Made it!

We made it. Q and I via 2 days in an over packed Honda Element...

Road Trip to DC from tapirspoop on Vimeo.

K8 and Ozzi via 2 hours in a plane. Their trip may have been quicker but they didn't get to see the Goodyear Blimp. Then again they didn't have to drive through Gary, IN, all boarded up and burned out, looking for a place for a 4 year-old to poop.

The new apartment is very nice. The pool is great and the walk to the Metro is pretty quick. The apartment management has all sorts of community activities going on, which is great since most everyone here is with the Foreign Service. We've already met quite a few people in various stages of their FS lives. Today I took the boys to one of the play-times in the activities room and walked out with a play-date for Q on Thursday.

Yesterday we went to the Air and Space Museum having forgotten that it was the anniversary of the moon landing. Luckily we got in before the big crowds showed up. Q went bonkers over all the rockets and planes. Ozzi was less enthused. The significant historical day had several news crews in the museum trying to do their pieces. One lady from Fox News had the nerve to actually shush Ozzi as we walked past. Had we not needed to get home for Ozzi's nap we would have parked right next to them and let Ozzi scream his way through her entire taping.

Of course, all this fun doesn't meen that we don't miss our friends and family. We do, greatly.

Preparations

We are now truly feeling the gravity of our new lives in the Foreign Service. We are so close we are accelerating and spinning almost out of control. In less than two weeks we will be living in Washington D.C. preparing for our lives abroad.

The house amazingly sold in 24 hours (pending closing) which was an amazing relief. K8 finally got the official travel orders so we now have the movers scheduled for pack up and our trips from St. Paul planned. K8 and Ozzi will be flying out while Q and I will be driving out over 2 days. That way we will have a car while in D.C. and get a few vital things (toys) there just in case the UAB is delayed. The other benefit, I hope, is a chance for Q to see a little more of the country we will be representing over seas.

K8, being the amazing woman she is, has managed to take care of pretty much all the prearations while I, being the stay at home dad, have occupied the boys. Which, when you need to maintain a staged home can actually be quite the task. I've also really been doing everything I can to prepare Q for this major change. At 4 years old, a big move can be unbelievably hard. But, at this point anyway, Q is genuinely very excited about the move. I think most of the credit goes to sitting down with him at the computer and going over all the aspects of his new life. Together, we've looked at our new apartment building, checked out what animals are at the National Zoo, and taken a virtual walk along The Mall via Google Maps Street View. We've even gone over our Road Trip, plotted out on Google Maps.


View Road Trip in a larger map

Things really do seem to be finally coming together with this new beginning in close sight. There is still plenty to get done, including what may be the most daunting task of all, the countless goodbyes we have yet to say.