Getting Settled

We have now been in the "wild and wonderful" state of West Virginia for two months and life is good. Maybe it's because we have never stayed in a place longer than two years and have moved so many times but I feel like we have adjusted to our new home really fast.

West Virginia is Bee-u-ti-ful. The one thing this photo doesn't capture however was my lovely back sweat or the multiple mosquito bites on Mariah and Chet. Humidity and bugs...not our favorite but just makes us that much more excited for fall. 

We have loved being just a little over an hour from Grandma and Grandpa Crossley. We get to see them so often. Mariah and Chet were excited to ride on this carousel and each picked their own animal to ride. Mariah insisted on a Triceratops and Chet insisted on a...pig. I showed him the bald eagle and horse and other noble beasts but he was set on the pig. I guess he and Grandpa Young have even more in common than I thought. 

Besides the weird smell and abandoned houses around us we really love our house too. I am so glad we have a fenced in backyard. Makes parenting just a little easier. 

Mariah had a camera and Chet had binoculars. They will be detectives in no time...just have to teach them to be a little less conspicuous. 

 The local fire department already have Mariah and Chet's hearts:

And we've found a restaurant that does kids' night: $1 pizza, free balloon animals and face painting. The face painter was a serious perfectionist and took at least 10 minutes on each kid, but they were pretty excited so that made it worth it. Hopefully next time we go the air conditioning will work so we don't have to lose 10 pounds in sweat outside. 

One day we went to the local lake. I told Mariah where we were going and a little while later she asked, "Mom, is there going to be a lot of Cheetos in the lake?". I asked her why she thought that and she said, "because it's Cheeto lake!". The Lake is actually named, Cheat Lake. And even though there were no Cheetos to be found, the kids still had a great time. Austin even got in the water with me and loved it. 

The amount of time it took to get this picture is ridiculous. There was a young couple right by us and I know they thought I was crazy. "Mariah, Chet come stand in front of the water for a picture. Not there, over here! In front of the water. Not all the way in the water! Smile! Look at me!" Boy, it was just a little obnoxious. Life with children. 

Tanner is adjusting to life as a Doctor and not completely overwhelmed. He enjoys his coworkers and is learning a lot already. So far his schedule has been pretty light but I'm trying to prepare myself for when it gets crazy.