Let the adventures begin

Before we left Provo, Stephen's Grandmother Elaine told us that "when you want to be at home in your own bed, you're having an adventure." I've thought of that line several times this past week and smiled.

Life is actually going surprisingly well. The first day in our apartment was a little overwhelming with how very low the ceilings were, but as long as we don't wear shoes with more than an inch heel, we're okay through the entryways. Our friends Jenny and Brent have been wonderful and lent us an air mattress and pack n' play until our furniture arrived. We have ants, but washing everything down with vinegar has seemed to help keep them to a minimum. It's a good reminder when I see small moving black dots on the counters that I don't want bigger black dots so I clean up after myself. Alas, Stephen has already seen three cockroaches. They come in our apartment through an incredibly small space between the floor and the wall, I still don't know how they do it. I've adopted the policy at night of turning on the lights with my eyes closed and waiting a couple seconds till I open them so that the roaches have a chance to disappear so I don't scream. The things I love about the apartment and have been keeping me from going back on our year long lease has been the ramp that goes straight to our door (all the other homes around have at least 5 stairs to go to the main level), the tall shower head that means I can actually wash my hair without having to crouch down like I did at Wymount, the bright windows, and a dishwasher.

To do the wash I have to go into the alleyway behind the building. The only problem is there is trash and broken glass all over the place and I saw a dead mouse on one of the stairs. I'm beginning to doubt my commitment to cloth diapers during our sojourn here. Yes that's right, when plastic diapers have filled all the landfills you can blame it on me happening to see a mouse and deciding against cloth diapers after all. Maybe I'll keep these cloth diapers I just got for child number two or if we move. Anyway, critters aside, this apartment is looking more homey with the furniture we bought off Craigslist and Ikea. We made it on public transportation to Ikea, stayed too long and had to take a Taxi with no carseat home, but hey we got furniture and even a nifty cheese grater that I have been eyeing for a while. Of course, it being IKEA, we found out we got the wrong items and had to return. All the smarter and wiser from our last attempt, we took a Zipcar and Stephen masterly drove through downtown Philly and the freeway, much of it improvising as Google Maps failed us. Of course, an ambulance right behind you in the downtown area blaring its horns when you have no room to get out of the way is enough to rattle most drivers, but Stephen handled it pretty well.

Something both Stephen and I had been looking forward to was attending church. Last Sunday we called the phone number of rate ward listed on www.mormon.org and found out that our meeting started in 25 minutes. We got ready as fast as we could and ran out the door (a not uncommon scene on Sunday mornings with us). It was sprinkling when we left but soon there was a downpour of downpours. Poor Christian had been in an umbrella-less umbrella stroller and though taking the warm rain like a trooper, was wet as anything; we all were. We stripped him down to his diaper and sandals and the missionaries found us some baptismal towels. A thoughtful woman went out to her car and found us a t-shirt and towel and we decided to stay for the entirety of Sacrament meeting, even if we did look like hooligans. When Sacrament ended the same sweet woman who had gotten us a t-shirt from her car had gone out and bought us a hairdryer. We were amazed and decided we should perhaps stay for all three meetings after all. We dried out Christian's clothes as much as we could and I gave myself a meager blow down. Stoic Stephen felt he was dry enough at that point. Anyway, we kept meeting nice and amiable people and as we left church in a weak drizzle, someone offered us a ride, and they even had a carseat for Christian. Needless to say, we were quite impressed with the ward and hope at sometime in the future we can be the ones looking out for the soaked hooligans. We have since decided to invest in a stroller that has a rain cover and can't wait for its arrival. Because of the high buildings, it's hard to see too far in the sky and thus hard to predict rain and weather. We've been caught in another large thunderstorm since then, but luckily we didn't have to sit in church for three hours afterwards and Christian could simply play around in the puddles having the time of his life while I stood under the shelter of a covered entry way and made small talk with the woman waiting for her partner in the co-op.
Christian has a horrible gash on his cheek that we hope won't scar from hitting it on a bookshelf in the library. What can I say, these Philly neighborhoods are rough.

Hmm let's see, any other adventures? It seems we are having one or two every day, but they are keeping life exciting. As much as we loved Provo, we're eager to try something new and we've enjoyed the adventures the more urban life has brought so far. Granted, giving Christian a drink from the used water bottle of the generous Indian woman chatting with me at the park probably wasn't the most hygienic move, but hey, we've got to keep these germs globalized, and she seemed plenty nice and in good health, so why not? The sirens day and night remind us to lock our doors, and the ice-cream truck that plays its tune at 11 p.m. makes us laugh. The tree lined streets with old Victorian homes leads to a park full of happy kiddos (in fact there are a ton of kids in our area) and there are tempting ethnic restaurants on every side. Who could ask for anything more?