Quick update:

Nathan graduated last Friday. We took the subway into the city, accidentally getting dropped off 8 blocks away from his building (the express follows a different route!) on the coldest, windiest day Chicago had seen in weeks. We were a little unprepared for that! (We had to stop in a building to warm up in order to keep moving.) Nathan was already coming down with the flu at this point.

When we got home from graduation, Nathan went to bed and didn’t emerge until Sat morning. The kids and I went out for traveling food and Chicago pizza. Gotta tell you, no one was too impressed with the pizza. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, either.

We left for NH around 9 am on Sat morning. We arrived at our hotel in PA around 11 pm and crashed. Sunday morning we were up and off to church to surprise our friends out there. We spent the day visiting with them and the kids got to comb and “ride” their horses (“with a helmet”) and play with their dog. Joseph even got to ride a little bike (it was in the driveway and we literally couldn’t pull him away). (While we were loading the car in Evanston, he discovered a small bike, which he rode around the sidewalk. When we drove away he waved and yelled, “Bye bike!” When we drove away from our friends’ house he waved and yelled, “Bye dog!”) It was so good to see them again… and they were so nice to let us invade their home for the day.

We discovered on Sunday that we had a sidewall blister on our front passenger tire, so Monday morning we were up early and at the tire store. A new tire… then two more. Ouch. We didn’t get out of there until 11am. We got home around 8:30. The kids and I just walked around our apartment marveling at how big it was. A full size stove and oven. A big sink. Huge bedrooms. “New” toys and clothes. It was better than Christmas morning! And it is sooo quiet here. Ahhhh.

Yesterday we got some food, emptied the van, cleaned the van, put some stuff away (unfortunately not all of it yet), and made some appointments to see apartments/ houses in MA. We also discovered, the hard way, that our clubhouse no longer has an internet connection. The office thinks they do, but they don’t. It seems the boxes were stolen. I guess we’d better let them know. (We’ve been using the library, but Staples just told us we can use the connection at Wendy’s instead. It’s closer. )

This morning we were told that one house we were scheduled to see sold last night and later found out that one rental was rented last night. (But both said we could come see. You know, be the back-up offer.) *sigh* We drove around Gloucester and saw a house and found a few numbers to call about others.




Then we arrived in Belmont and waited to see a duplex… but the landlady thought it was yesterday and was angry that she waited in vain yesterday and wasn’t coming today. Ooookay. Another one down. We saw a rental house in Woburn that we all liked and put in an application for it. I hope we’ll hear before the weekend. There is one in Winthrop Nathan wants to see if it doesn’t work out… and maybe just instead.

Tomorrow is a play day. Popcorn, games, playground, that kind of stuff.

Friday we’ll be in Lebanon. Dental appointments for everyone! And Joseph gets the bonus of an MMR and a 2 yr physical. Fun stuff. We also desperately need a trip to LISTEN b/c all my kids grew a lot over the past three months and nothing fits them anymore. Maybe we’ll run over to the Co-op, too.

Saturday… I dunno yet. Maybe Winthrop? Maybe a nap?