Long Overdue Update!

I can't believe how long it has been since we last updated our blog. In our defense, life has been very crazy the past few weeks!

The last week of July began our long, bittersweet goodbye to Duluth. Stewart (our beloved Honda Accord) went in for road trip tune up, and was proudly pronounced road worthy for our long drive south. While I was tied up with finishing my Master's thesis manuscript and seminar presentation in addition to studying for my oral defense, Dan dilligently packed all of our belongings into dozens and dozens of boxes. (Did I mention how amazing Dan is?)

By Thursday morning, the set arrival date for our ABF U-Pack half semi-trailer, we were *nearly* ready to go. Unforunately, nothing ever goes quite as planned. Duluth is notoriously terrible for finding parking.. and finding enough space for a 28' long, 14' tall trailer is no easy task. We had two choices, hope and pray for 3 empty parking spots in a row the day of our move -- and risk having to walk our belongings a block or two away to our trailer, or get permission from our rather overbearing landlord to park the trailer in the driveway. Despite getting permission from our landlord, and the promises from all of our housemates to have the driveway empy by Thursday morning -- we woke up to find one car blocking our path.

With the trailer on the way, Dan and I began the horrible task of walking up and down the blocks hoping and praying for a spot big enough to hold our trailer. The closest one we found was a good block up the hill, or two blocks away with no hill. As our trailer rounded the corner to pull up to our house for parking directions, two other people on our block came out of their houses to start their morning commute. And just our luck, they had cars immediately before and behind our little Stewart! I cannot express how happy we were to see those people leave! The parking space was still incredibly tight, and took our highly skilled truck driver a good 25 minutes to manuver into. We had only 8 feet behind the trailer for loading, but we didn't care. We only had to cross the street, and move boxes 5 car lengths away from our front door. That's worth celebrating! It took Dan and I nearly 14 hours to load our trailer and completely empty out our apartment by ourselves.

The next few days just flew by. Tom and Diane gave us the Minnesota gift of a hotdish, so we wouldnt have to worry about cooking or going out to eat (just thinking about it makes me homesick for good, creamy Minnesota meals). We said our finals goodbyes to a few friends, had a goodbye/congratulations BBQ party with my lab collegues at the EPA, and enjoyed a last leisurely evening walk on the Lake Superior boardwalk. But mainly, I studied studied studied and Dan single handedly cleaned our apartment to our landlords anal-rententive standards (Seriously, Dan is absolutely amazing. But I'm sure you all know this by now!).

Monday morning, the day of my thesis defense, came way too soon and yet, not soon enough. I felt so incredibly honored and proud to have all of my family there to support me and hear my thesis presentation talk. And after a grueling 2.5 hour oral exam/defense, I offically earned my Master's degree!!!! What a huge weight off of my shoulders! We capped off the evening by celebrating with family at Mom and Getey's farm. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone, especially my amazing Grandma Ellie. Anytime you want to visit, please let us know!

The next morning, bright and early, we hopped on the road and started our drive south. Honestly, the drive was not as long and boring as people complain. On our drive, we planned two main stops to visit old friends. First, in Ames, IA to visit my high school friend Shannon and her beautiful little family. And again, in Kansas City, KA to visit Dan's high school friend Nick. It was great getting to catch up with old friends and enjoy some great food (what they say about Kansas City BBQ is definitely true -- yum!). After a little empty gas tank scare, we made it all the way to Emporia, KA before finding a hotel for the night. Despite being absolutely exhausted from a long day's drive and the emotional rollercoaster leading up to it, we were both awake and chipper by 5:30 the next morning. Thinking that Witicha may have a rush hour, we decided to hit the road. (Hah! No one is ever on 35!). By 5pm, we found ourselves in Waco, Texas with a signed lease.. meager amounts of groceries and an inflatable mattress that was just begging to be slept on.

Our moving truck was dropped off the next morning, a good half block away from our new apartment. Which really doesn't sound like much, until it tops 100 degrees and you realize this is Texas we are talking about! We busted our chops and managed to unload our trailer in 4.5 hours, with only suffering a little heat exhaustion. Our past couple of days have been spent unpacking, and making small exploratory trips around town. We made our first adult furniture purchases -- a new headboard for our bead, and a brand new couch. After we clear out the last few boxes, we will take a few pictures for our blog so you can see our new home!

We have also been trying to collect our first impressions of the town -- but that is for another update.

Skype will be up and running soon, and of course you are always welcome to give us a call or drop us a letter in the mail.

Love and Miss you all!!

-Kristin and Dan