Will I Ever Get Back To Blogging? Absolutely!

AND I'll be making the rounds to your blogs as well, just as soon as I can!  Thanks for hanging in there with me while I get myself moved and functioning again. :)

Of course it's been an adventure, as all moves are.  We were so happy to leave gray Seattle behind and we headed straight to Palm Springs, where we could relax for a bit while we waiting for our stuff to get shipped 1200 miles to our new home in Orange County, CA.

We picked up Nathan and his Dad in Oregon along the way.  We never told Nathan about the move until that day and he was so surprised!  He was thrilled to know that he will be visiting us only in California now as he loves it down here.

Nathan is getting so big!

 

While in Palm Springs, we also entertained my husband's mother who had flown in from New York.  It took her a while to realize that the states out here are not small, so she couldn't just visit a bunch all at once.  Also, she had trouble learning how to just take it easy and enjoy her surroundings without having to run around everywhere like a chicken with her head cut off.  Ah, New Yorkers- ya gotta love 'em!  I let her know that we would not be getting up at the crack of dawn to go, see, and do everything in sight after she woke us up slamming doors and talking loudly in her New Jersey accent on the first morning!  After a couple of days, she did calm down a bit..... and she admitted that it was more fun to hang out in the pool than to try and run around in the summer heat.

We did take in some new sights that we've never visited before in the Palm Springs area.

First we drove way up to Lake Hemet:

Lake Hemet is near Idyllwild and the town of Hemet,CA.  It sits at about 8500 feet above sea level and is always about 30 degrees cooler than Palm Springs.  So on the day we visited, Lake Hemet was a cool 78 degrees while in Palm Springs it was 109.

We also finally visited the Palm Springs tram.  Another place to escape the high summer temps. in the desert.

This is the view from the top, looking down over the desert floor.

And this is how different the scenery is up there in the mountains, compared to what we have going on in Palm Springs.  No palm trees and no desert!

All in all things have been remarkably smooth and we have been blessed to be able to take some time in between the first half of the move and on this end in Orange County.  Nathan and his Dad are now gone.  They took the train home.  Nathan was so sorry to go and he and his Dad have already floated the idea of moving down here too!  Meanwhile, I am surrounded by boxes everywhere and spend most of my days on the phone with service people or changing addresses.  Our place here is temporary and really tiny.  We have basically no furniture.  Our outside surroundings are gorgeous and the dogs think they have hit hog heaven as we walk around the lake area here every day and I still can't believe that I actually get to live here.  Even in the midst of the mess that is our post move current condition, having the sun shining and so many things to do is a great way to spend time.  The unpacking can wait!