Emotions In Motion...

With a nod & wink to one of my fave KTEL regulars, Billy Squier, I'm finally back with a new post! It's been awhile, that's for sure...I guess there's been just a wee bit of stuff going on lately. Overall, we're knee deep in packing and doing all those little things that need to be done (change of address, finding daycare, etc.). To consolidate time and energy for this blog update, here's some ribclan updates connected to the different emotions going on at our place right now:

Grateful: This goes all over the board, but ribB and I got a night free last Saturday (17th) to pack like banshees, move things in/around our storage unit and even have a "date" out to the Vali-Hi drive-in movie theater (we saw Ironman & Drillbit Taylor--both surprisingly good!). We were up way too late, and had to return to get the kids way early, but it was exactly what we needed all around and having some time to ourselves/moving made a big difference.

Silly: Little B & Kdee played dress up yesterday afternoon, much to our delight. Little B wore a dress that was mine when I was really little. I doubt my mom had visions of her grandson wearing the dress she made for me. Too funny. Kdee put on all of my old prom dresses and coronation dress (Miss SCF...woo hoo!). It was really fun to see her in those dresses and validated the reason why I've saved them all this time. Worth it!

"Uplifting": The holiday weekend included some major lifting for ribB, his sister Chandra, brother-in-law Matt, coworker Matt and coworker Jim, as they successfully took down and moved the playset onto Jim's flatbed trailer. As ribB said, "I seriously wonder how much that thing weighed". I was away helping Ann paint her new townhouse (dang!), but it sounds like I would have had multiple heart attacks watching them lift and move the monster of a playset. Yikes! (THANK YOU to all who helped!)

Stage Fright: Lots of "Guitar Hero" was played this holiday weekend, thanks to the visiting sis & bro-in-law...and, Matt, you reign as the champ. Even Kdee got in on the action--and bragged how she "beat 2 adults at it!". I will never listen to my fave songs the same way again--I have a new appreciation for the guitar magic that happens with each tune.

Fear/Panic/Sadness: Yes, it was the combo of all these emotions. On Saturday we had an appointment in the new hometown to meet with a daycare provider. We were running late (cuz of the playset drama)--but as it turned out, it was a divine late. We were one of the first people to drive onto the scene of a bad motorcycle accident. It was a scary scene--woman crumpled along the side of the road and her bike far away to the left. ribB grabbed his work first aid kit and jumped out to help while I kept the kids eyehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gifs glued to the portable DVD player. Much to our dread, we found out we knew the victim--it was ribB's friend and coworker who was out for a ride with her husband and her/ribB's supervisor. Long story short, a deer hit her (the deer was literally jumping out of a ditch and hit her off of her motorcycle, which would have been going 55-60mph). The deer hit her so hard that it knocked her helmet off and it took serious looking to find it. Lots of angels stopped to help and fortunately, she is going to be alright. Lots of healing ahead, but so far, no long term problems. We had a chance to visit her in the hospital on Sunday and she looked and interacted pretty well. What a miracle.

Happiness: Let's follow up the previous paragraph with something more light. We were able to still meet with the daycare on Saturday and think this option will work well for the summer, for both kids (when Kdee isn't in summer school & the summer school bus can drop her off there, too). Then, we got to take Chandra & Matt to the new house where the current owners were waiting for us. They wanted to show us around and were the nicest people you'd ever meet. They even took to the kiddos right away and claimed "looks like we'll have a couple more grandkids!". What a nice time. Then we had dinner at the local restaurant, which continues to impress us with lots o' yummy food.

Special: Speaking of yummy...the coworkers & I had dinner at The Bayport Cookery last week. Fantastic! It's the annual morel fest menu and we loved the delicious courses and wines we were treated to. Mmmmm, that morel ice cream is still the bomb!

Overwhelmed: How the heck are we going to pack up our entire house in such a short time? Ok...this thought just goes through our head every now and then. Not all the time, but it's a reality we're dealing with, too, so...

Excited: CA wine country trip with wonderful friends is quickly approaching. I can't even get my head around the fact that I'm leaving for vacation this Saturday! (This also ramps up, and deflates, the "overwhelmed" feeling...he he.)

Bittersweet sadness: It's weird to be leaving the place we've called "home" for 10+ years and as the reality of moving sinks in, I'm looking at everything with different eyes. Even though we can easily come back for visits with friends and loved ones, we will miss our sweet river town even with the blessings to come in our new home.

Nostalgic: Thanks to Chandra & Matt's visit, we made it out again to the drive-in theater to see Indiana Jones! What a flashback and the kids loved watching the movie under the stars (and little B tried to loudly sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as he fell asleep). What a fun place to go with a group (including their friends who met us there...nice job saving spots, C&M!)

Many thanks to Chandra and Matt for the fun visit over the holiday weekend & the help with the playset and kiddos. I wish we could go out for Mexican and mammoth margaritas again tonight, as well as rock out the guitar hero. That sounds way more fun than packing!!!

Photos this post: The Vali-Hi Drive In...kids wrestling around (complete with drop slam by little B), Chandra/Matt/Katie/Nick & their tailgating beverages, kids pretending to sleep before the movie began, parent portraits...