Finally Settled In!

It has been a crazy 5 days since our last post! We arrived at the hotel Sunday afternoon and quickly realized as we were unloading that we brought WAY too much stuff with us. This being our first travel assignment, we clearly erred on the side of having EVERYTHING we needed and ended up with a lot of stuff we didn’t. Lesson learned! After 5 days of unpacking, several more boxes of donations to the local Goodwill, and a couple boxes shipped back to our family for storage, we are FINALLY settled in! We are definitely looking forward to learning from this lesson and improving our packing for the next assignment.

Another mistake we made was scheduling our arrival too close to Ashley’s first shift. In hindsight, it would have been very nice to have a free day after arriving in order to unpack and get settled, rather than Ashley heading to work the very next morning after arriving. The good news is that she has a 3 day weekend coming up, and we are looking forward to exploring more of Albany and the surrounding area during that time.

The boys and I have been working frantically at getting caught up on school. We had no internet for over a week before getting to the hotel, and we all got a little behind. But we haven’t let that stop us from checking out some of the local parks and playgrounds. Rather than wake up to drive Ashley to work and go and pick her up later in the evening, we decided to let her take the car and check out the public transportation in Albany. The boys thought it was such an adventure riding the bus around from place to place. The bus lines here go all over and run frequently, so it is actually very easy to get around.

All in all, it has been a pretty good first week so far. We love our accommodations and the area we are in, we have learned a ton already to improve for our next assignment, Ashley is enjoying her work, and the boys are having fun. Now it’s time to get to know Albany a little better, and work on planning some trips to NYC, Boston, and Niagara Falls!

 

Washington D.C.

What a great way to kick-off our traveling adventures! Today we spent the day exploring parts of the National Mall in Washington D.C. and having lunch with my Aunt Ronda and her son Henry. It was the first time in our nation’s capital for all four of us, and we just happened to be there the same day as the peak of cherry blossoms, which is one of the busiest days of the year. We had an incredible time checking out the monuments, memorials, and the Natural History Museum. It was such a great opportunity to let some of the things Kaden has been learning in history really come alive for him; and it was great to get some of the items on our Traveling Goals page checked off early.

My favorite parts of the day were the visits to the Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and getting to take some time to explain to the kids a little about what the memorials represented. We all had a great time and can’t wait to return and spend more time exploring and learning.

White House

Washington Monument

Washington Monument

Washington Monument

Washington Monument

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial

Reflecting Pool

Reflecting Pool

Reflecting Pool

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam War Veterans Memorial

Vietnam War Veterans Memorial

Lunch with Henry

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

Bon Voyage

  
What a day! This may have been one of the most stressful, hectic, emotional days in our family’s short history. We have been putting things into storage, finishing packing for the trip, getting the house ready for the new tenants, having dinner with my family, doing the final walkthrough and passing off the keys to the house, and departing Georgia for the first short leg of our journey. If all of that were not exhausting enough, add to it the emotional stress of leaving behind a state we have come to call our home, a house we have cherished for the past 2+ years, and family who has been there for us at every turn. We are also leaving behind a job that Ashley has come to love, coworkers that have become like family to her, a church that has absolutely transformed our lives over the past 5 years, a small group that has become a treasured part of our lives, and friends that we could never replace. A chapter in our lives is coming to a close.

But with the pain and heartache of a chapter ending, also comes the anticipation and excitement of a new chapter beginning. For tonight, we will allow the end of this chapter to sink in. Tomorrow, we look forward with a spirit of adventure to the journey that lies before us. 

New York Bound!

Well, Ashley has gotten her first assignment and we are so excited to be heading to the Albany, NY area in just a few days. What an incredibly central location to start our traveling adventures! We’ll be just a few hours from so many of the places we are looking forward to visiting: New York City, Boston, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, and much more.

One of the best things about this first assignment is that Ashley will finally be working the day shift again for the first time in almost 2 years. That alone is going to be worth the trip! For the past year, Ashley has been working 4 nights a week almost every week, and we have had our church small group meeting on one of her nights off each week. So in the last year, she has only gotten to be with Kaden & Quinn for bedtime twice a week. The boys (and Ashley) are thrilled to be getting their mommy back for bedtime every night.

The process from being interested in travel nursing, to making the decision to do it, to going through all of the necessary steps to prepare for it has been exhausting! We have learned so much along the way, and I am sure that we have much more to learn. For now, we are just excited to get this adventure started.

Along the way from Georgia to New York, we are planning to spend a day in Washington D.C. to start our adventures off right. We are hoping to get a few items crossed off our Traveling Goals checklist and spend some time with some family in the area.

Welcome to TravelingStarNurse.com

Hello, and welcome to our site! Ashley and I are so glad you are checking out our blog. Please be sure to check out our About page to read a little about why we decided to put this blog together, our Bios page to learn a little background info on our family, and our Traveling Goals page to keep up with some of our goals during this time.

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Thanks again for visiting!