Beautiful Washington

We arrived in Washington a few nights ago. It was possibly the longest flight from Philly to Portland. Geof. was even thinking of flying from Philly to St. Louis to start a trip. FORTUNATELY, he called in sick, probably after seeing the desperate, exhausted, frightened, "I'll kill my kids if I have to do it alone" look in my eye. Even with Geof., it turned out to be the longest, most tiring cross country trip yet (and I've done quite a few of those with and without Geof.). We sat on the ground for and hour and a half in philly due to thunderstorms, and then we had a good 5 and a half hour flight. June was well past the delirious stage, and pretty much whined and cried and slashed around in Geof. or my lap the whole time. Geof. and I were so tired ourselves from 2 days of packing, that we didn't even have the strength or energy to entertain our kids. I couldn't even find the coloring/activity books my friend had given us for the flight (sorry Aimee!!). It was crazy. Towards the end of the flight, I found Dayne cleaning our fellow passenger's armrests with a baby wipe and I was too tired to stop her. We did make it, however, and I can't be happier here. I LOVE WASHINGTON!! It's so clean and open and green. It's always felt like home to me and it's never even been my home (except for 3 short months when I was 16 living with my aunt and uncle)! We will miss Richmond and our dear friends, and hope to go back one day, but I feel incredibly grateful to be with family here. Geof.'s sister Ellynn and her husband Jason moved up here a week ago as well from Utah, and are living with Geof.'s other sister Meagan until their baby arrives (due in November). I almost forgot to mention our cute little apartment set up in the basement. Geof. and I have our own little "studio" with our bed and family room set up, and the kids are all in another room with brand new bunkbeds. Cole's so excited. Well, time to run. I don't know how clear this post is since it's close to midnight eastcoast time and I've been up early every day. bye.