The first week

We made it!  We all survived our first week living in a new home in a new city in a new state.  We kept busy exploring our new city which meant there wasn't much time to feel homesick or realize we didn't know a single person in this state.  You realize pretty quickly how dependent you are on your village when your village is 1300 miles away!  I mean we really love Al, and being here is totally worth the extra family time, but I really underestimated my love for my people. 

I have also realized this week how dependent I was on the boys' friends.  I have never played more board games, superhero/monster/bad guy/jail world, basketball, and Legos then I am now that we don't have the neighborhood kids to play with.  And not that I am surprised, but I am still really terrible at imaginary play.  Thanks to Charlie and Jack for constantly reminding me that I was not being Superman, Batman, bad guy, baby, police officer, a mom, fill in the blank, the right way.  Thankfully, Charlie's friends FaceTimed him multiple times this week.  He loved these special moments and while it was a little heartbreaking for me, he was so excited to tell them about what we had been up to and to show them our new home. 

We loved checking out the new places inWest Hartford. We spent one of our first days walking to the nearby park that also has a splash pad and pool.  We didn't hit up the pool this time, but the kiddos loved the splash pad and park.  Especially our brave Kaylee girl.  

During our first week I also had to put together Kaylee's crib and let's be honest, I am not handy or really domestic at all.  It took me way longer than the average person and I only freaked out a couple of times, but I got it figured out.  More importantly and frankly rather surprising is the fact that it is STILL standing and supporting Kaylee.  

One of the best parts of West Hartford is having Alan home every night for dinner!  This hasn't happened on a regular basis in over a year. The kids get to spend the evenings playing in the backyard with their dad and that has been worth all the work and sadness of leaving Eagan.  

This week we also visited Jack's new preschool and met a few teachers and toured the classrooms.  This got Jack really excited about starting in a few weeks.  We got Charlie registered for school and he gets a school tour this week.  We also checked out the cute downtown here and found a toy store and ice cream shop that have already become favorites.   One day was spent at the library that we all loved.  They have an entire floor dedicated to a kids area.  We spent a few hours there and it is already on Charlie's weekly bucket list for this week again.  It was fantastic!  

Once the weekend was here we knew that the first place we would visit would be the OCEAN!  Our home is about 45 minutes from the ocean and this was definitely something I was most excited about when moving here.  While the closest CT beach is only 45 minutes away we decided to hit up a beach in Rhode Island.  We had been told that Rhode Island beaches have a little bit bigger waves than CT because CT beaches are actually in a sound.  So we drove about 1 1/2 hours to Westerly, RI.  It is a cute beach town and we had the best time!  All three kids loved it and we had a super fun day.  

We had a great first week in Connecticut!  Lots of family time and checking out a few places around the area.  We are looking forward to our second week and on Friday Grandma Hanson is coming to visit!  We can't wait!!!  We can't wait to show her some places we have loved and I can't wait to leave the house all by myself!  One of my weekly bucket list challenges is to make a new friend this week.  This has been the hardest part about our move, not having a connection with another girlfriend nearby.  I am going to really try and put myself out there...wish me luck!