Our New House!

After five days in Alaska, we were moving into a new Airbnb that was located near the airport. We were excited because this Airbnb had a bit more space (and more bathrooms) than the one in Palmer, but it was in terrible condition (of course we didn't know this until we arrived to check in}. During this time, we secured a new realtor to show us two houses listed for sale as well as applied for one of the two rental homes we'd previously seen. Then we found out the rental we applied for was inadvertently shown to us because it already had a signed lease on the property. It was an emotional rollercoaster. This period of limbo for us was really just a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things, but it felt like it aged us about ten years. And that gorgeous weather we'd had for the first 2-3 days turned permanently gray and drizzly (we didn't know that August is Alaska's rainy month & this particular August turned out to be in the top 3 wettest on record for the state), which did nothing to help our spirits. 

Checking out the playgrounds & library on base!

{one perk to this Airbnb..it had a puzzle for us to do!}

{Brady & Hadley were both enamored with the dish brush at this Airbnb and wanted to help with the dishes. Brady did the dishes for the longest time on this particular day and just quietly hummed away while he worked--it was the cutest thing ever.}

After a few tears (on my part), talking ourselves in circles, hemming and hawing, weighing the pros and cons, and praying, we ended up applying for the second rental home we had seen. The house happened to be owned by a retired Army family that lives down the street, and they were willing to let us sign a 3 year lease. The acquisition of a long-term lease matching the length of our assignment here gave us such a peace of mind. While there is a lot we don't love about the size {going from almost 4,000 square feet/ + 3car garage + a shed to 2,200 square feet with a 2car garage is no joke!} and layout of this house, it has been just what we needed for this chapter of our story. And the view is unmatched. We can even see a glacier from our balcony. The kids now call the mountain we look at from our dining room/living room our "home mountain." It was a lush, green view when we moved in, and we got to watch it slowly turn yellow over the weeks. Now we watch the snow come farther & farther down!

We ended up leaving our Airbnb early (we were able to get a refund based on the condition of the property) and moving into our new home! Of course the day we switched Airbnbs and the day we moved into our new house were rainy days (less than fun loading and unloading cars in the rain!), but we were so happy to finally be in our own home! It was such a relief to know that the temporary living was finally behind us! 

{our first family meal in the new house...lunch on the kitchen floor!}

{view from living room windows}

{Remember that Wal-Mart that we randomly killed time in a few days prior? Well, it's now "our" Wal-Mart less than 5 minutes from our house! This was the first of many Wal-Mart runs after getting the keys to our house.}

{view from the balcony off our dining room}

{first dinner in the new house...Papa John's!}

{first Alaskan movie night!}

{On our first morning waking up in the new house, we walked outside to see this casually strolling down our street!}

{A Target run was in order, and this guy finally got 2 much-needed new pairs of shoes!}

Texas doesn't grow the best climbing trees. While we had quite a few trees on our property, they were mostly mesquite which grow horizontally instead of vertically. ;) Our crew was thrilled to have a birch tree in our new front yard in Alaska that is perfect for climbing!

{first family walk in the neighborhood}

{took advantage of a rare sunny day to eat lunch outside on our deck instead of on the kitchen floor}

{Now that we had a permanent address, we were finally able to get library cards!! Hadley got her very first library card ever & is eagerly putting her first batch of books on hold in this photo}

{Trying on her new first day of school outfit!}

{catching up on lots of missed sleep over the 16 travel days & house-hunting days}

One perk to all the rainy days is that we saw more rainbows in Alaska in our first couple of weeks here than we've seen in our whole entire lives! It never gets old to see the rainbows over the mountains.