Colorado Here We Come

I have been a lousy correspondent. I would apologize, but we have been busy in strange ways. Since May I have been traveling about 2-3 times a month. Some travels included Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine Texas with Eric and Eileen for a fun time after an intense period at the base. A trip to Albuquerque - job searching for me (we were going to move there....more later on this) - these were 2 days without Eileen...making them the 2nd and 3rd night ever that I have not slept under the same roof with her. Then, Eileen and I jetted to Pittsburgh to congratulate Grandpa Ken on his retirement from close to 40 years of teaching.

Somewhere in there, Eileen graduated preschool. She had her first dance recital. She finished up her year of Suzuki violin. She took swim lessons. You get the idea...we are busy. She is over scheduled. I am the only Tiger Mom that I have met here in Wichita Falls. I am backing off.

On the way home from the Grandpa Ken trip, we got delayed in Pittsburgh. Talking to Eric, he asked how we would like to do our house hunt in Albuquerque the following weekend/early next week. The next day he called me and said that we were being Diverted to Colorado Springs.

So, now we are moving to Colorado Springs in less than two weeks. Last week (during the Waldo Canyon Fire), we spent doing a house hunt in Colorado Springs. Eileen was born in Colorado Springs; we were stationed there from 2006-2008. While we had sold our house there (okay we sold it only this past April...but how were we to know?), we knew where we wanted to live. We have picked out a home to rent and are excited about Eileen's school: the Colorado Springs School. Eric has met his future colleagues and is looking forward to the new job.

Me, I am looking forward to a warm welcoming community there. I have loads of friends from living there 4 years ago.

a plague dialogue

Many of my blogging friends have been incredibly productive lately (or in some cases, reproductive). I am feeling inadequate. But, I am still here, in what has become land of many plagues. We started with the heat wave/drought last summer. 100 days over 100 and almost no rain (leaving people exposed to deadly bacteria strains if they dared to try to swim in whatever lakes remained). This led to a spring filled with moths. Moths everywhere. Moths in the air ducts. Moths on the ceilings. Moths playing dead. Moths really dead. Then came the birds. Beautiful red tailed black birds and crows. And the lovely caterpillars that will eat all the green things from this year.

I wonder what the rest of the summer will bring.

Mouse House and ABQ

Well - it has been an eventful couple of weeks. Here goes: March started with Mickey Mouse. We went to Disney Land. Stayed at the lovely Grand California Hotel and Resort. Eileen ate breakfast with Mickey and her cousin Ike, Uncle and Aunt and grandparents. Awesome time was had by all! Somehow Eileen grew to be 40 inches tall on the airplane arriving tall enough for any ride she could tolerate. On the Saturday that we had early access to the park, there was a bomb threat and so no one who was in the park could leave and no one who arrived after the threat could enter. We had the park to ourselves on a Saturday morning.

Then we returned, Eileen got stomach flu, and we turned around and headed to Albuquerque. We visited three Jewish preschools and one Jewish dayschool. I am comfortable that we belong at the dayschool -- and that next year Eileen will be at Temple Albert early childhood center. I picked up her stomach flu (and so did Eric) while we were in Albuquerque.

Now we have been home for more than a week. I seem to have forgotten our routine between all of the travel and all of the illness this family has had since January.