::our last day in RI::

(this is looooooong, with lots of photos)
After graduation Kris and I ran back to the house to do a bit more cleaning up while Max (the lucky dog) got to go back with Grandma & Grandpa and have a sleepover at their hotel.

I was EXhausted.

Then we went to stay with our dear friends here in RI that were putting us up for friday and saturday night. So so much nicer than having to stay in the empty, semi-dirty hot house. They even watched Sul for us all day friday. So awesome.

Anyway, we went over there and got a little sleep. But Sultan woke Kris up so so early. Like 5AM and he couldn't go back to sleep, so he just headed on over to the house and finished the cleaning. Then he came back and got me (best husband ever, right?) and we met the landlord, exchanged keys and deposit and were done with the house. Phew.

Then we were about to get busy having FUN for our last day when our car, all full of luggage and trip accoutrements, made a bad clunk. Then another bad clunk. I was about to die.
So we went to the hotel and called the Subaru dealership and luckily they squeezed us in right away. Even more luckily, Kris's parents had rented a car, so we weren't left high and dry. The dealership fixed our clunk by mid afternoon and did a once over on the car so we were comfortable taking it on the long haul.

After we dropped it off, we headed out to Newport to have some fun. We wanted to take the parents out to fly kites at the kite park as a last hurrah before we left.

It was hot in Newport, but the kite park was awesome as usual, with the coolish breeze coming in off the water. And boy were there kites there.

Isn't that snake amazing? Even Kris's dad who HATES snakes admitted that thing was cool. I have no idea how they get it up in the air. It looked like a real snake up there, slithering in the wind.
And there were lots of other colorful things blowing around up there.

We got three kites up in the air and had fun flying them.

There's just something about flying a kite, way way up there in the sky that feels good.




Eventually we got too hot, and so we left to have lunch at the Barking Crab, a yummy seafood place in downtown Newport. It was basically Kris's birthday dinner.
Their food is really good. I had a crabcake sandwich that was totally delicious.


After that we went back to the hotel, Kris picked up the car, Max swam with the grandparents and we watched the US lose in the World Cup.

For dinner we grabbed some fast food and went to one of Max's favorite parks--we call it the Scripture Scouts park because the playground reminds him of the Scripture Scouts' treehouse.


It's beautiful, on a rolling hill right by the water. We can always see lots of boats, and the trees on the coastline farther down. It's a neat place.

Sultan was really glad to join us for dinner. All the moving weirdness had him a little freaked out, so riding in the car and hanging at the park was just the remedy he needed.

We tried to get Max to actually eat, but it was a struggle. And who can blame him, with that treehouse calling his name the whole time.

Poor Kris gave himself a brainfreeze.

Sorry, but that picture cracks me up, he just looks like he's suffering, doesn't he?


It was so fun to get to spend time together. We're so glad Kris's parents could come out and spend our last fun day with us and help us out.

That was the end of our fun day. After that we had to make Max somehow fall asleep and then get ready for the big long drive.
Off we go into the wild wooly yonder!!

::graduation::

Kris graduated on Friday. Yay!!
But first the movers came and packed our stuff onto a big van.
Well, not big enough evidently since they had to spend hours strategizing how to squeeze things in. I guess the guy that came and gave us our estimate underestimated. That's great for the wallet, not so great for making sure there was enough space in the truck.

They were supposed to be done by about 2PM so we could get ready for the graduation at 5:30. At 2 they were nowhere near done. Nor at 3. I kept telling them I had to leave at 4 and they said it was going to be NO problem at all. At 4 they're still working on it. At FIVE? Yep, still working on it. Finally we just had to make sure they had the rest of the stuff out on the lawn and we locked the door and we left.
I was planning on having some time to get ready, but had to settle for 10 minutes. Remind me never to load a moving truck the same day as graduation again--whether I have to do the loading or not! I was exhausted by 5.

But oh well, because we were so glad it was finally Kris's graduation day!
It's been a long time coming. We've been to two other St. Joe's graduations, so we knew pretty well what to expect. There are only four residents, so the program is nice and personal. A few important people get up and say some things, then the program director speaks and he usually speaks specifically about each resident, gives them a bit of a hard time and praises them for what they did well over the two years. It's really fun.
And this year didn't disappoint, I really enjoyed it.

BUT I didn't get to sit by Kris which was annoying. I did sit right behind him though. The above is a view of the program director talking over the heads of the residents.

Thank goodness for games on the phone. Most of the speeches didn't captivate Max, to say the least.


Kris with his fellow residents and program director in the middle. Kris will miss getting to work with these guys, and we'll miss getting to hang out with them.

Graduation was held at the Biltmore, a nice hotel downtown. We were right up at top and the views were spectacular.



