Getting Settled

I admit, our first week here I was feeling pretty depressed. I cried a lot and kept thinking but not voicing "I want to go home!" It didn't help that Eli and I were stuck in our empty house with no car, and it rained every single day. Once our stuff got here (and really, unloading the truck with those movers was another giant headache!!!) it felt good to get things organized and settled in. For Eli it was like Christmas seeing all his old toys again. And now we've had a chance to get around a bit and find out where things are. We are still a one car family, so Brad will occasionally walk to work so we can take an outing. He's working on getting his bike fixed so we can have the car more often.

Ok, so where exactly is Pittsfield? We are in western Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshires (what they call the mountainous area). Here's info about our town http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/ . Here is a map so you can see how close we are to New York, Vermont, and Connecticut http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Pittsfield,+MA&ie=UTF8&ll=42.481213,-73.254089&spn=1.539474,3.383789&z=8.383789&z=8 .

It is green and beautiful and famous for arts and culture. The Boston Symphony Orchestra makes the area its summer home and performs at Tanglewood. Hopefully we'll make it to one. The towns are all small, and though I consider this a "small town" it's actually one of the bigger cities in the area. We do at least have Wal-Mart and Target, but all the shopping is on the edge of town so as to maintain the integrity of the residential neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is picturesque New England, except of course for the street we live on, lol. Our duplex is brand new and we love it, but for some reason the other houses on the street are pretty run down. Everywhere else in the area is beautiful. I will have to get some pics of the local houses to post. We are close to "downtown" so Eli and I can walk to the library, the park, museums, and even the corner market. We can see the Housatonic river out our front window - in fact our street runs right along it. The one drawback to our duplex is that the driveway and the yard have not been put in. So it's like 4-wheeling up a muddy, rocky hill to park our car. And it made moving the furniture (piano especially!) a trick. That, and all the stairs. I miss my ranch level home - now I have to lug laundry from upstairs down into the basement and it's no fun!

I am adjusting to the weather and rather like it. It does rain a lot, but I suppose that's necessary to maintain all the green goodness around here. The hottest it's been is about 85, which really does feel HOT with humidity, but still I don't think it's as bad as being outside in the 110 degree Phoenix heat! We still go outside for walks when everyone around here is holed up with their a/c complaining of the heat, lol. Spoiled New Englanders! Our ward has been really great as well. It's small in number, but everyone is really friendly. Our first Sunday here we found this on our front door with an invitation to a 4th of July picnic:

There aren't too many families our age - there's only one other child in nursery with Eli but a few more who will be in soon. The nursery teachers are the bishop's wife and daughter, and for whatever reason, Eli LOVES nursery and goes right in without a hitch! I have been so surprised and overjoyed, really! After church last week, we picked him up from class, then he snuck away back down to nursery, went in and shut the door so we couldn't get him. This really made me laugh coming from the child who is like glue to my side most of the time. Maybe we'll be able to handle two kids afterall!