Two years ago we found out that the Monkey Boys were going to be moving. Covid delayed it until two weeks ago. The reality of knowing that the whole family, including the newest Monkey Girl, were leaving to live clear across the country hasn't been easy to deal with. Warning: This is a long winded/photo heavy post.
It was a whirlwind of a week with final packing, graduation party, and graduation ceremonies (and no sewing or blogging.) The oldest Monkey Boy graduated a year early and was Student Body President. He excelled in all his classes...he definitely didn't inherit his amazingness from me!
The speech he gave at graduation was wonderful, timely and of course, he was incredible in my eyes!
Monkey Boy #2 played his cello at the graduation. He's first chair in his orchestra, was class president, and was the volleyball teams captain.
The Dreaded Day...Time To Go
Are they levitating or jumping for joy as they start that 30 hour car ride, not including stops, with seven kids? Note: Monkey Baby cried the majority of the trip. Poor thing!
I'm going to miss this face!
We left right before they drove off. I couldn't watch them drive away! Fifteen minutes after they hit the road to head to Ohio, we got a phone call that their car was having issues. After trying to figure out what was wrong while standing on a black asphalt parking lot in 100 degree temperatures, we unloaded some of the stuff in the back of the car. That didn't help so we unloaded everything they absolutely needed to take and put it in our car and sent them on their way.
We took their mini van home with what was left in the car and unloaded it in our garage. A trip to the dealership and a three day wait (three day weekend, unfortunately) and they found nothing wrong. Ugh...isn't that usually what happens!
A day later we loaded the mini van with their belongings and what we'd need for the trip. It had been a long time since I'd been a mini van driver!
We stopped to see my wicked friend, Joan Kawano, in Denver. We had a quick bite at Roadhouse Grill, met her cute granddaughter, no pictures (darn), a hug, and I missed her as soon as we drove away.
We had some stormy skies and saw LOTS of wind turbines.
Would you believe I'd never seen the Mississippi River!
We arrived in Ohio four days after leaving Las Vegas and the weather was not even close to the dry heat where I live. It was muggy and unfortunately, the air conditioner in their new house was broken. Yikes! We were all dripping wet from trying to unpack, clean, and organize in the heat and 75 per cent humidity. The boys were all taking it in stride.
Add a broken washing machine to the list of "WHAT THE HECK!" things they were dealing with, including laundry for seven kids and four adults (including us.) I had no idea how expensive a laundry mat was when you had to use at least six machines on two different days. It's a lot!
We put the trampoline up with the boys help and they LOVED their grassy backyard!
Three days in Ohio, a family photo, and we were back on the road to Las Vegas.
The oldest Monkey Boy came with us to get ready for college and live with us. We tortured him with a couple tourist stops...John Wayne's home and Boot Hill in Nebraska. He had no idea who John Wayne was, but he made the best of it.
I've made a couple John Wayne quilts with fabric by Riley Blake Designs.
Boot Hill in Nebraska was an interesting stop.
The details in this statue were beautiful!
Even though the trip was long, the perk of it all was seeing them sooner than we planned to. It was so worth it, but it was very hard to say goodbye again.
Time to get back to the real world!
Thanks for stopping by.
