The Big Move

Well, we have deserted our blog for the last two months, but not without good reason. Our life has been somewhat crazy as of late. We are, however, starting to get sorted out and we thought it was high time that we put up a post or two.

It truly is amazing how quickly time passes. When we moved to Pennsylvania a year ago, we had no idea what our East Coast Adventure would entail. In our brief 11 months, however, a grand adventure did unfold. We met countless individuals and families who's friendships we enjoyed and appreciated, and who's influence changed us for the better. We had the privilege of living near my brother, his wife, and their two little boys whose company we will dearly miss. And of course, in true Hoskins family style, we traveled our pants off!! To the best of my recollection, our East coast travel log included: 3 trips to Philadelphia, 4 trips to Washington D.C., 8 trips to New York City, 16 trips to Lancaster County, stopovers in numerous American and Church History sites including Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Colonial Williamsburg, Harmony, Palmyra, and Kirtland, a weekend getaway to Niagara Falls. and my favorite trip--a Fall Foliage tour through New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. To say the least, we have loved our time in the East!! As we loaded up our truck and pulled out of our Pennsylvania home back in early May, a sense of sadness settled over us. When will we return, we wonder? And what will our next East Coast Adventure entail?

Only time will tell. And speaking of time, it was only a matter of a few hours before some new "adventures" came center stage and stole us away from our sweet reflections of life in the East. Rather than giving a lenghty explanation, I think this is one of those times when a picture is worth a thousand words.









Yep, everyone's moving nightmare--our moving truck broke down!! Although packing, loading, and leaving our apartment in Pennsylvania went very smoothly, our drive to Minnesota did not. Early on our second day of driving, our moving truck over-heated and had to be towed in for repairs. While Spencer, who is obsessed with towing, thought he had died and gone to heaven when a 42-foot tow truck arrived, I thought I had just plain died. And of course, there couldn't be anything even remotely interesting nearby to do during the ten hour delay. Nothing, that is, except for thr Freemont Pickle Factory, who to my great dismay, was out of pickles!! Yes, it was that kind of day!

After enduring the seemingly endless wait, we did eventually get our truck back, (Thank heaven we didn't have to load our belongings into a different truck!) and though we were a day late arriving in Rochester, we are grateful to have arrived there safe and sound. With some much appreciated help from Nick's parents and the Anderson Family, we got our truck unloaded into a storage unit and enjoyed a few hours of family, friendship and fun at the Anderson home. Our children were so happy to be reunited with their little buddies, and we were all relieved to have that portion of our move under our belt. Early the next morning, we bid Nick's parents and our Rochester friends good-bye, and began another long drive--this time to visit my family in Oklahama.