Kris's parents came out for graduation, and it was so nice that they were there to support him and hear all the nice things that people had to say.


I'm SO proud of Kris and glad we made it to (and through) this day! Now off to the next adventure, deep into the unknown. We can do it, we've done it before.
Love you Kris!!!!!

::found::

FOUND:
One strange and manly (I guess) bull-with-ring-through-it's-nose necklace.

Location: Our "attic." (I put attic in quotes because really it's the equivalent of a crawl space, except on top of the house and with lots more insulation. It's not a nice place.)

I think maybe the necklace belonged to one of the insulation guys that were here during the last year. Or maybe somebody much more mysterious and intriguing, who knows?


He looks pretty east coast thug with that on, doesn't he? All he needs now is a sideways straight-billed Red Sox hat, a much bigger shirt and sweat pants pulled down to under his butt with his underoos sticking out.
Should I leave him here so he can perfect the look?

::::

The other day Max and I took our friends Linda and Natalie over to our little playground by the (bay) beach and had a little photo shoot.
I thought I'd post a couple of the pictures here for people to enjoy because they just turned out so cute. But honestly I think it would be hard for them not to have turned out well, with such cute subjects.


Linda's husband is a 1st year resident in Kris's program, so they've still got a year to go. It's been fun getting to know them and hanging out this year.
Natalie is just a doll.

She and Max get along so well. There's a good 3 year age gap there, but it really doesn't matter because they're both so silly and so easy to get along with (generally, with Max) they spend the whole time giggling and being silly.
Like this:

No, he didn't hit her with the stick. I'm not sure what exactly the stick was doing--I think it was just a cool find. But they did tickle each other for a good while there.

And the silly boy alone:


We'll miss getting to hang out with you, Roberts! Good luck with everything!!!

::dinner::

We're trying to enjoy our last couple of weeks here. Enjoying moving preparations is never easy though, really.

The other day when Kris got home we decided to pick up a sandwich to eat in a local park area that's super pretty.
We're trying to soak in all the green, because I'm sure I'll miss it later. (But I'm not going to miss the humidity, I promise.)


We got a sandwich from Jersey Mike's. It's the local attempt at a sub shop. It's better than 99% of the sandwich places around. It's still a sad substitute for Planet Sub, or Sensuous sandwiches back in Provo. (Mmmm, now I'm getting hungry.)
But they do have big thin cut slices of dill pickle on the sandwich that are really tasty.


Kris was just glad to be done with another one of his (rather miserable) 11 hour work days.


Max was glad to be outside. And eating doritos.

But he was bummed because we said we were going to a park. But it wasn't exactly what he was hoping for in a park. He was looking for slides and fireman poles and that kind of thing. So in lieu of all that he decided to climb on the car and drive us nuts. And drive poor Sultan nuts who was stuck inside the car because we forgot his leash.

Can you see our new luggage carrier on top of the car? We're gearing up for the cross country haul!

Anyway, it was a nice evening outing. We're trying to have some fun and relaxation together in the midst of the chaos that is moving.

So far so good.

::memorial day::

We had a fun Memorial Day. In the morning we went to little parade in our friends' smallish town. The parade went right past their street which was really fun. There was a really festive feel all around.
But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Really we started the day with a "blue raspberry" icee thing for Max, on the way to the parade. If we'd had any idea the amounts of sugar he was going to enjoy later, we never would've done it. But what's done is done. And his tongue was so grossly blue.


The kids couldn't wait for the parade to actually start. You can see here that they're prepared in case of a candy onslaught--halloween pumpkins and all.

The adults were excited too--though I know Kris's face isn't giving too much away.

Then here came this guy. The guy who somewhere along the way had pilfered a shopping cart from someplace and was using it to sell his piles and mounds of cotton candy.

Then a kind-hearted grandfather hooked the kids up with some. Blue of course. Max went for it. He was so disgusting after a little while. Icky, sticky, and blue.


The best part was when some politician came by shaking everybody's hands. He shook Max's and Henry's both. I imagined he was very very sorry for quite a while.

There were lots of fire engines, a couple of bands, a bagpipe troupe and a couple of floats.
This one's for my mom--an old guy behind a huge Breyer horse. I think he was from a local stable.

Then of course there were lots of Shriners doing lots of different stuff. We always love the little cars.

There were a few real veterans in the parade and we were glad to see them.
I thought this guy was the highlight though--crazy Uncle Sam who somehow was himself and a puppet of himself at the same time.

He was pretty awesome.

Then the parade abruptly ended and there was a big line of normal people in their cars, who had probably been waiting for an hour to get through.

We went home and spent the rest of the day getting stuff done. Except I took a two hour nap. I wish I could do that every day.
I wish every day was a monday off, really.