Embracing Change: Cross-Country Beginnings

New Mexico was all about the eye candy

Wheew, we made it.  By “made it” I mean, we traveled over 2,500 miles across the country, 4 kids and our pup, Gus to our new home in Asheville, NC. That’s right, 6 states in 5 days–California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee. You might be thinking, “How in the heck…”and I might be thinking, “How in the f***…” but it happened and I couldn’t have been more proud of our bunch for doing it. We got to see the most beautiful rock formations in New Mexico and barely anything from Oklahoma to Tennessee. There are a few other notable things I wanted to share about this road trip including some memorable happenings worth sharing.

As parents, we were our most flexible selves

Taking a jump during a gas stop in Arizona

Give us all the coffee…

Newsflash! Apparently no matter how much I thought we’d be ready mentally and physically for this move, something succeeded in knocking that theory down in one way or another. While I scoured through Pinterest for ideas on how to keep a 2-year-old busy throughout the trip, I nearly ran out of goodies to unbox and “surprises” as Poppy called them, halfway through Arizona.  We also nearly ran out of gas one time (thankfully we were near an exit to fill back up) because we forgot we were hauling a trailer and that takes a ton of power to do? Potty training came to a halt and our big girl resorted back to diapers for a few days. Our awesome eating plan was out of whack and in between drinking coffee daily and eating somewhat healthy (if you wanna count the micro greens in the cooler and the bag of mandarins) our diet consisted of lots of fast food. Oh, and ipads/iphones–on . all. the. time. No mommy guilt here.

Are we there yet?

A few minutes before 2017 in our new home

When we got to Asheville, it was New Year’s Eve. It was close to 8pm when we crossed the state line from Tennessee and shadows of tall trees surrounded our seemingly small truck. Half of us had fallen asleep and while we got closer to our destination, I became more and more anxious to finally stop sitting–I know the kids were done too. Once we pulled up to our house, the adrenaline must have hit us because we were on a mission to get our trailer and truck unpacked. Three hours, beyond exhausted, and without a TV/wifi to watch the ball drop, we rang in the New Year in our imperfectly perfect new home with boxes everywhere. We slept in until 12pm the next day (super behind on the time change) and explored every nook and cranny we could get into. We drove around a bit and tried to familiarize ourselves with our neighborhood and the kids’ new schools. Oh school–2/3 of my big kids started school a few days after the new year, so there’s that too.

Day after New Years at The Blue Ridge Parkway

Closing out 2016 meant starting the new year in our happy place

Whittle me this, whittle me that

Experiencing a move like we did was a huge deal. I don’t take it lightly and I’m super proud we got through it together. I also know that our family and friends were feeling somewhat of a loss, us being so far away now. But that’s the thing about transitions–there’s always a loss, and for us, the gain was much more important.  We aren’t big on resolutions but if I had to select a theme for 2017 it would be “focusing on the gains through discomfort.” That’s why for the second day of the new year, we ventured out to our first National Park in our new state. We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked on a trails behind the Folk Art Center. Back in our element, the big kids whittled with their knives they got for Christmas and my littlest earned her first Junior Ranger badge. We were once again in our happy place and excited to experience new adventure.

Earning her very first Junior Ranger Badge

We hope your year is filled with overcoming change & newly embraced adventures.