Living in a small town is just strange to me so far. I'm just not used to getting clear across town (during "rush hour") in 5 minutes. I'm also not used to the following things:
1 - People actually leave doors unlocked in the cars and houses
2 - leaving stuff outside all night (several nights) and it's still there!
3 - Went to a pizza place tonight, waitress gave us the TV remote.
4 - Mail lady knocks on the door and hands us the mail
5 - Lady at the counter at the post office knows us by name
6 - Public school really is free.
7 - School lunch $1/day (And for Tylers school is completely homemade at the school - even the bread)
8 - Free breakfast at school
9 - Lunch at the high school is open campus (they can leave)
10 - The local airport runs through the middle of the local public golf course (or is it the other way around?)
11 - School supply list (elementary): Pencils, erasers, scissors, crayons, notebook.

Next week, we should be venturing to the DMV to get our new drivers licenses and car tags. I'm wondering what that will be like!

We left Olathe around 11:00 on Thursday morning, made a stop at Doug's mom's house in central Kansas for a couple of hours and then started our drive around 4:30.  Much later than we had planned.  The four of us, two cats, a dog, our luggage, three coolers full of beef and dry ice, our "stuff to do" bags, and a few other odds and ends packed tightly into our minivan.  We drugged the cats (benedrill and cats... shoulda had a video camera... never seen a cat foam at the mouth and drool uncontrolably from the taste of medicine).  Drugged one child (Rachel doesn't do so well on long car rides, so she got a patch).  And the peaceful drive commenced. 

Around Denver it occurred to us that if we stopped there, we'd have a really long drive ahead of us on Friday.  And if we kept going to Rock Springs Wyoming, we'd be checking into a hotel for a total of about 3 hours before we would need to leave again.  So.... we decided to drive straight through.  We switched back and forth every 45 minutes or so until we realized it was ok to sleep in the car in the rest stops in Wyoming.  They were packed full of cars of people sleeping!  So after our 2 hour sleep break, we got going again and eventually pulled into our new house Friday evening around 7pm.  We walked through the house and all four of us immediately felt at home.   That was an answered prayer right there.

Saturday morning at 9am, our semi truck arrived and by 11:00 am we had over 25 people here unloading the semi.   Since Saturday morning we've managed to unpack and set up the kitchen and Rachel's room almost completely.  And we've been working on our bedroom and our office.  It's slow going, but we're getting there.  I do have to have the living room set up and ready to host church on Sunday though.  So, we'll be busting our tails to get that done.  We met at the Vogts this week, but they'll be in Olathe for the CMA conference next week, so we'll have it here. 

We've met three neighbors so far.  Very nice people!  Our 80-something year old next door neighbor made zuccini cookies for us while we were unloading the truck.  Yummy!  The neighborhood is quiet and we can't wait to have a party to meet everyone.  There are a couple of new babies on our block, so Rachel may have some babysitting jobs one of these days. 

I'm finding it strange living in a small town.  The mail lady knocked on the door this morning to hand us our mail and introduce herself.  She knew we were moving in so she just held our mail for us.  Need stamps, leave her a check and a note, she'll leave stamps. Not sure how much postage a package needs, leave a note on it and she'll take care of it and leave a note with how much to reimburse her.    My house has a doorbell on the back door, but not on the front.  I have two old wooden screen doors that creak open and then slam shut.  Doug said it is the sound of home to him. Tyler's school provides free breakfast and .90 lunches that are completely home made right there at the school.  Bread/Buns on the menu?  They're made from scratch that morning.  He starts school tomorrow (Tuesday) and is quite excited about it. 

So, it's really late now and I'm starting to doze off here, so more stories (and pictures) later.

Jen

Ok, so I have only moved a couple of times in my life... but after helping James and Tammy load their moving van yesterday, I think this is an accurate statement!!  :)

I do have to say I am so incrediblly thankful that I'll have friends to help, support and encourage me on both ends of this move.  A lot of people who move across country don't get that luxury.

I'm glad we had such a large garage sale and got rid of so much stuff.   But we still have so much!  Where does it all come from and where has it all been hiding????  It's amazing how much stuff a family can accumulate and not even realize it.    It's the curse of the pack-rat.

As far as our houses go, the Olathe house needs to sell!!!  We're having an open house on Sunday and a realtor only open house on Tuesday.  Hopefully those will generate a lot of interest.   And the Payette house... the current owners are busy making some repairs that we asked for.  Other than that, I have no news.  I'm guessing that no news is good news.  We're still trying to figure out if we're ok with closing and not moving in until a week later.  

Hey, does anyone have any tips or suggestions on moving our pets?  We have a dog (that's easy) and two cats.  It's the cats I'm concerned about.  How do you let a cat out to potty at a rest stop?  Have you ever seen a cat on a leash?  They become instant dust mops... completely limp.  I think a leash is the equivalent of kryptonite to a cat!   And just where do we stay along the way that allows pets?  Arg.  This is the stuff I don't want to have to think about.