Daddy's home!

Julia was not at all down with the idea that she should go to bed, and I should go get Daddy. "No! Ja-da-Daddy" she said very firmly. So I bundled her into the car at bedtime, and we dove the hour or so to Medford. Julia tried so hard to stay awake. Every 30 seconds, she'd ask "Daddy? Aiwpane?" But with 20 minutes to go, she fell asleep, and thus at the airport, she wanted nothing to do with waking up to go meet Daddy. The next morning she was pretty thrilled though. "Daddy. Home." she states often.

(Incidentally, when driving with a toddler through remote mountain passes at night, don't dress them in footie pajamas, because when they cry to go potty, you have to pull over, and strip them pretty well naked in the chilly night air, hold them over the edge of the road and watch as they refuse to go, while sure that a car is going to approach any second and call the police and CPS on you. Then you have to bundle the child back up, and repeat the show at 10 minute intervals since you failed to bring a back up set of clothing and are worried about the impending "accident" that will inevitably soak the child and car seat.)

waking up to find Daddy!

"right here"

she even shared her crackers with him. 

all day she was on high show-off energy. 

and he was definitely the one to read stories with that night. 

And we eventually settled down into a more steady pace. But only for a week! Today Dave drove up to Hood River to do a week of orientation work and to check out rental houses and property. We won't be able to get our financial ducks in a row before we are needing to move, so we are resigned to the idea of renting for a couple months to a year. It is a good idea for us to take our time in house hunting, and to really explore the communities we could live in before making a decision. I hate the idea of moving twice, but nothing can be done about that, so we'll do it! Julia was pretty much ok with Dave leaving again. I told her that he'd be going on a short trip, then coming back. She wanted to go too, but was fine when I told her that soon, we'd all be going on a trip. Involving an airplane, no less. She's excited about that. I'm not too excited about that part. We've had some impressively hassle-filled flights in the past. Dave is being sent to a conference on charter schools in Minneapolis, just days before we were planning on going anyway! He'll go ahead and Julia and I will meet him there a few days later like we planned. The week before we fly to Minnesota will be spent with Dave's folks, so Julia will get to hang out with the Grandparents and I'll get to make sure stuff is ready to go on the moving truck. 

So here's the grand plan. 

Dave drives to Hood River. Dave drives back to Klamath Falls. All 3 drive to Mt Vernon. Dave flies to MN. Mary and Julia fly to MN. All 3 drive u-haul back to Klamath Falls, then to Hood River, then to Mt Vernon then back to Hood River. The next day, Dave begins work. 

If Dave and I are still speaking after this epic month, we deserve an award!

Julia and her purse

Memorial Day feasting

With Granny, my sister Caroline and her boyfriend, Matt. 

Dave cooked an impressive quantity of food on our little firebowl grill. 

I'm winding down my classes, writing papers, doing projects and eagerly anticipating being done with it all for awhile. Our pile of packed goods grows steadily.