We are finally starting to get settled in. More on that later.

As for the flight out here (Part 2 of 2). Everything went very fast getting to the plane. We got to the airport and I dropped off Amy and Elijah with the luggage. Well, everything but Malachi's little Elmo rolling backpack. He wanted to keep it with him. We then returned the rental car and we rode the shuttle bus back to the terminal. As we were approaching the terminal, I received a text message from Amy asking how far away we were. She said Elijah was pushing all of the wrong buttons. Go figure. We were just getting started and he was getting into rare form.

Well, I got there and we checked in our bags. It was quite the site. We had four suitcases we were checking. We were also bringing aboard our laptop bags, Malachi's backpack, a diaper bag, Elijah's backpack, an umbrella stroller, and a small suitcase we put our electronics in. While checking our bags, Malachi decided to go behind the counter to see what was going on. I mean all the way around, not just peer around the corner. Surprisingly, the ticket agents were okay and just laughed. I expected a sneer or stink eye. Guess I was stereotyping the airline industry.

After checking our bags, we went and got some food at a Chili's in the baggage claim area. Somehow during this time we managed to convince Malachi to get into the stroller. I think we bribed him with a banana. This really helped out because lugging everything around and also trying to contain him had become an Olympic event. We then proceeded to security, which went surprisingly well. It certainly took a while with all of our stuff, but we made it through without any issues.

Once we got onto the plane, we settled in and it was actually pretty uneventful. A little jostling between the boys for the window, but we eventually convinced Malachi to sit in the middle between Amy and Elijah. The flight was uneventful (which is never a bad thing). We ate shortly after taking off, and it was not long before Malachi fell asleep, and then Elijah. I think M slept for a little more than 2 1/2 hours, which was great. He needed it. Elijah also slept for about an hour and a half. I think I nodded off too. We had the boys switch seats for the landing so Malachi could see out the window.

Interestingly, the arrival was good. We were able to gather all of our stuff off the plane without too much issue. We took our time, let a bunch of people behind us go first, but it worked. When we got to the baggage claim our bags were there. It was awesome! I was actually going to get the rental car and then come get Amy and Elijah (taking M with me), but they were there. It was quite the chore getting the bags on a cart and to the rental car pickup, dropping the suitcase of electronics along the way. We were able to get going pretty quickly and stopped at Portillos for the famous Chicago style hotdogs. I think we made it to the hotel by 10:00. Whew!! It was a long day, starting out in Roseville, CA at 6:30 in the morning, and ending in Crystal Lake, IL at 10:00 at night, 2012 miles away. Interesting day.

Coming to you from Crystal Lake, IL (Part 1)

Wow, what a week. That might have been the fastest week of my life. The movers, myself, and my best friends dad, Steve, had a great time with golf on Thursday. I was able to comp the golf for the movers (thanks Jeff!!) so they bought Steve and I beer. Like Homer says with the donuts, mmmmmm......beer..... As for the moving of the goods, the movers finished loading the truck at about 5:45 on Friday afternoon. The then had to print off the inventory sheet, all 13 pages of it. Something like 300+ line items. Sheesh. It was a 53 foot trailer and they still had plenty of room to trailer a car. The picked it up in Modesto, CA and are taking it to Milwaukee. The company is in Racine (semi-suburb of Milwaukee) so it was easy for them to do.

We then went to Elijah's last baseball game. We think that all of the stuff being packed, the house being empty, and him knowing how far away we will be, all finally caught up to him. Plus, he wanted to pitch really bad, and did not get to. He does not have much control right now, so it is not a good time for him to pitch. This added to everything and he spent about 10 minutes crying. Man he is an emotional kid. Still love him to death, though. After the game they game him his trophy and the coach gave him the game ball. This really cheered him up and he was pretty jazzed about it.

Afterwards, we headed to dinner with my sister, a couple of friends, and Elijah's coach and his wife, Tony and Elizabeth. We went to Mikuni for sushi. Had to go one last time before we moved. I ate waaaayyy too much, but did I care? Heck no. We then went and picked up the boys, and eventually made it to the hotel at 1:00 am. Got up at 6:30 am (thanks Malachi), went to breakfast with Amy's family, and then went back to the old house. It was strange to walk into it and see nothing there but our bags we took on the plane, and Josh already painting and making the house his. So it goes.

Well, I think this is kind of a boring read, but wanted to get it out there. This is only part 1 of at least two parts. I still plan to regurgitate everything that happened over the last 12 hours, which covers leaving the house in Sacramento to this point right now in the hotel where I am going to finish my glass of wine and crawl into bed.

Quick Relo Update

So the movers showed up this morning at 7:25 am. We gave them a quick tour and told them what was staying and what was going and they promptly began. Those of you who know us know that we are a little bit of a pack rat family, and also a little prone to procrastinating. Needless to say, we figured that they would need A LOT of time to pack everything.

Well, it turns out that they did not. It is only two guys, and the only thing left for them to pack is our office, the kitchen (anything in cabinets or on countertops -- everything else around the kitchen is packed), and the hall bathroom. Even the garage is packed! They are good. So good that I am taking them golfing tomorrow afternoon. The will have half the house loaded by the afternoon, and will still have all of Friday to finish loading. I will try and dig out the camera to take a picture. Realy big trailer in front of our house too. Goodnight!!

