hard to believe...

Hard to believe that about 2 years ago around this time, we were packing up and getting ready to move to California.

Hard to believe that 1 year ago about this time, Gabe and I were back in MN for a visit. Dreading going back to California. Not even the slightest clue that we would be moving back less than 3 months later. Crazy how fast things can change.

Hard to believe, with all the snow we have had recently (which I am totally LOVING!), that last year when we were back visiting, I had to go out and buy Gabe some shorts and T-shirts, because it was so warm out and I had packed snowpants and boots.

some videos of our new house!

quick little update....

this is the basement at our house. There is a wet bar, a couple utility rooms/closets, family room, office, illegal bedroom, bathroom. They had carpet down, but ripped it out after the massive rain/flooding in June. So we will be putting new flooring down some point soon :-)

The upstairs... kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms, and a bathroom. Gabe's room is the purple one - we've already painted it :-D

Outside - 2 decks (small one off the living room not shown in the video) . The garage on the left side of the back is the neighbors. We have a swing set, garden area and large garage in the back right of the yard. (The round sand area is where they had a pool)

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 ;-) ]