Moved!

We have officially moved to Wabasha, Minnesota. We are still in the process of unloading boxes, but I figured I'd give a brief update on the last few months of Paulson antics. First, we moved out of our townhouse in mid-May. We are renting it out. We are now landlords. Yikes.

But we did enjoy the place for the 7+ years we lived there, and are glad we can hold onto it until the market rebounds. However, Margaret still had 6 weeks left to work in AZ. So what do we do? We move all our stuff to our new house in Wabasha (I oversee its arrival while moving my stuff from my apartment in Wisconsin with the help of friends) and Margaret, Everett, Bristol and I move in with our friends in Paradise Valley! Emily and Jason Klein-Mallin (and Eliana)were kind enough to take us in, and we had a great time with them. Thanks again for everything guys!

While I moved our stuff into our place in Wabasha Margaret and Everett took a few days and headed out to Portland, Oregon to let Alyssa, Briana and Chance meet their new cousin. It sounded like all had a good time- I definitely felt like I missed out!

Next- the move. We did over 1800 miles in a Mini Cooper with a dog, baby, 5 plants, and a bunch of misc. clothes and baby stuff. It was actually quite enjoyable, surprisingly. We took our time and stopped off to see Arches National Park outside of Moab, UT, grabbed a bite to eat in Vail Village, Colorado, and spent some time in one of the coolest little cities we've ever been to: Boulder, Colorado. Taking one's time while not hauling a bunch of stuff is the way to move, I tells ya.


Then we finally got to our new house! We're pretty excited about it, even though it marks a new move back to small town life and away from our friends in Phoenix. We miss you all, but hope you come and visit us- it's beautiful up here!

The other interesting moving challenge we encountered, however, was wedding season. This meant that the day after we arrived in Wabasha we headed up to Northfield for Katie Cowles wedding! It was lovely and great to see old friends, and we had the added bonus of seeing my parents and grandma. They watched Everett while we were at the wedding, which was really nice, but it was mostly just great to see them (it had been since January since they had seen Everett last, and since November for my grandma!).


Then...we decided to fly out to a wedding on Long Island, NY the next day. With Everett in tow. We are a bit crazy. Turned out to be an amazing time though! Thad and Britt Crow-Miller put on a great celebration and party, and we were very happy to be there. It was actually our first time to Long Island, and we were way out on the north east shore- fantastic. We really enjoyed that area, with all the small family farms and vineyards and small shops. We met up with our friend Sam Kappahn the next day before celebrating my birthday by wandering Greenport, including a really exceptional brewery!


After the wedding we got to hang out for a few days in Manhattan with our friend Leah. We ate some good food and gave Everett the NYC experience. He dug it. But in the end, it was just a nice little vacation before truly having to get settled in and unpacked. We are now close to that point, and I have to say- It's good to be a regular family...finally!

D.C. and New Home

We had a wonderful time in Washington, D.C. recently. We were able to spend a bunch of time with Margaret's sister, Rosanna, and her husband Ryan. It was the first time they had met Everett, so it fun watching them interact with him, and we liked taking in the National Mall with them!


We also were able to spend some time with Angela Strom, Margaret's college roommate, and her fiance, Troy. They were amazingly gracious hosts, and I had a blast going to a Capitals hockey game with Angela.


We also have been moving forward with the shift up north for Margaret and Everett. About a month ago we made an offer on a house and it was accepted. The home is in Wabasha, MN, and we are really excited about it. The town is great- being small and touristy it has all the benefits of small town living with a more cosmopolitan atmosphere (nice restaurants, the National Eagle Center, etc.). In addition, there's a small downhill ski resort in town, and it's a killer fishing community!

The semester is near end at UW-Stout, so I'm looking forward to getting back down to Margaret and Everett soon (and moving us up at the end of June). Reflecting back, we are humbled by the assistance we've received from so many people this year. Thanks so much to everyone for all your help in making this transition year manageable!

Updates

We haven't been blogging in a while, but thought I'd get anyone interested up to speed...


I had a really enjoyable time during my winter break down in AZ playing stay-at-home-dad. Everett and I bonded really well. The best part was finishing off my winter break with a week long ski trip up in Winter Park, CO. It was really great. We stayed in a condo with our friends Cori and August (and their son, Anders) and my parents took care of Everett and Anders during the day while we skiied! The weather was nice, and we all had a wonderful time.


But I did have to head back up to Wisconsin, where I have been for the last month. Margaret and Everett came up a couple of weeks ago, however, for Margaret to do a job interview in Rochester. We looked at some houses in Wabasha, MN, where we will probably have to live so neither of our commutes are too crazy. Looks like a really cool town!


This past week I presented at the International Studies Association conference in New Orleans. I had never been there before, and I really enjoyed it. I arrived the day after Fat Tuesday, so the whole town had calmed down considerably from the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, which made it nice for getting around and enjoying the French Quarter.

Margaret has been adapting to single mom status pretty well, though it has not been easy. She has had some tremendous help from friends of ours down in Phoenix; we are so appreciative for having such great friends!


I will see Margaret and Everett again this coming Friday. I have had to completely compartmentalize my life to keep from missing them so much! It's hard, but only a few months of this left. :)


Hope all is well with you all!