The never ending relocation

Here is a super long story I just can’t rehash, made short: We had to move to Tucson.

It was unexpected and undesireable (not Tucson, the move), but we hassled through and are finally settling into our new environment. The lifestyle change has been the biggest challenge. We miss walking or biking around town, and especially miss the frequency that we got together with friends – almost daily I would have coffee with someone or the kids would have an impromptu get-together . Now it’s quite a challenge to even get together; everyone seems so busy.

Staying positive, however, the place has lots of options. We have loved our membership to the Desert Museum (thank you Bethany!), and kids are involved in activities like BMX and theatre. There are bike trails near our house, and hiking, camping, and climbing out the wazoo. But, the food is the best! Sooooo many good ethnic restaurants. Yum!!

In pictures, our move looked like this…

Packing out just after Thanksgiving:

From our house we spent a few nights at the base dorms, ready to live the next two months with just a suitcase each.

Christmas time was a no-gifts celebration this year so we could spend our final month in Albacete. Some wonderful friends let us ‘house-sit’ for them while they were out:

Staying in town gave the kids more quality time with their friends and the chance to finish the first trimester at school. Saying bye to them was hardest.

After the holiday we took a final drive to Madrid to fly back to the states. Bethany joined us as far as Frankfurt, which was a fun surprise for the kids.

My parents met us at the airport in DC, and we stayed nearby so we could pick up our second car the next day. It was shipped from Spain in October. From there we took an adventure of a drive across the country.

In Tucson, the old house was in need of fixing. We spent a few weeks having windows installed, scraping the popcorn ceiling, painting, and making repairs, while we slept on the floor.