Update from NC

Hey there!!!!  Well, yes we are settling in and loving it.  So it was a rough start at first.  We got down here thinking that we were going to live in an apartment in the town where I work so that I'd be close while we were checking out other areas.  Well we got down here the day before we were scheduled to move and the lady let us go ahead and stay there that night.  So the apartment is all janked - like couldn't open a single drawer in the kitchen because they hit the stove handle or fridge.  So the whole time I'm just repeating to myself - its only 6 months, I can do anything for 6 months right?  So that night we decide to go out to Walmart to get a few things.  WOW culture shock.  like we were like 5 of the 20 white people in the store.  So we are like "well, maybe we just went to the walmart on the wrong side of town"  So the next morning the guy shows up to do our internet stuff and we start talking to him and he says it is like that everywhere and that Rocky Mount is not a good area.  So we are starting to freak out but still kinda like "only 6 months"  I'm standing in the kitchen and we are talking and Charlie (cat) starts digging in a hole in the cabinet by the dishwasher and I FREAKED out that if a mouse came out .... cue the movers showing up and ask if we are ready to start unloading and I look at Aaron and just say "I can't do this"  So we go over, cancel our lease, tell the movers to take everything back to storage and high tail it out of there towards Raleigh, and get a hotel.  Ended up being in a hotel for a week.  Got a realtor to help us and ended up finding a townhouse to rent in Wake Forest - and we LOVE the area!  Thank god we can be a fly by the seat of your pants people and adjust!    So Wake Forest is wonderful.  The perfect town for us.  I really don't see a reason we would ever leave.  We've made friends with our neighbors and some other people in the neighborhood - but still isn't like the friendships we had in StL, but it will just take time to get to that comfort level.  Work is pretty good.  Still kind of feel like a fish out of water and trying to get my bearings, but that will jsut take time too.  I have about an hour commute, but carpool with a girl at work that I get along with super good, so it goes fast and it is a really easy drive.  Aaron had an interview yesterday for a teaching job.  We are sooooo hoping he gets it.  He signed up and is doing a flag football league and loves that. The boys started daycare this week.  it was just driving everyone crazy that they were home all day and Aaron couldn't really do much to look for a job while they were there.  They love goign to "school".  Turner started in karate and does that 3 days a week.  He loves it and is really good.  Austin has kind of turned in to our devil child and makes us crazy right now, but that is just a stage!  But I am already dreading him being a teenager.  The boys just box, tackle, dress up as Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (transformers) and fight, do karate - ALL DAY LONG.  I mean literally they never stop some form of tackling. Mackenzie is adjusting super good.  She loves school, has made two friends in the neighborhood that she is inviting over or going to their house all the time.  Even had a sleepover already.  We are looking for a place now for her to start back up in gymnastics. This weekend we are heading to the beach again.  It is only about 1.5 hours away so easy day trip.  And it is beautiful.  We also have a huge lake like 5 minutes from us that has nice beach areas and campground.  We have a camping trip planned with the girl I commute with and her husband and son for October 9th, and some other neighbors might join us.  you know us, the get-together organizers and social butterflies of the bunch! So yeah - I can't believe that we've only been here for less than a month.  We've transplanted well.  And the cool thing about here is that everyone is from somewhere else, so everyone is a transplant.  We are ready for visitors anytime!  I wish I could just talk you all in to moving down here with us.  It is so much better than the midwest.  I just can't even describe.  Just soooooo many cool things in like a 4 hour radius, and even a ton just in Raleigh and right around us.  It completely fits us.  Like i said, unless it was for a big promotion or something, I could see us living here for a long long time.