learning new things

I mentioned in my last post that this move has been tough for us, and I suspect it will be for awhile, but I'm trying to focus on the positive.  I deal with bouts of homesickness and loneliness, but I generally don't believe in dwelling on the past when nothing can be done about it.  So, I'm here, I'm trying to make the best of it. The town we moved to is half the size of our old town, population wise.  And it definitely has much more of a country feel to it, especially the part of it that we live in.  So because of that, my kids and I are having more encounters with wildlife.

So far we've learned that Ryan is allergic to mosquitoes.  Fortunately, we have lots of mosquitoes here to teach us that.  The poor kid has been eaten alive and has some weird looking bumps on his skin to prove it.

Every morning we wake up to birds all over the house and the empty lots behind us and next to us.  And the other night I heard an owl hooting somewhere outside!

Because we live by the "stinky salt lake" (as Ryan puts it), we have plenty of flies that make their way into our house.  That's allowed me to develop a new hobby--fly swatting.  I suspect its not much longer before I can go pro.

Last week we passed a field of horses when Ryan yelled out "cows!"  I got to correct him and teach him what horses are. (Actually, there were horses in our old town too, I was kind of embarrassed that he got that one wrong!)

And this morning as Tyler was eating breakfast he noticed some mating bugs on the window.  He went and tapped the glass, trying to get them to move.  When that didn't work he resorted to banging on the glass, and finally concluded that they must be dead.  Alexis came out a few minutes later and immediately started tapping the glass, then banging on it, then came to the same conclusion.  Looks like it might be time to teach my kids about the birds and the bees...and the bugs.

Speaking of bugs, there are waaaaaaay to many earwigs for my liking out here.  We had a lot of earwigs in Sacramento when I was a kid and I've had an extreme hatred for them ever since.  I usually don't kill bugs that are outside, only the ones inside my house, but I make an exception for earwigs.  Those get killed no matter where they are.

Other things not related to wildlife:

We live down the road from an air force base, so everyone up this way is used to jets flying overhead and pretty much ignore it.  My kids still look up at every single plane that flies over and get excited about it.  Ryan always points and yells "Jet Tub!!", because he learned about jet tubs before jets and can't seem to separate the two words.

Our neighbors all have gardens and all have been very welcoming, so we've had lots of fresh veggies and lots of zucchini bread--both wonderful things!

The other night I was in Alexis' room helping her with homework while watching Tyler out the window.  There was a little dirt and gravel in the gutter in front of our house, so he would ride his bike down to the end of the cul-de-sac to get up some speed, and then hit the brakes as soon as he got to the dirt and gravel.  The bike would skid sideways, and once he'd stopped he would turn around and study the line he'd made with his bike tire.  Then he'd get back on the bike and do it all over again.  I called Jeremy in to watch it, and a look of pride came upon his face because he used to do the same thing as a kid, but had never taught Tyler to do it.  And I was proud of Tyler because after trying it the first time he decided on his own that he should probably be wearing his helmet, so he went and put it on.

And this morning was the first morning we've had before school that didn't feel extremely chaotic.  Even though I've got a schedule, our mornings still seem off, so I guess they'll just take practice.  In the meantime I'll take any morning I get that isn't too crazy.

So wish us luck as we continue to settle in and get used to our new lives here.  We miss our family and friends we left behind and talk about them everyday, but we are grateful for our new space and all the experiences we'll have here.