Salt Lake City, here we come

From Chicago, we were Salt Lake City bound. We ditch the van there and put it on a truck for shipping because I couldn't bear the idea of 20 hours driving through Iowa, Nebraska & Wyoming solo with the kids and without any family, friend stops along the way to look forward to. So Jeff met us in Chicago to fly with us to our new hometown, Salt Lake City. 

In a first for us, we showed up at the airport early. An entire day early... We had marked our calendars that Sunday was when our tickets out to SLC were for. We get to the airport to check our bags only to find out our reservation was for Monday. Oops. What likely happened was that when Jeff booked, he defaulted to his normal fly to SLC Monday mode as he had been doing for the past 7 months when we had intended to fly and arrive on Sunday. Oops. Thankfully Delta was understanding and able to accommodate us on a later flight that day. We had about 6 hours to fill in the airport. After trying all the lounges we had some free passes for (all but Delta), but they insisted that the kids needed a pass as well to the tune of some crazy amount (noted after they realized we weren't flying their airline that day). So we found a nice, quiet hallway to chill in, play some iPad, do wall sits, and play Simon Says. 

On our way to SLC! 

And we have arrived. 

Road trip out of Raleigh to visit with family

First leg of our moving road trip out of Raleigh was to DC. There we saw loads of Jeff's family and had a great time at his cousin's wedding. 

After DC, Jeff flew back to SLC and the kids and I began our road trip west. Next stop after DC was Ohio where we met up with my grandpa who is 92 years old.

Some interesting storm clouds. Really only experienced some rain. (Kyle took the pics, I was driving.)

My Aunt Theresa arranged for us to meet up with her and Grandpa for lunch together at Cracker Barrel. It was nice to catch up with them in a small setting since we so rarely get that opportunity and when we do, it's in a much larger group. 

After lunch, we spent the afternoon in Toledo at the Children's Museum which was pretty amazing. And our museum pass got us free entrance. Really a great, unique museum. 

Late afternoon, we headed toward Indy to see Kristin and her family. We had a wonderful day there together playing, walking through some woods, eating ice cream, grilling and just chilling. 

From Indy, we headed toward Chicago. We arrived in time to have lunch with Jeff's Grandma Edith. We had a nice afternoon together by the pool while the kids swam and we got to talk and catch up in person. 

From Grandma Edith's, we headed to Tommy's place to catch up with my family there. Jeff flew in that evening and met up with us for the final leg of our trip (flying to SLC). We had a great time chilling with my sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews and my mom came down from Wisconsin as well.
Emily and some of her girl cousins packed in a jeep. 

Trevor and Kyle were BFFs and always together. Trevor is the same age as Aaron, only a few weeks younger, so it was sweet to see Kyle and so sweetly brotherly with Trevor. 

Kyle's selfie at the pool

Cousin chili and ice cream dinner courtesy of Grandma

Baby Mia. This was our first time meeting our sweet little niece. 

Raleigh in the rearview

So a few weeks after moving out of our house, into a rental (gross AirBnB), many farewells, the kids finishing school it was time to hit the road. First stop was DC for a family wedding. This first leg of the road trip, Jeff drove with us, having flown back from SLC the night before. Goodbye Raleigh. It's been real. 

Raleigh farewell tour

Fitting in some highlights before leaving Raleigh and after moving out of our house: 

Aaron had a special gymnastics day where he took classes. Each kid received a trophy. Pretty nice for a 5 year old to get a trophy. He loved his classes there. 

And another trip to Marbles. Fun kid place for sure and a fun Friday activity for us. 

Raleigh farewell

Our last meal in our house in Raleigh. Similar to our first meal in our house, we ate picnic style. Instead of pizza, we had ramen.

We hit Duke Garden's as well on Mother's Day. Nice way to spend the day. 

Stud Bear

Preschool Mother's Day

Amidst the crazy of moving, Aaron's preschool class put on a nice Mother's Day program. It was very sweet, complete with kid made muffins for us. Was certainly a nice break from the hectic move and to get away from that chaos. Love this sweet little dude.

We moved out of the house on Mother's Day. A bit rough. We will miss this house. 

Moving

Moving day is upon us. Seems a bit surreal that we are actually moving after 2 years in Raleigh. But it's happening. And quickly as the movers pack up and load up in very short order. Whirlwind. 

This is what was left under the couch in the living room. Many, many marbles courtesy of Aaron. 

Staging ground

Empty and clean