Off to the Races

Well, I am back home (came back last night) and we are now one week from moving. The next 7 days will be a complete blur by the time it is done. Here is the understood schedule for the next week, which is bound to change 27 times before it is over.

Sat - Work around the house and prepare for yard sale. It is raining so it will be inside work. Pack a few things.
Sun - Yard sale, then more house work. Going to get a jackhammer to break up the posts that were holding up the deck in the backyard. Pack a few things.
Mon - More house work, jackhammer, and a little packing. Don't want to pack too much, that is what the movers are for.
Tue - Pack my desk at work. I know, that should have been done already, but oh well. Also going to hang out with the sis, then Elijah has a game.
Wed - Movers show up and start. I am sure I will need to break down some stuff, like the desk.
Thurs - Movers still doing their thing
Fri - Movers finishing their thing. Elijah has his last game this night. Trying to also go to dinner at Mikuni with freinds. Gotta have the great sushi one last time.
Sat - We fly out in the afternoon.

I was talking with my boss yesterday, who has relocated five or six times, and I told him I had originally planned to work from home Wed-Fri, but decided otherwise and will take the time off work. He said there is no way I would get any work done. The are going to be asking questions all the time and I will have work to do, etc, etc. This should be an interesting week.

My Last "Commute"

Before anyone (Becky) says anything about the gap between posts, I know it has been a while. As you can imagine, a lot has been going on. While we really have not done any packing (the moving company is doing everything) we have been doing a lot of other stuff around the house, not to mention still having baseball practices and games. So there is my excuse. Not a good one, but it is what it is.

So, anyway, I am sitting here at Chili's in the airport having a quick breakfast. Each time I head out, my father-in-law takes me to the airport, but he has to be at work by 7:00, so he always picks me up EARLY. Since I have time, I figured I would get a quick update in. I am waiting for a flight to Chicago. This is my last "commute" to the new office before our move. This also means we are less than two weeks from moving. I am glad that this will be my last trip away from my family for a while (I hope). Things are progressing along and we are just trying to make sure we have our berring's straight.

I was able to spend a little time with my sister yesterday. She bought a new TV (thank you stimulus package) and it would not fit in her car. So, I took the van over to pick it up and then helped her set it up real quick at her house. It was nice to hang out for a bit and goof off. The TV is nice, and I am sure Ty and Jeff will like it.

Anyway, it is 7:27 and my plane leaves at 8:15. Need to go through security. Another post soon (I promise).

A New Place to Call Home?

Okay, so I have been reluctant to put anything out here about the house we are trying to buy. I keep telling myself not to talk about it or go into any detail because I might jinx it. Well that is just stupid. We are big believers of what is meant to happen will happen, so whether I talk about it or not, God will decide if we really get to buy this house or not.

So the house we found is in a town called Lake in the Hills. Kinda' funny actually when there really are no "hills". This is the Midwest, and if there is a hill, it is more of a slight elevation in the road. There are small lakes, or big ponds, depending on how you see your glass. So here is a front view of the house. This was pulled off a website, and was taken when it was snowing, so not the best picture. I will get a better one up sometime.

It was quite the whirlwind to get this into contract. We were first going to go with a down payment assistance program so that we could keep cash in our bank. Everything was agreed to by everyone. Then we decided to switch gears and go with a 3% down conventional loan. We originally thought we could not do this, and then found someone who would do it. Everything was agreed to, again, and it was going fine. Then I got a call on Monday evening (Apr 21) and found out that the house was in a "Declining Market" which meant we had to come in with another 5% down, or go some other route.

So, we decided to switch to an FHA loan. Still only 3% down, but we did not have to deal with a declining market. Also, we did not have to deal with a higher sales price for the down payment assistance program. Well, everyone agreed to the third change, and we are now heading down the perverbial road. Home inspection has been completed and we have asked for them to fix a few things, but not everything on the report. I can do some of them, plus we want to look reasonable. We also asked for a change in our closing date from May 29 to June 2. The request was sent off yesterday afternoon, and hopefully we will hear something by tomorrow afternoon. We will give more details on the house in another blog.

Hurry up and wait. Wish us luck!

The 4th Biggest Decision of My Life

So who titles something the 4th? Wouldn't you talk about the #1 biggest decision? Well, that was not why I decided to start this blog. The set the record straight, the biggest decision of my life was choosing to marry my wonderful wife. The 2nd and 3rd was the decision to have kids. Those of you who know about Josiah might wonder why there is only 2nd and 3rd. Well, I lump "having kids" into one big decision. The 3rd biggest was choosing to try again after losing Josiah. Before you ask, another blog in the future will shed some light on those who need it.

So, the 4th biggest decision (and the reason for starting up this blog site) was to accept a new job with the company I work for. That in itself is not that big of a deal. But, it is when the acceptance comes with relocating to the Chicago area. Yes, moving your family 2000 miles from your "support staff" can be the biggest decision for some, but I still think it was easier than the other three. In any case, I began my new position on Feb 18, 2008, and there is no looking back! This is a crazy time for us, but exciting as well. Amy was able to land a transfer (we work for the same company) and she started her new position this past Monday, April 14.

This is the short version of what has transpired over the last few months, but hopefully we will be able to stay on top of things and keep this updated. So, for now, happy reading!