On The Road: Day 6 (and a little of Day 7)

We got on the road around five in the morning with a stop at Starbucks first. I took the wheel for half the day- we made it to Wyoming (super blowy snowy and windy) and just before getting to Utah we took a break at Little America while we waited for I-80W to open up after a crash. As soon as we finished lunch the road was clear and we were on our way.

This is somewhere near Echo Valley in Utah- Carter wanted it to look like he was touching a mountain or holding it or something. We need to work on that style of photography.


We had planned to stop in Twin Falls for the night but we were making such good time we drove on to Boise. We're getting ready to leave this morning and most of our day's drive will be ALL Oregon. I should be seeing my new house late this afternoon!

As of right now the kids and I have driven a total of 2,060 miles since leaving our home in Northeast Ohio (not including all the driving through the mountains sight-seeing on Tuesday). Our path has been: Ohio - Indiana - Illinois - Iowa - Nebraska - Colorado - Wyoming - Utah - Idaho and in about an hour or so... Oregon!

On The Road: Days 1-5

Estes Park, CO

I'd planned to take a photo of the kids spelling O-H-I-O in front of the house before we left but it was snowing and I was absolutely exhausted after the movers left and we were in the car by the time I remembered. Friday's drive to Indiana was torturous to say the least. A five hour drive took nine hours. I'm done talking about it.

Saturday we spent with family and getting new tires on my car and getting Ivy one last haircut from the only person who knows how to perfectly do her hair. I went to sleep so very blue and tearful, dreading the goodbyes to come in the morning. Such a strange feeling to look forward to the journey but be afraid to go. 

Sunday we went out to breakfast and then were off by 10am. Pandora's Simon & Garfunkel station was the absolute best roadtrip soundtrack. My dad and I sing quite a duet. We made it to Lincoln, Nebraska for a late dinner and as soon as we walked into our hotel rooms we went straight to bed. 

Half the day Monday was spent in Nebraska STILL. Ugh with all the Nebraska! And horrid fog, like at least 4 hours straight of low visibility I probably shouldn't have driven in but I kept thinking it would get better. It never did, until we got to beautiful Colorado. 

my four relaxin and chillaxin

We decided to take a couple days to relax here in Longmont with my Aunt Susie & Uncle Jerry. We went to bed pretty early and slept well! This morning we were totally lazy until lunchtime. I was even able to knit and catch up on Downton. We went out for BBQ and then drove through the mountains to Estes Park and back. The kids were in awe, as was I. It was so perfect I cried with utter happiness.

in the kitchen with Aunt Susie

I love spending this time with my Aunt Susie. She has a book on how to speak dog. We just get each other. And Ivy has been her little shadow, of course.

So, this all is just funny because I definitely don't feel like we are moving, but I do kind of feel like I'm homeless but in a laissez faire way, and it also doesn't feel like a vacation. It just feels like, we are here and let's just enjoy it. 

Away We Go

This morning we closed on our house in Indiana. It is sold, done, over!

The movers will be here at the Ohio house on Friday. Like in three days Friday. And next week I'll embark on a dreamy cross-country road trip with my dad and the kids, stopping to see sights and family along the way, until we arrive to a home I've never seen, in a tiny little city by the sea.

The Evolution of Asher & Ivy

We had visitors this weekend, a perfect way to spend our last few days in Ohio...

- through the years -

Can't wait for you to visit us by the ocean in Oregon! xoxo

Time Traveler

Yesterday

It's warm today, almost muggy. I can see into the backyards of the homes around us and across the way leaves left over from the melted snow swirl then run off in a line, like school kids, in a row. They scurry past my window and I think they are small animals. They walk with legs and swinging arms. Marching upright, soldiers. But they are just leaves.

Ivy giggled in her sleep this morning, her head on my pillow. I wondered how many fairies were born right then. I think dozens. Upon dozens.

It smells different here, and I can't put my finger on it. Later in the day I decide it smells like the past, like home or Easter, a time that I've never spent in Ohio before. This is the first time I've been here for this kind of scent in the air, this season, this month, this weather. This should be home now, but it's confusing because I know it's only temporary so I kind of shrug it off even though it keeps nudging me to notice.

Today

I think if I had the energy and wherewithal to compose a really long post I'd like to write about how I'm a chameleon and I've always been. Some people might call it easy going or a adaptable but they don't see my handwriting, how I can make it look like hers with just a glance. They don't know what book I just read to make me write like this or maybe I'm underestimating my observer and they really can tell by this phrase or that. Who I've been watching to make my voice sound like that even though I don't even mean to. It just happens. Maybe they are just nice and don't bring it up.

Room For Waiting

Okay so I'm antsy. I had a feeling the numbness might wear off or at least come with a bit of an edge. I kind of would like to know where we are going to live.

The kids read to me while I knit, and they recite letters that came in the mail from friends over dinner, and compose responses after dessert. It's so very Jane Austen. Ivy "reads" her picture books and they are the longest stories of all because she describes- in great detail- every single thing on ev-ery page. But it makes a story and God bless my boys because they listen and laugh and don't mind her still.


"MOM, are we still going to Paris?" Ivy's voice always starts at maximum volume and then gets softer as I signal to her with my hands. We are in the car. I watch her from the rearview mirror.

"Yes."

"Ok how about in two days?" she decides and I think oh, if only.

But then thoughts of Paris have been farther from my mind lately I realize. Maybe it was the move. Maybe it is because I know soon we will live right by the ocean- something greater and more powerful than I can imagine and so it brings me back to size, and I feel safer, more alive knowing I'm right next to it.


Until then, we are all misplaced, in transit, kind of milling about for now.

And Again

Well, the first boxes have been packed. I started with the books that aren't going to be read in the next couple months and now the shelf is almost empty. It will be a good reminder while we wait, for we don't know how long, but I will look and think of Oregon and it will feel closer.

Again I find myself in the same chair searching the web for our next house two thousand six hundred and thirty five miles away, hoping a new one is added each hour I refresh my search, again. I remember doing this just a few months ago not knowing, but things found their place and in a way I hadn't thought or controlled, so I think about that a lot.

Every day I'll do a little filling and removing, sorting and preparing, so that when the time comes we are ready to go.

just write

January FOUR

Gray couldn't put down his iPod because he was slaying dragons or something and that sounded pretty serious, so. 

I left my heart at the ocean and my laptop in Indiana. But, now all is well. It's official. Jeff has been named the Publisher of The World newspaper in Coos Bay, Oregon.

Seriously. I am proud of him beyond words, and happy. So happy that it's numbed my brain from thinking about moving again, and thousands of miles away at that, and how I really felt at first.

We were out there last weekend by the beautiful Pacific and trees, so many trees, to home-shop and fall in love with the area. Now we're just getting all our houses in order... we close on the Indiana one this month, yay! and might just have our eye on a little lodge in the woods in Oregon where all you can see is trees, and more trees, and the water.



It's January 2013 and we are far from the lice incident of last winter, and of thinking we'd never move anywhere, ever. This has been such a wonderful surprise.

I take photos of my kids on the fourth of every month. Four for four. (Here's January 2011 and 2012.) 

You can see all past monthly photos here.