FamilyHutch on Flickr

Now that we have hi speed internet, we can post big groups of pictures to Flickr, not just onesie-twosies here to Blogger (though we will continue to put pics here on the blog). So, check out our Flickr account. We've also put the link on the sidebar.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyhutch/

1st day of class

Well, posts on Day 13 and 14 are still to come, but today was my first day of Greek 1. Went well. Big class, but a laid back environment. Fortunately today's class was stuff I was familiar with thanks to prior tutoring. That should last me one or two more class periods. I like it. Weird and good to be working at home though. Cause I was out of the house for a few hours. And that's it.

Also of note, Ellie slept through the night last night. From about 8:30 to 6:00 this morning. Woo hoo!

Ellie Sleeping

Just a quick note that we started teaching Ellie to sleep thru the night last night. She cried from about 12:30 or so til about 1:15 and then went back to sleep. We woke her up at 9:00am.

Whoa.

Praise the Lord.

Day 14

Move-In Day! We tried to move in this morning at around 9 or 9:30 and were able to get the keys, but when we showed up to the apartment it had furniture and other items in it and had yet to be cleaned. Come to find out the painters got in here late and were in process of painting around the front door when the guys came to remove the furniture, etc. so they weren't able to do it and ended up not coming back right away since they thought we were coming 2 days from today (originally that was the date we had given and the switch wasn't fully communicated to all parties involved). So we began moving in once the apartment was ready in the afternoon. Thanks again Dad and Mom H for all of your help getting us into our new home. We couldn't have done it so quickly and smoothly without you! So now we are in...up to our ears in boxes, but in.

Day 13

IKEA!
We spent the day at IKEA getting as much furniture and "stuff" as would possibly fit in our sable (with 2 adults and 2 kids) and a Ford F250 with the extended cab. We couldn't get everything (after all we sold everything so we were trying to replace a 2 bedroom apartment worth of furniture, kitchen supplies, storage, and other miscellaneous items...all at one time!). We had never before been to IKEA and boy was it crazy. Thanks Dad and Mom Hutchison sooooooo much for patiently going on that very long and tedeous journey with us as we spent hours to decide on all of the various items we would purchase. Thank you also for helping us out with some of the many purchases we made.

We were able to get a ton of things:
a bookcase
computer desk
floor lamp
another bookcase
coffee table
(2) side tables
silverware
plastic kids bowls
platic kids plates
eating set for Ellie
dish towels
tea towels
(2) desk lamps
floor mat for under the office chair
office chair
kids hangers
(2) hanging toy storage tubes
(4) storage containers on wheels
(2) small dresser type things
drying rack for dishes
tupperware set
3 mixing bowls with lids
large drinnking glasses
small drinking glasses
storage bowls
colander
utensil set of 3 (for teflon pans)
utensil set of 4
large decorative basket (I am a sucker for those)
cutting sheets
measuring cups
measuring spoons
ice cube trays (2)

And that is all that I can remember, but our total was around $500.


Update: we returned to IKEA 3 days later and just about completed furnishing our new home

Day 12

Short day of driving from NY to Littleton, MA. Massachusetts is gorgeous. There are more trees here than in Oregon. I'm not kidding. It's unreal. And the town we're staying in was established in 1715. Whoa.

Turns out that Gordon Conwell was painting our apartment today and will be doing final cleaning tomorrow, so we can't move in til Wednesday (like originally planned). So, kinda bummed about that, but it is nice to be in the state now and to have had such a laid back day today (we all got naps today!).

God has been very gracious to us on this trip. No car issues, gas prices have been reasonable, we didn't get on each other's nerves too badly. We've been able to see good friends and family, see a beautiful countryside and take an amazing trip. All by His grace and love. To Him be the glory.

Day 11

Drove from Sandusky, Ohio to Oneida, New York today. Good day of driving. Eventful moment when we had to stop at the Erie Auto Auction in Somewhere-in-New-York to take care of our oldest daughter who was trying to make a mess in the back seat with the mess she had made in her diaper. Don't know what it is with this girl and poop. Seriously, I don't get it. But these are the things memories are made of. :-)

We like New York: vineyards in the west (didn't expect that), trees everywhere and toll roads that are by far the best highways we've driven on thus far.

Day 10

Fun day with Allen's familly at Cedar Point, the premier amusement park in the country. I understand now why this park is so highly regarded. Wow. 17 coasters in one park. And what coasters. The Raptor is now Allen's favorite. Ever.

Lizzie got to go on her first ride and, after taking a little bit to figure out what was happening... loved it! The laughs and smiles were priceless. Course, when the ride was over, she was none too thrilled that we had to take her out of the car. Yeah, crying, the whole bit. Later in the day, she got to go on quite a few more and really, really liked the experience. Me thinks she'll be a coaster addict some day.

All in all it was great to spend time with Allen's family and to go on rides with Abby and Claudia (Allen's nieces) and to eat gigantic elephant ears. :-)


Lizzie on her first ride with her cousin Claudia.


Allen and his sister, Maria


The whole gang

Day 9

Much better day today. Went to Saranac, Michigan. Steph's great grandfather's old stompin' grounds. Had a yummy lunch at the Saranac Sugar Shack (I kid you not). Mmmm... burgers.

Went to Steph's dad's grandpa's old farm and house just to snap a couple of pictures... and lo and behold the current owners are family! The gal we talked to remembered some of Steph's aunts and uncles from when they grew up and would visit grandpa's farm! We took pictures and went in the house and talked for about an hour or so. We exchanged contact information and got a bunch of info about Steph's dad's genealogy (which is a big deal... since we had been hitting road blocks in that area). It was great to see the excitement in Steph's face and to enjoy those moments with her. We then went to a local cemetery and were able to find the graves of Steph's great grandma and great grandpa.

After Saranac, we went to Sandusky, OH to meet up with Allen's sister (Maria) and her family. It was great to see them. Steph had never met Tim before and our girls had never met Maria's girls or Tim before either. We went out to dinner at Outback (had a good experience this time... Outback green beans are the best on the planet) and caught up a bit. I had forgotten how much I liked hanging out with them. Though we'll still be a bit away from them in MA, it's nice to be in the same time zone as them.

Now for the pics...

Michigan really is beautiful. This pic is simply trees along the highway, but is typical of how green and beautiful most of Michigan is. Had no idea.

Steph's great grandpa's old farm house (spruced up quite a bit by the current owners).

Aerial picture of the farm, hanging inside the farmhouse.

Day 8

Since Day 7 was a day of fun at the Mall, Day 8 was back on the road. Minnesota to Wisconsin to Michigan. Hard day all around. Rough go in the morning getting the kiddos ready. Drive was okay, but since we got to the destination a couple hours before Allen's folks, we stopped at a laundromat to clean up the big bag o' dirty clothes. While necessary, this resulted in a meltdown all across the board. It was hot and humid outside, even hotter inside with the machines going, in a town we weren't familar with, around people we weren't familar with. The kids, us, yeah, tired and hot and hungry and cranky and... we were glad to see this day be over.

But here are a couple of pics entering Wisconsin and Michigan. By the way, Wisconsin cheese is good (but not better than Tillamook), and Michigan is beautiful.