Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The "Cottage" on the River




It's 2:00 am and we just finished preparing for the movers who will arrive in the morning. Last time the movers showed up at the door the entire family was still in bed. Hopefully this round will be better.

The kids have been watching a lot of movies lately as evidenced by the comments at our dinner table where Brooke and I look at each other and wonder where they are learning all these new phrases. The conversation usually goes something like this
Savannah: "Nice going FEDEX"?
Dad: ???????? What?
Brooke: Shrugs her shoulders? "where did that come from"
Trevor: "That's from Cheaper by the dozen", "we watched it three times in the last 4 days in a row!!!"
This is only the tip of the iceberg. The newest lines are from "ANNIE" -- usually with Savannah singing "the sun'el come out tomorrow" or she says to Brooke "we love you miss Hanigan".....

Trevor is more into actually acting out the movies. Today I came upstairs after three back to back phone calls begging me to come up and open their door (they were locked inside trying to clean up the hurricane of a mess they had created). As I opened the door I had a pizza cutter on my arm a sword in my leg and the next thing I knew a basket of fruit came flying at my head. I had to duck out of the way of the strawberry because it was made of real wood. After they wrestled me to the ground and determined I had stopped breathing they danced around triumphant and declared victory. Trever: "That was wicked cool"

All of this excitement is balanced by the reality of moving yet again. New job, school, friends, Dr's, Dentists, Ward and more HOUSE HUNTING. Our new nightly routine is talking about the transition. Trevor is having the hardest time because he doesn't have the same perspective. To him these are the only friends he has ever known. While Brooke and I will miss Va Beach we know that we will see our friends again. Trevor is not so sure that he will be so lucky despite our constant reminders that we can visit the beach or people can come visit us in D.C.

Well I have rambled enough. The whole reason for this post is so that I can show you pictures of the "Cottage". Thanks Drew and Mae for your inspiration in living in 900 square feet with two kids-- we decided to give it a try.

This place is .5 miles north of the Naval Academy so I can come home for Lunch. It sits on a bluff about 50 feet above the Severn River and has it's own private boat dock for a sail boat. Trevor and I are looking forward to fishing. It's furnished so we will be storing our House Hold Goods HHG's for the next three months while we look for a house to buy in Annapolis. More pics in the future of Christmas and moving day stay tuned.
Photo #1 is the back of the house (screened in porch).
Photo #2 is from the back porch looking at the river.
Photo #3 is the front of the house-- it's at the end of a private lane.

P.S. Brooke keeps saying it should be another fun adventure.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Househunting

I know some of you have emailed or called and are wondering where the heck we even live at this point, so I guess a short update is in order. I have soooooo much to blog from the holidays and our UT trip, but not now. We are in MD househunting. We have approximately 40 hours left to find a house and then high-tail it back to VA since we agreed to speak to our church congregation on Sunday (a common practice in our church, especially when moving in or out of an area, which means we are regulars). Anyway, Ashkii officially worked his first day at the Naval Academy today, and is on cloud 9. I am so happy for him and this very exciting and fabulous opportunity. He came home after meeting the CFO with a bag FULL of Navy paraphernalia - Navy hats for the fam, a football, soccer ball, stuffed animal mascot, and even a charm bracelet for me (it's a winner!). Anyway, apparently we are Navy fans now. Every time we drive by the stadium, Trevor asks when football season starts. The kids and I have been driving, driving, driving around trying to feel out the different areas. Thank heaven above for portable dvd players and the garmin. That thing is my best friend right now. Anyway, we have hit a lot of dead ends with househunting thus far - things are already taken, very old -"ruined" Trevor says, or we walk in and see cats and Ashkii can hardly breathe before we get out of the place. So tonight we are putting together a serious game plan and focusing on the properties requesting "no pets." The good news is that it is gorgeous here and we are getting excited for this new adventure. Thank you for all the wonderful cards and those I haven't even opened yet because our mail has been on hold for three weeks - I can't wait to get it. And someday after our move (in two weeks), I will post some pics and videos from the holidays. Happy New Year!