Milestones and Milemarkers

That's what we've been working on the last few weeks, reaching milestones and counting mile markers. I'll write about our trip to Indiana first and then go from there, I think. I'm trying to write about everything before I forget it, we turn off our internet, or get so far behind that it's not worth writing about anymore.

On the 30th of June we left for Grandma and Grandpa Allen's at 5:30 in the morning. I know you're all thinking, why in the world would they leave that early? Because we find that our children are easier to deal with in the car early in the morning (they mostly sleep) and the roads are much more empty so you can make better time that way. Our girls are pretty much amazing. We thought we'd have to stop for a play break around lunch time, but we pretty much drove straight through. I drove some, but Joe ended up doing most of it since I would have to go back and nurse Rachel every few hours. We made it in 10 hours including rest stops, which is really good, and Karen got her first taste of country life by playing with the gravel driveway and chasing the very pregnant cat (she had a litter of 6 while we were there).

It was a much more relaxing vacation than we've had so far this year, mostly because with the price of gas it's not worth it to drive all over to see things. We mostly stayed on the farm and played outside, although Joe and I went to the Lane Place, a historic home in Crawfordsville, one afternoon. Joe's brother Matt came down with his family (Shelley, Faith, and Clayton) for the 4th, and Karen's rarely had so much fun. Faith is a year and a half older and Clay a year younger than her. There's lots of room to run and play and no one else to play with besides each other, so they got along really well and had a blast. They played basketball with badminton racquets, splashed in the wading pool, took turns on the 4 wheeler, watched princess movies and veggie tales... it was fun. Faith was the de-facto leader of the group since she was the biggest, but by the end they were mostly doing what Karen wanted since if Faith wanted to do something Karen didn't want to, Karen wouldn't play. It was funny to watch as they tried to manipulate each other... like father like daughter, right? It was a great week and we were both happy and sad to come back home again.

Now to the milestones... Rachel is going to be 6 months old on Friday! I can't believe it! Where did the time go? At her last checkup she was 16 lbs 4 oz, and 26 in. long. that was 2 months ago! She's huge now! She has her first 2 bottom teeth and is working hard on the 2 top ones. She rolled all the way over on Friday, which was so great to see! Karen's passed most of her milestones already, but is now starting on her 2 year molars and seems taller every day. She already asks when she can go to school, and likes to count and sound out really simple words (like cat). Another milestone that we passed last week was our 5th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 5 years since we got married! In some ways it seems like a long time (I finished school, we've moved 7 times, we have 2 kids...) and in other ways it seems like it was just a little while ago. I decided it's a good thing we have eternity to go, because 5 years is definitely not enough even though it may be a good place to start.

The last part I have to mention in this post is the countdown to moving has begun. We move in 12 days from today! I'm so excited for the bigger apartment, awesome amenities, and the good friends we already have at our new location. I just wish we could move this week instead of almost 2 weeks from now since Joe has a conference and scout camp betweev now and then. As a result of our impending move, we'll be temporarily internet-less sometime in the next couple weeks, but don't worry, we'll be back before Nancy and Andrew leave for Egypt. Time to go; typing one-handed takes too long!