North Carolina, FINALLY!

Well, after 2640 miles and a week of driving, we finally arrived at our new house in North Carolina. Now, back into home ownership we jumped. Our house is just about four years old, we did have a thorough inspection, but we arrived to the air conditioning not working, along with the dishwasher receiving no water. Ahhh. Luckily, we negoitiated a home warranty with the purchase of our house, so that covered the repairs, minus the $60 per problem service fee we have to pay. Whatever. As friends of ours say, "Sometimes you have to throw money at it, and make it go away." We did...the WEDNESDAY after we arrived. Yes, that's right. It was "record-breaking heat" over the weekend in NC, and we had no air conditioning. Awesome. Edward went to the garage in search of our two fans. One isn't here (still on truck...another long story), and the other is literally the only thing we've found broken so far. Good and bad...good nothing else has been broken, but bad, something we desperately needed. Anyways, we had already decided to send the kids to my parents' house in Wilmington for a few days so we could paint and unpack. The no a/c helped with that decisioin too. So, Sunday after checking out a church (wasn't a winner), we drove over to Wilmington. After a delicious dinner and ANOTHER birthday party for Madison (she loved every minute and every piece of cake), Edward and I came back to the heat (we thought we'd left Arizona).

Wednesday turned out to be the day of the workforce. Both the a/c and the dishwasher repair people were here, and the big purchase of the kids' swingset was installed. My parents brought the kids home to their new "park" as they call it. Luke only knows that our house had a park behind it, and with our set being nice and big, he thinks we have our own personal park in the backyard.

Here it is! The new swingset, a.k.a. park.

They were quick to try it out. The grandparents seemed to like it too. In picking out a swingset, the kids each had things they wanted. Madison desperately wanted a tire swing. Luke wanted monkey bars, and well, Alex, just wanted a swing (adding a toddler swing was a no-brainer!). All requests and more were fulfilled. Due to a mailbox obsession (next post), we added on a mailbox to this package. The package came as pictured, and so for around $25, we could add a personal mailbox. Awesome if you know the mailbox obsession. On the deck, there is a ship's wheel and binocaulars. The deck is six feet high with a long slide off of it. We love it, and the craftsmanship is awesome. Thanks, Woodplay!

This seems to be the favorite part of the set so far.

Then, Grandma and Grandpa had to leave, or "Ma" and "Pa" as Alex called them. It was hilarious. He started that on his own, totally (I mean, who would pick that, haha), and the names have stuck. Any picture of them, he now shouts, "Ma," or "Pa." Madison wanted a picture in front of her new house.

My parents got Madison a scooter (her old one was stolen), and this dress combo for her birthday. Yes, she and her doll, Hannah, are into matching dresses. And, if you know Madison, it would be nothing new to see her riding the scooter IN the dress! So, here she and Hannah are with Grandma and Grandpa outside of her new house.