Catching up

It's hard to believe that we've been here for a month already! We've been really busy and have barely had a minute to relax. The first two weeks were consumed with various odds and ends of just getting settled -- picking up a car from the port,  registering the car and updating our drivers licenses, the buying groceries, buying supplies for the house, buying new toys for Emma, etc.

We spent the last weekend in January through February 8th visiting family in Pennsylvania. First, we stayed with Kurt's parents.We saw many extended family members and friends while we were there. Emma had a great time meeting everyone and walking around the house. She especially enjoyed playing with magnets on the refrigerator and had a good time sitting in her Grandpa's high chair that converts to a play seat!

Midway through the week, we drove up to visit with Carrie's family. We were most nervous about introducing Emma to her parents' two large Labradors. At first Emma was very scared and clinged to us, but  the dogs were very well behaved and slowly but surely, they got used to each other. They even let Emma pet them without knocking her over before the trip was over. While there, we were able to see many family and friends as well.

We missed the first big snow storm. It was surreal driving from Pennsylvania to Maryland and watching the snow steadily increase on the sides of the road! Luckily, we have the world's best neighbors and they shoveled our 2 parking spaces, sidewalk, and steps to our front door! I don't know what we would have done if we arrived here and had to make our way through 30 inches of snow! Kurt tried to return the favor and helped with their areas during the second snow storm. We'll post pictures soon of the snow!