The L.A. Dime

Took a quick trip to Venice where we had a ton of beach time — Sophie loves being in the ocean and just floats around with her swimmies on and Clay, boy, he loves to sit and splash — and visited Mickey and the gang at Disneyland.

When we made the decision to move, one of my first thoughts was about how sad it would be for Sophie to have her bday party in September without really having had the chance to make new friends in B’ville yet….so we decided to have a combo bday party in July so we could celebrate Clay’s first year and also have some of Sophie’s friends attend before we move away.

It was a beautiful day and we were so grateful for all our friends who came to celebrate. The weather was warm enough for many folks to enjoy the pool, but not so hot that you couldn’t bare to be outside. We had a face-painter and an activity for the kids to decorate crowns. Oh, and an ice cream bar with Opa serving the ice cream!

Been meaning to update you on things but I barely know what day it is or how to navigate around the boxes taking over Hamlin House. We are down to 1 week before the moving truck arrives and the kiddos & I take off for our last plane ride out of LA (Brad is staying 2 extra days to have the house cleaned and do the transition with our renter). Here’s what we’ve been doing lately:

- Boxed up about 90% of the house…I’ve purged, given away and sold quite a few things so it feels nice knowing that we’re only taking things that we still need or matter
- Have switched addresses on most bills, closed out utilities and are starting the new ones
- Have 2 preK programs picked out which we will visit as soon as get to Baldwinsville and choose 1 to enroll Miss Sophie in
- Hosted a dual bday party for the kiddos and am preparing to host a baby shower for our dear friends Laurie & Gary on Sunday
- Brad returned from his work trip to Italy and immediately got to work on doing another script draft for “Crocked Arrows” which is set to start shooting in about 2 weeks!! And ironically enough some of the shooting schedule includes locations around Syracuse so we might even get to go on set!!
- Trying to see as many of our friends as possible – it’s such a hard process to say good bye….when we moved her 12 years ago, we knew 1 person….now we are surrounded by an incredibly awesome, supportive and fun group of friends that have been there with us through various ups and downs…I’ve moved enough to know that friendships change a bit once you don’t see each other on a regular basis but I really do hope to remain close to as many people as possible
- Had my last day of work – it’s been a great 6 years where I grew a lot as a person and a trainer
- Enjoyed having Manfredo out last week to help with repairs around the house and packing all our pictures and larger sized items
- Looking forward to having Pops here this week to help with painting and moving day
- Thinking a lot about what it might be like to be a stay-at-home mom…..never done that and cherish the opportunity to do so….I just hope I’m cut out for it

That’ll have to do it for today…..but I’ll try to come back soon with pics from the bday party