Kitty Check-In

Here are a few kitty photos...just because.  I know Little Man has been missing them.  He talks to them on Face-time and they look around confused.  They haven't quite figured out the concept of a cell phone, but they'll paw at it when they hear his voice.  

Vanquishing Her Foe

 No ladybug is safe around the tigress...

Unless of course, she's busy in other pursuits.  

Anxious Kitties

The poor cats have not been taking the move very well.  The drive was awful and then they were very anxious at the AirBnB.  By the final day they were starting to calm down only to be in a car accident and dumped in an unfurnished house.  Stella was so anxious she hid behind an office desk that was left behind in the study, and didn't leave it the entire first day in the house.  I finally put a cat bed there for her, so she would be a bit more comfortable.  Luna explored for a little bit, and then she joined Stella in the office.  They are completely overwhelmed.

An Unfortunate Event

Today was meant to be a happy day - we're finally moving into our new home.  We packed the van first thing in the morning, including the cats, and set out to take Little Lady to seminary.  We dropped off Little Lady and headed toward home.  My hope was to have the boys help me unload both cars and get the rugs all out before the bis came for them.  It was still dark outside.  A deer jumped directly in front of my van while I was going 35 mph.  It hopped out from the trees lining the street, so there was no warning.  I slammed on my brakes as it hit me.  All the alarms went on in the van and I knew it probably wasn't good, but I only had a mile to go to get to the house, so I kept going.  I don't know anyone and the van was full. It would have been a nightmare stranded on the side of a country road.  Luckily, I made it and called a tow truck.  I got out and the van was hissing.  It was pretty obvious the radiator was punctured. It was also leaking multiple fluids.  I'm incredibly grateful we're all ok, because it was a very large deer.  It's entire side slammed into the front of the van, so I'm grateful it didn't hop up onto the hood or through the windshield.  It hopped away, but I don't know how it can survive the impact.  I didn't tell Little Guy that, because he was very worried about the deer.

It's hard to see the extent of the damage with it all being black, but I'm just praying it's not totaled.  I really hope the internal damage isn't too great, because the van is only a little over a year old.

The day was fairly dull after that.  Our couch was supposed to be delivered at 9am, but they kept pushing the time back.  I couldn't go sign paperwork for them to start looking at the van, because I was waiting for the delivery.  I had no where to sit but the stairs or the fireplace all day long. It was weird.  You never think about needing a place to sit until you don't have one.  They finally came at 3:30pm at about the same time Joel got here from Kansas.  I ran to the carshop and barely got the paperwork signed right before they closed.  They won't start looking at it until Monday, so I'll be worrying about it all weekend.  

 We'll be glamping in sleeping bags until the truck comes with our stuff sometime early next week.  

Journey East

 I'm not gonna lie - traveling with 2 cats for 17 hours of driving is painful.  Even medicated Luna was such a meany.  Stella was pretty anxious, but as long as she could sit in someone's lap she was fine.  Meanwhile, Luna kept hissing at Stella for most of the drive and refused to settle down, so we had to constantly put her back in her crate and listen to incessant meowing.  Ugh.  

By the end of the second day Luna finally wore herself out and sat with Little Guy for a while.  We were all grateful.  We also doubled her med dose the second day per the vet's instructions since she would not calm down.  That probably helped as well.

Even though it was challenging, we had a few fun times along the way.  We stopped at Buccee's for gas, a potty break, and some banana pudding.  We stayed overnight with a friend and got to attend sacrament meeting of our old church in Ohio. It's changed so much in 10 years, but it was so good to see people we just love so much.  On our way up we stopped to see the Cleveland Temple.  This is temple #98 for our family.

We made it to New York in one piece.  Sadly, we're in an airbnb for a week until we can get into our home.  It's one more adventure.  Joel will stay in Kansas this week to help with the movers and close on our Kansas home and then he'll join us.  

Quite the Send Off

 We left at dark o'clock to start our journey to New York.  We medicated the cats, loaded up the van, and headed out, but first we went one last time to Grinter's Farm to take pictures in the sunflowers.  We had the extra surprise of hot air balloons!  

BB's a lot taller than the sunflowers this year.

Thank you, Kansas for the extra special send off.  We will miss you.

Not a Fan

The kids have extra days off of school, so they've been amusing themselves.  They wondered what Stella thought of apples. 

It turns out she's not much of a fan.  She was honestly a little scared of it.  No fruit for Stella.
 

Anxious Kitties

We had to pull our cats from the house while pictures were taken, and they did not do well in the car.  Poor Stella anxiously panted so hard that she threw up.  In the carrier or outside of it - They didn't do well either way.  

Happy Birthday, Girls!

 The kitties turn 6 this week! They're up to their usual mischief and mayhem...and napping.

The Smoky Mountains

 On our first full day of the reunion we headed into the Smoky National Park.  We hiked the Clingman's Dome Trail.  It's the highest point in the Smoky Mountains.  The hike is short but steep.  It's supposed to have an amazing view, but unfortunately for us, it was completely foggy.  In fact, it got more foggy on the way down.  We were hopeful that it would clear up, but rain clouds were hanging around.  

On good days you're supposed to be able to see to Tennessee, but all we got was fog.

 The visitor's center was pretty cool as well as the hike.

Right outside the national park is Mingo Falls.  It's a quick 280 steps straight up to the waterfall.  

On the way back to Lake Junalooska we stopped at the American Museum of the House Cat.  My children were in love with the cats.  They particularly loved the 2 kittens.  Little Man said he felt like he was cheating on Stella and Luna.

It was a fun day in the Smokies!