how convenient

So I think the "preset" radio stations in the van are still set to Duluth and Minneaoplis radio stations. :-) Where we are at in CA, we don't get many radio stations that come in - the mountains interfere a lot. So you are lucky if you can listen to a whole song before the station starts cutting out. And of the few stations we get, at least half are in Spanish. So not a whole lot of options. So I don't listen to the radio very often - usually get Pandora or Cities 97 through my phone.

Gabe is famous!!!

Well not really. But he was recently on a postcard, and now he was on the Bakersfield news. His teacher won a grant from the news station, so they suprised her one day during class and filmed a little interview with her. It was funny because she had no idea what was going to happen - just that her boss asked her to have kids stay a little later than normal. And for some reason they had just gone through all the kids' files and Gabe's photo release permission slip was not in his file, so they had me sign another one that morning - having no clue that we would actually be needing it. lol.

So check out this link to see Gabe on the news:
Gabe's News Spot

He's stuffing his face with food - but what else is new. :-)

details

So here are some more details about our big move....

When we came to CA it was with the expectation that the company would be relocating by the end of 2012. (which was down to California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas or Florida) But they have yet to make the decision of where they are going (so it will be at least another 18 months before they move). Most of the engineers want to stay in our current town, which is not what we want. The services Gabe receives are very minimal and to get any private therapy we have to go somewhere 60 miles away. And our insurance would only cover a limited number of sessions.  It's also 60+ miles to Target / Walmart / Malls / decent priced grocery stores. Plus there is minimal fishing and hunting out here - and it's expensive if you can get tags. And we love 4 seasons (although they call our town the land of four seasons - only because they get a couple inches of snow 2 or 3 times a year, but then everything shuts down)

But we really weren't looking to go back to MN yet. Adam loves his job out here and there were really no jobs available in MN in his field. Plus there was no way we could afford the moving expenses to go back, so we were planning to stick with it for a few more years at least, until Gabe got in to school, at which point we wanted to try to be back.

But then about a month ago Cirrus and Kestrel both announced they were funded and were hiring engineers - lots of engineers. So Adam mulled it over for a few days and talked to a few former co-workers to see how things were going at both places. Eventually we decided that if we do want to be back in MN, this may be our best chance, so what can it hurt to apply. So he applied to both. Had phone interviews with both. Both said no reason for him to come up for in person interviews because they knew him already. And both presented really good offers (good salaries and moving bonuses) to him. So then it was decision time... It was a tough decision, but he decided to go back to Cirrus. He'll be going back to working on the jet - which has always kind of felt like unfinished business. And Cirrus seems a little bit more stable from our persepective - which after the big risk we took coming out to CA, we really want stability.

So this has all happened in a matter of a few weeks. He got the job offers a couple weeks ago, accepted one last week, gave his notice this past Monday. And we leave June 2nd. Holy moly. Thankfully we are having the movers pack us up this time - can't imagine trying to pack up the whole house in this short amount of time with Gabe underfoot.

So, speaking of stability... We are also planning to try to buy a house once we are back. So Gabe & I are going to stay at my parents house for a few months while we try to get a mortgage and find a house and close on it. And Adam is going to try to find an inexpensive room to rent (so if anyone reading this has a room or knows someone who does, please let us know!)

survey says....

So, we are leaving California. Leaving the desert. Leaving the mountains. Leaving the 60+ miles to the nearest Wal-mart / Target / Mall. Leaving the sub-par services the county provides for Gabe- which is the bare minimum federally mandated - so basically nothing. Leaving ICON. 


WHAT??? Leaving ICON? Yup. Why??? Well two companies just recently announced they are hiring 100+ engineers between the 2 of them. And they are a lot closer to "home" so Adam applied to both and they both offered him jobs. And after a lot of thought (and decision matrices - [yes - he found a way to scientifically analyze the two...] ) he chose one of them. 


And so we will be moving to........................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Duluth!!!! 

