Packing & Relaxing...a good mix of both

Complete Chaos has hit in the Tripp household this week. "Real" packing has begun & the stress is mounting. As everyone knows, I am an anal retentive, way too organized for my own good kind of person. I tend to stress myself out when there really isn't any need. Kendal on the other hand, is such a procrastinator I think he would be comfortable waiting until 2 days before we were supposed to move to start taping together his first box...he has done these kind of moves many times so its no big deal to him. However, this time he is not just moving himself, but two other people and our things are going three different directions. Plus, we are leaving behind a home which needs maintained & a bazillion pieces of paperwork & communication go along with that!!!! Needless to say,when want something done, sometimes you have to just do it yourself! . Being so ridiculously prepared for things has managed to help a little this week. We have known about Kendal's orders since March, so every week or so, I would pack a box here or there and stash it in our spare closet. For three months I have been sending Kendal on weekly goodwill runs, and have organized all of Kennedy's clothes in rubber-maid containers from Newborn-and up. Looking back, I think Kendal is finally, for once, thankful for my paranoid, overly prepared behavior :-) We obtained a storage unit at the beginning of the week and almost the entire house has been moved there. All that's left is our furniture. We are now living out of suitcases, as of tomorrow we will be sleeping on the floor for a few nights and I'm pretty sure I'd rather starve than eat fast food one more time. We are moving into lodging ( a small temporary suite on base) on Wednesday and will fill our Uhaul Saturday. We will leave Charleston Sunday evening and hope to be in Cleveland by Monday morning!! Once we arrive in Cleveland we will have 17 more days together before Kendal leaves for S. Korea. We have very few things planned in those few days as we would just like to be together as much as possible. I will try my best to blog, but I may suspend it and start up after he leaves to give myself something to do! We love you all so much~ hope you are having a great summer :-)

At the begining of the week, two of my closest girlfriends here, senced I was on the verge of a breakdown and decided to come over & help me pack up my kitchen & downstairs of my house. They quickly realized why I was so stressed out. I once again, was trying to be too organized. I wanted every box packed "just so" and labled "just right" "We can't mix cups w/ bowls & plates w/ utensils"
I was demanding everything be in its own box, with only my handwriting as the label. The girls yelled at me to get out of their way and wouldn't you know, my kitchen was packed & loaded in the jeep on its way to storage in just 25 minutes. If it weren't for the two of them, I'd probably still be on the first cupboard! THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH for all of your hard work this week, I am so blessed to have such amazing friend! Love you both!!

Crazy Aubrey Scrubbing my cupboards
and the kids playing below her:-)

Allison scraping glue from old contact paper
WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT!

ME! Sitting in the corner doing as I'm told~ lol

The kids played for an hour, climbing in & out of every cupboard, they loved it

Kendal, flexing the guns while hauling boxes to the jeep

I just have to share this photo. Everyday when Kendal comes home from work for lunch the two of them sit in front of the tv together sharing snacks and watching the news. They just make me giggle!

Friday afternoon was Kendal's going away luncheon for work. All of his co-workers and their families joined us at a local Mexican restaurant. It was so nice to see everyone and spend time w/ them one more time before next weekend!

Giving Kendal is plaque and thanking him for all he has done

Giving his speech
That evening, back out to eat we went! Our friends, Chris & Jess took us out to dinner to Kendal's favorite place, Texas Roadhouse!!! We sure are going to miss those two (baby Christopher too) :-(

After packing all week we decided we should take a day to just be with one another! We loaded up the car this afternoon & headed over to the new Memorial Waterfront Park in Mount Pleasant! It is a BEAUTIFUL park, with a fishing dock, lawns for picnics, over sized swings, playgrounds,a war memorial, sweet grass basket vendors & a visitor center


Hanging out on the swings
On the fishing dock

Kennedy loves birds. The minute she see's one she points it out and starts saying what sounds like "tweet, tweet" as loud as she can (we have been working on animal sounds lately) The pier was full of pelicans diving into the water trying to catch fish and she was in her glory! We must have stood there and watched them for 45 minutes!

Then we went over to the lawn area and had an awesome picnic dinner! It was so nice to slow down and just spend some quiet time together, I think Kennedy really enjoyed it as well!!!
And Kendal enjoyed every last bite of his fried chicken! LOL!