Settling in

A panoramic shot of half of our house. 

 January 11, 2015

We have been in Ithaca for three days and are feeling pretty settled in our dodecahedron house in the woods. The first two days were spent almost entirely in stores finding food and some of those little things that we find necessary. The house is fully furnished, but we wanted a non-stick skillet, a mixing bowl and a big pot for cooking pasta. Chad, who tore a hole in one of his two pairs of pants, needed to find some new jeans. We found lots of things at the dollar store, but we also visited Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Old Navy, TOPS grocery, Wegmans grocery, Ace Hardware and the Salvation Army. Isla found a kid’s digital camera and the boys picked up the game of Life at the Salvation Army, but we didn’t find any of the kitchen things we had hoped to get there.

At the house, Isla was very pleased with her toddler bed covered with the moon and stars and new bedding. Benjamin and Oliver were a little disappointed that the house wasn’t quite the big open circle that Joyce had apparently described, but they are getting used to it and are enjoying the small space now. Chad has been happily building wood fires in the heating stove every night and Joyce has been tucking clothes and belongings in every corner and shelf available.

This morning we attended Mass at a small and joyful parish nearby. There was a children’s liturgy for Isla during the Mass and the boys will be able to attend Faith Formation classes after Mass in the future. Joyce met another mother who homeschools her children and another extremely friendly mother who shared lots of information about children’s activities in Ithaca.

In the afternoon, Chad, Benjamin, and Oliver went for a hike in the surrounding woods. They found a dead deer carcass, and Chad saw a muskrat near the frozen stream. The boys got to see the muskrat tracks. Since their hike the children have spent the rest of the afternoon staring at screens, followed by violently throwing toy ninjas across the room and then pretending to poop out LEGOS. Isla has turned into a dog named Isabel and will only communicate by barking and pawing at our legs.

Benjamin wants to be sure that you check out his Scratch creation: the Yule log.

We are off to a great start.