Update

I'm finally taking a minute to update the blog. Amazing but true. Since my last blog life has been a whirl-wind of preparation and adjustment. After looking through 100's of rental homes online, and at least a dozen in person, we found a place for the family and the horses to be happy for the next few years. Actually, we really lucked out and found the perfect place for us... reasonable rent on a larger (albeit older but very well-built) house with lots of storage, as well as several acres of pasture for the horses and a nice spot to put up the horse shed. The house is set back from the road far enough that we don't worry about the kids and dogs, a salmon stream runs through the back yard, and we are walking distance to the harbor and a city park with a playground. Doesn't get much better for the Adventurefamily's purposes.
So, after finding our little spot, the move began. This entailed MANY trips with the horse trailer and the flatbed trailer hauling all of our stuff about 45 miles (we're on the opposite side of post now). Boy, were we glad to get that done! Of course after the moving comes the cleaning, and I spent several days spit-polishing our former rental (probably more than necessary considering how fast the final inspection was). So, we are officially moved out of the old house, and at least all of our stuff is at the new house. It will take me quite awhile to unpack because we have had other priorities at the moment, like taking the tractor out to Walla Walla, putting up the horse shed, and getting storage in place to keep all of our farm implements out of the weather this winter, not to mention having a little fun before AdventureDad departs for less hospitable climes.
The AdventureGirls love our new home, although we'll have to do a little kid-proofing of the stream in the back yard before I'm completely comfortable. I didn't mention that there is also a beach that's about a 10-minute drive away, and M is enthralled with that. We'll soon have more shells and rocks than we know what to do with, although her current obsession is feeding the gulls (we haven't done it yet, but we read about it in a book so now she wants to try). Guess we'll have to go back! O just had her one-year checkup. We were shocked to find out that she's considered very tall and skinny... 85th percentile in height and 13th in weight. They're having us give her a bit more fat and calories and do another weight in a month, but to be honest I'm just not that worried. She is so active and healthy, and although she is certainly not (nor ever has been) a chubby baby, she looks healthy. I'm guessing we just caught her at the end of a growth spurt, not to mention that she hasn't stopped moving since she learned to walk. We'll see what the verdict is in another month.
We're all slowly adjusting to the idea that AdventurDad is going to be gone for awhile. M is a bit too young to understand the length of time we're talking about, so we'll have to take that part step by step. We're just thankful that his departure was delayed as long as it has been, essentially giving us a "bonus month". I don't know how we would have done all of the moving etc. without a little extra time. So, we're settling in, enjoying our last few weeks together, and looking forward to learning more about our new neighborhood.