WAHOO!!!! Adam is going back to work at Cirrus - doing what he originally started out working on. So he excited about that. And obviously we are thrilled to be going back to Minnesota and our family and friends and church and better services for Gabe! 

Guessing Game

So, it looks like we will be needing a new name for our blog. Our  nomadic family is on the move again.....

Where to this time??? 10 points to the person who guesses correctly! [ -100 points to those who already know and give it away ;-) ]

Weekend Trip

This past weekend we decided to do a weekend away. We bought a National Park Pass last year at Sequoia, and haven't been to any parks since then, so figured we should get another one in. Adam really wanted to go to Yosemite, so that's where we went. On Friday, Gabe & I picked Adam up from work and then we headed north. We stopped for pizza about halfway and then continued on our way. We spent the night in Mammoth Lakes. Our room was pretty nice (king bed, fireplace, a kitchenette with small stove, fridge, microwave, sink) although a little noisy. Can't imagine what it would cost during ski season - as it was right across the parking lot from one of the lodges and ski lifts. 

Saturday morning we were up pretty early. The hotel didn't serve breakfast until 8 and since we were up & ready we didn't want to wait around for that so grabbed some McDs on our way to Yosemite. Gabe was not thrilled to be back in the car, but he did pretty well on on the couple hours it took to get there. We stopped for gas part way there, because we knew it would be higher in the park - we paid $4.95 a gallon!!! Yuck - but it was $5.05 in the park, so glad we did. It was pretty busy once we got in to the valley area, so we had to park in a lot that was further away from the main area we wanted to see. We had lunch in the car before loading up the stroller and walking over to the falls area. It was probably about a mile walk - they had shuttles, but they all looked pretty full and we had our big jogging stroller, so didn't think we'd fit on the bus. We checked out the visitor center and got our Yosemite stamps for our national parks passport book. Then we walked over to the falls area - which was super busy. But incredibly beautiful. It was so refreshing standing on the bridge over the river by the falls - it had gotten pretty warm out - and the water spray from the falls felt really good. 

We headed back to one of the stores and got some ice cream treats. Then Adam went back to get the car. We had walked a good 3+ miles and between my knees and the altitude, I was pretty worn out. Of course Gabe fell asleep in his stroller about 5 minutes before Adam picked us up.  :-/  We got loaded up in the car - of course Gabe woke up (finally fell asleep after over an hour of driving) - and took off back to Mammoth Lakes. We stopped at a little picnic area and had some sandwiches and stuff part way pack. By the time we got back, Adam and I were both exhausted - Gabe not so much. So Adam and Gabe went outside and ran around for a good half hour to wear Gabe out. Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, then explored a little of Mammoth Lakes. We checked out some shops at the Village, Adam got a few things at the local brewery, and we had lunch at a little deli / bagel shop - which was super delicious! They even had mac & cheese for gabe, which was nice because he had mostly been eating watermelon and goldfish crackers. We also got a dozen bagels to go - yum! After lunch, we got on the road to come back to Tehachapi. Luckily Gabe fell asleep pretty quickly and slept for a good 1/3 of the drive back, so that was nice. It was a fun weekend, and I'm glad it worked out for us to go (which we didn't decide to go until mid-week last week, so luckily we found an available hotel with reasonable rates). 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzww     x   (Gabe wanted to type...)

                       r

Yosemite Falls

Cathedral Arches

Adam & Gabe - Half Dome in background

Yosemite Falls

Half Dome

High Sierras

The Lower falls

oh wait....you thought the secret would be revealed? not quite yet.... 

Who says secrets are no fun?!

So I haven't blogged for awhile...

Partially because it is hard to find time to sit down for more than 5 minutes and upload pictures and type about what we have been up to.

But mostly (at least the last few weeks) because some big changes are coming. As Rusty says in Ocean's Twelve, "Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why."

Check back soon for more updates.... (those of you who may know, please play along - thanks!)