Sorry

Sorry I've been absent, and here's a run down of life, and then it'll be another week at least before I'm back:

(And, I'm hastily tapping this out tonight so that it gets out there- please excuse my lack of editing tonight)

Uh, so we spent a couple weeks at the beach.  All around a terrific choice, on our part.  We needed a bit of space, and that place was packed with kids and fun and sunshine.  Worked out great.  We met some people there that turned out to be really great friends.  They talked Nick into doing a triathlon near Fort Worth, and Nick talked the dad into doing Ragrai.

The weather has been pretty great, so we've been working on being outside a lot... away from the electronics.  Nick has been training a lot, so we've all be extra busy trying to cram in all the things we need to do in a day.  Which is GOOD.  Much less bickering when there is work to be done.

We've been near Dallas, Tx, for a week now, which is where I have some family so we've also been getting to know them better.  Also GOOD.   Very Good.  We'll be here for another week, soaking up as much sun as we can before heading back to Iowa.

So, the plan as it stands now:

Spend another week here, then go do the triathlon next weekend- we'll get to stay with our new friends, nearer the race, which we are all excited to do.  Then, after the race, we'll drive back to Cedar Rapids.  We need to get the house emptied out before the 26th, so we will be moving all our stuff into a storage unit.  We do want to find another house to live in soon, so we'll start looking at properties while we're there.  We don't have any real permanent plans beyond this point.  A lot depends on what's on the market, what the weather is like, that sort of thing.  The idea in our heads now is that we'll stay and look at properties until we find what we want, camping near CR the whole time.  But, of course, that could change.

We are doing much better now.  We have gotten used to the lifestyle, and we've all gotten bolder about meeting people we see.  Nick even met a neighbor before I did the other day!  That's a pretty big accomplishment.  I do wish we were in a real house often enough- mostly at bedtime.  And there are days like today where it's difficult for all of us to do what we need to do in the afternoon in this space- Anna needs to nap, Nick needed to be in a phone meeting, and the girls needed some down time- and it was too hot for any of those things to happen outside.  But, it was not a horrible as it would have been a month ago.  We survived without any meltdowns... even from me.  :-)

Now, Nick and I finally have a chance to spend a few minutes together so if you'll excuse us, we have some plans to change and rearrange...