Moving and Thomas the Train!

Hi Everyone,

This week we closed on the sale of our old house and moved in with Sarah's parents.  We will probably be living with them until August when our new house should be complete.  While we are really looking forward to our new house, having to leave our old house was really hard.  Our last night there was last Sunday, but we had to go over on Monday night to mow, Tuesday night to clean, and Wednesday night to get the last bit of our stuff.  It made for an agonizingly long goodbye.  It was so depressing having to leave the home that we've put so much work and love into for the last 9 years of our life.  But we were able to get through it and after Wednesday the stress eased up and we were able to enjoy our new surroundings.

On Saturday we started taking some of our major pieces of furniture to storage...such as the dining table.  Poor Sarah was forced to eat her sushi at the little kids table.  :)

Saturday was the last play night in the back yard where we'd spent so much of our time over the last few years.  We grilled steak to celebrate the occasion!  (Owen looks like he is shooting a 3 pointer.  He definitely doesn't get that from me)

With no table we got to have a carpet picnic and watch Cars.

On Sunday it was more depressing as the rest of the furniture left for storage. 

Sunday evening - time to leave for Grandma and Grandpa Cox's house.  Sarah and Owen had already left.  Elsie was accompanying me with our last truckload of stuff and our cat, Trixie.  As we were leaving Elsie said, "I love this house SO much that I'm going to give it a BIG HUG!"  I almost cried.

Tuesday night after dinner we broke out the bike and big wheel. Since Grandma and Grandpa live on a dead end road there's literally zero cars.  It's a great place to ride!

Elsie wins the race back to the house.  It's the one up there on the left where my truck is parked.

Wednesday night - saying goodbye to our old house for good.  We  went over after work to gather our cleaning supplies and a few other things.  Also to take one last ride on the swing set...  

...and check out the sandbox one final time...

...and walk through our rooms one last time...

...but mostly it was so that Sarah and I could think about all of the good times we've had making memories in that house.    Now it is someone else's turn.  We will miss it for sure, but we are looking forward to our new house and making new memories, and we are SO thankful that Grandma and Grandpa Cox offered us a place to stay.

So the hard week ends in relaxing fashion with a weenie roast in Grandma and Grandpa's fire pit while looking out over the lake at the golf course and having a beer.

On Saturday we had BIG plans.  A few months ago my good buddy Aaron said that he had gotten tickets to go ride Thomas the Train in Baldwin City, KS.  We decided to go too and make a day of it for the kids.  Owen LOVES Thomas and so does Aaron's son, Ayrton.  Heck, even Elsie was excited to go ride a train!

Here he is, the one and only.

Not only does Owen like Thomas, he LOVES firetrucks.  

They had all sorts of Thomas stuff set up.  It was pretty incredible.  

They even had coloring tables.

Ayrton and Owen concentrating hard on driving their trains.

So we boarded the coaches and went for about a 20 minute train ride that took us out of town, then stopped and came back into town.  

Can you tell he likes it?  Note his new tatoo of Percy, Thomas' friend.

Lots of fun, and it was great to hang out with our friends Aaron, Amber, and Ayrton from St. Louis because we don't get to see them very often.

Speaking of our new house, construction has been picking up.  Framing took about three weeks and is now done.  The roof went on last Friday which means that it will now stay dry inside and construction can continue no matter what the weather.  Last week they got the rough-in ventilation and plumbing started.  Electric is coming soon.  It's amazing to see how it all comes together!

See ya,
Ryan, Sarah, Elsie and Owen