Now and Then - Camping with Toddlers

So sorry for the huge delay in blogging.  I really feel like I'm neglecting my dear readers that actually take the time to read!

This month has been crazy hectic with my shop.  The first half of the month was spent in a crocheting frenzy stressing out about show #3 (which was a big bust!), then I went out of town for a little over a week for my show and a trip.  That's right.  It's the time of year for the "H&C" annual camping trip on the coast!  This year, we were camping with toddlers!  The majority of the trip was spent talking about the differences from last years trip.  Last  year, Addie and Loren were just learning to stand up.  In fact, I believe they both stood unsupported for the first time during our trip!  They were just babies then.  We took 10 month pictures of the girls on that trip.

This year, we could barely get them to sit still.  Well, for part of the trip Addie had the flu (fairly mild, though. We thought it was a stomach bug until Willie caught it this week!), but while they were both active and feeling well, it was a pretty fun time.

Here's a few photos to show off our activities and what a difference a year makes with kids.

Addie and Loren in the tent last year

Addie and Loren in the RV this year

Addie and Loren playing on the beach last year

Addie and Loren playing on the beach this year

A comparison photo!

We knew during our trip that the differences were major, but until I looked back through photos from last year, I hadn't realized exactly how much had changed, or how much had stayed the same.

Farewell to a Dream..

For those of you who do not know (but may care), our family is moving.  Not too far away or anything, but we are moving.  We are going to pay the penalty charge at our apartment and move into a four-bedroom house.

Why are we doing this again? Two reasons. 

1) Ever since our flood, this apartment has had an...aroma...A musty, smelly, almost-moldy aroma.  We've spoken to the apartment manager about this and she claims they've checked twice before moving us back in and there is no mold or moisture in the walls or carpet.  Unfortunately for them, we found mold last week in the bathroom where the flood originated.  Sucks for them.  Sucks for us, too, for a number of reasons.  Despite the mold (it was a small amount-able to be cleaned up with harsh chemicals which I hate), our primary reason for wanting to leave is the smell.

2) We found a place!  Some great friends of ours-possibly our closest friends here in Washington-own a few rentals and one became available a little over a month ago!  It is a 4 bedroom house! With a yard!! 

I absolutely can't wait.  Then again...part of my heart is sinking...just a little bit.  I moved across the country to live in Seattle.  We couldn't afford the rent when we first moved here, so we agreed to live in the "suburbs" until Willie found a good job and started making money.  Little did we know that after a year in the area, he was going to make a huge career change that included another four years of schooling and training and climbing a whole new ladder. 

Like I said, I can't wait to move.  I'm excited to get into a house, especially being so close to such great friends.  That's not what this blog post is about though.  I need to get the negatives off my chest tonight.

This move-while best for our family for a number of reasons-will move us further from Seattle.  Maybe it sounds a little crazy to want this so badly, but I just feel like I've missed out on that experience.  We will now be moving another 30-or-so miles further from the city.  That makes a full 1-hour commute.

The pros are that we'll be in a smaller (safer) area, near the water, with a yard, near friends, with a built-in play mate for Addie, with a garden.

The cons are...we'll be further from Seattle.  I can't fight it anymore.  I dug my heals in long enough on this argument until I finally recently decided I can't fight it anymore.  It's better for our family. It's better for Willie. Closer to his job. 

I've known since this time last year that my fight was childish, irrational, and even a little selfish.

It's not worth it to fight it anymore. 

Won't You be my Neighbor? *

I am about to blog about something I never realized was an issue for me.  Well, never until this week, that is.  You see, I never get to know my neighbors.  What’s the point? We are apartment dwellers, bouncing from one place to the next year after year, and chances are that our neighbors are as well.  Why go through the effort of really getting to know someone and be comfortable with them if you’re just going to lose track of them in a few months anyway?

It always seemed that our neighbors felt the same.  Sure, I make an effort right after someone moves in.  I try to catch them as they are coming or going (and I am coming or going) and give them a friendly smile and wave and hope for the best. I’ve always gotten the same reaction-an awkward smile as they look down at their feet and shuffle past to get into their apartment as fast as possible lest I try and start a conversation about the weather.  I just don’t get it. 

See, the thing is, I used to love being friendly with my neighbors! That’s what drew me to apartment living.  When I was 18, I moved into my cousin’s townhouse with her.  She was newly single and needed someone to help her split the rent, and I needed a place to sleep that wasn’t under my mother’s nose.  I had grown too used to freedom to be thrust back into her house and under her rule for any extend of time.  So, I packed my bags (again) and moved in with my cousin.  She was a very friendly and outgoing sort of person that made friends with everyone, so the work was already done for me.  Just show up outside on Friday afternoons with some food to share and BAM insta-friends.

Eventually, my cousin and her ex-boyfriend made up and he moved back in.  I couldn’t handle being the third wheel in the house so I found a new place to stay.  It was a garage apartment with only one neighbor.  He was a friendly guy, but his wife hated me for some reason that I never learned so we never hung out.  I guess that’s what broke the chain of friendly neighbors because from there on, I’ve never been friends with my neighbors.  I’ve always hoped to, but I just figured that that’s not really how apartment dwellers operated and that the one experience I had with friendly neighbors and afternoon barbecues was sadly not the norm.

I have contentedly set aside the notion that I will ever be friends with my neighbors again, living my life between a series of awkward nods and timing my departures to avoid that moment all together.  It has worked out well.  I don’t get my hopes up, and I don’t exhaust myself trying to make new friends every few months.  That is…it worked out well until this past week.  Like I said, I always assumed that my one friendly experience with neighbors was out of the norm, but after a conversation with our office manager, I wonder if this is really the case.

See, while discussing what to do about the flooding incident, I made a comment about “the joys of apartment living,” and she sounded surprised.  She told me that she just moved into her first house and her and her son felt very lonely and missed living in an apartment.  This confused me since I don’t feel any sense of community living here or any other complex recently. When I said so she said “Well, now you get to meet new neighbors and maybe you will have more in common with them,” to which I replied, “We haven’t even met the neighbors we’ve lived side by side with for almost a year, so I doubt we’ll get extra chummy with the neighbors we’re sharing walls with for four days.” Do you know she actually acted surprised that we hadn’t met our neighbors? Here I was thinking we were completely normal, I mean it’s not like we’re rude to our neighbors-we try to be friendly, it’s just that no one seems to reciprocate.  Now I’m beginning to wonder…

Is it us??

*Sorry for the Mr. Rogers flashback. Just couldn't help it while thinking of this post, originally titled "Getting to Know Your Neighbors"...see? Just not as catchy :)