Whew... I'm living in a tornado

So after two weeks traveling, visiting and having fun on vacation, we came back to KY for only four days before loading everybody BACK into the car -- this time on a 'business' trip to MO.

The kids were in AWE when we crossed into St Louis.


We only stayed for two and half days. The purpose of the trip was to see our next house. We always like to have that look about a week or two out from our official move, if it's possible to go. It helps us shift through our stuff and decide what we really need and what needs to be passed along (like the boxes and boxes and boxes of little girl clothes that we kept because we didn't know Sam's gender before he was born).


After an initial frustration and a little bit of a let down, we were pleasantly surprised at the monstrosity of a house that awaits our family. It was initially two 3-bedroom duplexes. Well, they've torn down the adjoining walls and made it into a four bedroom with a bonus {giant} room. Definitely the biggest house we've ever had on-post. We're all a bit more excited now that we've see it in person. PLUS... we ate dinner with friends on Friday night and breakfast with more friends Saturday morning. I love moving somewhere and already having some friends there!

So... the house... Here it is!!

*The front from the sidewalk/street level. You can see on the right side where the other door was when it was a duplex. I don't like the steps/platform there, but everybody on the street has it, so we've got some ideas to make it look better.

*The front from one carport. Since it was a duplex, there is another carport on the other side, which Rob is thrilled with!

*A view from just inside the door -- towards the staircase and family room.

*View of the stairs from up top. Kind of odd... and we'll definitely have to work out a system with Sam, but it's what we got. The wall to the left is what is left of the third bedroom in each duplex. It is now the giant bonus... and you can get to it from either side of the stairs. I guess it could be used as a fifth bedroom, but I don't think we will. It will probably be the kids' {and our} game room... complete with Wii and XBox :-)

*This is a view of the bonus. You can tell where they knocked out the adjoining wall here, but that's okay!

*Itty-Bitty kitchen, which will cause issues, but it will work... because we will make it work!

*There are two of these storage rooms -- they are identical and we have oh so many ideas for what to do in there!

*Remember, this was a duplex. So... what do you do with the second kitchen? You make it into a mudroom. This is also the room with the washer/dryer hook ups. Kind of a bit of wasted space, but it'll work!

*And the excitement of the day?!? Trees. There are trees in the backyard. And what comes with trees? Shade, that's what! SO excited!!

*And here's the back... from the other side as taken before (obviously). On the far left you can see one corner of Rob's carport and the corner of a storage shed. There are two of these outside storage buildings too!


So that's it. That's our house... well, technically the Army's house that we will be renting for the next two years.

Now to get us out of here and into there... the tornado of things to do is picking up speed. Rob found our fish a new home, which caused lots of drama at our house this morning. He has taken the big three to Louisville to drop the fish off with their new owner while Bones and I recoup from a rough night/morning.

There are SO many things still to do before the packers come on Wednesday!!