Virginia.

Well, a lot has happened since last post. A LOT. Most of you know that we are moving to Virginia. James applied for a job which he thought was in Detroit and it turned out to be in the DC area... he went through some tests and they determined he was qualified to do the job, sent him on a bus to Dulles, Va to the M.C. Dean headquarters for an interview, and then offered him a job that was to start on May 24th. The company is very big and has huge opportunity for advancement and educational training which James plans on taking up. We'll see where this opportunity takes us. We weren't sure whether this was the direction we wanted to go since we are both against the work 80 hour weeks to have a bunch of stuff that you don't get to enjoy and miss out on your kids life mentality. But we like food too... and clothes... and a house. So since Michigan has nothing for him he took the job and are moving. The idea is that it will be temporary until the next opportunity arises-- hopefully in Michigan by our family!

So we headed out this last Sunday to Dulles for him to start. The first couple of days was going over company employee handbook, 401k, insurance stuff, as well as a CPR class and certification and then OSHA safety training. Wednesday he started his first day on the job and he is assigned to building a hospital at a military base in Fort Belvoir. I'll let him tell you the details about his new job. We are looking for a place in Woodbridge. Possibly further out to Warrenton or Remington but I'd like to find something closer so he doesn't have a long drive to work. Especially because he has had to work 12 hour days so far and we aren't sure what they are expecting of him in the future. They say overtime is optional...but we aren't so sure if optional means that if you option out that you don't get a job.

Everyone said that Virginia is beautiful...and they weren't kidding. It is so pretty! There are some not so great parts near the capitol. We had to stay in Alexandria and both of us hated it. Looking for a place is getting off to a slow start. We thought we might just do an apartment at first but finding a 3 bedroom place is proving difficult. There aren't any vacancies or even soon coming. I did find one that we really liked in Leesburg but we think that it might be too far of a drive, especially for an apartment. We'd be more willing for an awesome house or something. We are also finding that apartments are about 1700-2100 for 3 bdr. Houses for rent are really expensive too...anything under 2k is a townhouse and not very big. So we've had to increase our house budget we originally thought. It is a little nuts to me considering what housing costs in Michigan are like... and that like 2 hours from the area he is working it costs even less than Michigan.

The kids are doing good. It is a little boring for them but we are making it. My sister, Sarah, is awesome! She made us snacks for the road and got the kids presents to open on the ride to keep them busy and happy. That has helped a lot--the flashlight toy she got them really helped when I was stuck in the hotel room and ran out of ideas to entertain them. We went to a park the other day. It was really pretty... although I'm not sure if it is just like this here but everytime I was out in the middle of the day around grass, we would get swarmed with gnats! In our eyes, mouth... bleh! So the park trips have been short.

I haven't taken many pictures but here are some from my phone.

Minivan! Yay for room! Kids love it...and so do we! We picked up dual dvd player for the drive too!

Dodge Grand Caravan :)

Kids opening their gifts from Aunt Sarah!

This is in Pennsylvania on our drive in... different to look at than Michigan!

We had to stay in a really bad hotel... longer story... and so I booked a new one and I was SOOO thankful! I took this picture to send to my mom because I couldn't have been happier to see this.

Park we stopped at...river is behind those trees.

More later!