South Carolina

"Smiling Faces, Beautiful People"

That is what is says on the welcome sign, haha.  I always think it funny that all the states have welcome centers.  Does anyone ever go to these places?  Maybe we should have, but toward the end of our 10 hour car day, we only wanted to get to the hotel!

The car ride down was an adventure.  The day began with european showers (we had packed the shower curtain already) which was not as bad as you might think.  However, the lack of towels (also packed) was more annoying.

We were in the car early and headed to dunkin donuts.  What better time to let the boys have their first munchkins than at the start of a long car ride?  Of course the boys loved them.

The boys did very well in the van with Peter.  They watched Happy Feet over and over again because Peter couldn't figure out how to get the next movie on, while driving.  But they didn't seem to mind.  Both napped pretty well.  Peter said it was very funny when (finally) a different show came on.... Gabriel started screaming "OOOOOOOOooohhhhhh! David! David wake up!  Diego is on!"  Hahaha, they do love Diego.

Meanwhile I was in our little honda trying to keep up with the van.  I was feeling a little stressed out due to the windy storm we were driving through in the West Virginia mountains.  It probably didn't help that I was listening to the Phantom of the Opera.  It is crazy how orchestra's can whip up emotions!  It was in the West Virginia mountains when Peter suddenly lost his main windshield wiper.   We had to pull over for him to temporarily put the passenger side wiper in its place until we could buy a new one in the next town.

We stopped for a break mid afternoon for ice cream at tcby.  The boys LOVED it.  Gabriel ate his whole cup, taking huge bites.  David picked at his with the "taste" size spoon.  Once we cleared Virginia, the driving was very easy and we started to feel excited about getting there.  About an hour out in South Carolina, Gabriel saw a giant peach water tower and asked "what is that?".  (I know what you are thinking... someone is going to say it looks like a butt..... nope, only me apparently.)  David answered him "That is our new house Gabriel." :)

After lots of fast food already that day, we were not sure what we would find to eat but due to lack of time and convenience to the hotel, we settled on our 3rd fast food meal.... Taco Bell.  Peter went directly to the hotel and I went in to get some tacos.  I was blown away at how nice the Taco Bell was!  Ridiculous, I now.  But honestly the Wendy's in Virginia was pretty nice too.  Maybe I just haven't been to these places in years but I am pretty sure the ones up north are still dingy and gross.  Anyway, the boys (again) had never had Taco Bell and were so funny when they bit into their soft tacos.  They loved them.  David told me "these tacos are delicious!" and each boy ate two.

After scarfing dinner...... we drove over to the house, to peek inside and plug in our fridge so we could put our food in it.  We were very happy with what we found.  Really, everything was very nice and clean.  We still did a ton of cleaning the next day but I even enjoyed that.

The moving truck came early... we weren't expecting it until Friday but they came Thursday afternoon and got it all done.  The boys were suspicious of the movers.  Gabriel kept asking "What is that man doing?"  Mostly though, they stayed in the backyard that day, screaming and having lots of fun.

We took the boys shopping with us on Thursday and confirmed our ideas that shopping would be impossible with them.  Once Mark & Regina got here, we went back out shopping and in one morning found most of the furniture we needed.  I so enjoyed that morning.... Peter however was very ready to be done.  He was all "it will meet our needs" anti-fun shopper and I was all "I have been patiently waiting for years to buy furniture and I am loving this". :) They delivered most of our furniture on Saturday so now we are very comfortably settled.  Most of the boxes are unpacked except for the "storage" type stuff in the garage.  The kitchen and bathrooms are well organized.  I have been out shopping a lot for little things.  This type of shopping is not as fun.  Running back and forth to stores, trying and returning things.  But I am excited to get it all done and really enjoying our new house.

Being so busy, we have not had too much time yet to dwell on not being in Pittsburgh.  Mass on Sunday was hard.  We really miss our spiritual family!  But parts were really good too.  Peter and I went to the early mass, the "quiet mass" at 8am at Prince of Peace.  It was a beautiful liturgy!!  There were 5 (!!!) boy alter servers... so awesome!  (Possibly you think that is a weird comment, but I assure you it is very moving to see 5 young men ... two were 12ish and three were age 15-18 i think ... behaving so mature, so devout!  Anyway, it melts your heart, trust me.)  I am hoping that in a week or two, once we get our bearings, we can begin to get more involved in one of the parishes.

We will try to post pictures soon.  Love and miss our family and friends!!  Come visit!!