If you follow Franklin and our little family on Instagram, you may have noticed our surroundings in photos and videos are a bit different. That's because we moved! But we didn't just move to a new home, we moved to a new state! We now reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, and although it is hotter than hot (over 120 degrees right now) we are loving our new home!
Last year when John and I started planning this move, we knew one thing for certain: we wanted to rent a house. No more sharing walls or living above or below other people. We wanted a quiet neighborhood, near a golf course, but most importantly we wanted a house- and we got it!
I felt awful for the boys, because if you read The Suite Life blog post, you'll know that it was a drag forcing the boys into a five-hour car ride THRICE and into multiple hotels. But in the end it was so worth it. As of writing this post, we have been living in our new home for a little over a month and the boys love it! There's so much more space for them to run around, new (and more) things to climb on, and the back wall is mostly floor-to-ceiling windows. There are so many things to see, most of it nature in the form of birds and bugs, which is so much more satisfying for Franklin and Kap to look at, rather than an apartment building with the occasional car or helicopter going by.
Franklin loves climbing as high up as he can on the shelves, countertops, and furniture. He's also in love with the bathtub. I'm not sure what about it draws his interest so much, but half the time if I can't find him, he's sitting by the tub or he's on top of the extra mattress in the garage. But his new favorite hobby is hunting bugs, because since we live in a desert there are, unfortunately, a ton of bugs. Moths are the most common bug that he'll catch and eat, and crickets are like his new favorite toy. I feel a little bad for the crickets, as Franklin will play with them by chomping on them, throwing them up in the air, and pouncing on them where they land. Reminds me of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Sometimes it takes the cricket a few tosses and chomps to die. RIP crickets. Thank you for bringing my boy joy.
Kap, on the other paw, isn't big into hunting bugs these days, but he does love when Franklin catches crickets because after Franklin is done playing with them, Kap will eat them. Which is gross, but hey. Gotta get those snacks where and when you can! Lol.
Kap loves all the sunlight streaming through the windows. I call them his sunshine naps, because he always gets so warm and toasty in the golden rays. Like Franklin, Kap loves exploring the house, but he doesn't want to get up high. Instead he wants to find all the comfy spots on the ground to take naps on, from the new carpet to the rug we just bought to the piles of clothes we have everywhere as we are still trying to put things away. I hate unpacking, but Kap loves it. That boy is thriving.
The boys also love our garage, which we've given them access to since it's attached and we don't tend to park our cars in there. It's the warmest room as there is no AC in there, so sometimes when it gets a little too cold (the AC all throughout Las Vegas works really well) they'll go in the garage for a warmer place to nap. I usually find them in there at night or early in the morning when it's not yet 120 degrees out yet.
The one thing that Kap absolutely hates, however, is the fridge. I'll include a picture of it, so you'll be able to see that there are four sets of drawers before the shelves. Kap is now unable to get in the fridge and steal food. Even standing on his hind legs, he's not tall enough to get at anything tasty! It drives him crazy, and it's a relief to us to not have to put a kettle bell in front of the fridge to stop him from getting in, or be on guard whenever we open the door. He hasn't figured out how to open the fridge yet like he could at the apartment (I don't think he can with this one, but he's a smart boy so I'm not holding my breath) but if he does he will still not only be too short to get in, but the alarm on the fridge will sound that the door has been left open for too long, alerting us to what he's up to. I love it!
Despite the irritations of moving into a new home (getting the internet set up, figuring out which light switch goes to which ceiling light or fan, etc), John and I have settled in nicely. We really love the area we've moved into, and as we are renting this home we already have a better sense of what we want when we decide to buy a house one day. Having a wishlist in an apartment is one thing, but now that we've had some experience living in a house, together, we have an even better picture of where we want to raise our little family in the future :)
Also, I just have to say, that even though John and I both grew up in houses, when you live in an apartment for a long period of time, especially a shitty one in a shitty neighborhood, you truly learn to appreciate the smaller things in life. When we moved into this house, we were so excited about having a dishwasher again, having our own washer and dryer IN the house that we do not have to share with anyone else, and we have our own trash cans! Again, it's the little things, but I never thought trash cans would make me as happy as they do.
Even though moving away from the city I grew up in, where most of my family still resides, was a difficult and scary decision to make, I believe this move was the best thing for me. It's a new chapter in my life, both as an individual and a member of this family. I got a new job that I'm excited about, I've gotten so much writing done, and knowing that John, Franklin, and Kap are happier here makes me happier too.
Thank you all for following along and reading about Franklin and all of his adventures with me, John, and big brother Kap! You can receive email updates for blog postings by filling out the form at the bottom of the page, and you can follow Franklin on Instagram for daily pictures and videos of our little family. :)
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