Oh, Deer.

It has been almost two weeks since we said goodbye to friends and family in Greenville, SC and headed North for our next contract in Martinsburg, WV. We were blessed to spend a few days at Myrtle Beach with Erich’s family before we left. It was chilly, but memories were made. We had a few days in between our exit from the apartment in Greenville and when we could check in to our cabin, so we stopped in Williamsburg for a couple days. It was very cold, but we enjoyed seeing Colonial Williamsburg and the Jamestown Settlement. The kids especially enjoyed watching the tradesmen and women demonstrating how things were done in those times. They particularly enjoyed the blacksmith and the silversmith. We also visited the Jamestown Glasshouse. It was amazing! The original glasshouse was built in 1608. It would take up to two weeks to chop down enough hardwood trees and feed the stone furnace enough to achieve the 2,300 degrees needed to melt the ingredients and make glass. You can still see the ruins of the original furnaces, but the glasshouse was rebuilt nearby and now uses stone furnaces fueled by gas. The glass blowers are extremely skilled and happy to answer any and all your questions while you watch them work. And we definitely had questions. I love that my kids are just as fascinated by these things as I am.

Last Sunday we finally arrived at the Airbnb cabin we rented for this contract. Short term housing for six plus a dog is really hard to find, so we were excited when we found a pre-civil war cabin to rent, complete with ponds, a shooting range, a fire pit, and 70 acres of woods. We pulled in and were so excited to see the old cabin, with short doorways, uneven floors, twenty or more deer heads and/or antlers hanging from almost every wall in every room, and all the quirks of something from another era. By the second day though, it seemed obvious there was a septic issue based on the smell permeating throughout the house from the recently added bathroom. It took 8 days and a couple different plumbers before the issue was fixed, but thankfully the issue resolved and we could go back to breathing easy.

Septic issue aside, and as much as I love the history that is so evident in the very walls of this cabin, it has been a challenge for this light loving, anti-clutter, clean freak. Its dark, dusty and there is stuff everywhere that doesn’t belong to me. It’s a mental challenge to embrace the chaos and enjoy the experience with the kids. Don’t get me wrong, sewage issue resolved, I could totally live here, but with less stuff. And my stuff. And more windows. Anyways, we are excited to begin exploring the monuments, museums and all the history that the D.C. area has to offer.

Thanks for following, love you all!