Our First Week in Connecticut

Our first week in Connecticut had the most beautiful weather! Actually our first day was probably the best of the week. Spring was in full bloom and everyone was excited for the nice 70 degree temperatures after a long cold winter they had. Patio seating was full at all the restaurants and parks and walking trails were packed.

The first morning we headed to Wells Fargo to get our cashiers check we needed at our house closing. I took this picture while waiting in the car with the kids. These bright pink blossomed trees were 
everywhere in Hartford and even line our street. They don't last too long each year so it was a perfect welcome for us moving in.

We didn't take any pictures at closing, but that sure was interesting. Imagine a group of attorneys, our realtor along with Tyler and me and our two kids in a conference room of our attorney's office. And then imagine us waiting for 30 minutes while they got last minute paperwork corrected. They had a small bin of toys to play with for the kids so it was quite noisy and rambunctious closing. We were probably there for an hour but it seemed like all day. But we got our house keys and I guess since this our second house, we didn't take the cheesy first time homeowner holding the key picture ;)

After we got the keys, we did drive over to the place to check it out again. Oh how I wish all of our stuff could have magically been there waiting for us, but alas we had to wait until Sunday. We had fun running around in it empty for a few days though.

Jackson approved of the toilets and especially the park across the street

He had Tuesday off, but the rest of the week Tyler was off to work at his new job! (although he had been working with the team for a few months) This was now the first official time in his new office at his new desk. He hadn't had an office job for over 5 years so this is quite the change! He loves it so far though.

Meanwhile the kids and I hung out at the hotel in the mornings and then went off on different adventures. I drove around to get acquainted with the neighborhoods and shopping areas. We went to playgrounds, libraries and even checked out preschools. We got him registered at Pine Grove Nursery School in a M/W/F morning program in the fall. He is so excited for school and I am so excited he got the last spot of any class that year :) A couple of the other schools were already full and this one really seems great! We had some rough moments that week and emotions were high with Jackson at times but it really went much better than I was expecting it.

Typical breakfast scene, Abbie got used to eating in a normal chair and with normal sized spoons

The Avon Library, well a small portion of the kids section. My kids love it here!

Playing at another preschool we checked out, didn't go with this one.

Still no couches

 We tried to explain to Jackson that the big truck in at our Florida House had all of our stuff in it and they are bringing all of it here to our new house. I think he actually did understand what was going on. Every day we'd go to the house and he'd look inside and say, "not yet mama, the truck didn't bring our stuff and our couches."


But luckily our cars did make it! The car carrier pulled up on the side of the road next to the hotel and the new van and Acura were now in CT! Jackson did like seeing our cars but was more excited about seeing the "white car" again, since the van is still new and the Acura felt more familiar to him. We started to put his car seat in the van and he did not like that at all. Since he was still so sensitive we went with it and drove the Acura for the first couple days.

 

The house really was in really good shape and although there are some projects we'd like to do (new kitchen being the main one) none of them needed to get done before we moved in. The house was built in the late 90's and is one of the newest neighborhoods in all of the area. Since it was lived in by a lady with older kids, the house really had been maintained well. We liked the flooring, and wall colors other than Jackson's room was purple. So we had someone come paint it gray with a red stripe up top that week before our furniture got in there. Getting that paint picked out was really the only project for the week.  He finished up the job Saturday evening and we had our final night at the hotel!

The next day was Sunday (Mothers' Day) and "the truck brought all our stuff"! It was a pretty crazy day trying to wrangle 2 kids and direct the movers of where to put everything. But we survived it and it all went very well!

So the company packed for us and also part of the deal was they would unpack for us what we wanted them to. Which was nice, but also meant there was a ton of stuff everywhere. Eventually I just told them to stop unpacking because it was more of a mess and a hassle having to tell them where to put every plate and dish in the kitchen. But they did unpack all of our pantry and miscellaneous kitchen items and I was left with the scene below.

I love having a clean kitchen so this scene did not sit very well with me. The other factor is this kitchen is much smaller than our old one. So finding places for everything was a challenge.

The movers were gone around 1:30 and we even made it to the last hour of our new ward here. We were planning to have a gourmet meal of frozen lasagna, asparagus and french bread for dinner but our new friends the Pulleys invited us over for dinner. It was great getting to know them better that night and super nice of them to invite us over even on Mothers' Day.

And here is that scene one more time, with yes, our couches.

Even weeks later Jackson still says "the truck brought all our stuff" at least once a day. He tells his grandparents on the phone and people we'd meet on the street. He still did ask for his familiar Florida friends to come play at this new house which breaks my heart. But he really did super well adjusting to that fact that this is our new home. We love it.