The Dickinson Boys: Sweet Home Alabama

It's been way too long-- but we've been busy! We made our big move from Maryland to Alabama during the first week of July. Overall it was the smoothest move we've had yet. Not having a newborn helped a lot! We had a couple challenges getting out of Maryland and we pushed back out departure by a day. The night before the movers came we had that big storm that knocked out power to much of the DC area. Luckily neither our hotel nor our house lost power. Our house was just barely south of a large area that lost power. We made the trip to Alabama over three days, which meant we didn't have too much driving on any one day. We stopped for the night in Durham, NC and then Anderson, SC. The kids were actually pretty cooperative. They both do well on road trips and they even slept well in the hotels. Unlike last year when we moved to MD, Will understood what it meant to move. He didn't get upset when the movers packed up our stuff and he kept talking about our new house in Alabama. He has also learned some about geography and can identify about 7 or 8 states on the map, including most of the states in the southeast. So he understood when we told him we were in Georgia, then Alabama, etc. He did much better during this move. When we pulled up to the new house the first thing he said was "lots of beautiful windows."

We had pretty good luck during the road trip, including missing a large storm by minutes. But when we got closer to Montgomery we hit another large storm system and spent the last hour or so in torrential rain. We got here on July 3rd, a few days before our things arrived. On the Fourth of July we went to the parade in Prattville. Will enjoyed seeing everything, especially the police motorcycles. He got some candy and some shiny necklaces that were thrown from floats so he was happy.

The movers arrived a couple of days later. They had everything unloaded by the afternoon. David and I had most of it unpacked that night and the movers returned the next day to unpack the rest and haul away boxes. About a week later we were all put away and settled in. Considering we went months with unpacked boxes in Maryland, this move was so much more efficient. I'm still hoping we stay here for a while though. Little Luke has now lived in three states at only 13 months old. Will has lived in four states. We're definitely seeing the country, that's for sure. After talking to Will about our upcoming trip to Indiana, he started talking about the moving truck and our new house in Indiana. The poor guy thought we were moving again! I had to explain that were were just going to visit and we'll still live in Alabama. He was ready to go again!

We've settled in here pretty well. Though we're still having trouble finding a good routine for Luke. His nap schedule is all over the place. We're working on it. We joined the YMCA and we go a few times a week. I work out while the boys play in the nursery. Will also did a session of swimming lessons there (pictures below). He really enjoyed it. He talked a lot about jumping off the diving board and going down the waterslide, but usually got cold feet when it was time to do those things. There is also an indoor pool at a different YMCA branch in Prattville so we'll continue lessons this fall/winter as our schedule permits. We've been going to the First United Methodist Church of Prattville, which we enjoy. Will will also do a once a week "Mom's Day Out" at the church on Wednesdays starting this fall.

So far we're really enjoying the area and we love our house. It has a big, fenced-in backyard with a playset, which is great for Will. The heat and the bugs are unfortunate but most other times of the year it should be very pleasant. I haven't been great at taking pictures lately but below are a few from the last couple of weeks.