Joles Family: September 2009

Settling into the new house

We are slowly getting settled in. The house is actually very livable. And now we can park in the garage too! We had to hang 8 outdoor chairs on the wall of the garage that did not stack or fold up in order to do this. But as soon as winter hits, it will be well worth it. Thankfully this townhouse has a large loft, which we are using as an office and storage area. We still have many
boxes that we have not touched yet, and some we may never while living at this house. This townhouse is 2300 square feet smaller than the house we just moved from. You can imagine how much unusable space we had at our last house that we had to heat, air condition, and clean. I look forward to a lower gas and electricity bill and already a much more manageable cleaning area. And since it is a townhouse, no yard work! Yahoo!!!!!! It also means no yard to ourselves. But, for now, it is a GREAT trade off! Besides, there is a lot of common yard area for Wrigley to run. And Jess went from a 40 minute commute down to a 4 minute commute. That is better than his commute when living in Normal, IL, while working as a trainer in the corporate office, of 7 minutes!
Woodstock, IL is famous for the town square featured in the movie Groundhog Day. It is full of great activities. We have already gone down to the farmers market a couple times and will go again this weekend to get a Frapacino and walk the farmers market booths and see the art festival that will be going on this weekend.
Would love to hear from all of you. I have access to a computer this week! Next month we will be looking to buy a new home computer.

Savannah holding the dog's leash in the new front yard.

Savannah fell asleep on her morning walk. Too close to nap time I would guess.

The family photo in front of the new townhouse rental.

A new house calls for a new bath tub. If you squeeze the beak, it quacks too. It was a gift from my 3rd grade teacher. Thanks Mrs. Rasmussen! She loves it!

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma Joles and Great Grandma Nelson

1 week later, we got a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Joles, Jess's dad and step mom. We all drove over to see Savannah's Great Grandma and Grandpa Nelson in Rockford. We got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Joles over the Labor day weekend. It was sure good to see them.

Savannah with Grandpa Joles.

Savannah with Great Grandma Nelson and her dog Sugar. Savannah got lots of kisses from Sugar on her toes and she giggled and giggled.

Visit from Granny and Papa to help us move

1 week back from our trip from Arizona we moved to a new rental townhouse. Granny and Papa Schwarz, Jess's mom and step dad, had planned a trip out to visit and it happened to fall on the time when we had to move. They were great sports about helping and we got it all done! We also went to a Chicago Cubs game and it was Savannah's first trip to Wrigley Field. It was a great time. Here are some of the highlights of those 10 days.

Jess and Savannah walking to Wrigley Field.

Granny, Papa, Jess and Savannah walking to Wrigley Field. I had to take some photos against this brick wall covered in Ivy. It is exactly what Wrigleyville is all about!

Jess, Tricia and Savannah in front of Wrigley Field. Looks the same as it did when it opened!

Moving Day. Sorry the photo is sideways. Still so much fun!

At the end of a long moving day! Wrigley worked oh so hard!

Papa Karl and Savannah the day before the move.

Granny and Papa and Savannah in front of the new townhouse rental.

Summary of Arizona

Every year Jess has worked as an agent or manager he has had an opportunity to earn a vacation based on his performance at work. This year, the trip was in Scottsdale, Arizona. Grandpa and Nanna Fox decided to bank in on their time share and meet us in Arizona for the week. And my aunt Carol, my mom's sister, flew to Oregon and made the drive down with my parents. We had a great time. It of course went too fast. We swam, Jess and my dad played golf. We did some site seeing around downtown Scottsdale and just hung out at the resorts. One night Country sponsored a big dinner and we all ate well, listened to music and there was a large room designated to carnival type games for the kids. The view of the golf courses and mountains were spectacular! We had a blast!

Grandpa Fox and Savannah in Arizona!