Well.....the time has finally come for me and my family to say goodbye to North Carolina. I'm not going to lie. I was a little sad to leave this state. I mean, really. I was born and raised in Jacksonville, only traveled as far as Greenville to go to East Carolina University, and then once I graduated I moved straight back to Jacksonville. It has always been my home and I really haven't ventured too far from it. My kids and I have made friends, my family is here, and it's all I've ever known. So let me take a moment to think about how I want to express my feelings about moving.
WHOOT!!!! WHOOT!!! Get me outta NC! Finally, a chance to go somewhere else! I am very much the military wife that is all for moving and the more moves the better. Give me a chance to see the world....or at least another state....with the financial backing of the USMC =)
OK, I might be jumping around a lot so ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ stands for a change in subject.
Alright, TMO came and packed us up 2 weeks ago and we were living with my parents until it was actually time for us to come down to Florida. I love my parents and am very grateful they housed our huge, LOUD family without a single complaint. Have I mentioned they live in a quaint 900 sq. ft. home with one bathroom? It's the house I was raised in and I love it but let me tell you what. You try cramming 5 adults, 2 high maintenance children, and a dog into that square footage with only bathroom. I'm sure they were sad, yet happy to have their home back when we left. Jacob, my husband, drove up last Monday so that he could meet the moving truck on Tuesday. The kids and I would have followed but I had to stay behind. I had been trying to get the title to my car transferred from my parents to me for over a week. The first time I went, I was told that a signature was missing. I didn't think it should have mattered since a notary person stamped off on the signatures we did have. The lady at the license plate agency told me that we would all have to get together and get everything resigned and notarized. Yeah right.....not going to happen. What's to say the signature couldn't be "added" and then I go back and try again to transfer the title.
So Jacob and I packed up the kids and went to Oak Island for a few days to spend some much needed time with friends. Megan and Sarah are two of my best friends ever since our college days back at ECU. Of course life takes over and we don't get to spend as much time together as we would like but it's OK. That means we just make the most out of the time we do get to have together. Thank you so much girls for letting my crew come and visit. We had an amazing time and next year the beach house is on us :)
Back from vacation I headed back to the license plate agency thinking they couldn't possibly remember me from 2 days prior. I get in line again, wait 2 hours again, and am told they still can't transfer the title because I don't have my married name on my license. So after the long Labor Day weekend I go to the court house, get a print out of my marriage license, go to the DMV, get a new license with my married name, and then go back to the license plate agency. Have I expressed how much I really hate that place? After waiting for 2 hours.....again...a man comes out to tell us that all the computers in the state are down and they don't know when they will be back up. Oh the frustration!!!! To hell with it. I signed power of attorney over to my dad and he can deal with it. Sorry pops but I really did try.....3 different times.
This car title fiasco was the whole reason the kids and I didn't go with Jacob when he left for Florida last Monday.
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Wednesday morning my car was packed, the kids were loaded and it was finally time for us to hit the road.
I thought by leaving so early the kids would sleep for about 3 hours and then we would stop, eat breakfast, change their clothes, and hit the road again. Yeah right. I wish things in my life ran that smoothly. My directions had me going down Catherine Lake Road, 111 N, and 41 S. About 40 minutes into the drive I hit a road closed sign. Bum part about that was they had no detour directions set up. So I had to turn all the way around, stop at Ellis Airport and call my dad for detour directions. The next route had me driving to Beulaville and catching 41 S from there. I drive a little ways and wouldn't you know it? Another road closed sign. So I turned around again and went to a gas station to ask directions. A nice old man told me a back road that would allow me to bypass the closed portions of 111N and 41 S.
So exactly where were we at 8:08am, almost 2 1/2 hrs after we started traveling? Beulaville.....OMG what a pain. And to top it off, both kids were awake, hungry, thirtsy, needing to go pee, needing a diaper change, etc. Talk about our trip having a few bumps in the road.
(yes I have a dusty car. Don't judge:)
It took F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to reach Florida's state line. Somehow though we made it. Our legs were cramping, our butts were numb, we were bored, hungry, tired, but we did it. The three of us. Together. I wanted Matthew to get excited about moving so we stopped at the visitors center to look at the brochures. The moment we walked in Matthew was all WOW! Mom look at that! Look at that over there! What's that place? Can we go there? I want to see sharks! It was wonderful to see him so pumped and I can't wait for all the experiences my family will have over the next 3 years.
We still had 3 1/2 more hours of driving but it didn't seem so bad once we crossed the state line. We ended up getting to our house around 9 pm. 16 hours on the road with 2 kids and I loved every minute of it.
There was one small moment during our trip that I will always remember. The first palm tree Matthew ever saw was at Florida's visitor center. We got out of the car, he looked up, and asked the same question I asked my husband when I first saw a Florida palm tree back in June.
"Where are the coconuts?"
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